I have a few remarks/critiques regarding the solution to this hunt.
Word cluesBegin at the tomes that reside in the floors above and below (Begin at Firestone library at Princeton University) I get the library bit, but why Firestone library at Princeton? As far as I can see, nothing points to that location.
The black brows and eyelashes and orange eye shadow might confirm Princeton once it is found, but surely we weren’t expected to find it solely based on a woman’s make-up?
I’m actually a bit surprised that they didn’t just include the image of a burning rock or a
shield with an “F”, but that’s neither here nor there.
There’s a ‘street’ to the north, a ‘way’ to the west and a ‘road’ to the east. There’s no street to cross to get to the chapel from the library, only a square.
No argument here. I think most people had figured this clue to mean St. Mark’s Lion.
Again, no objections here.
Old-timey way of saying ‘journey on’, ‘continuing to travel’.
So I should pass the lion (on my left) and continue my way in the direction of McCosh Hall and maybe beyond, right?
Wrong! Obviously it means ‘to take a sharp turn left, walk a certain unspecified distance, and turn around’.
Silly me.
Just because, apparently.
Also, this path is not covered by Google Street View making BOTG almost necessary while it was supposed to be full armchair.
Thor will never fall? Like most of the Norse gods, Thor is doomed to die at Ragnarok so this doesn’t make sense.
Good hint to let us know we’ve got to look up. No argument here.
From this we had to get that the 18th to wear the crown named Thor, was a bulldog, thus confirming that the bulldog on the drain pipe is correct.
But it doesn’t, as Thor won the Best in Show at The National Dog Show in 2019, after Gus, Miki, Raisin, Gracie, Rufus, Vikki, Swizzle, Holly, Sadie, Clooney, Eira, Sky, Jewel, Nathan, Charlie, Gia, Newton and Whiskey did. For those counting, that makes Thor
19th to win Best in Show, not 18th.
Confirmed by
the article on www.atlasobscura.com. I suspect this article might’ve been the start of the whole conception of this puzzle. Also the only place that has pictures of it, as far as I can tell.
Image clues
Okay, I can see that. I can even understand why one would add a reflection of the window configuration as to not make things too easy. But why is there a gap in the 3rd and 4th line?
As I pointed out in another post, that’s not an umbrella but a parasol. The connection to water and storm drain is thus lost. And what storm drain by the way? Maybe ‘drain pipe’?
Never made the connection, but that’s on me. Fair clue.
Which I’m sure is true for many other libraries. Also, it’s Cotsen, not Costen, so named after
Lloyd Cotsen, a remarkable man apparently.
Unexplained elements
- Feather attached to the cow’s horn
- Polaroid
- Ransom note letters
- “12” hidden in the wallpaper to the left of the lion
Am I miffed? You bet. Not about not winning the hunt, hell I’m used to that. But when a hunt is over and one finally lays eyes on the solution and the explanation, I feel there should be a lot of ‘
why didn’t I think of that’, ‘
should have known’ and ‘
how stupid am I’. There shouldn’t, however, be a feeling of ‘
what did I waste my time on?’. And on this one, I wasted a lot of time.
I believe a treasure hunt should be a proces of deduction and reasoning, not a guessing game. And no offence meant to the solvers. I’m amazed they found it and again, hats off to them, but I think even they’ll admit it was more happenstance than solid reasoning. At least to find the general location.
I’m sorry, but I just had to get this off my chest. Thank you for your time.
