Post by theo on Dec 19, 2023 9:58:34 GMT -5
Color is clearly a central part of this whole puzzle. "Egg Hunt" tells us that "the eggs' ultimate locations were often linked to the colored oil on their shells." And the final story, "The Bow," is about a rainbow (although it never uses that word).
So what colors do we have? Part of the problem is in deciphering what "counts" as a color. Is cherry a color? Chestnut? Brass? Iron?
"Winter Land" mentions a "big mesh bag of oranges." Does that make "orange" count as a color?
If we take an expansive view and include all the parts of the book (including the ad for merch at the back) I come up with 70 words. Each line below is from a separate portion of the book.
black cherry
red
brown gold khaki blue brown white cerise red blue black black gray white red cherry black chestnut
black gray burgundy brass black gold
gray white white yellow black pink red silver black
gold peach red black
crimson green white brown orange
brown black
red black black gray
black green red brown gray rose black
black purple red red
brown
green bronze
gray
blue
white white white white
If we're slightly more selective (omitting the TOC, the intro, the ad, and the terms that might not be colors), I come up with 57 words. The 13 lines below represent the 11 stories, plus the Backword and About the Author. (If you only want to include words from the stories, you could drop the last two words.)
brown gold khaki blue brown white cerise red blue black black gray white red black
black gray burgundy black gold
gray white white yellow black pink red silver black
gold red black
crimson green white brown
brown black
red black black gray
black green red brown gray rose black
black purple red red
brown
green
gray
blue
It seems like each color should represent a letter and this should be a mono-alphabetic substitution, but I haven't gotten anywhere with that approach so far.
Did I miss a color somewhere? Anyone have any other idea of what to try? The intro does warn us to "beware the bright red of herring." Is this a herring?