Puzzle solution

[dagibbs]

Obvious first thing: there are four states, as numbered.

1. North Dakota
2. Montana
3. Pennsylvania
4. South Carolina

Clue: "It's Elementary!" -> convert them to elements. How? Well, "IT'S ELEMENTARY" in capitals is crossed out, so we're not going to involve state capitals. But, each state has a 2 letter abbreviation, and many elements do as well. This gives us:

1. Neodymium (Nd)
2. Meitnerium (Mt)
3. Protactinium (Pa)
4. Scandium (Sc)

Now, we need to reduce to one word.

Take letter 1 of word 1, letter 2 of word 2, and so on, we get:

Neon.

When I got there, I thought that was the solution. I tried it, got a "nope" and had to think a bit further.

We go back to the crossed-out "IT'S ELEMENTARY", read it again as "IT'S NOT ELEMENTARY" rather than it's not capitals. We need reverse the first tranformation.

Neon -> Ne -> Nebraska.

The single word answer is "Nebraska".

Comments

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

well, Hell. We WERE close.

(specifically, we got as far as the elements and then added their numbers.)

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Started down the correct path, then took a wrong turn.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

Meh. The scenery was excellent.

[dabunz.livejournal.com]

Thank you. That was a great puzzle.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I got as far as figuring that it had something to do with the abbreviations for the states' names and the elements, but I didn't know about Meitnerium. (And I didn't bother taking the time to look up a current periodic table.)

[cristofcanada.livejournal.com]

I get it, looking at this. But what drives me nuts about these kinds of puzzles is that yes, the person who made it had an answer in mind, and followed a particular path to get to it. Great. But it's not the "answer" so much as "their answer", and the various other clever responses people gave could just as easily have been the answer if they had been the ones to work backwards.

So this is much more a "what thought process did the particular person who is holding the current answer use" versus a "what is the correct answer" kind of question.

Still interesting, though.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I think it may be like cryptic crosswords... there is a certain vocabulary that, once you've done a bunch of them, you recognise -- but until you have done a lot, looks like pick the right type of lateral thinking.

[ilanikhan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was never getting this. I kind of agree with Cristof...this is more a game of guessing the lateral logic of the person making the puzzle.


Another!

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Apparently I was thinking similarly, as I got as far as Neon on my own, then got Nebraska when I found out Neon wasn't the answer.

If I hit another good one in my wanderings, I'll post it as well.

[foms.livejournal.com]

I think that my difficulty is that there is no universal logic, only the logic of particular convention. I don't see a way to derive which set of rules to apply.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Makes sense.