CiSRA Puzzle Competition 2009 - Solutions
This is the archive of the 2009 Puzzle Competition. Please visit the current competition site for information about the latest Puzzle Competition.
B.3 Curiosity Killed the Cat
Finding words within the grid produces several interesting words or phrases, including:
kryptonite
exhaustport
iceberg
fullmoon
silver
slingshot
heel
It hopefully doesn't take long to realise these are all Achilles Heels of something. This matches the title of the puzzle, where curiosity is a primary weakness of cats.
The full list of words, and what they are weaknesses of, follows:
- exhaustport - the Death Star from Star Wars
- kryptonite - Superman's primary weakness
- probicvent - Sontarans from Dr Who
- metalhands - Dr No couldn't grip a chain to escape scalding water
- mistletoe - Baldur, a Norse God, couldn't be killed except by this
- slingshot - Goliath from the Bible
- fullmoon - Professor Lupin from the Harry Potter books, Oz from Buffy
- nosykids - anyone the Scooby gang went up against
- sunlight - goths, vampires, Gremlins, trolls
- midnight - Cinderella
- plastic - Magneto from X-Men was detained in a plastic prison
- picture - Dorian Gray
- iceberg - the Titanic
- garlic - vampires
- silver - werewolves
- mirror - a mirrored shield provided Perseus with protection from Medusa
- snakes - Indiana Jones has a fear of them
- riddle - Gollum had a weakness for them, as did the Sphinx
- cross - vampires
- water - certain aliens, the Wicked Witch of the West, holy water burns vampires
- stake - vampires
- chess - Death, e.g. The Seventh Seal and the Discworld novels
- music - various beasts and giants, particularly the rats (and children) of Hamelin
- virus - Martians have a problem with the common cold
- acme - Wile E. Coyote
- gold - Cybermen from Dr Who (old school)
- hair - Samson from the Bible
- heat - the T-1000 terminator, Icarus's wings were sealed with wax
- heel - Achilles
- fire - the Scarecrow of Oz
- self - Dr Jekyll / Mr Hyde, the robot from The Incredibles
- love - everyone gets bitten by this one
- gift - beware of Greeks bearing these
- mask - The Mask, the Phantom of the Opera
- eye - King Harold II, any Cyclops-like creature or robot, e.g. Daleks (old school)
After marking these words, several letters remain unused. Reading across and then down:
M R M X Y Z P T L K
At first sight, these look like junk letters, but a quick look at the World Wide Web reveals that Mr Mxyzptlk is a foe of Superman, and he has one weakness: his name, when said backwards, sends him back to his own dimension.
Thus, the answer is KLTPZYXM.