Kiwanis Hunt 2008—Fruity Alloy

I was in the science stream when I was in secondary school. My favourite subjects were applied mathematics, physics and biology. I was never any good in chemistry. It's been over 20 years ago since I left school, and I am sad to say that I have forgotten most of those knowledge I learned in those subjects. But I can still remember some basic stuffs here and there.

Last Saturday during the Kiwanis Hunt, we stumbled upon a treasure clue which reminded me why I disliked chemistry so much when I was in school.

Treasure 2:

In short I have ♥ imprinted into an alloy to enable you to see
Something naturally found in this country that you must give me.
Without doubt in various forms this treasure you can deliver
For your points, make sure it comes in its sealed container.

Before I continue, let me just say that we did not solve this clue. We made a wild guess and submitted something which we knew was very unlikely the required item.

It turned out that the most important line in this clue is the first line. The other lines are there as additional requirements only. But essentially the clue is solved within the first sentence. Let us therefore single out that first sentence and analyse it's hidden meaning (s).

I have said in the other threads that GM Chong insists that all the words in the sentence must be accounted for. So we shall try to obey this requirement here.

In short I have ♥ imprinted into an alloy to enable you to see

"In short I have": We want the shorter way of writing "I have"; meaning "I'VE"

"♥": The mind-boggling symbol in this clue. It might mean the setter wants the solver to actually spell out "heart". It might also mean the word "love", as in its common usage in: "I ♥ you". It might probably mean numerous other things too, but we will have a look at the rest of the words in this sentence and then decide later how to deal with this symbol.

"imprinted in an alloy": Now it's getting more interesting. "imprinted in" might mean "combining those items with". And then "an alloy" might be referring to a specific alloy, e.g. bronze, or steel etc. To think a little bit further, the setter might also mean that we need to find the actual metals that are combined to make an alloy. This latter idea is obviously much harder to guess, but let's just keep it in mind for the moment. We are still exploring the possibilities at the moment.

"to enable you to see": Could be interpreted in its literal sense; that you can actually see the item after the combination process. However, "to enable" can also be an anagram indicator, and if adopted in this way, it means that we need to combine all those components above and then anagram into a single word, and you will see what the setter wants.

OK, now we have the basic ideas in this sentence. All that is left to do is to organise those small components into something meaningful. Well, I am not going to act as if I am such a brilliant chap; I have said earlier that my team failed to solve this clue.

The official solution is like this:

"In short I have" = I'VE

"♥": Means the setter wants the "heart" of that "I'VE", meaning the letter "V" only.

"imprinted into an alloy": "imprinted", as analysed above, means to combine that "V" into an "alloy"; the latter being gold and silver. However the solver is expected to go another step further—he needs to know the chemical symbols for gold and silver, i.e. gold = au; silver = ag.

"to enable": Indeed an anagram indicator.

Therefore, V + AU + AG -> anagram -> GUAVA

Those of you who did not join the Kiwanis Hunt should not be surprised that absolutely no team solved this clue. Not only is it loose, but the solver would almost need to know the item first in order to solve the means of getting there!

Having said that, however, I must express my admiration and respect to 2 master teams which, due to the looseness of the clue, managed to arrive at something totally different from what's intended by the CoC. But the CoC decided to accept those items and awarded the points accordingly. And this is where the real discussion begins!

Solution by Master Team A:

"♥" = O (deriving the "O" from the word "love", which is in turn derived from the heart symbol)

"alloy" = C (for carbon) + RN (for Radon)

"enable" = still anagram indicator.

Therefore, O + C + RN -> anagram -> CORN

Solution by Master Team B:

"♥" = O as analysed by Team A above.

"alloy" = MN (Manganese) + AG (Silver)

"enable" = analysed as above.

Therefore, O + MN + AG -> anagram -> MANGO

While I admire the above master teams for getting the CORN and MANGO, I can't help seeing the flaws in those solutions. To start with, not only was "In short..." unaccounted for, but even the processs of equating ♥ to "O" is questionable.

I was about to embark on a long discussion about CORN and MANGO. And then I suddenly realised that Liew had posted his comment in the comment box below. In fact, he has argued his objection to those alternative "solutions" along the same lines as my own. I am therefore spared from the extra hardwork!

However, I would like to elaborate further about equating the ♥ to "O".

About half a year ago, I hunted in the Be An Angel Beautiful Gate Hunt clerked by Michael Pang. After the hunt I commented on one of his clues about "painkillers". The clue was like this:

Q) Painkillers have strength.

A) Numbers @ ???

The explanation offered by Michael Pang—a cryptically-correct explanation—was that "number" is something that numbs, as in numbs the nerves. That is essentially what a painkiller does. At the same time, if taken literally, it is also correct to say that when you have the numbers, you have the strength, e.g. when you have a big crowd of people then you have the power/strength.

I can accept Mike's explanation. But during the hunt, we couldn't find the "numbers" within that sector (it was a close relative with the "elusive swan", if you know what I mean). Instead, we settled with CM Power (or something to that effect). Mike, having seen some master teams offering that answer, decided to accept it and awarded the points.

In my comment about this clue, I tried to argue that CM Power was a superior answer than Numbers. My point was that C and M are both numbers, as Roman numerals. And the Power supports the word "strength" in the clue.

However, master renroc was quick to point out—and rightfully so too—that there was a flaw in my analysis! To summarise, he said "painkillers" can be equated to "numbers"; and then "numbers" can also agree with "CM". BUT! "painkillers" are not "CM"!

What we have here is a chain comprising a "source word" converted into its many possible synonyms several times; and the meaning of that "source word" is altered substantially during the process of conversion. That is why the CoC must be careful when conjuring up clues which involve something "indirect", because if he gets carried away with too many levels from the "source word" the end result might become something totally different from the original idea of the clue!

Now in the light of the above analysis, let us come back to the ♥ which was contained in the clue of Treasure 2. That symbol can mean "heart" or "love". And if you like, you can even equate that to a "suit", as in a suit found in a deck of playing cards. That is the first level of "conversion" for that symbol.

Now, if we were to check the dictionary or thesaurus, "heart" can mean so many other things including passion, affection, keenness, courage, bravery, valour and boldness, to name a few.

"love" can mean fond of, adore, dote on, worship, idolize, treasure, cherish, and yes, even zero (in sports terms).

Therefore, I can agree to equate the ♥ to "heart" or "love"; but I can't agree to equate ♥ to say, "treasure", even though "treasure" is a synonym of "love".

Similarly, just because ♥ can mean "love"; and "love" can mean "zero", it does not necessarily follow that ♥ = zero.

If I were the CoC for this hunt, and on the strength of the above arguments, as well as those outlined by Liew in the comment frame below, I would have rejected the CORN and MANGO. I can live with the GUAVA. I am a bit sad to say that this would have been a beautiful riddle—although an extremely tough and tricky one—only to have lost its beauty and finesse to inferior alternatives.