August 2025 - Orville Peck

Tap on any hint box to view it.

Location - Kalahari Down, or is it Up?

  1. The first measure is up-7, down-7, up-6, down-6, up-5. What would these all “sum up to?”
  2. Up and down arrows could be +/- signs and direct what you should do with each number across each measure.
  3. What do you think is meant by “starting with” “new song”?
  4. (plus)5 and (minus)3 can be used to “shift” letters by their decimal codes.
  5. STETSON

curse of the blackened i

  1. Are you familiar with what are called “cryptic” crossword clues?
  2. Many of the clues are cryptic – that is, they are doubled up, giving you for example both definition and an anagram. The second clue is like that. “somewhere to raise bovine livestock is a jumble of metalcraft.” Can you unjumble metalcraft into a two-word answer that matches “somewhere to raise bovine livestock?”
  3. "Somewhere to raise bovine livestock" is a CATTLE FARM.
  4. Do you notice anything peculiar about all the hints and flavor text?
  5. The text is all in lower case (no caps!). What do you think that is telling you to do?
  6. What do you think “dash” and “dot” refer to?
  7. The answer given to you is “jail time.” Can you see how this would lead to dot-dot-dash-dot?
  8. What lowercase letter(s) involve a “dash”? And what lowercase letter(s) involve a “dot”?
  9. the words/phrases listed alphabetically are: banjo, cattle farm, fresh coffee, grits, hijinks, inside job, jail time, jettison, jumping jacks, mississippi, prairie, stable, train, west virginia, whistling wind
  10. Use Morse code (“i” and “j” = dot, “t” and “f” = dash) to get: BOSS OF THE PLAINS

Queens of the Rodeo

  1. Use the logic puzzle clues to find where each person is sitting around the table.
  2. The order is (clockwise starting at the top) JESSE, MERLE, BUTCH, TAMMY, PATSY, DOLLY, AGGIE
  3. There is a queen somewhere in each hand, and the names also have five letters each. Can you use the position of the queen to extract something here?
  4. What do you think is meant by the bolded words “increasing” “value”?
  5. There’s an ordering of poker hands from worst to best you can use with the letters you’ve extracted.
  6. GAMBLER

Winds Change

  1. Note that the changes in the image are to a specific part, but that also changes the whole object.
  2. Identify the part and the whole being changed, and fit them into the grid (ex. FRUITS on CACTUS is one difference). Do you see how that fits into the grid?
  3. Here are four more parts: STRIPES, BEAK, EAR, TAIL. Can you figure out the wholes they belong with?
  4. Here are the remaining four parts : HEAD, ANTLERS, STINGER, PICKGUARD. Can you figure out the wholes they belong with?
  5. The eight remaining wholes (in no particular order) are: HORSE, LIZARD, BIRD, GUITAR, SNAKE, MOLE, SCORPION, JACKALOPE.
  6. Do you notice any things “paired up” in the grid?
  7. Do you see certain repeated letters aligned in part/whole pairings?
  8. Read top to bottom, left to right: BULL RIDER

Hexy Mountains

  1. The two horseshoes can be connected using a path of just three straight lines – but careful not to block the path of too many other connections.
  2. The horseshoes path should be one that includes the bottom row of hexes. Now can you figure out how to connect the two pistols?
  3. The pistol path actually needs to include five straight lines.
  4. Keep making connections, but remember: no two paths can be of the same total length (cross the same number of hexes).
  5. There are seven arrows and seven letters in the solution.
  6. Once all the paths are drawn, what do you think the hint “turn up” refers to?
  7. See the graphics near the top with Orville on the mountain top. What code do you think this hints at?
  8. If all the hexes with arrows on them are turned so the arrow faces upward, what does that do to the path segment in those hexes?
  9. The flag in the Orville’s hand hints for semaphore.
  10. MOUNTIE

Meta - Last Masquerade

  1. Each mask has beads corresponding to a code on the code sheet. Can you figure out what they are?
  2. Can you see how the bead patterns correspond with Ternary, Morse, Decimal, Braille & Binary?
  3. The codes give the following phrases: I NEIGHBORS, PENULTIMATE ONE, FIRST TWO, DOUBLE LETTERS, LAST TWO.
  4. After folding the origami cowboy hat, the shaded area on each hat in the picture should align with a number corresponding to a puzzle number (L, 1-4). Apply the clue from Hint 1 to those puzzle answers.
  5. For example I NEIGHBORS for MOUNTIE would be the letters on either side of the I – specifically T and E.
  6. Each hat/mask should extract 1 or 2 letters. These are in order and spell out the answer.
  7. TEN GALLON

Bonus - No Glory in the East

  1. Fill in the person or character name who the quote belongs to.
  2. The 1st column top to bottom is Gandalf, Cat in the Hat, Spider Man, Aretha Franklin.
  3. The 2nd column top to bottom is Abraham Lincoln, Muhammad Ali, Bob Dylan, Batman.
  4. The 3rd column top to bottom is Mario, Dolly Parton, Indiana Jones.
  5. The 4th column top to bottom is Taylor Swift, Jack Sparrow, Phantom of the Opera, Elvis Presley.
  6. Try to fit each name into one or more categories.
  7. Each category corresponds to a cardinal direction. Names in overlapping categories move on the diagonal. Try and form a path with the directions given in each column.
  8. Each column path should spell out a letter.
  9. For example, in the first column, Gandalf wears a notable hat (so the first step of the path is N. Cat in the Hat wears a notable hand AND has an eleven letter name, so the second step of the path is NE. Spider Man wears a mask, so the next step is W. Aretha Franklin sings, so the final step is S. If you trace these four paths, it should form a recognizable letter.
  10. PONY