« return to puzzle

These Ain't No Underpants Gnomes

by Nathan Fung

Each list names two events in the life of an Oscar winner, in particular, a winner of the Best Actor award.

The actors in order are as follows:

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
JAMES STEWART
ROBERT DE NIRO
JON VOIGHT
DENZEL WASHINGTON
RUSSELL CROWE
MARLON BRANDO
JOHN WAYNE
ADRIEN BRODY
ALEC GUINNESS
JEREMY IRONS
BURT LANCASTER
NICOLAS CAGE
ROBERT DUVALL
LAURENCE OLIVIER
KEVIN SPACEY
SIDNEY POITIER

These names can be placed in order by Best Actor win unambiguously keeping in mind that the events in each three-step list are in chronological order, which means that step 2 on Brando's list occurred in 1954 (he bought the land before his second win). Placing the names in order of win and indexing into the names by the number of question marks in step 2 of each list spells out MAN IN ON GOLDEN POND, which clues the final answer HENRY FONDA.