8/31/05 | 10:32 pm | Solution: Green Pacman
Whew, this was one of the toughest clues we’ve ever had, no thanks to yours truly messing with word hints that shouldn’t have been messed with! For those that had a hard time with this one, apologies and please check out the following:
Jordan’s original clues for the green pacman, which he called “Partial Circle” were the following:
‘A Circle near a Square’
‘Green park in the evergreen [state]’
‘A nice view of the local bell’
Now, I figured that either of the first two hints alone wouldn’t be enough, but that the last one might be too easy if combined with others. Looking back on it now, the 3rd clue might have been good as is, if “evergreen” could have been worked in there.
As it was, I decided to change them… I saw “Bell” and immediately thought of Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar. Don’t ask me why, I’ve only read that book once and I don’t know much about her poetry. I could have done “taco bell” or “alexander graham bell” or “bell bottoms” but know I went with the one that likely had the most herrings. Once again, I have to laugh like hell.
Anyhow, despite the toughness there were several solutions submitted. I did realize that even if you got Bell Jar, you’d be left with ‘Bell Jar View’, so I was going to put “No Jar” into the clue but I just decided not to. Anyhow, Tim J got on the board first.
After reading a bit about Sylvia Plath, I finally put it all together. Good clue.
Mike B deduced the solution in exactly the manner I had hoped:
“Sylvia Plath” -> Bell Jar + view -> Bellevue
Evergreen state -> Washington
About 10 minutes
Justin roogled his way to the answer… I was hoping indeed that at least some people might get Washington State out of “evergreen”:
Washington is the Evergreen State, and I figured the clue was there (even before the regional clue was posted). It just took awhile to place “The Bell Jar” and “view” together to get Bellevue, WA. Once I put the word clue together, it took under a minute.
Judy B just needed to know that the clue related to Plath’s book:
Well now that I see it it’s easier, but I NEVER would have gotten it (at least not intentionally). I gave up until the second hint. Then I got it right away.
Dunkfu went on a bit of a herring hunt before getting it eventually, without the help of the Bell part of the clue:
I figured out the Seattle part thanks to the clues however I couldn’t figure out what in the world poetry had to do with it other than it’s big in Seattle. I searched everywhere in Seattle but couldn’t find it, finally right before I gave up I searched outside of Seattle and found it in Bellevue which I then realized probably related to Plath’s book The Bell Jar… which I think was a stretch. In any case I would have never got this without the clues.
Matt showed extreme persistence that paid off… an awesome first time roogle attempt:
took me about an hour. First time playing though. Saw you on attack of the show thought i would stop by.
Mike H didn’t take quite as long:
Took 5 minutes after Googling Sylvia and learning about the Bell Jar + view … Bellevue
Aaron B, who I have nicknamed Cluemaster, for his uncanny clue creation abilities (there are about 7-10 Aaron B roogle clues in the queue), went for extra innings and got the answer after innumerable herrings:
GEH!
I saw the clue last night and failed. Worked on it most of today and failed and then stuff clicked. I mean literally. I took your two clues and were thinking about them. You cut out “Bell” so I figured that must be part of the name and was thinking “View Bell,” “Bell view,” “Bellevue!!!” “IT’S IN BELLEVUE!”
At which point I ran to the nearest computer lab and here I am.
I don’t WANT to get into the number of red herrings I explored. but, I do know Sylvia Plath’s life story pretty well now. I even read some poems searching for ideas…
That’s awesome that this clue caused people to actually read poetry, heh! Dan M is also probably still feeling poetic after this clue:
After the “nice view of the local bell” and the region drop it took about 5 minutes. However, I’m still scratching my head about the evergreen! I was looking at lists and reading Plath poems that included anything about firs, pines, woods, winter…try this.
My garsh… I had no idea there were so many poems of hers that might relate to “evergreen”. Herringapalooza!
Mark L showed that interesting phenomena that we’ve had in clues before where it’s possible sometimes to find it with hardly any hints at all. This always trips me out; this seems to be some sort of Zen Roogling as Moose has noted before:
I have no idea what the clues were leading to….. I got it only from the region drop. She had ties to Boston and England….. evergreen? bell? There’s a Bell harbor Washington I guess that it’s refering to her poem “The Bell Jar”? Evergreen trees? I dunno….. how some people got it early is beyond me….. I’m sure it will become clear.
Astro T got the answer… even with all the word clues and location it’s still impressive for all you solvers:
About 15 mins - but I had the advantage of coming in late, so I got both word clues and the location clue. Otherwise I might have been stuck in Boston for a while…
And Jesse P got a bit of a freebee… I was wondering if there might be anyone who lived in the area:
I knew it the second i saw it, because i live in Bellevue Washington! haha
I am watching Alton Brown right now while I type this and the show is all about Cheese. This is making me a bit hungry so I think I might go get a early night snack. Tune in for another herring filled scavengeroogle session very soon. If I don’t talk to you until next week, then have a great Labor Day weekend…
