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.5 Amigos
Each line is a cryptic clue to a phrase which "sounds like" the name of a person or object. On each line, the cluster of letters and numbers gives the initials and number of letters in each word in the answer to the cryptic clue. (For example, "C6P4" indicates a two-word answer. Word one has 6 letters and starts with C; word two has 4 letters and starts with P.)
The answers to the cryptic clues and their corresponding "sounds like" answer are as follows. The left over number is included on each line.
| Clue | Decoded | Sounds like... | Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4th Century nomadic Eurasians modelling | Huns in poses | Guns N' Roses | 4 |
| Armour made from pathogenic microorganism | Germ mail | Sperm whale | 9 |
| Autograph sketch | Signature doodle | Miniature poodle | 5 |
| Barracks multitude | Garrison horde | Harrison Ford | 8 |
| Beat the miserly drug cop at chess | Mate tight nark | Great white shark | 3 |
| Bird made of woven fibre | Wicker crow | Piccolo | 2 |
| Blitz Shermans | Bomb tanks | Tom Hanks | 15 |
| Boxes of produce | Stock cartons | Doc Martens | 7 |
| Burrowing marsupial in the entranceway | Portal wombat | Mortal Kombat | 3 |
| Can cook and lead a flock | Chef shepherd | Def Leppard | 18 |
| Clean nibbler | Neat biter | Street Fighter | 8 |
| Compose a lyric poem to a Fuji | Write apple ode | Whitechapel Road | 1 |
| Customer slipped | Client slid | Giant squid | 6 |
| Desire goose noise | Want honk | Mont Blanc | 6 |
| Emancipate cold cut coating expert! | Free ham glazing ace | The Amazing Race | 9 |
| ENCOM security system scaredy-cat | Tron coward | John Howard | 2 |
| Enumerate smartest | Count cleverest | Mount Everest | 6 |
| Erector spinae | Back muscle | Jack Russell | 5 |
| Expose Dwalin's older brother to sun | Tan Balin | Van Halen | 3 |
| Extremely furious | Very fierce | Mary Pierce | 8 |
| Feel sadness for the science of operating firearms | Mourn gunnery | Sean Connery | 5 |
| Fidel gambit | Castro ploy | Astro Boy | 1 |
| Fountain lauraceae bark dasheen | Fount cinnamon taro | Mount Kilimanjaro | 15 |
| Gastropod in the frequency domain | Fourier snail | Courier Mail | 2 |
| Grizzly ballet | Bear dance | Air France | 2 |
| Hopeless pearl bearers | Grim oysters | Kim Clijsters | 8 |
| Incantate Dr Crane | Chant Frasier | Fantasia | 16 |
| Juniper berry alcohol from Italian st in Melbourne | Lygon gin | Qui-Gon Jinn | 5 |
| Kill obnoxious people | Slaughter jerks | Water Works | 4 |
| Little grouch from a Scottish lake | Wee loch grump | Reebok Pump | 9 |
| Little orphan US highway patrolman | Trooper Annie | Supernanny | 10 |
| Little red muppet's capsicum spray | Elmo's mace | Melrose Place | 11 |
| Messy person trident | Slob fork | Bob Hawke | 2 |
| Moisture absorbing powder powered electro shock weapon | Talcum Taser | Malcolm Fraser | 19 |
| Muslim law sweet sauce eggs | Sharia syrup ova | Maria Sharapova | 6 |
| Old French currency pains | Franc aches | Pancakes | 10 |
| On Bart Simpson's head | Spiky hair | Nike Air | 4 |
| Parasol for Sauron | Mordor brolly | Border Collie | 13 |
| Plasticine groin | Clay crotch | Baywatch | 2 |
| President Ford birthing large numbers of a diminutive people | Pygmy spawning Gerald | Sydney Morning Herald | 14 |
| Pu | Plutonium | Euphonium | 1 |
| Put the falsetto vioce in the microwave | Nuke high talker | Luke Skywalker | 4 |
| Red jewelled toilet | Ruby loo | Scooby Doo | 1 |
| Skinny ogler | Slim peeper | Grim Reaper | 2 |
| Slepice | Czech hen | Tekken | 12 |
| Smartly packs backbone therefore overly proactive | Cleverly fills spine so too gung-ho | Beverly Hills 90210 | 2 |
| Snack counter! Brilliant! | Buffet terrific | Cathay Pacific | 6 |
| Sow | Pig mother | Big Brother | 17 |
| Stink spirit | Stench ghost | French toast | 10 |
| The home of love bites | Hickey house | Mickey Mouse | 4 |
| The infectious protein croon | The prion sing | The Lion King | 4 |
| The misplaced cloning sect | The lost Raelian | The Australian | 14 |
| Thor | Thunder maker | Undertaker | 2 |
| Throws crab | Flings crustacean | Kings Cross Station | 4 |
| Tub invader | Bath raider | Darth Vader | 3 |
| Unescorted Tibetan quadrupeds | Yaks alone | Saxophone | 7 |
| Very large borders of hairs and foreheads | Monumental hairlines | Continental Airlines | 3 |
| Weird halitosis aroma | Strange smell of breath | Angel of Death | 20 |
| Whip Bozos | Lash clowns | Hash browns | 1 |
| Wild card national carrier | Joker Qantas | Pocahontas | 2 |
Each answer belongs in a group of three with two other similar answers. The groups of three need to be sorted by the bold number in the group. Letters are then extracted from the other two answers in the group by indexing the answer by its corresponding non-bold number. The result of performing these steps is:
| Cartoon characters | Scooby Doo (1) | Astro Boy (1) | Mickey Mouse (4) | AK |
| Airlines | Air France (2) | Cathay Pacific (6) | Continental Airlines (3) | YN |
| Sea creatures | Great white shark (3) | Sperm whale (9) | Giant squid (6) | LS |
| Monopoly squares* | Kings Cross Station (4) | Whitechapel Road (1) | Water Works (4) | WE |
| Star Wars characters | Qui-Gon Jinn (5) | Luke Skywalker (4) | Darth Vader (3) | ER |
| Tall mountains | Mont Blanc (6) | Mount Everest (6) | Mount Kilimanjaro (15) | ER |
| Musical instruments | Saxophone (7) | Piccolo (2) | Euphonium (1) | IE |
| Tennis players | Mary Pierce (8) | Kim Clijsters (8) | Maria Sharapova (6) | SS |
| Shoe brands | Reebok Pump (9) | Doc Martens (7) | Nike Air (4) | TE |
| Breakfast foods | Pancakes (10) | French toast (10) | Hash browns (1) | SH |
| Soap operas | Melrose Place (11) | Baywatch (2) | Beverly Hills 90210 (2) | AE |
| Fighting video games | Tekken (12) | Mortal Kombat (3) | Street Fighter (8) | RI |
| Dog breeds | Border Collie (13) | Miniature poodle (5) | Jack Russell (5) | AR |
| Australian newspapers | The Australian (14) | Courier Mail (2) | Sydney Morning Herald (14) | OH |
| Actors | Tom Hanks (15) | Harrison Ford (8) | Sean Connery (5) | NC |
| Disney movies | Fantasia (16) | Pocahontas (2) | The Lion King (4) | OL |
| Reality TV shows | Big Brother (17) | The Amazing Race (9) | Supernanny (10) | NY |
| Rock bands | Def Leppard (18) | Guns N' Roses (4) | Van Halen (3) | SN |
| Australian Prime Ministers | Malcolm Fraser (19) | John Howard (2) | Bob Hawke (2) | OO |
| Personifications of Death | Angel of Death (20) | Grim Reaper (2) | Undertaker (2) | RN |
| * The UK/Australian edition. | ||||
The letter pairs are scrambled on each line. Trying out different letter pair orderings reveals the following message:
kyle reese sarah connor
answer is their only son
Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor are characters from the Terminator movie series. The answer is their son: JOHN CONNOR.