Another great pair of puzzles from Mission Street Puzzles scholarship finalists! Give them a try:
“Mystery at the Mall” by Jenna Miller, Hofstra University
[Download PDF]
“Take-out Troubles” by Michelle Volz, MIT Sloan [Download PDF]
Solutions will be shared next week, alongside a new set of puzzles. See you then!
We hope you enjoyed last week’s puzzles written by our two of our scholarship finalists – check your answers below!
The answer to Zachary Wong’s puzzle, “A Two-Story Building,” was MYSTERIOUS GALAXY. [Download Solution Walkthrough]
Zachary adds this personal note: Mysterious Galaxy is a bookstore in my hometown that specializes in (among other things) fantasy novels, which has always been my favorite genre both to read and to write. I’ve spent many hours in the story simply browsing the shelves and picking out books to read, and on one memorable occasion, I met my favorite author there (Brandon Sanderson) during a book signing. To me, Mysterious Galaxy is the archetypal small bookstore: quiet, comforting, and in the end, home to so many more than just two stories.
The answer to Jonah Nan’s puzzle, “Pop-pop’s Perplexing Postcards,” was LETTERMULLEN. [Download Solution Walkthrough]
Jonah’s personal note:
The 2019 MUMS [Melbourne University Math and Statistics Society] Puzzle Hunt featured a homophone-themed puzzle in which solvers extracted “lettermullen” and were supposed to submit the final answer ISLANDOFIRELAND, a step which my team was stuck on for days. It was frustrating at the time, but now it’s one of my favorite puzzling memories because of how satisfying it was to finally get it and how obvious it seems in hindsight. To me, Lettermullen represents the frustration of being stuck, the joy of finally getting unstuck, and the “aha” moments of puzzling that stick with you for years.
We’re thrilled to share another high-quality pair of puzzles from our student puzzle writers this week:
“A Two-Story Building” by Zachary Wong, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
[Download PDF]
“Pop-Pop’s Perplexing Postcards” by Jonah Nan, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
[Download PDF]
Solutions will be shared next week, alongside a new pair of puzzles. See you then!
We hope you loved the first couple of puzzles from our student writers this season – we certainly did!
The answer to Natalie Tsang’s puzzle, “Home In Hong Kong,” was THE PEAK. [Download Solution Walkthrough]
Natalie adds this personal note: My family comes from Hong Kong, China, but growing up as an Asian American, I did feel disconnected from my identity. Last year, I had the chance to live in Hong Kong for three months. The Peak holds a special place in my heart as it was the first place I visited during my trip there, and it symbolizes an acceptance and understanding of my Asian American identity to me.
The answer to Clayton Hull’s puzzle, “A Puzzling Quest,” was DIAGON ALLEY. [Download Solution Walkthrough]
Clayton says: Everything in Diagon Alley at Universal Studios from the music, to the brick roads, to the giant dragon sitting on top of Gringotts came together to make it feel like I stepped into a magical world! It was then that I discovered my love for theme parks. Diagon Alley is meaningful to me because it inspired my dream to become an imagineer for Disney Theme Parks.
Kicking off our scholarship season, we have two fantastic puzzles to share:
“Home In Hong Kong” by Natalie Tsang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
[Download PDF]
“A Puzzling Quest” by Clayton Hull, Harding University
[Visit site] [Alternative: Directly download PNG]
Solutions will be shared next week, alongside a new pair of puzzles. See you then!
Thank you to all of the students who wrote and submitted puzzles for the Mission Street Puzzles scholarship! We were absolutely blown away by the quantity and quality of the applications. As our judging team test-solved each puzzle, every single submission put a smile on our face, and it was extremely difficult to narrow down the pool to just one winner.
…so we decided to choose two winners! Huge congratulations to both of our scholarship prizewinners:
Odin McDermott (Whitman College), whose puzzle was entitled “The Inflight Magazine”
Ben Coukos-Wiley (Rochester Institute of Technology), whose puzzle was entitled “Bridges”
Starting in two weeks (July 15th) we will begin posting some of our favorite puzzles for the Scholarship Edition ten-week series. You’ll have the opportunity to solve Odin’s and Ben’s puzzles as part of this series. See you all then!
