It is March and the lovely #EnigMarch people have challenged puzzle designers to write a puzzle inspired by today's word: "mystery".
This year, when I don't immediately have an idea for a puzzle, I search the Epstein files for inspiration, so I started to do that. But then I thought: Mister Epstein. "Mister E." OK, so here's a puzzle. Below are clued some short words like "mister" that, pronounced with a letter, give long words like "mystery" (also clued; you're welcome). When you're done filling in the blanks, read those letters you added. They'll spell out one theory on the mystery of what happened to Mister E. in prison.
| J.'s title : m i s t e r + E : | m y s t e r y : 🔎 |
| 🧑⚖️🏛️ : _ _ _ _ _ + _ : | _ _ _ _ _ _ : 🧠 |
| 👬 : _ _ _ + _ : | _ _ _ _ : lots of |
| 🪭 : _ _ _ + _ : | _ _ _ _ _ : whim |
| 👬 : _ _ _ + _ : | _ _ _ _ : restaurant reading |
| 🌳 : _ _ _ _ + _ : | _ _ _ _ _ _ : agreement |
| 🕳️ : _ _ _ _ + _ : | _ _ _ _ : Festival of Colors |
| 🥫 : _ _ _ + _ : | _ _ _ _ _ : 🍭 |
Some hints, rot13'd:
- Gurfr: 👬 ner ZRA. Lrf, fnzr jbeq obgu gvzrf (ohg jvgu qvssrerag yrggre nqqrq rnpu gvzr)
- Gur 🧑⚖️🏛️ vf PBHEG.
- 🍭 vf PNAQL
The solution, rot13'd:
R / zvfgre / zlfgrel / Wrsserl'f gvgyr / 🔎 K / pbheg / pbegrk / 🧑⚖️🏛️ / 🧠 R / zra / znal / 👬 / ybgf bs P / sna / snapl / 🪭 / juvz H / zra / zrah / 👬 / erfgnhenag ernqvat G / gerr / gerngl / 🌳 / nterrzrag R / ubyr / ubyv / 🕳️ / Srfgviny bs Pbybef Q / pna / pnaql / 🥫 / 🍭
