The Stockwell Family and Fandango

[Deleted]

Fandango was clearly a labor of love on the part of the Stockwell brothers to honor their father. 

John F. Stockwell died at the early age (by my standards) of 68 in 2002.  In 1957 he graduated from Yale and, around the same time, married his dear wife Deicy.  Jeff and Pel were born in 1958 and 1960, respectively; they also have two younger sisters. The Stockwell family has a long and deep connection with Mount Desert Island and the Bar Harbor area in particular.

There are at least two clues in the book that reveal the deep affection the sons had for their parents.

In the first place, as I briefly noted in my other thread, border letters are picked out when Fandango follows his nose (as the right hand border on page 5 instructs us to do).

On the following pages his nose points to these letters or groups of letters:


Page 5 (F,O)

Page 15 (R,O,S)

Page 19 (S,M)

Page 27 (O,N)

Page 35 (A)

Page 46 (D)

Page 51 (T)

Page 54 (D)


They spell out: TO DAD FROM SONS.

Secondly, look at the bottle of wine on the top shelf on page 30. (You can verify that is not a book by taking out a magnifying glass and noting its alcohol content.) The year 1957 is probably a remembrance of a particular marriage of that vintage. Finally, of course, the book was published in 2007, five years after their father's passing and in what would have been their parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary year.

An enormous amount of work went into Fandango. It's not hard to tell it was driven by love.

[astree]

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P. 11 ... the sad clockface hands point to letters ADD / DAD

Fandango says “my wet PELt”

fairires wing captures “sPELl”, there may have been anorher way the PEL was captured, i dont have the image at the moment

“TO DEICY” dedication, and the two dice (die) on p. 44

Very interesting find and interpretation, pn the nose letters.

P. 5, i had Fandangos mouth / nose lines shaped as L, nose pointing at the red L, nose pointing at the 2, 3 rectangle groups... the polybious L

[Deleted]

Mar 11, 2019 4:49:55 GMT -5 astree said:

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P. 11 ... the sad clockface hands point to letters ADD / DAD

Fandango says “my wet PELt”

fairires wing captures “sPELl”, there may have been anorher way the PEL was captured, i dont have the image at the moment

“TO DEICY” dedication, and the two dice (die) on p. 44

Very interesting find and interpretation, pn the nose letters.

P. 5, i had Fandangos mouth / nose lines shaped as L, nose pointing at the red L, nose pointing at the 2, 3 rectangle groups... the polybious L

Hi astree-

I had not noticed that about the sad clock face. My trusty straightedge verifies that you are correct on all three letters, so I think this is solid. Nice going!

I had searched for a more specific reference to their mother and did stare at the dice for a while, but it never seemed like a clean clue and I didn't mention it. In the first place, I'm not quite sure how Deicy is pronounced, but I'm guessing the first syllable does not have a long I. Others more familiar with the name can correct me if I'm wrong.  On the other hand, the snake eyes facing right could provide us with a "to," and the mismatch of the 6 and the 1 on the lower die (they should be on opposite sides) could render its use "dicey."

I'll have more to say about the border words on the right side of page 5 and the left side of page 26 in a couple of weeks assuming all remains quiet on the riddle front.

Have a happy St. Patrick's Day!  I'll probably be hoisting a pint of Guinness and toasting this very special family.

[Deleted]

I just noticed that there was indeed a dedication to Deicy by name at the end of the book. Perhaps the brothers were ultimately dissatisfied with the clue(s) with her in mind...

[astree]

Hi Ralph,

I probably should have been more specific and defined where the dedication was (glad you found it).

The dedication is to the mother, and DEDICATION <> I NOTICE DAD

I had read that Stockwell used their mother (aunt?) as the Mrs, Einstein model on p. 40.

A St. Paddy’s Day, ale drinking (greek avatar) philosopher... got some crazy possibilities. Have fun and looking forward to your follow up.  (March 17 is the scheduled Brexit, i think?  Could be an interesting St. Patricks Day).

astree

[Deleted]

Mar 12, 2019 4:42:33 GMT -5 astree said:

Hi Ralph,

I probably should have been more specific and defined where the dedication was (glad you found it).

The dedication is to the mother, and DEDICATION <> I NOTICE DAD

I had read that Stockwell used their mother (aunt?) as the Mrs, Einstein model on p. 40.

A St. Paddy’s Day, ale drinking (greek avatar) philosopher... got some crazy possibilities. Have fun and looking forward to your follow up.  (March 17 is the scheduled Brexit, i think?  Could be an interesting St. Patricks Day).

astree

Got it.

For one  treasure hunt book, Fandango certainly has a lot packed into it.

Speaking of other big days, Thursday is Einstein's 140th birthday and, appropriately, Pi Day as well.

[astree]

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I like 22/7 as another PI day, although I haven't seen it officially recognize.

Ralph, I've been thinking about the thread topic. The 1957 could be an homage to family, but I hope it is also more. The reason is because, for example, the puzzle shows a clear alpha-numeric correlations, so see numbers (like on the chest, p. 17 on on the wine bottle p. 30), one is led to look for clues. By the way, p. 30 word PAM / MAP and the numeric value of MAP = 30.

If Stockwells put numbers in the puzzle images that are not meaningful toward the solution, they could be considered red herrings.

Looking at the 1957, for example, check this out (before the Guinness). Using the 1,9,5,7 sequence and pulling letters from the first border phrase C(=1)I(=2)RCLE THE GLOBE gives us

CELT

Is this meaningful? Does it refer to the Stockwell family tree? Or have another reference?
If we start the sequence at the wine bottle

THEDOORCH ….

THOR

CELT and THOR from 1957 ? Coincidence ? A joke ? Meaningful in the puzzle?

That’s why I hope the 1957 (and others) and not just for personal reasons.

astree

[Deleted]

I may have found one more loving reference to the authors' parents.

Many of us have wondered about the 1927614 in the camera lens on page 19. If you divide the digits up as 19-2-7-6-1-4 and identify the corresponding squares on the grid on page 40, you wind up with a column that intersects a row. Now carry out the customary alphabetical assignment to the numbers. This yields: S, B, G, F, A, D and J for the shared 10.

Perhaps:

John
F
Stockwell

And

Deicy
B
G......

It does appear that Deicy's middle initial is B, but I cannot find her maiden name. I'd be interested to know if it starts with G.

[thisjustin]

Interesting that the 1927614 is used for DMS coordinates yet you also found it as a nod to the parents. I imagine one of the most rewarding things for the creators is to see all of the "solutions", correlations, and puzzles people find that they never actually intended!

BTW, Deicy's maiden name is Baker, so the G would have to be her middle name.

[thisjustin]

One other family nod may be Fandango himself. The Stockwells played their Grandmother's treasure hunts while vacationing in Vinalhaven, ME. Vinalhaven is located on the Fox islands.