by Matt Gruskin
Answer: MOTHER POPCORN
Problem: Thanksgiving Town/​President’s Day Town

During the summer of 2017, Phish performed 13 concerts in a row at Madison Square Garden without repeating a single song. This was called the “Baker’s Dozen” residency, and each concert had an associated donut flavor. Read this article to learn more about the concerts.

During the Hunt, this puzzle was presented as a box of 13 donuts, with each donut containing a USB flash drive which contained a set of MP3 files with filenames labeled from 01 upwards.

The donut flavors and track listings used in this puzzle correspond to the 13 Baker’s Dozen concerts (http://phish.net/setlists/phish/ is a good resource for Phish setlist data). The Dunkin’ donut flavors were chosen to match the Phish donut flavors as closely as possible. Songs originated by Phish (or Phish side projects) are represented on the flash drives by four seconds of bubble sounds. Songs originated by other artists, but covered by Phish at these concerts, are represented on the flash drives by their original (or typical) versions, processed to sound like they’re underwater.

The exception to this rule is that one of the original Phish songs played at each concert is represented by a different song on that concert’s corresponding flash drive. Each of these songs contains a number in its title, and using this number to index into the title of the original Phish song it replaced spells the answer, MOTHER POPCORN.

Concert date Phish flavor Dunkin’ flavor Track position Phish song Song used in puzzle Extracted letter
July 21, 2017 Coconut Toasted Coconut 18 The Mango Song Four Strong Winds by Ian & Sylvia M
July 22, 2017 Strawberry Strawberry Frosted 6 Mound Two Step by Dave Matthews Band O
July 23, 2017 Red Velvet Red Velvet Drizzle 12 Twist One Week by Barenaked Ladies T
July 25, 2017 Jam Filled Jelly 4 Stash Take Five by Dave Brubeck H
July 26, 2017 Powdered Powdered Sugar 9 Farmhouse Nine Lives by Aerosmith E
July 28, 2017 Double Chocolate Double Chocolate 3 Free Two Princes by Spin Doctors R
July 29, 2017 Cinnamon Cinnamon 16 Letter to Jimmy Page March 14 by Drake P
July 30, 2017 Jimmies Vanilla Frosted with Sprinkles 10 David Bowie 7 by Prince O
August 1, 2017 Maple Maple Frosted 19 Piper One by Three Dog Night P
August 2, 2017 Holes Munchkins 6 NICU Three Little Birds by Bob Marley & The Wailers C
August 4, 2017 Lemon Lemon 6 Ocelot One Tree Hill by U2 O
August 5, 2017 Boston Cream Boston Kreme 15 The Lizards Eight Days A Week by The Beatles R
August 6, 2017 Glazed Glazed 7 Sanity Gimme Three Steps by Lynyrd Skynyrd N