CISRA Puzzle Competition 2008 - Solutions

This is the archive of the 2008 Puzzle Competition. Please visit the current competition site for information about the latest Puzzle Competition.

B.2 Rationalist Way

The map's style is similar to that commonly used to illustrate railway networks. The phrases on the map are in fact anagrams of real station names. Each coloured railway line uses stations from a different major city's railway network:

Green: Sydney
Blue: New York
Purple: Paris
Yellow: London

The unscrambled station names are as follows:

Green (Sydney): Circular Quay, Wynyard, Martin Place, Central
Blue (New York): Times Square, Grand Central, Broadway, Atlantic Avenue
Purple (Paris): Châtelet, Opéra, République
Yellow (London): Waterloo, Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Covent Garden

Some stations are marked with one number, others with two. The stations with two numbers are the ones you would pass twice, if traversing the rail network starting at "you are here", and finishing at the X.

The numbers are indices into the unscrambled station names. Traverse the rail network, starting at "you are here", and finishing at the X. Each time you pass a station, use the next unused number to get a letter from the station's name.

For example, the first stations you pass are Circular Quay (2) giving "I"; Wynyard (3) giving "N"; Martin Place (10) giving "C"; and Times Square (10) giving "R". Proceeding through the network accumulates the following message:

increased the power of man

This phrase is best known for its use in Westminster Abbey on the epitaph of JAMES WATT, inventor of the steam engine.