Animal Hybrids Solution
How It Works
Upon inspection, teams should realize that each photo is actually a hybrid of two actual animals, and each hybrid has a letter associated with it:
| a | cow |
| b | rabbit |
| c | lion |
| d | croc |
| e | kangaroo |
| e | meerkat |
| e | giraffe |
| f | owl |
| g | cat |
| g | duck |
| h | elephant |
| i | croc |
| j | cat |
| k | parrot |
| l | croc |
| l | badger |
| m | elephant |
| n | cat |
| o | cat |
| p | caterpillar |
| q | rhino |
| r | cat |
| r | cow |
| s | camel |
| t | mouse |
| t | cat |
| u | frog |
| v | penguin |
| w | snake |
| x | kangaroo |
| y | elephant |
| z | kangaroo |
Team could then use component animals to make chains of the length and with the endpoints pictured on the cover sheet:
| penguin | badger |
| meerkat | penguin |
| cat | meerkat |
| snake | cat |
| mouse | snake |
| elephant | mouse |
| giraffe | camel |
| swan | giraffe |
| penguin | swan |
| meerkat | penguin |
| cat | meerkat |
| parrot | croc | l | | croc | duck | i | | duck | cat | o | | cat | meerkat | n |
| cat | mouse | t | | duck | cat | o |
| rabbit | owl | f | | cat | rabbit | r | | duck | cat | o | | horse | duck | g |
This clues that they need to make one last chain:
| kangaroo | lion |
| squirrel | kangaroo |
| rabbit | squirrel |
| cat | rabbit |
| duck | cat |
| croc | duck |
| frog | croc |
Solution
Reading off the final chain, reveals the answer ZEBROID
Design Notes
This puzzle spawned from someone on GC stumbling on this contest on Worth 1000. After that, we decided we needed to find a way to use these images in a puzzle. We were able to rework a puzzle cut from a previous year to make this.
My initial hope was to be able to assign each letter of the alphabet to exactly one hybrid, and have hybrids reused as necessary to spell a message. I spent nearly a week developing (and tweaking and debugging) a piece of software to find a valid such mapping before eventually deciding it wasn't possible, and writing the puzzle as it was delivered. (This all taking place a week before Game weekend may have had something to do with needing to get it done, also.)