Sigma Phi Epsilon Alpha Lambda

2024 SPEAL Puzzlers Club Intersanta

(Secret Santa 2024 gift for Procyon)

Animated GIF of the Pokemon Spheal flopping

A note from the author...

Welcome to the 2024 SPEAL Puzzlers Club Intersanta! This test is due on Wednesday, December 25th 20024 at 11:59 PM. The Spheal! will assist in the collecting and grading of these intersanta tests. You may submit your answers via the Answer checker at the bottom of the page. Please try not to brute force the answer.

This test is in the format of a puzzle hunt. Your team will work together to solve as many of these puzzles as you can over the course of eighteen thousand years. Each puzzle you solve will contribute 10 points to your total score. The maximum point total on this test is 40. There are no metapuzzles in this test, you are done when all four puzzles have been solved.

For this hunt, you are allowed to ask for help from your sponsors, friends, family, or blåhaj (if they are willing) as well as perform research on the Internet. However, you may not view the source code of this page, as it contains spoilers for the puzzles.

Some settings for the page:

  • By default, this page will choose light/dark mode based on your device settings, but you may override it with these buttons:
  • Click the following button to reset all progress:

Finally, some credits:

  • Puzzles written by Lavaloid.
  • Puzzles tested by idontknow, Sam Cappleman-Lynes, short_c1rcuit, SoftFro, and Timwi
  • Thanks Rusty and Tim for fact-checking some clues.
  • Thanks Timwi for hosting this page.
  • This page is styled using LaTeX.css.

Algebra

Everything is processed client-side, no file will be uploaded

+ i
0 1 1 [5]
0 1 1 [2] [7]
0 1 1
0 1 1 [3]
0 1 1 [10]
0 1 1
0 1 1

Combinatorics

  • Kopi siew ____
  • One full rotation of the Earth
  • June 6, 1944, famously
  • Sum
  • Asteroid 1994 GW
  • Innermost spaces in Greek temples
  • "Cleopatra" and "The Ten Commandments" director
  • What one does in the first stage of grief?
  • Japanese company previously known as Jusco
  • U.S. architect org.
  • ____ you know?
  • Cucumber pickle
  • Uncommon spelling of the capital of India
  • Garlic and olive oil sauce
  • With "Fleet", the Royal Navy's aviation branch
  • Billion suffix
  • One may build a house with this block when starting a new world?
  • Indonesian slang meaning tacky
  • French commune where Maison du Val de Villé is located
  • Boxer Muhammad
  • Islamic legal scholar
  • ____ vera (plant)
  • What Italians may call the mountain range at their Northern border
  • Spongy tinder made from fungi
  • Actress Poehler
  • Avian term meaning to serve a prison sentence
  • Aimless drawing
  • One may craft this with six wood planks?
  • Zodiac for March - April
  • Made a hole, or practiced
  • Slang for fashionable clothing
  • Protagonist of Puyo Puyo series
  • Not wet
  • Aromatic group in chemistry
  • Men or fellas or guys
  • Placeholder or stupid person
  • (2 clues missing)

Geometry

Click on the image to open Penpa+

Battlers:

  • Blåhaj Aa
  • Crab
  • Hedgehog A
  • You A
  • (...and 16 more...)

Number Theory

TEN: ...What just happened?

JUICE: uh

What year is it?

do they have lunchables yet

NINE: Things look different somehow. Like we've been transported back in time?

I guess if we collect enough clues, we can zero in on the year.

Let's see... there's something in the news about avoiding a catastrophe... because of some sort of date overflow? Although some computers did break.

Wait, isn't this

ha

traaaaaaaash

Shut up Juice.

This is... Y2K. Wait, no. There's another major one after that.

5th letter


Hey, the Summer Olympics is on right now.

Nice.

This doesn't have anything to do with Olympics but

Starting from Chinese New Year this year, the Chinese zodiac is an Ox.

4th letter


I'm bored

Can you find anything interesting about this year?

This year is a prime number.

Another fun fact: the Zeitpyramide in Germany just got another block

looks like its the first such year since people stopped being born or something

9th letter


Hey look at this

The first female POTUS just took office

nice

6th letter


you two have any fun facts about this year?

No, but I have a fun fact about last year. Last year is the sum of the first... few consecutive cube numbers. There's a theorem about this called Nicomachus theorem or something

that nicomachus guy would be happy

No he's dead

People haven't stopped dying yet last year

rip

Didn't he live in the 2nd century?

5th letter


It's awfully silent... looks like the radio hasn't been invented yet. Can you find any fun facts about this year?

So there's this puzzle where you take a square grid

And some superqueens, which are the combination of the chess queen and the chess knight

In each row of the grid you place a superqueen such that none of the pieces attack each other

For a grid of a certain size, this year is the number of ways you can do that

1st letter


Looks like there's a total solar eclipse in New Hampshire this year

Next year is a prime number

what century is it btw is it 20th or 21st

7th letter

Answer checker

Each answer is in the form of an English word or phrase made of the letters A-Z. Answers are case insensitive, and all non-alphanumeric characters are removed before checking.

Algebra

Combinatorics

Geometry

Number Theory