Character Witness
Mark Halpin and Joe Cabrera
The inclusion of two duplicate files, plus the reference to animals “reproduced below”, is meant to lead solvers to the realization that all of the animal types depicted have been successfully cloned. The line “when introduced” should be applied to both the cloned animals and the cartoon characters. The difference between the year of each animal’s first cloning and its jersey number gives a number in the 1–26 alphanumeric range; these letters are then ordered by introduction of cartoon character.
Character | Animal | First Appearance | Jersey | Year Cloned | Difference | Letter |
The Big Bad Wolf | wolf | 1933: The Three Little Pigs (Walt Disney) | 18 | ’05 | 13 | M |
Billy Boy | goat | 1954: Billy Boy (MGM short) | 21 | ’00 | 21 | U |
El Kabong | horse | 1959: The Quick Draw McGraw Show | 7 | ’03 | 4 | D |
Mushmouse | mouse | 1964: The Magilla Gorilla Show | 101 | ’97 | 4 | D |
Muttley | dog | 1968: Wacky Races | 30 | ’05 | 25 | Y |
Stimpy | cat | 1990: Ren & Stimpy | 10 | ’01 | 9 | I |
Oscar Wildcat | wildcat | 1999: Queer Duck (Icebox.com) | 22 | ’03 | 19 | S |
Sheep | sheep | 2000: Sheep in the Big City | 119 | ’96 | 23 | W |
Spanky Ham | pig | 2004: Drawn Together | 8 | ’00 | 8 | H |
Vice-Coach Horace Ferret | ferret | 2005: My Gym Partner’s a Monkey | 7 | ’06 | 1 | A |
Remy | rat | 2007: Ratatouille | 23 | ’03 | 20 | T |
The letters spelled out, “MUDDY IS WHAT?”, can in the context of a cartoon character-based puzzle be answered with MUDSKIPPER, the final solution word.