Author: Test Solver

With just a little food, big transformations can happen! Remember when little Caterpillar Dan became Chrysalis Andy, with just a bit of Leaf Y? And then, with some Fertilizer C, she became Butterfly Candy! Can you figure out what food we need in order to foster this batch?

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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!
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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!

???

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