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Solution to Kenkennedy

Author: Dan Katz

This puzzle involves both the logic puzzle trademarked in the US as KenKen (known in the public domain as calcudoku or occasionally TomTom) and professional wrestling. Ken Kennedy, a former WWE wrestler, provides the link between these concepts but is otherwise irrelevant to the puzzle.

Each of the "Let me tell you something" snippets is an imagined interview with a pro wrestler building up their match at the pay-per-view event SummerSlam. There have been twenty-six SummerSlam events as of January 2014, and each snippet is from a different event, creating a correspondence between the numbers from 1 to 26 and the letters of the alphabet.

  • 1 (1988) - Y - Ultimate Warrior vs. Honky Tonk Man
  • 2 (1989) - W - Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake vs. Randy Savage & Zeus
  • 3 (1990) - D - Bad News Brown vs. Jake Roberts
  • 4 (1991) - L - Randy Savage marries Miss Elizabeth
  • 5 (1992) - U - Shawn Michaels vs. Rick Martel
  • 6 (1993) - M - Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzales
  • 7 (1994) - R - Tatanka vs. Lex Luger
  • 8 (1995) - S - Isaac Yankem vs. Bret Hart
  • 9 (1996) - H - Mankind vs. Undertaker
  • 10 (1997) - P - Los Boricuas vs. Disciples of the Apocalypse
  • 11 (1998) - O - D-Lo Brown vs. Val Venis
  • 12 (1999) - T - Big Boss Man vs. Al Snow
  • 13 (2000) - C - Right To Censor vs. Rikishi & Too Cool
  • 14 (2001) - A - Booker T vs. The Rock
  • 15 (2002) - E - The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar
  • 16 (2003) - Q - Shane McMahon vs. Eric Bischoff
  • 17 (2004) - N - Matt Hardy vs. Kane
  • 18 (2005) - I - Hulk Hogan vs. Shawn Michaels
  • 19 (2006) - B - Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair
  • 20 (2007) - X - Rey Misterio vs. Chavo Guerrero
  • 21 (2008) - G - Undertaker vs. Edge
  • 22 (2009) - K - Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Jr.
  • 23 (2010) - Z - Team WWE vs. The Nexus
  • 24 (2011) - F - Randy Orton vs. Christian
  • 25 (2012) - J - Daniel Bryan vs. Kane
  • 26 (2013) - V - Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow

When each capital letter in a puzzle grid is replaced by its corresponding number, the grids become uniquely solvable. The rules are that each row and column must contain the digits 1 to 6, and in each "cage," applying the given mathematical operation should result in the given number. (Note that in a cage with more than three blocks, subtraction and division are cumulative; the larger number is divided by or reduced by all the smaller numbers in turn. Also, the lowercase letters are ignored while solving.) The solutions are below:

Once the grids are solved, each lowercase-letter square has a number in it, as follows:

  • a = 3
  • b = 4
  • c = 4
  • d = 2
  • e = 3
  • f = 5
  • g = 3
  • h = 5
  • i = 3
  • j = 2
  • k = 6
  • l = 2
  • m = 4
  • n = 1
  • o = 3
  • p = 2
  • q = 5
  • r = 4

These numbers can be inserted into the sums at the bottom of the puzzle. They yield numbers between 1 and 26 that can then be converted into capital letters using the code above to spell CUT PROMO AT HQ.

  • b + h + m = 13 = C
  • d + n + p = 5 = U
  • a + f + m = 12 = T
  • g + j + q = 10 = P
  • d + i + p = 7 = R
  • c + h + l = 11 = O
  • e + j + n = 6 = M
  • b + i + r = 11 = O
  • c + k + r = 14 = A
  • g + k + o = 12 = T
  • a + e + o = 9 = H
  • f + k + q = 16 = Q

In pro wrestling lingo, to "cut a promo" means to give an interview hyping up a future match (as in the interview segments in this puzzle). Teams must call HQ and make an appointment to cut their own promo; when we do so, they are given the puzzle answer. [Note: This puzzle was written as a backup, so it is designed to replace any puzzle as necessary, since any answer can be given to the team after they cut a promo.]