by Dan Katz
Answer: SUCKOTASH
Answers Used
  • AMBIGUOUS
  • BLOAT
  • ICONOGRAPHY
  • OVERSUBSCRIBE
  • SBARRO
  • ROADHOG
  • SUBPROBLEM
  • TURBOCHARGER
  • WARDROBE

The nine answers for this metapuzzle each have a different length from 5 letters to 13 letters. In addition, each contains a total of three instances of the letters A, B, and O, the letters used in blood typing. These sequences of three letters can each be interpreted as a base three number, with A = 1, B = 2, and O = 0. (This conflicts slightly with the standard ABO ordering, but since O looks like 0 and A and B correspond to 1 and 2 alphanumerically, it's probably the most natural translation.) Reading the Nth letter of the alphabet in length order, where N is the number encoded in base three, reveals the answer, SUCKOTASH.

AnswerBlood TypesTernaryDecimalLetter
BLOATBOA20119S
SBARROBAO21021U
ROADHOGOAO01003C
WARDROBEAOB10211K
AMBIGUOUSABO12015O
SUBPROBLEMBOB20220T
ICONOGRAPHYOOA00101A
TURBOCHARGERBOA20119S
OVERSUBSCRIBEOBB02208H