The March Hare's Riddle

[chriswaltner]

Here is my attempt at a proper solve for The March Hare's Riddle. I submitted a week ago and didn't hear back so I figure it's a big golden GOOSE EGG:

The March Hare’s Riddle


“Hear ye! Hear ye!” [listen to me (to all my words)]


“Mark the letters, numbers too, [keep track of the letters and their number/position]
But which, and where, and what to do? [Look for the questions]
One and three will help you more [First and Third]
Than other words I’ve said before.” [working back from “said”]

“What is the answer to my riddle?” said the March Hare.

-There are 29 instances of The March Hare talking in the story.
-15 of those instances use the exact phrase “said the March Hare.”
-5 of those instances are questions.

(Look at the 1st and 3rd letters working backwards before "said" in the March Hare's questions)

1. “Well, how would you know if you didn’t heaR mE?” said the March Hare.
2. “Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer tO iT?” said the March Hare.
3. “Why NoT?” said the March Hare.
4. “Why else would we stuff it in headfiRsT?” said the March Hare.
5. “Why on earth would it not like having milk poured in its EaR?” said the March Hare.


ERTOTNTRRE unscrambles to TERROR TENT


T _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ T

My answer is: TERROR TENT


I know the answer doesn't make a lot of sense but the riddle doesn't really propose a riddle to answer, just tells you instructions to find two words.

[turbouser]

Nicely done. I'm working on something similar. I keep running into solutions that could result in an anagram (that generally don't pan out). I think there is already enough obscuration. My feeling is that the right solution will not be scrambled. Just need to find the parsing strategy.

[AlchemistQ]

I'm working on something along the same line and recently submitted a possible solution.

Hear ye! Hear ye! [synonym for "mark my words"]
Mark the letters, numbers too [mark any alphanumerical characters]
But which, and where, and what to do? [refers to the questions that the March Hare asks]
One and three will help you more [directions to identify the characters amongst his words]
Than other words I’ve said before. [refers to the March Hare's speech]

The answer to the riddle is missing 8 letters and the March Hare speaks 8 questions.

Why not?
Why else would we stuff it in headfirst?
Well, how would you know if you didn’t hear me?
Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?
Why on earth would it not like having milk poured in its ear?
That was a close call at the Queen’s concert, wouldn’t you agree?
Pray enlighten use, oh wise one—why on earth do you carry crutches about with you wherever you go?
And why shouldn’t I be called ‘he,’ or even ‘she’ for that matter, if that is what I wish to be called?

I played around with different combinations of 1s and 3s without anything solid. But I then interpreted "one and three" to mean 1+3 so I used the 4th alphanumerical character of each question to get the following letters: NELOOTYW. I also counted the 4th character from the end of the question working backwards to get: YIATSGOL

Combined with the other Ts, you can find the anagram for TWENTY LOOT (forward letters) or TOASTY GILT (backwards letters). I submitted both of these as solutions and I'm waiting for a response.

[turbouser]

I think it is an interesting idea that the solution in the text may exclude the two T's. I hope it doesn't.

[rolltideyallx]

I think the answer is TEACUP PLOT.

[rolltideyallx]

Oct 25, 2023 20:31:31 GMT -5 rolltideyallx said:

I think the answer is TEACUP PLOT.

It’s actually TEAPOT PLOT, as in the March Hare and Hatter’s unsuccessful PLOT to drown the Dormouse by stuffing it into the TEAPOT.