Summer Reading List

Bibly O’Phile used to have a well-organized personal library of her favorite books, but an earthquake came through and mixed everything up! All that remains are these slips of paper from her bookshelf. What up-and-coming authors have just published their debut works? What famous books were their inspirations? To pay for the damage, Bibly sold her whole collection…an…

 

NEW RELEASES

Partying for Peace
A diverse group of Chicago youngsters–black, Latino, and white–get down in hopes of better understanding one another.

Trophy Wife, Trashy Husband
Each of these beautiful women either can or can’t net common, lazy, daft, needy suitors. Who has the right mix of looks and personality?

Death of the Cuddles
In this tragically candid epic, injured red pandas and snow foxes struggle to survive.

Ode to My Darling
The more I know her, the more I adore her. As my lady gains in beauty and wisdom, I lose myself in her eyes. You won’t be able to put down this enchanting romance.

Progressive Candidate
Ever since the right wing shut down his local campaign, this man has been on a determined quest to redeem himself and his party. This biography provides an exclusive look behind the scenes of his campaign.

Why Everyone Should Travel
In this witty, entertaining travelogue, you can practically hear the cheerful bagpipe melodies, taste the renowned cheesy pepper roll, touch the exotic baboon fur, and smell the sweating gondola rowers. This comprehensive reference is all you need for your next vacation around the world.

Jitterbug Joey
Young Joey Juniper fidgets a lot, is routinely mocked for his tics, and slips into depression–but eventually confronts his bullies in a surprising, witty way.

The Ratio
How much do you suppose the fat, short men weigh in comparison to their taller thinner counterparts? This author is on a quest to find out.

Lou-‘Easy’-Ana: The ABCs of the L-shaped Land
In this up-and-coming state, they brag about their wild parties, delicious comfort food, and uniquely hospitable culture. Discover Louisiana in this brand-new travel guide.

She Looks Like Me, Only Prettier
Ugh, hotter siblings are the worst! Vanessa and Patricia duke it out in their quest to be the sexier sister.

The Poker Game
Jessica enters the Celebrity Jackpot Poker tournament on a whim, and, to everyone’s surprise, earns a prize: signatured manuscripts and original paintings by Shakespeare, Picasso, Van Gogh, and more. Suddenly, she has more cash than she knows what to do with. Will her newfound riches be a blessing or a curse?

Half-Truths and Untruths
It all started when I suggested, “Let’s tell Carter the truth: he flunked the exam! It’ll be funny!” From there, the fibs grew out of control.

Toothy Terror
Jon once hunted sharks for teenage sacrifices on the island of Horrowaii. Now, he is the hunted.

A Celestial Voice
As the Heavenly Father was creating the universe, one free angel sang beautiful melodies. Read about her ascension to fame.

AUTHOR EVENTS

Aug. 1st (signings until 14th)
Seymour Sytes
Growing up, Sytes always prided himself on being a great “Walker in Others’ Shoes.” In particularly, he empathized deeply with the struggles of disenfranchised black women–hear more in his upcoming talk.

Aug. 2nd (signings until 16th)
Don Keifer-Mayer
In this intimate talk and book signing, Keifer-Mayer chats about his personal life, his writing, and his passion for the Bronte sisters’ work.

Aug. 2nd (signings until 17th)
Q. Tannimals
This book talk with Mr. Tannimals will be paired with a special screening of one of his favorite movies, starring Keira Knightley.

Aug. 3rd (signings until 14th)
Marty Graw
In Graw’s spare time, he plans elaborate parties reminiscent of upscale 1920s society–so this networking event and book signing is sure to be a classy affair.

Aug. 4th (signings until 15th)
Neil B. Bownsin
Bownsin, an up-and-coming novelist, discusses how his hero, Dan Brown, has impacted his own work in the modern technological age.

Aug. 6th (signings until 15th)
C. D. Vowering
Vowering talks about her latest novel, inspired by parables of African colonialism. She will be accompanied by her daughter Nellie.

Aug. 6th (signings until 15th)
Meg Emilia Nair
Nair will present a special reading of the coming-of-age stories that inspired her growing up as a young Hispanic woman, providing her with hope in the hot waters of Mexico.

Aug. 6th (signings until Sept. 4th)
Mary A. Dumslaub
At this event, Dumslaub talks about how her career was inspired by a contemplative two-wheeled road trip.

Aug. 8th (signings until 16th)
Liza Lott
Meet the author and learn some fun facts like her favorite movie (“Easy A”) and color (red)!

Aug. 9th (signings until 11th)
Trudy Voe-Shen
This author talks about some Faulkner works that have inspired her writing throughout the years, particularly his “tour de force.”

Aug. 9th (signings until 15th)
Karen & Taryn Upda Clubb
This talk, in which this literary duo engages in some breezy banter about one of their favorite literary classics, will be followed by a screening of a 1939 film adaptation.

Aug. 11th (last day for signings!)
N. V. Ying-Hur
Growing up, Ying-Hur loved to read popular economics literature, especially ones delving into specific Doomsday events like financial crises. Nowadays, she hopes that her own books are equally accessible to all readers.

Aug. 17th (signings until 19th)
Ana Tomicsize
This author talks about her deep research into Shakespearean literature, and the ten things she hates about more contemporary writers.

Aug. 17th (last day of signings!)
Carrie Oakey-Starr
Oakey-Starr discusses her favorite children’s novels with young female protagonists, especially ones who are orphans, and her travels to the countries like Japan where they are popular.

…ook by book. Where is Bibly reading right now?

Sherlock Holmes!!!

 

Hint (for final step): Try https://nutrimatic.org/ for <anagrams>. You’ll have to try pretty hard…


Submit final puzzle answers to answers@missionstreetpuzzles.com with your team name!

Stuck? Email help@missionstreetpuzzles.com, or check out our Beginner’s Guide.

Once again, we’re offering T-shirts for the winning teams (Fastest Solver, First Photo, Best Photo) and a randomly chosen team! If you’ve already won a T-shirt, you’ll receive another color after five wins.

Say Uncle

Happy National Aunts and Uncles’ Day! The Pickleton family is celebrating by having a big reunion…but is there more than meets the eye regarding this event? Rumor has it that the Pickletons are actually secret agents running a dangerous operation! To investigate further, untangle the Pickleton family tree, deduce their secret spy passwords, and then figure out where in San Francisco their rendezvous is taking place!


Submit final puzzle answers to answers@missionstreetpuzzles.com with your team name!

Stuck? Email help@missionstreetpuzzles.com, or check out our Beginner’s Guide.

Once again, we’re offering T-shirts for the winning teams (Fastest Solver, First Photo, Best Photo) and a randomly chosen team! If you’ve already won a T-shirt, you’ll receive another color after five wins.


Note: This puzzle was updated on Monday, July 31, with corrections to pg. 2 clues.

Road Trip (Part Two)

And our road trip is underway! Check out our travel logs from all fifty states, and figure out where in San Francisco we’ll be celebrating our return.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

 


Submit final puzzle answers to answers@missionstreetpuzzles.com with your team name! This one is a special two-week feature, so the deadline is July 26th at 7:00 p.m.

Stuck? Email help@missionstreetpuzzles.com, or check out our Beginner’s Guide.

Once again, we’re offering T-shirts for the winning teams (Fastest Solver, First Photo, Best Photo) and a randomly chosen team! If you’ve already won a T-shirt, you’ll receive another color after five wins.

Road Trip (Part One)

Mission Street Puzzles is planning a two-week road trip starting next Wednesday! From July 12th to 20th, we will be visiting one city per day. Then, from July 21st to 25th, we will tour one state per day. Can you figure out what our itinerary is? Then, you’ll have the name of the San Francisco spot where we’ll start our trip.

We will never visit the same city twice, but we might visit the same state on multiple days.
We will not leave the contiguous 48 states.
All of the cities we are visiting are among the top 100 most populous U.S. cities.

If we ever plan to be in Arizona, then we will visit the state of Washington on the last day.
On July 14, we will go to a city with a shorter name (fewer letters) than the one we were in the day before. The same is true for July 15, 16, 18, and 19.
During the first week (seven days), we will visit three cities more populous than Boston but less populous than San Francisco.
On July 13, we will be in a state bordering Lake Michigan.
We will visit cities in Florida and Virginia on consecutive days.
We will be in the same state on July 12 and 15, in two cities 604 miles apart (via highway).
On July 20, we will visit one of the top 20 tallest buildings in the U.S.
July 22 is the only day when we will be visiting a state less densely populated than Kansas.
The July 23 state was admitted to the Union 125 years after the July 21 state was.
If we visit New Hampshire on any day, then we will also visit New Jersey.
On July 13, 14, 17, and 18, we will be in state capitals.
The three-letter airport code for the July 16 city contains the two-letter abbreviation for the July 21 state.
We will stay in the same state on July 23 and 24.
If we plan to be in the state of New York one day, then we will be in a state bordering New York on the following day.
If the July 15th city contains the letter P, then we will visit Irvine within the following five days.
When driving from the July 22 state to the July 23 state, we only need to pass through one other state.
On July 14, we will be in a state starting with N.
We will stay in the same state on July 19 and 20, in two cities just 40 miles apart via car (±5 miles).
To get from the July 16th city to the July 17th city, we will drive 795 miles, 600 of which will be via I-95.
Of the nine cities we visit from July 12 to 20, exactly four of them are west of the Mississippi River.
On July 18th, we’ll be in a state with fewer electoral votes than the one we’ll be in on July 16th.
On July 18th and 19th, we will stay within 1 degree of the same latitude.
The number of counties in the July 22 state is a multiple of 11.

 


Update 8:03 pm: Small change to the third-to-last clue due to ambiguous fact-checking.

Submit final puzzle answers to answers@missionstreetpuzzles.com with your team name! The deadline for this week is July 12th at 7:00 p.m.

Stuck? Email help@missionstreetpuzzles.com, or check out our Beginner’s Guide.

Once again, we’re offering T-shirts for the winning teams (Fastest Solver, First Photo, Best Photo) and a randomly chosen team! If you’ve already won a T-shirt, you’ll receive another color after five wins.

Coming up, next week’s puzzle on July 12th will be a two-week special (so you’ll have until July 26th to submit answers for that one). Get excited!

 

Gotta Catch ‘Em All

To become the next great Pokemon trainer, you must first map out the world’s regions. Each number shown indicates the number of contiguous grid squares in that region (only horizontal and vertical squares count as adjacent–no diagonals!), i.e. that region’s size. No two regions of the same size can border each other. Note that each region may have zero, one, or more labelled grid squares in it.

Then, figure out how to use the map, potions, and your wits to catch all the wild Pokemon! The final answer will be a San Francisco location, where all the very best trainers will be hanging out.



Submit final puzzle answers to answers@missionstreetpuzzles.com with your team name!

Stuck? Email help@missionstreetpuzzles.com, or check out our Beginner’s Guide.

Once again, we’re offering T-shirts for the winning teams (Fastest Solver, First Photo, Best Photo) and a randomly chosen team! If you’ve already won a T-shirt, you’ll receive another color after five wins.

Pride Parade

San Francisco’s famous Pride parade is this weekend! Last year, I had six friends in the parade, in this order: Peter, Urvashi, Romaine, Vladimir, Chelsea, and Essex:

       

  • Peter could see five floats ahead of him, including Urvashi’s, whose float was directly ahead of his.
  • Urvashi could see four floats, including Romaine’s, which was the one directly ahead of hers.
  • Romaine could see exactly two floats: Peter’s and Urvashi’s.
  • Essex’s float was the furthest east.

 

This year, I have seven friends in the parade, and their colorful floats spell out one of their favorite San Francisco locations. Can you help me remember the order and directions of the floats, and then figure out what that fun location is?

  • The person in the orange float can see exactly x floats more than Phyllis can, where is some number.
  • If the blue and violet floats are facing the same direction, then Patria is in one of those floats; otherwise, Patria is in the green float.
  • The person in the blue float can see, directly in front of it, another float whose driver has letters in his/her name.
  • There is an even number of floats between Harvey’s and the pink float (not including themselves).
  • The red float is the farthest west.
  • If Courtney’s float is blue, orange, violet, or green, then at least one of Courtney’s neighbors has a name containing the letter Y.
  • Harvey can see Kimball’s float directly in front of him.
  • The violet float is next to the yellow float if and only if Li’s float is pink.
  • The people in the orange and pink floats can see the blue float somewhere ahead.
  • If Li’s float is east of Harvey’s, then Li’s float is either orange or pink.
  • If Harvey’s float is red or orange, then Kimball’s float is a primary color.
  • If the red and yellow floats are next to each other, then the person in the red float can see fewer than y other floats, where = x + 1.
  • If Christopher’s float is a secondary color, then he can see more floats than Courtney can.
  • The person in the red float has a name that is z letters long, where z = x * y.
  • The pink, violet, and green floats are facing the same direction.

Submit final puzzle answers to answers@missionstreetpuzzles.com with your team name!

Stuck? Email help@missionstreetpuzzles.com, or check out our Beginner’s Guide.

Once again, we’re offering T-shirts for the winning teams (Fastest Solver, First Photo, Best Photo) and a randomly chosen team! If you’ve already won a T-shirt, you’ll receive another color after five wins.