The Hunting of the Shark

Hello, puzzlers! I thought today of all days we could start with a quick warm-up puzzle. I am going to ask three short trivia questions, and then I'm going to ask you to find the link in the answers of those three questions. Here are the three trivia questions. One, what is the name of the company known for making peppermint patties? I stress the T. Two, what is the word for a shirt you wear while playing sports? And three, what is the country that gave birth to mariachi music? Now take those three answers, see if you can spot a link. Again, the questions are the name of the company known for making peppermint patties. Two, a shirt you wear while playing sports. And three, the country that gave birth to mariachi music. Now what do those answers have in common? Don't worry, if you are in a state of confusion, we will relieve that right after the break. Hey folks, welcome back to the Hello Puzzlers podcast! The all-seeing "I" atop the pyramid on your Puzzle Dollar Bill, which is a crazy symbol. I am your host, Adrian. Now you're connecting us to the Illuminati item. I did not bring them up. I did not bring the you brought them up, so all letters to crack. You mentioned the all-seeing "I". But that is what it's officially called, or the "I" of Proudance. That's so. I'm just, I'm just naming it. I'm not into nursing now. I know, I know. There's a secret symbol that was put there by our benevolent lizard overlords. I am your host, AJ Jacobs. I'm here, of course, with the cheese trilateral commission officer, Greg Pliska. Greg. I'm in charge of the Black Helicopters. Oh boy. Before the break, we gave three trivia questions and asked, what are the links to those? The first is the day where the company knows for making peppermint patties. I like the way you said patties with the tea, not patties with the D, as if peppermint grows in rice paddy. That is, of course, York peppermint patties. Very delicious. Second, a shirt you might wear while playing sports. I would wear my jersey, of course. And third, a country that gave birth to Marriotsie music might be. Might be Mexico. So what might you spot among those three? Oh, you were going to, you stated. Ah, there it is. People would not be, I forgot, but yeah, you used a little state pun in the opening, but those are all states of the United States if you put new in front of those words. New York, New Jersey, New Mexico. Exactly. And by, incidentally, what college in Massachusetts might join this group? I know your daughter was just looking at colleges. College in Massachusetts that would join this new Williams, new Amherst, new Harvard. It is an Amherst, but it's not Amherst. New Northampton, New Mount Holyoke. You said ham. That's a good start. Hampshire. Hampshire college. Yes. I knew there was one missing and I was like, why did you, why did you leave one out? I figured no offense to Hampshire college, but the others are a little easier. And by the way, I, I thought it was interesting that all of the clues were related to the place in some way or the other. Mexico, obviously, Mexico, Mexico. Yeah. That's the place. But York, Pefferman Patty, named after York, Pennsylvania, where it was invented, which is named for the Duke of York. Same guy as the New York. That we get New York. Yeah. Jersey was originally made from Jersey Cotton, which is from the island in the UK, which is where the same Jersey, the New Jersey. So it all comes together. All right. Well, today we have a special drink for you. There is a new book out edited by a friend of the show, Mike Sellingker, who as Greg says is a giant in the puzzle-making world. And it's called the hunting of the shark, which is related to his company, Loan Shark Games. Loan Shark. Loan Sharks. Loan Sharks of games and puzzles over the last several decades, some really extraordinary work coming out of, coming out of Loan Shark. So yeah. And we liked it for a couple of reasons. One, it's a, it's a great book. It's got great puzzles. And two, Greg was involved in it. So Greg, did you make any puzzles for it or did I make it? Well, I had a, so it, the book is a compendium of puzzle hunts that Mike and his team have created over the last several decades. And I was fortunate to be asked to contribute a couple small puzzles to some of the stuff they've done. And one of them is, is in the book. Right. So you got to dig around and find it, but you can find it. Well, we're also going to, we're going to give a little taste of some of the puzzles in the book. And then Greg is going to take over and give us a puzzle that, wait, is this a puzzle that? The puzzle we're going to do, they're both audio puzzles that I, among the things I did from, from Mike, the one in the book is obviously not audio because it's in the book. I'm going to do the other puzzle that does not appear in the book. And we'll play the audio and talk about how to solve it. So this is like, you know, the bonus, the DVD bonus. Yeah. A little Loan Shark bonus episode. Love it. All right. A side note, Mike Selenker, S-E-L-I-N-K-E-R, my spell check goes crazy on Selenker. But depending on which spell check, sometimes he's a spulunker like the cave explorer, which I think is probing. Which you're talking about. Yeah, probing. Slinky R is another one. He is also slinkier than other people. I can, I can confirm. I will say I thought of it, be a little too inside baseball, but we could do a whole puzzle on spell check corrections of our guests on Hello Puzzlers. Adam Conover is Adam Coniver. That's one of my favorites. No, you know what? This should be a Patreon, like a newsletter bonus puzzle where you get the spell check corrections and you have to identify which of our guests that was. All right. I'm not going to say anymore. Don't give them away. And by the way, go to Patreon and we'll post the information about the book and all sorts of links. You can also go to the show notes. All right, let me give a little taste of a couple of the more audio-friendly puzzles in Mike's new book. One of them is about a called, "Mmm, bake it." Now I'm a vegetarian, but I still enjoyed the puzzle. But I thought we might bring a super producer, Adam Newhouse, whose wife is in the food and beverage industry. So that's my reason. That's a brilliant segue. I have eaten breakfast before, so a perfect candy toy. How do you feel about bacon? You like bacon? I like a crispy bacon. I think on an earlier episode, Greg, you talked about the superior method of baking bacon. And I agreed with you from the background. So here I am on air. Put it in the oven. Right. All right. Love it. You get cooking tips here on the show. It's an all-per-per-show. You really is. All right, so this is all wordplay about bacon and bacon-related topics. So I'm just going to give you a sampling. It's already in rough, but just to be clear, all topics are bacon-related topics. Okay. Bacon is good with everything. Let's just be clear. Okay. All right. Not for me, but I understand. All right. So are you ready? Here's one. The phrase, "when pigs fly" means probably never. The name of what animal begins with P-I-G and can fly. So what pig P-I-G can fly an animal starting with the letters P-I-G? And it's not an animal in the larger sense. Animal meaning not just mammals, but in the larger sense. What's the smaller sense of it? It's not the piglet. You don't as a kid be able to fly then they get too heavy and then you become a ground-bound pig. They can be flung. They can be flung, but they can't fly. Also with CRISPR and gene editing, I'm sure pigs will fly very soon. But this one is a bird. A bird. Might be one outside your window right now Adam. That's a great clue. Thank you. Appreciate it. Based in New York, the rat of the sky's pigeon. Exactly. All right. Reading left to right, but not necessarily consecutively. Which president's name contains the both the letters in bacon and the letters in ham. Both the letters in bacon and the letters in ham. This one I just focused on the ham. What president has ham in his name? He's a big one. He's not like Millard Filth. Abraham. Abraham Lincoln. Exactly. Abraham Lincoln. How about? Oh, this one is more for Greg because he's our resident periodic table expert, but I'll give it to you anyway. You can combine the symbols of just three elements in the periodic table to make the word bacon. What are the three elements? B-A-C-O-N. You got to mix them together and- You don't mix them. You just put them right in order. Sure. I can get the the back end of it. What do you got a legend back in? Is that a bacon? Nice. That's a good and a CEO. It's carbon. No, carbon to see. CEO is an element that starts with CEO six letters long. Sort of like think of snake. Cobalt? No, that's a Cobalt. Yeah, that's right. That's it. Not sure what that has to do with your ex. Cobra. No, that's what it works. Cobra not related to Cobalt in any way, but I think so. And BA, also an element that starts with BA. Six letters long. Not like that. Sometimes used in an animal. Interesting. No, no, there's a particular, I don't know why I know this phrase. Excellent question. Why do I know that this is a kind of animal? It's used when you examine a large intestine. You need this kind of animal. Can I call it? Do you know this? Do you know this? I believe I do. Although I would never have known what this element is used for. So that's good information. Is it Bariah? Bariah. The Bariah animal. As opposed to the tobacco animal, which we've discussed on the show. Again, full service here. That's right. How things go in? How things come out? We're here. We're here for you. All right. So that's just a sample of the bacon. A quick sample of another puzzle. Now this puzzle actually has many levels, a metapuzzle and a logic puzzle. But I'm only going to give the simplified one element, which works on audio, which is all of these answers have three consecutive letters in them, somewhere in the word, like ABC. So a real estate game might be a real estate game. The most famous real estate game is Adam. I love one. It's like the most famous. You couldn't possibly not get this one of the most famous board games. It's in Atlantic City. And it is. It's got. I mean, you said you bought it properly. Yeah, that's it. An OP. An OP is right. An OP. All right. How about a scientist's garment? Now you might think this would be two words, but it's often one word. So a scientist's garment, they're in the scientist's work in a lab. Yes. And they wear. And they wear over. So you've got AB already. So you need something starting with. Yeah. Close enough. A lab coat. A lab coat. Close call it a lab coat. Okay. But I was trying to think of a lab deathoscope, but I was wondering if there was a very good. Very good. Now. All right. Last one lab coat lab coat is what you were looking for. Yes. Lab coat. ABC. Last one. How about some hydrating cream, something you hydrate with? It's famously one of the most annoying words in the English language is how you start it. It means damp. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Some skin. Yeah. You put this on your skin. If it's all over it. All over it. Adam's. That's got. I like it. It's more general. More general. More general. More general. I come out of the shower and I need to do this. It starts with an M. Yes. You said it. Yes. Voice. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. Which is STU right in the middle. So there you go. That's a little taste of the new book edited by Mike with Greg's contribution. But Greg. Very small contribution. Well, but we've also got this. It's too hot for the book version. Got it. So we'll be right back with Greg's audio puzzle. So puzzleers, I want to tell you about a delightful new addition to my morning routine. Of course, the first thing I do in the morning is the crossword and connections. But after that, I have a delicious Asahi berry pomegranate drink made by the folks at I am eight. This is a drink with 92 nutrient-rich ingredients. It's designed by folks from the Mayo Clinic and Cedar, Si and I and tested in clinical trials. And since I started drinking I am eight a few weeks ago, I'm feeling more energetic. I'm feeling my puzzling mind is sharper. Now could this be the placebo effect? It could be. But you know what? I am not going to take the chance. It's working for me and I'm going to keep drinking my I am eight every day. And if you want to join me, go to I am eight health dot com slash hello puzzlers and use the code Hello Puzzlers for a free welcome kit. Five free travel sachets plus 10% off your order. Sash A good obscure word means a little package. I am eight health dot com slash hello puzzlers. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose or prevent any disease. As some listeners might know, I recently read Mobey Dick, which to my surprise I like quite a bit. Now how did I have time to read an 800 page book? I will tell you. It is thanks to factor meals. I am not kidding. Factor meals are healthy, delicious, fully prepared meals designed by dieticians and created by chefs and send straight to your home. There are a hundred rotating meals to choose from for all sorts of tastes, including vegetarian. Like me, there is muscle pro for the protein cravings out there. No prep, no stress. I am particularly loving the marinara mushroom lasagna very tasty. So even if you don't want to read Mobey Dick, but do want extra time and less hassle in your life, head to factor meals dot com slash puzzlers 50 off. That's puzzlers the numbers 50 OFF. And then use that same code, puzzlers 50 off to get 50% off and free breakfast for a year. Eat like a pro this month with factor. New subscribers only varies by plan. One free breakfast item per box for one year while subscription is active. Hello puzzlers. Welcome back to the Hello Puzzlers podcast. I am here with Chief Puzzle Officer Greg, Pliscot and Greg. We've been talking about the new book of full of puzzles by Mike Selenker and it is called the hunting of the shark, but you contributed a puzzle, but also there's a puzzle you contributed to Mike's company that we've never played before, but we want to do very bad. Didn't make it in the book. But look, I'm a huge fan of loan shark and everything they do. And Mike has been very kind to invite me to contribute to a few projects over the years. One of them was a great book called The Maze of Games, which was a narrative as well as being filled with puzzles. And Mike wrote it, illustrations were done by Pete Venters, who's a terrific illustrator. And it follows these two teenagers from 1897 who end up trapped in a maze filled with puzzles. So I contributed a couple puzzles to the project, including a song that plays on a radio show that plays inside the maze itself. So you can get separate from the book. You can get this audio companion called the gatekeeper's variety hour that is a radio show. And one of the songs that plays on the radio show is a thing I wrote called the prospector's song. Wow, that's like inception. Levels within levels within levels. Exactly. Maze of Games has got several levels of things that people contributed around it. There's a prologue called the conundra copia. And then there's the gatekeeper's variety hour. All of this can be found on the loan shark website, which we mentioned would be in the show notes and on Patreon for people who want to go check this stuff out. Anyway, this song is called Looking for Gold in All the Wrong Places. And as a puzzle, it's designed to be solved by someone who can start and stop the audio file, listen to it, try to figure out what's going on, and so on, sort of in real time. So we're not going to do that on the show. What we'll do is play the audio. And if you're interested, listeners, in tackling the puzzle, I recommend pausing and rewinding as much as you want. And we will avoid any spoilers until after we listen to the song. And then I'll go through and we'll sort of solve each clue as we go. So if you don't want to be spoiled, listen to the song, get out your pencil and paper, try to solve it. And then if you want to get in on the solving action, then you can restart and listen from there. So let's go ahead and play the song. I'm here to tell a tale about a prospector of old who wandered across this wide, wide world, a searchin' for some gold. But everywhere he aimed his pick on Stona Rock or Grind, it never showed the mother load. No gold was to be found. ♪ ♪ ♪ Looking for gold in all the wrong places ♪ Pickin' and diggin' but ignoring all the traces ♪ It's elementary, just follow all the clues ♪ And you will hit a nugget you can use ♪ ♪ ♪ He came to San Francisco sailing through that golden door ♪ He had a slice of chocolate cake and should've had one more ♪ The golds in what he ate while his pick was in the straight ♪ His skin began to broil as the sun was beating down ♪ Too many days outside it turned his face a reddish brown ♪ A desperate lack of shade had dulled his pick-axe played ♪ The weather then turned foul and a blast of wind came through ♪ He found a stately mansion where he sheltered while it blew ♪ The house was safe and worn but his pick was in the storm ♪ They asked him for a song but he could not sing a note ♪ So he sailed off to an island of Hawaii on a boat ♪ His pick was in the song and that's where he went wrong ♪ He slammed his pick-axe in that wood where everybody eats ♪ He saw a striking scene of all the diners in their seats ♪ His pick showed no reward as he pulled it from that board ♪ He spent a summer month writing out for 30 days ♪ And saw a vast Alaskan town emerging from the haze ♪ And while those people slept a clanking beat he kept ♪ He swung his pick just like the hammer of a Viking god ♪ He should have been a writer which I know seems kind of odd ♪ If he could find his niche as a writer he'd be rich ♪ The prospector was sure he said as on his horse he sat ♪ He should have fried his pick-axe in a little bit of fat ♪ But where the stallion stopped the miners' axe was chopped ♪ He whacked his axe into a dish and marveled at the sound ♪ Which echoed off the canyon near some high and level ground ♪ If riches were his wish he missed them with that dish ♪ A single pick-axe stroke sounds like an Ian Morse's code ♪ But close examination shows he missed a mother load ♪ It's shorter than a dash how the miner lost his cash ♪ He sailed to London town to find the raincoat that he wears ♪ Then to the part of China that the Portuguese called theirs ♪ To find the gold he chased that raincoat was a waste ♪ He gambled with his axe and when he lost it was a blow ♪ A doozy of an outcome left him feeling rather low ♪ The wager of his pick left him impoverished and sick ♪ Unlike that girl from Uncle Tom ♪ His hope had grown so small ♪ The post-mortem would show he died with no hope left at all ♪ No child from Harriet Stowe could soften such a blow ♪ Looking for gold in all the wrong places ♪ Pick in and dig in but ignoring all the traces ♪ It's a lamentary just follow all the clues ♪ And you will hit a nugget you can use ♪ Yes you will hit a nugget you can use ♪ Take it on hold ♪ All right so there you go that's the song that is me attempting to sing that's my pal Matt Semella playing fiddle and the rest of the instruments are all me so if you want to solve this puzzle stop listening go back fast forward rewind take notes now I'll explain how this works so the basic gimmick is this the prospector is looking for gold in all the wrong places now what I don't say in the lyrics explicitly is that each verse clues two words one of which has the chemical symbol for gold as we were talking about chemical symbols a moment ago AU it's got AU added or inserted to make a new word ah okay interesting all right the intro also tells you that is pick misses the gold and hits the other word will come back to that later because there's a metapuzzle involved if you don't forget into but at its heart this is a classic hello puzzlers kind of puzzle you take a word you add or insert AU and get a new word great I'm already thinking of I'm trying to come up with come up with a pause and work you were listening to the song you probably caught a couple is it went by but we'll go through verse by verse right your first the lyric first I bring in senior puzzler Andre show where yeah let's get Andrea and Adam Adam absolutely all right let's have it all right so he came to San Francisco sailing through that golden door he had a slice of chocolate cake and should have had one more so there are two words there one is a four letter word and the other is six letters because it has AU added to it a four letter word and a six letter word okay I'm not sure who he came what's the golden thing in San Francisco yeah golden gate oh I thought you said gate ah okay no AU is that me is that the dessert get tau yes yeah gate get oh good toe yeah get to us right the cake that's mentioned in the second line so that's the word get to got it okay gate and get to now you also hear in the song it says the prospectors pick was in the straight meaning in the word gate it was in that so and there's two clinks of his pickaxe in the song what that means I'll tell you right now is you take the second letter of the shorter word oh gate and that's the letter a okay so we got a that's gonna come in handy some point on guessing yeah yeah and we want we want to have to go through that for everything you can do that if you're solving on your own but that you know the he's looking for gold in the wrong places so his pickaxe never hits the word with AU it hits the other word and in this case it hits the a got it all right here's verse verse two his skin began to broil as the sun was beating down too many days outside had turned his face a reddish brown all right nicely done nicely done also a four letter word and a six letter word I think I got somewhere with it you want to hear my theory I mean it's somewhere in the tan tawny tawny is that right no there's a the reddish brown word actually has AU in it the reddish brown word has AU in it six letter word Auburn there it is Auburn Auburn exactly we and burn is the shorter word I remember that because we did a what are two colleges that have a very similar name and it's Auburn and Brown oh yeah very good I feel like yeah Auburn as a color you don't hear that that often so I like being reminded of that shade in my mind's eye yeah we use it to describe hair most often right Auburn hair I think all right good so there's two pickaxes on that one that's the letter you I won't do that for everyone now I'll just spell out the final answer when we get to the end verse three the weather then turned foul and a blast of wind came through he found a stately mansion where he sheltered while it blew all right again a four letter word that has AU stuck on the front to make a six letter word well I have a four letter word for a blast of wind but I don't think it's right yeah yeah I was gonna say go all day but that AUGAL AUGAL the world so you got the right first letter what's another blast of wind the searcher G gust and August August August the state word for stately August all right excellent next verse they asked him for a song but he could not sing a note so he sailed off to an island of Hawaii on a boat oh look at that oh it's got it I got the second part yeah certainly Maui Maui island of Hawaii you in it and if you remove the AU you get the first part well what's the clue again he could not sing a note oh a note so it's not about not singing it's just the word for a note which is Dore me me me and Maui me and Maui exactly love it all right he slammed his pickaxe in that wood where everybody eats he saw a striking scene of all the diners in their seats I like it Andre has nodding she knows well I guess I just have French on the mind because of the AU. Yes. This one was easy for me. It's table to tablet. Yes. Table to tablet. Would where everybody eats? I've got all the ones that end with the A. That's very good. That's very good. All right. You're cooking. Now, he spent a summer month a writing out for 30 days and saw a vast, a laskin town emerging from the haze. Yeah. I think I saw a con. I mean, there's, it's nice because there's not a lot of summer months. So I know what it and we know a lot of the laskin towns either. You already use August. So it's June and June. Yes. You got it. You got it. All right. He swung his pick just like the hammer of a Viking God. He should have been a writer, which I know seems kind of odd. Again at the end. Not at the end. It's you. Well, you, I know what you're thinking, but you'd have to add an extra letter to make that one. Oh, yeah. That's what I was thinking. It's not a specific writing. I'm thinking, oh, at the beginning, oh, yes, you're right. Oh, you're right. You're right. So it's not thored to the road. I was initially thinking it's thored to all the way. Yes. Very good. Well, you guys are, you guys are getting this now. All right. The prospector was sure he said as on his horse, he sat. He should have fried his pickaxe in a little bit of fat. Aha. Interesting. All right. Let's see. This is trickier because the AU is going inside the word, not at the beginning or the end. A saute and steer, steer and saute. You're on the right track. It's past tense of fried in a little bit of fat. Sautéed and is that it? Steed. Steed. There it is. Steed. Steed or sauteed. Yeah. All right. Good. It backs into a dish and marveled at the sound which echoed off the canyon near some high and level ground. Wow. Okay. I don't know. I got one part of that. I think I got one. I think I got it. It's another one that you got. What do you got? That's it. Plateau. Plateau. And then take off the AU at the end. Plate. Yeah. Plate is a dish. All right. A single pickaxe stroke sounds like an E in Morse's code. That close examination shows he'd missed the mother load. Oh. I don't know what's going on. An E in Morse code. So is that how are we talking Ditz and Dots? Mmm. Yes we are. Well, I still don't know what's going on. That old term for the single dot in Morse code, a DIT or single DIT. A DIT. A DIT. A DIT. A DIT. Yes. Close examination is A DIT. Good one. All right. Close to the finish here. He sailed to London town to find the raincoat that he wears, then to the part of China that the Portuguese called theirs. Looking for a raincoat and a Chinese port town? A Chinese. Yeah, it's actually a, I believe it's a semi-autonomous territory of China. It's an island. Is that the one with the AU? Yeah. Oh, I don't know. Raincoat. Well, let's go with raincoat. Oh, how about Macat? How about Macau? That's the one. Mac and Macau. Mac is a British term for raincoat. Macintosh. Yeah. All right. Two more verses. He gambled with his axe. And when he lost, it was a blow. A doozy of an outcome left him feeling rather low. Another tricky one with the AU stuck inside another word. All right. I'm trying. Modeling. Modeling is an AU. This shorter. It's a five-letter word with the AU. Are we looking for a gambling phrase of some type? We're looking for a synonym for gambled. Oh, bet. Bet. Oh, bet and butte. Butte, a doozy of an outcome. Oh, very good. Bet and butte. Okay. I love it. And your last one, I think this is the longest word or tied for the longest word in the puzzle. Even like that girl from Uncle Tom, his hope had grown so small, the post-mortem would show he died with no hope left at all. Jesus. It got dark. It's very sad. Wow. It's very sad. Oh my God. I was expecting some fun and instant to press. Poor prospector. Just a modland. I'm very modland. All right. What's the name of the girl in Uncle Tom's cabin? I wish I remembered. And what's another word for post-mortem? Post-mortem was autopsy. So I'm guessing. Topsy? Mm-hmm. I did. I have not remembered that or known it. But that's the thing about puzzle. I've learned from Hello Puzzlers. You do not need to know. You can work it out. You get two ways in. So your last step, if you've been keeping track of all the pickaxes and what letters you get from each of these 13 words, you spell out the phrase. Augment Spices. Augment Spices. MSG? No. It's actually much less tricky. You simply do the thing you've been doing. Spice. Over and over again. Oh, ospices. Ospices. Ospices. Ospices. Is the final answer to the puzzle. Very clever. Very clever. All right. Classic. I love a Metapuzzle. Love a Metapuzzle. So fun. I know. Got to have them. Anyway, there you go. There you go. I've got a good segue though. Don't worry. Because Metapuzzles, you know where you can find some more Metapuzzles on our Patreon page. Patreon.com/HelloPuzzlers. And we would love for you to join. We are having a good time over there. We're chatting. We have extra videos, bonus episodes, newsletter. Newsletter. Newsletter. So please join us there. It's a free tier and also a VIP tier. And of course, we'll see you here next time for more puzzling puzzles. That will puzzle you puzzlingly.