GC SF Sp WH BV YL BT CP SA CB CC Back to puzzle

Safari Adventure

Ox (Bull)

by Todd Etter
Answers: BROW, EXTRACTOR, STORY

This puzzle consists of 16 mini puzzles, each of which only uses Os and Xs in various ways.

Paintings

Each drawing is a famous painting.

  • AmeriCan Gothic
  • ChristIna’s World
  • The STarry Night
  • Girl With a PeArl Earring
  • WhisTler’s Mother
  • The Treachery of Images
  • The Old Guitarist
  • The CreatioN of Adam

The red letters spell CITATION.

Constellations

Take the name of the constellation and index into it by the order number of the Greek letter of the highlighted star.

Cygnus      gamma      3 G
Orion       beta       2 R
Canis Major iota       9 O
Ursa Major  alpha      1 U
Scorpius    epsilon    5 P

Answer is GROUP.

Planets

Index into the indicated planets (ordering by the small Xs at the bottom):

nePtune
pLuto
urAnus
jupIter
veNus

Answer is PLAIN.

Binary Multiplication

The top shows four multiplication problems and how to convert them to 8-bit binary. Do that with the bottom three equations to get

22 = OOOXOXXO
96 = OXXOOOOO
85 = OXOXOXOX

The picture of the head with the eyes crossed out is a hint to read the resulting string as Braille (with Os as the dots), yielding the answer PORT.

Font point size

The top displays 26 Xs in point size from 1 to 26.

Looking at the second string, you can convert the point size to alphanumeric letters to get the answer ROUND WINDOW.

Chemical elements

Depicted are the electron configurations for the elements Beryllium and Argon, whose symbols make the word BEAR.

45 men with variously sized heads

There are 45 “men” in a row, which suggests US Presidents. The three presidents with larger heads are ADAMS, COOLIDGE, and TRUMAN, which spells ACT.

Groups of people

These are famous groups of people. Take the highlighted character and index by the indicated letter.

The Simpsons                  Homer            H
Wives of Henry XIII           anne bolEyn      E
The Fellowship of the Ring    fRodo            R
Fantastic Four                mister fantaStic S
Snow White and Seven Dwarfs   basHful          H
The Hunger Games              pEeta            E
The Brady Bunch               cindY            Y
Game of Thrones Stark Family  SanSa            S

Answer is HERSHEYS.

Board Games

Take the indicated letter of the highlighted piece of the particular board game depicted.

Chess            Rook
Monopoly         water wOrks
Battleship       Battleship
Trivial Pursuit  rOll again
Scrabble         Triple letter score

Answer is ROBOT.

“O” songs

Take the name of the song clip and index by the number of “Oh”s in the clip.
Single Ladies                           4  G
Bad Romance                             5  O
Use Somebody                            9  O
Viva La Vida                            9  D
Spaceman                                8  N
Livin on a Prayer                       2  I
My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark  6  G
Hey There Delilah                      15  H
Some Nights                             9  T

Answer is GOODNIGHT.

Slitherlinks

Solve the six slitherlink puzzles. The loops for each puzzle spell out letters to get the answer CHANGE.

Sports scoreboards

Each set is a scoreboard from a particular sport. The red character indicates a letter on that scoreboard.

TENNIS                               SETS     T
BASEBALL                             R (runs) R
AUTO RACING                          LAP      A
FOOTBALL                             DOWN     D
DARTS (specifically Cricket Darts)   CRICKET  I
ICE HOCKEY                           PENALTY  T
BASKETBALL                           POINTS   I
GOLF                                 HOLE     O
HORSE RACING                         WIN      N
Answer is TRADITION.

Connect the Dots

The groups of 26 letters on the left spell out words using the large Xs. These words all suggest a word which relates to one of the words on the right side. Connect the dots and index into the left words by the number of Xs crossed.

vaCation    OOO
bullOck     OX
degRees     O
treasuRe    X
dOsequis    XX
glaSses     OO
utensIls    OXO
moOnshine   XXX
cogNac      XO

Answer is CORROSION.

Disneyworld

This is a map of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Order by the Os and take the indicated letters.

space mounTain                  T
big thundEr mountain railroad   E
pirates of the caribbeaN        N
haunteD mansion                 D
jungle cruIse                   I
tomorrowlaNd speedway           N
dumbo the flyinG elephant       G

Answer is TENDING.

Keyboards

These are keyboard diagrams with the X and O in their appropriate positions. The red letters spell out FIRST.

Country flags

These are depictions of stars on various country flags. Take the indicated letters.

Brazil       B
KosOvo       O
TuvalU       U
TuRkmenistan R
UzBekistan   B
ComorOs      O
PaNama       N

Answer is BOURBON.

Metapuzzles

The final section is three metapuzzles.

O

Four of the answers have the indicated O patterns.

ROBOT
BOURBON
CORROSION
ROUNDWINDOW

The middle letters spell BROW.

X

Seven of the answers can have “EX” added to the front to make a new, unrelated word.

exACT T
exPORT R
exPLAIN A
exCHANGE C
exTENDING T
exCITATION O
exTRADITION R

Repeat the gimmick with the indicated letters to get EXTRACTOR.

XOXO

The name of this meta is a hint for hugs and kisses. Five of the answers are types of hugs or kisses.

FIRST
GOODNIGHT
GROUP
BEAR
HERSHEYS

Answer is STORY.