# The Road to a Fulfilling Life

The final answer is a 12-letter word and is confirmed by the title.
Other applicable tags: visual, enigmatic puzzle, rebus (stage 2)

Stage 1 of 2:
Mark the correct cells black in the 5 grids below and put the results together to move to Stage 2 of 2. The grids are completely independent and can be worked on independently, in any order. Grid #2 is probably the easiest, followed by #5 and #4. Grids #1 and #3 are probably the toughest.

Grid #1:
Start on the black square marked "start" and move through the grid according to the clue, marking the cells on the path black.
Theme: Word property
Clue: Adjacent (including diagonally) r _ _ _ _ _ i c

Text version of Grid #1:
A 7-row, 5-column grid with the following values:

 42, 28, 73,106, 54
67,105,150,116,109
17, 78, 10,146,160
41, 74, 92, 65,111
70, 39, 30, 59,115
44, 90,  8,  5, 11
51, 13, 62,  6, 80


Grid #2:
Start on the black square marked "start", but no need to path through the grid as in grid #1. Instead, based on the start cell, mark all cells matching the clue black.
Theme: Mathematics
Clue: f a c _ _ _ _

Text version of Grid #2:
A 7-row, 5-column grid with the following values:

  11, 56, 19, 44, 14
144, 22, 13, 64, 76
9, 12, 30,  8,121
60, 32, 36, 80, 40
6,100, 48,  7, 20
10, 82, 16, 90, 15
17,  5, 24,120, 18


Grid #3:
Mark all cells matching the clue black.
Theme: Word property
Clue: l i p _ _ _ _ _ with an "I" (the character in quotation marks is an uppercase I, not a lowercase l)

Text version of Grid #3:
A 7-row, 5-column grid with the following values:

   6,  4, 10,103, 50
74,153, 63, 16, 12
122, 84,156, 69,131
184, 23,172,140,105
29, 65,116, 83, 24
120, 95, 48, 52,  2
46, 41,102,  7,191


Grid #4:
Mark all cells matching the clue black.
Theme: USA geography
Clue: _ a n d _ _ _ _ _ d

Text version of Grid #4:
A 7-row, 5-column grid with the following values:

 WA,NM,MN,OK,OR
AR,AK,TX,MT,PA
CO,VA,AZ,HI,VT
KS,SC,MI,FL,UT
KY,CA,ID,NC,WY
WV,NE,AL,ME,OH
NY,ND,TN,NV,GA


Grid #5:
Mark all cells matching the clue black.
Theme: Word property
Clue: P _ _ i _ _ _ _ _ e

Text version of Grid #5:
A 7-row, 5-column grid with the following values:

 BEG,OAR,KEY,DOT,ICE
HUB,PUN,AGE,GOT,CRY
EVE,NUN,DID,PEP,EYE
SAT,NIP,FUN,AHA,URN
LEG,RUG,YAY,TOY,MET
WHY,WOW,EAR,JOG,VEX


Stage 2:
(Easy) This stage will provide the final answer, which is a 12-letter word.

• 2-5 are pretty easy, but I'm having trouble seeing what 1 is cluing...
– Deusovi
Aug 1 at 0:18
• I feel like I have something that seems feasible for 1, but it's not entirely working out. Aug 1 at 0:36
• @Deusovi I leaned to the easy side on this one, since my last multi-stage puzzle took 2 weeks to be solved completely. :) Were you able to get the word for grid #1 and still it doesn't give you anything?
– JLee
Aug 1 at 0:37
• Never mind, just figured out 1. Aug 1 at 0:38
• @JLee There are a few possible words that fit that pattern, none of which give me any particularly relevant ideas. I could just be missing the obvious, though...
– Deusovi
Aug 1 at 0:41

Grid 1's hint is "rhopalic". A rhopalic sentence is one where each word is one letter longer than the previous. Starting at "six", a three-letter word, you can trace a path going up to "one hundred fifteen", with 17 letters; this draws out a Q.

Grid 2's hint is "factors" [of 120, the starting number]. Shading all the factors of 120 draws out a lowercase o.

Grid 3's hint is "lipogram (with an I)". A lipogram is a piece of text that is intentionally missing a specific letter. Shading all the numbers that aren't spelled with an I draws out the letter S.

Grid 4's hint is "landlocked". Shading all the landlocked US states draws out the number 0.

Grid 5's hint is "palindrome". Shading all the palindromes gives the letter z.

We now have

the code QoS0z. Going to i.stack.imgur.com/QoS0z.png gives the second part of the puzzle:

The six subtractions are:
PINCERS - PIERS → NC
CRATE - RAT = CE
SHRIMP - SHIM = RP
VENT - ET = VN
GROVES - ROES = GV

This creates the 12-letter string NCCERPVNGVBA; this rot13s to the answer, APPRECIATION.

• not that it matters, but the 30 on Grid #1 is shaded also. great job. very fast.
– JLee
Aug 1 at 1:11

## Grid #1:

Rule: Shade each cell on the path where each number, written out, has one more letter than the previous one.
Extracted character: Q

## Grid #2:

Clue: Factors
Rule: Shade each cell which is a factor of 120.
Extracted character: o

## Grid #3:

Clue: Lipogram with an "I"
Rule: Shade each cell with a number which, written out, does not contain the letter "I". Extracted character: 9

## Grid #4:

Clue: Landlocked
Rule: Shade each cell with the abbreviation for a landlocked US state.
Extracted character: 0

## Grid #5:

Clue: Palindrome
Rule: Shade each cell whose three letter word is a palindrome.
Extracted character: z

## Stage 2 [UNSOLVED]:

The extracted letters spell out: Qo90z. These characters look fairly random, and look like some string that would be appended to a link, e.g. Imgur. This idea is strengthened by the specification of capital vs. lowercase letters in the grids. I haven't found anything with that, though. There's also the "rebus" tag associated with Stage 2 of the puzzle, so this string of 5 letters may in a rebus sense resolve to a 12 letter answer.

• Great job. +1 Deusovi is a tough competitor. He's been doing these a while!
– JLee
Aug 1 at 1:13
• Probably should've realized that rot13(gur fgnpx+vzthe yvaxf rkvfg, tvira gung gurl nccrne svir gvzrf va zl jevgrhc, unun) Aug 1 at 1:16