IAP MYSTERY HUNT

by Greg Brume

Solution: BROWN BUILDING

This retro hunt hearkens back to the first IAP Mystery Hunt from 1980, which is available at http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/80/MH1980-1.pdf and http://web.mit.edu/puzzle/www/80/MH1980-2.pdf. In this puzzle, each subclue gives a word.

Subclue #1: BOXES

Subclue #2: ARE (The subclue's answer is AREA, which is truncated like the word's clues.)

Subclue #3: A (In a Vigenere cipher, the letter A results in no transformation. The text is from the website's Games Magazine article.)

Subclue #4: MAP (The program never enters lines 80-130, and just prints out 13 1 16.)

Subclue #5: I'M (This turns over to become "i'm".)

Subclue #6: BALTIMORE (Charles Vest is the previous president of MIT, and David Baltimore is the previous president of the California Institute of Technology)

Subclue #7: QUARTERBACK

Subclue #8: STEVE (The founders are Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak)

9 Subclue #9: THIS (The last sentence is literal. The runaround is completely unnecessary.)

10 Subclue #10: IS (The quote is from Richard III.)

11 Subclue #11: ACTRESS

12 Subclue #12: MORGAN (The words are "manor" and "organ.")

In box one the answers spell out I'M BALTIMORE QUARTERBACK STEVE. In box three the answers spell out THIS IS ACTRESS MORGAN. These are Baltimore Ravens quarterback Steve McNair and actress Morgan Fairchild, whose surnames are the names of buildings at MIT. The middle box says BOXES ARE A MAP. On the map of MIT, the unnamed box representing the space between McNair and Fairchild is the BROWN BUILDING.