CISRA Puzzle Competition 2011 - Solutions

1B. Character References

The first step is to find the words associated with each clue. Some of the clues are common expressions or phrases that need to be completed with a word, while others (the clues consisting of two words separated by a slash) are more like dictionary/crossword definitions.

DON your hat                  LAMB to the slaughter
  GALE force wind           DOT your i's
HARRY harass/pester           STONE the crows
  BASS fish/guitar          how much wood (would a woodchuck) CHUCK
WARREN tunnel/lair            FOX in socks
  PINE for the fjords       nip in the BUD
BOB for apples                voting/phone BOOTH
  BOOTSTRAP startup/lace    foot the BILL
JIMMY prise/lever             my word is my BOND

Notice that every second clue in each column is indented. This may prompt you to notice that the clues which are not indented all refer to people's given names.

• Don is a short form of Donald.
• Dot is a short form of Dorothy.
• Harry is a name, short for Harold.
• Chuck is a name, short for Charles.
• Warren is a name.
• Bud is a name, short for Buddy.
• Bob is a name, short for Robert.
• Bill is a name, short for William.
• Jimmy is a name, short for James.

The other clues (which are indented to the right) refer to objects. Assembling these with the names across each line, we obtain the following names, which all turn out to be of fictional characters:

• Don Lamb, a fictional character from the TV show Veronica Mars.
• Dorothy Gale, a fictional character from 1939 film The Wizard of Oz (and the original novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, although the movie is what we're after here).
• Harry Stone, a fictional character from the TV show Night Court.
• Chuck Bass, a fictional character from the TV show Gossip Girl.
• Warren Fox, a fictional character from the TV show Hollyoaks.
• Buddy Pine, a fictional character from the movie The Incredibles.
• Robert Booth, a fictional character from the comic Judge Dredd.
• Bootstrap Bill (Turner), a fictional character from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series.
• Jimmy Bond, a fictional character from the 1967 movie Casino Royale (or alternatively, James Bond from either the same movie, or the original novel or 2006 movie of the same title).

The names of these movies, shows, and comics can be inserted into the grid, revealing:

Extracting the highlighted letters and arranging them in neat columns gives:

A S
T R
T O
P I
L S
H L
E E
R R
Y E

This doesn't seem to mean anything. Now we need to use the fact that the given names in the original puzzle alternated between left and right sides of the answer grid. Reversing the resulting letters on every second line, so that the letters associated with first names are in one column and the letters associated with objects (or surnames/nicknames) are in a second column, we find:

A S
R T
T O
I P
L S
L H
E E
R R
Y E

Reading down, we can see ARTILLERY and STOPS HERE. Together, these form another pair of clues of the same form we've already seen, a definition and a phrase to be completed. We need to find a first name, and an object that can be combined with it as a surname or nickname.

"The buck stops here" is an expression famously popularised by US President Harry S. Truman, and "cannon" is a piece of field artillery. These can be combined to give a possible name of Buck Cannon.

Buck Cannon is a fictional character from a TV show called THE HIGH CHAPARRAL, which is the answer.