Month: September 2018

Movie theater floor plan:

All movies are the first or only one in their franchise. The movie in Theatre #3 has only two movies in its franchise. None of the theatre numbers match the last digit of the release year of the movie. Movies without any sequels or prequels are in even-numbered theaters. The movies where the main protagonist is a real animal are in horizontally adjacent theaters. Every movie on the left side is older than every movie on the right side.

“Beginnings Characterize Groups.”
— Jobs, Steve

And the correct answer to the “A Not-so Stellar Sight” puzzle was…

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Amid
*Catch, as with game
Category, like of a song
Character, relating to an actor
Clothing of a Roman
Compound after organic acid and alcohol react
Cream that heals
Gets by merit
Hard to digest material in diet
*Laconic
Rage
Smoothed, as nails
*Something that might bleat
Span
*Swathe of grass-covered land
Tropical stone fruit

Note: Mission Street Puzzles’ interactive puzzles are best viewed in the Chrome browser.

And the correct answer to the “Coloring Book” puzzle was…

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Note: Mission Street Puzzles’ interactive puzzles are best viewed in the Chrome browser.

And the correct answer to the “On the Outs With In-N-Out” puzzle was…

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***
Errata: The original version of this puzzle misspelled a term in the dossiers – Lynyrd Skynyrd. The term has been corrected. Thank you!
***

Trouble is brewing in Austin! A group of burger-haters is rallying Austinites against In-N-Out Burger and they’re gaining support! You’ve been hired by In-N-Out as a private investigator, and you spent the last week watching burger-haters meet with the group’s leaders. Take a look at your notes below to identify the leaders and ultimately, to figure out in what appropriate Austin location the burger-haters are headquartered.

To aid you in your investigation, In-N-Out corporate has also developed dossiers on the subjects that you followed last week.

Day 0

I spent the day watching suspects at a downtown park. Based on the food they were carrying, I was able to piece together that they were meeting with a cook.

• I saw five suspects enter the park carrying chicken.
• I saw four suspects enter the park carrying onions.
• I saw three suspects leave the park carrying chives.
• I saw one suspect leave the park carrying an iced tea.
• I saw one suspect leave the park carrying nuts.

Day 1

While digging in to eat a hot cheeseburger, I followed around programmers who were attending a developer convention. After a while, I was able to piece together their favorite programming languages, and who they were meeting with.

• Two clumsy leg surgery patients stumbled in, discussing a scripting language that was developed at Bell labs.
• Then a web developer entered the conference, mumbling to herself about a language that sounded like an Indonesian tomb!
• Two more developers arrived at the conference after that, chatting about their vacation last December, which sounded like a Hawaiian harbor.
• Two computer science students left a bit later under a lot of pressure, wondering how they would ever make it through Berkeley without failing.

Day 1

After trying out a full order of fries, I watched locals visiting chain restaurants. After a while, I pieced together who they were meeting there.

• While munching on a fresh fruit snack, I spotted four suspects practically buzzing as they entered a restaurant for their meeting.
• The next 3 suspects I spotted walking into a fast food place where I order: chicken, lemonade, or sandwiches each drive-thru; sounds unbelievable, no?
• Later, three bread bakers from St. Louis snuck into their lunch spot – where I heard them each pick 2.
• Orange firecrackers erupted in the parking lot as the next lone suspect left the casual restaurant he had lunch at. I just hope no rare animals were hurt!
• Yum! One Carney (sp?) left an italian joint at the end of the day- expressly after stuffing himself, I’m sure.

Day 1

After biting in to devour a juicy burger, I spotted some suspects hanging around animal rights protests for various animals. Eventually I did deduce what animals their protests were rallying for and who they were meeting with.

• Later that day I saw two protesters jump the line to enter a rally where the demonstrators were threatening to pronounce sentence on a businessman!
• Four protestors arrived after that, pushing upstream to get to the front of a crowd wearing light pink.
• The last two protesters left after hearing that all the beer at their rally had gone bad.

Day 2

While falling in love with a protein-style burger, I watched ambassadors from far-away cities visiting the state buildings. After a while, I was able to pick up on what countries they were from and who they were meeting with.

• First, two complete morons went into the state building, wearing suns on their shirts.
• Then, I saw two very nice people walk into the capital.
• Later, somebody who looked like they had just come from a new deli headed into a meeting with the mayor!

Day 2

Burger in hand, I prowled the mall tonight. There I watched some fashionable suspects enter and leave the mall – I noticed the shoe brands they were wearing and who they were meeting with.

• I’m sheepish to admit that I couldn’t hear what a booted shopper was exclaiming in disgust as she entered the mall…
• … because of a Greek shopper who arrived at the same time, talking about his victory in a race earlier that day.
• Then just at the end of the day a shopper came in, looking to purchase a freshly minted scale.

Day 3

After pigging out on some animal-style fries, I headed to the old Austin Graffiti wall. There I watched as various people came to leave their mark, and I paid particular attention to the color of each of their spray paint bottles, which helped me to piece together who they were meeting with.

• Two professional artists arrived just as I did, and covered the wall with a special technique, which sounded like what they did to make glass.
• Four kids arrived shortly after to ink the wall, using a color that results when you remove red from white light.
• After that, one artist from the west coast rushed in to tag the wall.
• It’s not easy being an artist – the next two, Jim and Steve, had to sneak up to the wall.
• Six dodgy looking characters eating chestnuts arrived just as my phone died, stranding me.
• Finally two artists with unrivaled reputations arrived at the end of the day, carrying drive through from a seafood restaurant.
• Four casino “old hands” left then; they had wanted to play a round at the wall, but it was hard to start a card game without the guy in the box.
• Then four American literature buffs left the wall, leaving behind a beautiful picture by Oscar Wilde.

Day 4

With an extra-large meal of burgers in me, I watched people at a video game convention today. They were all dressed up as characters from their favorite video game series. After a while, I determined who they were meeting with.

• Four drunk kids arrived, literally dragging kegs behind them like barrels!
• Three gamers arrived after that, mentioning that they left for the convention on March 10th.
• Really amazing theatrical catlike humanoids entertained – two already noticeably drunk “cats” left, although nobody knew.
• One ancient gamer left after the international crowd heckled him. In his defense, he seemed full of fear at the young, evil geniuses around him.

Day 4

In spite of my burger-induced lethargy, I visited another developer conference today. There I spent the day following around tech employees, and noting the company written on each of their badges, which helped me to determine who they were meeting with.

• To start off the day, I spotted two tech founders grabbing breakfast before the convention – they were eating some kind of political cereal, Obama O’s? I think I overhead them saying that they used to sell it?
• After that, I saw two cryptocurrency devs who had left their company’s base to attend.
• A little while later, a single customer service rep from a Philadelphia-based company arrived. I tried to get his attention (my internet speed was terrible and I had some unexpected charges to dispute), but he couldn’t help me. Typical!
• The next techie I saw enter was laser-focused and didn’t even see me! She had just arrived that morning on a jet from her company’s headquarters in Palo Alto.
• A little later, four friendly programmers caught a ride to the convention, all sporting pretty brightly colored facial hair.
• At the end of the day, a dog cried out just as another developer left the convention. I think the guy was heading out to get some food.
• Then I saw a friend of mine leaving the convention early, he said he liked it though.

Day 5

In a state of burger-fueled bliss, I watched musicians visiting a huge music hall downtown. I managed to identify their bands and, eventually, piece together who they were meeting with.

• In the morning, four members of an electrifying band lit up the scene on their way in. Two of them seemed fairly young.
• Then I spotted two divas walking in, stepping off a futuristic light-up airship!
• Two boy band members then walked in confidently at the end of the day, following just a single instruction.
• This was interesting – one southern rock musician left the music hall carrying some kind of fowl which he let loose just after leaving. I wonder why?
• Just a little after, a guitarist from a three-man band I love exited a white room on the side of the hall, carrying a milkshake. It looked delicious!

???

Note: Mission Street Puzzles’ interactive puzzles are best viewed in the Chrome browser.

And the correct answer to the “Nursery Rhymes” puzzle was…

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