Solution: Dock
Answer: YACHT TRAINEE
Written by aki
This puzzle consists of a list of clues and a word search. We may start with the thought that we need to solve the clues and then find the words in the word search, so we should begin with looking at the clues. However, after some inspection, we realize that a single word is insufficient to answer some of these clues. Some easier answers that will hint us towards this includes “WHITE CHRISTMAS”, “YELLOW PAGES” and “BLUE WHALE”. Once we identify a few of them, we realize that these are all phrases that consist of a color + a related word (note that some of these have the color as the second word).
| Clue | Answer |
| State of impending danger | RED ALERT |
| Smaller of two snakes | YELLOW ANACONDA |
| Hot and dry humor | YELLOW BILE |
| Indicator | BROMOTHYMOL BLUE |
| Ceremonial flooring | RED CARPET |
| Moldy culture | BLUE CHEESE |
| What Bing Crosby is dreaming of | WHITE CHRISTMAS |
| It is used in Chinese porcelain | COBALT BLUE |
| Humanitarian organization | RED CROSS |
| Herb sometimes used to treat anemia | YELLOW DOCK |
| Disease spread through mosquitoes | YELLOW FEVER |
| In the act | RED HANDED |
| Invisible wintry ground | BLACK ICE |
| Banking game | BLACK JACK |
| Wasp | YELLOW JACKET |
| Passerine bird | BLUE JAY |
| Sensationalism | YELLOW JOURNALISM |
| Ripened fruit | YELLOW LEMON |
| Bad thing done for a good reason | WHITE LIE |
| Supernatural power for evil | BLACK MAGIC |
| Deep brain tissue | WHITE MATTER |
| Rare occurrence | BLUE MOON |
| Background hum | WHITE NOISE |
| Phone book | YELLOW PAGES |
| Endangered carnivorous animal | RED PANDA |
| Marvel superhero | BLACK PANTHER |
| Informational report | WHITE PAPER |
| Racist metaphor | YELLOW PERIL |
| It is used as a stain | PRUSSIAN BLUE |
| Fear of the left | RED SCARE |
| Creative thinking | BLUE SKY |
| Princess | SNOW WHITE |
| Bureaucracy | RED TAPE |
| Genuine | TRUE BLUE |
| Cupcake flavor | RED VELVET |
| Largest marine mammal | BLUE WHALE |
| Marvel superhero | BLACK WIDOW |
Once the list of clues is solved, we naturally proceed to find the words in the word search. (In reality, we intend for teams to use the clues and grid simultaneously, attempting to find word segments in the grid that will help them solve the harder clues as they progress in the puzzle.) Noticing that the answers are ordered alphabetically in the order of the related word, we infer that this is the word we must find in the search grid.
At first if we treat it as a normal word search, we realize that some of these words occur multiple times in the grid, some do not occur, and there are other words that seem to occur in the grid! However, if we start from the top right or bottom right corners we can get an idea of how the grid is meant to be read. To find the words, we must notice that the grid is broken up into 8 x 8 squares, and words are written in row-major order outlining regions of the grid. After trying to identify and read off a couple of words, we find that the words associated with one color are given in row-major order in that particular region. This associates every cell with a color, and we can then color the grid in.
| A | H | N | A | A | C | O | N | N | O | I | S | C | H | E | E | T | R | U | E | C | H | E | E | M | A | T | T | C | A | R | P |
| D | N | D | E | A | P | D | A | E | P | A | P | S | E | T | R | S | E | P | R | U | S | S | I | E | R | P | A | E | T | H | A |
| G | E | T | S | J | A | A | C | E | R | L | I | R | U | E | G | L | I | E | C | H | R | I | S | P | E | R | S | N | D | E | D |
| K | P | E | T | E | D | O | C | E | C | H | R | E | I | O | N | S | C | A | R | E | V | E | L | N | O | W | L | P | A | N | D |
| A | C | K | R | P | E | P | R | I | S | T | M | M | U | N | U | V | E | T | P | A | N | D | A | I | E | N | O | A | T | A | P |
| I | L | E | J | O | T | U | R | A | S | S | N | O | O | S | E | T | M | A | S | S | N | O | W | I | S | E | C | E | V | E | L |
| N | V | A | L | E | I | S | L | O | W | M | A | N | S | K | D | A | N | S | K | Y | W | H | A | H | R | I | S | V | E | T | S |
| V | M | B | E | I | L | T | E | T | T | E | R | Y | J | A | Y | L | E | C | O | B | A | L | T | T | M | A | S | C | A | R | E |
| P | A | N | P | A | M | O | O | T | A | P | S | N | P | R | U | A | L | E | F | E | R | T | C | C | H | R | I | C | O | B | A |
| D | A | C | P | E | N | S | K | E | S | C | O | W | S | S | I | A | R | P | V | E | E | T | P | S | T | M | A | L | T | M | R |
| R | O | S | R | M | Y | C | H | A | R | E | L | I | A | N | W | A | N | D | R | L | A | S | C | S | N | O | I | O | O | E | G |
| S | T | A | A | T | E | E | S | C | R | O | E | C | H | A | L | E | M | O | N | A | N | A | C | S | E | M | A | N | I | O | N |
| P | E | S | T | E | E | C | O | S | S | A | H | R | E | B | R | O | N | D | A | J | A | C | K | T | T | E | R | T | U | N | U |
| C | A | R | R | N | B | A | L | L | E | R | I | S | O | M | O | A | R | E | E | T | H | A | N | P | A | P | E | R | U | S | E |
| E | A | L | O | I | T | W | H | T | P | A | T | M | T | H | Y | D | E | D | B | I | T | A | P | R | S | N | O | E | C | H | D |
| E | R | T | S | E | A | L | E | N | D | A | A | S | M | O | L | E | C | R | L | E | O | S | S | W | L | I | E | E | E | S | E |
| D | O | C | K | J | O | U | R | B | R | L | I | O | M | E | M | J | A | Y | B | R | O | M | O | W | H | A | L | E | C | O | B |
| N | A | L | P | A | I | S | M | O | T | A | T | H | Y | T | E | T | H | Y | M | O | L | C | H | A | L | T | M | O | O | N | J |
| F | E | N | T | H | E | V | E | R | N | M | O | O | I | L | P | E | E | S | E | P | R | U | S | A | Y | B | R | O | M | O | T |
| R | R | M | A | G | I | C | J | S | E | R | U | S | N | S | S | S | I | A | N | M | O | O | N | H | Y | M | O | L | S | K | Y |
| A | W | I | D | O | W | I | C | I | A | O | W | N | C | C | H | C | R | O | S | S | A | L | E | V | E | L | V | E | T | T | A |
| K | E | C | E | J | A | T | L | O | B | R | I | A | L | S | T | R | T | S | C | A | R | E | H | P | E | C | A | R | P | E | T |
| E | M | O | C | K | N | P | A | M | A | T | S | S | P | K | Y | A | N | D | E | D | C | A | R | A | L | E | R | T | C | R | O |
| G | E | S | P | E | R | I | L | A | P | T | R | E | R | U | E | P | E | T | P | A | N | D | A | S | S | H | A | N | D | E | D |
At this point it is relevant to recall that this puzzle is located at the dock, which reminds us that these are all pixel art of international maritime signal flags! Reading off the flags, we obtain the answer, YACHT TRAINEE.
Author's Notes
This is the only puzzle in this hunt that survived, completely unchanged, from its very first write up till the hunt. I personally did not think this puzzle was that interesting, but it seems that lots of people thought otherwise and I'm glad everyone liked it!