Penny Park Guide
by Asher Walkover, Wei-Hwa Huang (graphic design)
Answer: FIREBALL ROBERTS
This penny-themed puzzle comprises five mini-puzzles, each of which gives one step of the instructions for revealing the final answer. The “How to Use This Guide” section contains hints for finding and solving the mini-puzzles, in order.
Next in the celebrity visitors section, each of those attractions can again be found, but this time ONE CENT is removed and replaced with something else - for example, DRONE CENTURION became DRUID MALFURION, and ZONE CENTRAL became ZINC MINERAL.
Since ONE CENT is missing from the names of those attractions, help out by cutting out the coins from the coin collection part of the guide, and positioning them over the phrases like DRUID MALFURION. The ONE CENT pennies are numbered, as are the attractions, so the correct penny can be placed over the correct attraction. The number on each of the ONE CENT pennies ends up sitting on top of a different word.
The back of each of these ONE CENT pennies has a word or two from the poem, which is a form of wordplay. Apply this wordplay to word that's identified by the ONE CENT number, to extract the answer:
ONE: FIND AND CUT OUT TWO ORANGE REGIONS
This gives the instruction ATBASH GRID. Applying the atbash encoding to the grid, and reading the letters that weren't part of any word found in the wordsearch, spells a new message - OVERLAY THIS SHAPE ON BLUE AD. Cut the shape made by the found words out of the word search grid, and position it on top of the blue ad. Most of the words of the blue ad are hidden, but the remaining words give the answer.
TWO: CONNECT CENTERS OF RED PENNIES
THREE: VALLEY FOLD
These eight CU words have synonyms hidden in the Penny Pub ad. Draw a line from word to word, in element order (the same order as the trivia questions), and you'll find this line passes through other words in the ad, one per pair of elements. These words form the answer.
FOUR: REPEAT THIS PROCESS WITH LIME PENNIES
The next insight is each attraction has a second coordinate associated with it - one of the words in the attraction's name rhymes with a number from one to nine, and the other starts with a letter from A to I. For example, TREE FORTRESS is hinting 3F, and WINE BARREL is 9B.
Resolve the slitherlink with these new coordinates, and this time the first letters of the attractions inside of the fence spell FIFTH LETTERS. Take the fifth letter of every attraction, in the order given in the guide.
FIVE: POKE HOLES IN RED AND BLUE LETTERS
ONE: FIND AND CUT OUT TWO ORANGE REGIONS
TWO: CONNECT CENTERS OF RED PENNIES
THREE: VALLEY FOLD
FOUR: REPEAT THIS PROCESS WITH LIME PENNIES
FIVE: POKE HOLES IN RED AND BLUE LETTERS
Follow these instructions in order. The two orange regions are the large background across the top of the backside of the brochure, and the parking lot in the castle map. The red and blue letters refer to letters in K PENNITON JEON, in the king's crown, and in WELCOME TO CASTLE REGION around the map.
If everything is properly folded, the artwork should line up to form a large image of the reverse side of a US penny:
The scroll that says PENNY PARK corresponds to the ONE CENT scroll
The top of the king's head and his crown correspond to the top of the shield.
The ferris wheel helps make the bottom of the shield.
K PENNITON JEON ends up, character for character, where E PLURIBUS UNUM should be.
Similarly WELCOME TO CASTLE REGION where UNITED STATES OF AMERICA should be.
The rollercoaster and firework trails help align the pieces too.
The holes that were poked out in certain letters of the artwork reveal the numbers from 1 to 15 beneath them, from the awards section of the guide. These define the 15 letters of the solution; pick the letter corresponding to the hole that the number is visible through, but don't use the letter from the guide - use the letter from a real penny. For example, through the hole where the E in PENNITON was you'll see the numbers 07 and 08. PENNITON is taking the position of PLURIBUS on a penny, so the 7th and 8th letters of the answer are L.
FIREBALL ROBERTS
Puzzle 1 - Attraction names, famous visitors, coin collection and poem.
The guide challenges you to identify eight attractions at Penny Park, which becomes easier when you discover that they each have ONE CENT hidden in them - the DRONE CENTURION, HEADSTONE CENTIMETERS, etc.Next in the celebrity visitors section, each of those attractions can again be found, but this time ONE CENT is removed and replaced with something else - for example, DRONE CENTURION became DRUID MALFURION, and ZONE CENTRAL became ZINC MINERAL.
Since ONE CENT is missing from the names of those attractions, help out by cutting out the coins from the coin collection part of the guide, and positioning them over the phrases like DRUID MALFURION. The ONE CENT pennies are numbered, as are the attractions, so the correct penny can be placed over the correct attraction. The number on each of the ONE CENT pennies ends up sitting on top of a different word.
The back of each of these ONE CENT pennies has a word or two from the poem, which is a form of wordplay. Apply this wordplay to word that's identified by the ONE CENT number, to extract the answer:
| DRONE CENTURION | DRUID MALFURION | FOUNDER | (evens) | ONE |
| HEADSTONE CENTIMETERS | HEADSTAND MILLIMETERS | FINED | (sounds like) | FIND |
| ZONE CENTRAL | ZINC MINERAL | DNA | (reverse) | AND |
| PHONE CENTERPIECE | PHISH MASTERPIECE | WON | (shift six) | CUT |
| UNDERTONE CENTENARY | UNDERTOOK MERCENARY | IN | (opposite of) | OUT |
| LEONE CENTAURI | LEGAL THESAURI | FOUR | (halve) | TWO |
| BONE CENTURY | BOTH MERCURY | YELLOW | (add red) | ORANGE |
| THRONE CENTRIST | THRICE HUMORIST | IGNORES | (mix-up) | REGIONS |
ONE: FIND AND CUT OUT TWO ORANGE REGIONS
Puzzle 2 - Word Search and the blue ad
The word search is hiding, as it claims, ten penny-related words. Each of the words is five letters long and shares many letters in common with the word PENNY; the letters which are different provide a binary encoding.| PENNE | 00001 | A |
| FERNY | 10100 | T |
| PENLY | 00010 | B |
| PENNS | 00001 | A |
| KENYA | 10011 | S |
| PUNNY | 01000 | H |
| PEKOE | 00111 | G |
| HENRY | 10010 | R |
| PANNE | 01001 | I |
| PEONY | 00100 | D |
TWO: CONNECT CENTERS OF RED PENNIES
Puzzle 3 - The Op-ed and animal pound
The Old Man's article contains lots of phrases that are supposed to have “penny” in them, but have been replaced with other imposter words. The whole article is opposite to the picture of the animal pound with animal silhouettes. Each of the imposter words is exactly opposite from either an animal's head or tail. This heads or tails indication tells you whether to extract the first or last letter of the imposter word.| Cost a pretty NEAT | tail | T |
| MUCH stock | tail | H |
| REGAL arcade | head | R |
| In for a SURPRISE in for a pound | tail | E |
| MIRACLE from heaven | tail | E |
| VYING for your thoughts | head | V |
| AMOUNT saved is… | head | A |
| ... a SALESGAL earned | tail | L |
| Miss moneyLENDERS | head | L |
| MORE dreadful | tail | E |
| MEMORY lane | tail | Y |
| Worth every FAMILY | head | F |
| OTHERwise the clown | head | O |
| THAT'LL pinch | tail | L |
| OXFORD loafers | tail | D |
THREE: VALLEY FOLD
Puzzle 4 - Trivia time, penny pub ad
The eight trivia facts about pennies are clues to eight items which start with the symbols of the first eight elements. Each of these element symbols can be replaced with the symbol for copper (CU) to form a new word.These eight CU words have synonyms hidden in the Penny Pub ad. Draw a line from word to word, in element order (the same order as the trivia questions), and you'll find this line passes through other words in the ad, one per pair of elements. These words form the answer.
| HE | CUE | PROMPT |
| FOUR | ||
| HERB | CURB | ROADSIDE |
| REPEAT | ||
| LIPID | CUPID | REINDEER |
| THIS | ||
| BELL | CULL | SELECT |
| PROCESS | ||
| BRIE | CURIE | MARIE |
| WITH | ||
| CRATE | CURATE | ARRANGE |
| LIME | ||
| NBA | CUBA | ISLAND |
| PENNIES | ||
| OTTER | CUTTER | KNIFE |
FOUR: REPEAT THIS PROCESS WITH LIME PENNIES
Puzzle 5 - The map
The coordinates of the various attractions, together with the attraction ratings of 0, 1, 2 or 3, form a 9x9 slitherlink puzzle. Put the locations on the map with their numbers, solve the slitherlink, and look at the first letters of the attractions that end up on the inside of the fence. They spell out FIND RHYME COORDS.The next insight is each attraction has a second coordinate associated with it - one of the words in the attraction's name rhymes with a number from one to nine, and the other starts with a letter from A to I. For example, TREE FORTRESS is hinting 3F, and WINE BARREL is 9B.
Resolve the slitherlink with these new coordinates, and this time the first letters of the attractions inside of the fence spell FIFTH LETTERS. Take the fifth letter of every attraction, in the order given in the guide.
FIVE: POKE HOLES IN RED AND BLUE LETTERS
Final puzzle
The five mini puzzles spell out five instructions:ONE: FIND AND CUT OUT TWO ORANGE REGIONS
TWO: CONNECT CENTERS OF RED PENNIES
THREE: VALLEY FOLD
FOUR: REPEAT THIS PROCESS WITH LIME PENNIES
FIVE: POKE HOLES IN RED AND BLUE LETTERS
Follow these instructions in order. The two orange regions are the large background across the top of the backside of the brochure, and the parking lot in the castle map. The red and blue letters refer to letters in K PENNITON JEON, in the king's crown, and in WELCOME TO CASTLE REGION around the map.
If everything is properly folded, the artwork should line up to form a large image of the reverse side of a US penny:
The scroll that says PENNY PARK corresponds to the ONE CENT scroll
The top of the king's head and his crown correspond to the top of the shield.
The ferris wheel helps make the bottom of the shield.
K PENNITON JEON ends up, character for character, where E PLURIBUS UNUM should be.
Similarly WELCOME TO CASTLE REGION where UNITED STATES OF AMERICA should be.
The rollercoaster and firework trails help align the pieces too.
The holes that were poked out in certain letters of the artwork reveal the numbers from 1 to 15 beneath them, from the awards section of the guide. These define the 15 letters of the solution; pick the letter corresponding to the hole that the number is visible through, but don't use the letter from the guide - use the letter from a real penny. For example, through the hole where the E in PENNITON was you'll see the numbers 07 and 08. PENNITON is taking the position of PLURIBUS on a penny, so the 7th and 8th letters of the answer are L.
FIREBALL ROBERTS