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.

D.1 Smilies

The first step is to isolate each of the seven different kinds of face. Examining each face type in turn and ignoring the other faces gives the following results:

Each set of smilies forms the shape of a letter (or a question mark). In order as shown here: t, H, E, R, ?, u, n. But in each case there is also an additional smiley that doesn't fit into the letter shape:

Mapping the odd ones out gives the following:

Identifying the extra faces by using the corresponding letter formed by that face type,, we get this:

Reading from top to bottom, it spells a clue: "hunter?". The pattern of the letters forms the shape of the constellation of stars known as The Hunter: ORION.