7/20/05 | 12:35 pm | Bounty: Spilt Wine
This is actually an old Mike Z. clue from a ways back in early May. Interestingly, this is NOT the clue that he sent in but is very close to it. (Mike, sorry that means ya can’t solve this one!) It resembles a wineglass being tipped over with the contents spilling out. Hm… do you say “spilt wine” or “spilled wine” or are both OK? Whatever…
You can see it at 14/18 and the word clues for this one will be “Minus Our Minotaur”. Hm… ponder that for a bit.
Of course you are interested in your reward, right? Up for grabs is a cool National Park Service map that I got when I visited the Devil’s Postpile near Mammoth Lakes, California. I think it is actually downloadable on their site, but this is the real printed one I got from there.
I used to be a regular in the High Sierras, going there every single year. Sometimes twice in a year. What for? Why, mostly fishing and camping and hiking. Luckily, my parents were the type of people to spring for a motorhome as opposed to a luxury sedan… It surely saves on lodging when going up there. I don’t do much skiing, but I’ve also been to Mammoth for that. The more popular areas of Mammoth are hell of crowded at times though. I think certain areas are like Yosemite where you need to be bussed in if you don’t get there before a certain time of the day.
I’ve been to the Devil’s Postpile several times… very cool hexagonal rock lava structures. You should visit if you get the chance.
Bounty Name : “Spilt Wine”
Submitted by: Mike Z.
Status : Collected by Chris Re.
Time Elapsed: 10 minutes
Word Clue : “Minus Our Minotaur”
Magnification Needed: 14/18Reward: Devil’s Postpile Park Map
SOLUTION STARTS HERE
Argg. I have to laugh like hell. This bounty was collected by Chris R. less than 10 minutes after I posted. This is no slam on you guys… but you are all just TOO quick!! Anyhow, I am thinking of coming up with a few more Bounties this weekend. What I am going to do from now on is launch them up WITHOUT ANY word clues. It takes a pretty long time to come up with them, so I’m going to need to do this so I can at least a few bounties outstanding.
I think it will still be possible to solve without any word clues (has happened before) but it will at least give the Bounty a chance to be active for a day or two. These are, after all, not meant to be like our regular day long clues… Ok, will be back soon.
PS: Mike’s original clue was the footprint underneath the wineglass…
July 20th, 2005 at 1:48 pm
Ha! good job Chris R.
I just submitted, totally oblivious to the fact you already found it!
Oh well, it was fun
July 20th, 2005 at 7:33 pm
That’s a bunch of BS. The same person solving two bounties in a row is totally unfair. Especially with this one being found in 10 mins. This guy must have nothing to do but sit down at his PC and click refresh every 5 seconds. He could have let others have a chance at this, because he already won one today. This is unbelieveable.
July 20th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
Phil - It is actually a completely DIFFERENT Chris R. that solved this one. A huge coincidence yes, but I have the diff email addresses (and IPs) that prove it.
Actually, I think there is also some confusion about “Time Elapsed”. I launched two Bounties today. This one was solved by Chris Re 10 minutes after it launched. The other one (Rocket Ship) was just solved a little while ago, after about SEVEN hours.
Sigh, maybe these bounties are not a good idea. It is a huge amount of work to put these up in addition to normal clues, because they also involve prizes. The only reason I did it is because I thought people wouldn’t solve it so quickly so we could have a backlog of difficult clues that people could take a crack at, but apparently rooglers are extra smart or they are playing more than I thought they would. I think both actually!
July 20th, 2005 at 9:22 pm
I’m not sure I get the clue even with the solution.
“Minus Our Minotaur” gave me Minta, not Minot.
IOW, Minotaur - Our = Minta. I guess I was too literal. I’m an engineer. Can’t help it.
Was I supposed to go by how it sounds? Subtract the “aur” because it sounds like “our”?
July 21st, 2005 at 9:37 am
I think it’s worth trying to start bounties with no clue at all, just an image…
That’s something difficult enough that might take days! Hell, you could have the bounties be the only scavenger hunts that are worldwide, that’d make it more difficult too.
Don’t be brought down by the naysayers. That guy’s a little too bitter, methinks.
July 22nd, 2005 at 11:21 am
Hey Scav,
Not to keep you busy but, got an explaination for the word clue? I’m kinda slow today. But I still don’t get it.
Thanks
July 22nd, 2005 at 1:28 pm
citizen - well, you are speaking to a former engineer as well. =) I thought about it a bit after posted it and was thinking, “it’s a bit of a stretch to subtract it”. I actually was hoping it would be HARDER than it was, because these bounties are getting solved to quickly!
ryan - definitely will think of putting up some bounties with no word clues. I think I will put up 2 or 3 of those just to get a backlog… as I said, no Bounty has ever lasted more than 1 full day yet!! Maybe we will have some with word clues and some without. And yeah, if you know me I am too moody for my own good so I get affected easily by what people say. Urgh! Today I’m fine, and Phil was probably right to complain since I didn’t specify that it wasn’t the same Chris R…
shawnd - you are anything but slow! I am the slow one. The word clue is basically “Minotaur” minus the “Our” sound, which is the last three letters “aur”. Giving you “Minot”. Look that up in google and you’ll get a town in South Dakota near a bunch of lakes…
July 25th, 2005 at 8:16 am
One word - Doh!
July 25th, 2005 at 9:13 am
yes, in South Doh-kota! =)
August 1st, 2005 at 12:26 pm
Just a small correction. Minot is in North Dakota, not South Dakota. I have relatives that live there, which is why I noticed the mistake.