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This is part 4 of A Trivial Pursuit, a 25-part puzzle hunt. Each part is solvable on its own, with the exception of the meta-puzzle at the end.

QUE STI ONS
SEC@ND L@TR V@LUME
B@ANWELL’S AUTHO@ SISTE@S
H@LGA’S F@LLOW FOUND@RS
@AN’S LANG@ON @EBUT
@RALE @OLD @ASE
TRE@SURE ISL@ND @UTHOR
@USTEN D@SHWOOD ROM@NCE
DU@AS’ @USKET @EN
SOL UTI ONS

The final answer is a relevant 8-letter word. NB There is no tag.

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1 Answer 1

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First note that for each row, the @ represents the same symbol

Which is in fact the unique common letter.

Each describes a three-word phrase:

1. Second LOTR Volume: The Two Towers (LOTR = Lord of the Rings)
2. Branwell's Author Sisters: Charlotte, Emily, Anne (Sisters of Branwell Brontë)
3. Helga's Fellow Founders: Rowena, Godric, Salazar (Founders of the houses of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series)
4. Dan's Langdon Debut: Angels and Demons (First Dan Brown book featuring Robert Langdon)
5. Crale Cold Case: Five Little Pigs (Agatha Christie novel about the murder of Amyas Crale)
6. Treasure Island Author: Robert Louis Stevenson (No explanation required)
7. Austin Dashwood Romance: Sense and Sensibility (Romantic novel by Jane Austen featuring the Dashwood sisters)
8. Dumas' Musket Men: Athos Porthos Aramis (The Three Musketeers)

Note that for each three-word phrase, there is exactly one (unique!) common letter among the three words, which spells:

ternions (which is really neat since it means 'groups of three')

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  • $\begingroup$ This is indeed the correct answer. Note that the at signs are a bit more specific than just 'representing the same symbol'... It's rot13(sgd nmkx bnllnm kdssdq zbqnrr zkk sgqdd), a nod to the solution method... $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Sep 9 at 13:31
  • $\begingroup$ @Stiv ah yes. Which I must acknowledge that this makes the puzzle much more difficult to set so kudos to you. Also ur prev comment is in rot1 not rot 13. (Do i get a tick:)? ) $\endgroup$
    – CatProgrammer
    Sep 9 at 13:35
  • $\begingroup$ Ha, good spot - I was using different settings on rot13.com for another purpose earlier and forgot to set it back...! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Sep 9 at 13:43
  • $\begingroup$ @Stiv do I need to add your rot13 comment to get the full tick/answer accepted? $\endgroup$
    – CatProgrammer
    Sep 9 at 14:02
  • $\begingroup$ That would round it out nicely. Perhaps it might be worth emphasising the letters of interest in the solutions too, to make them stand out (e.g. in bold font). Otherwise a reader has to go back and forth between the two spoilers after reading your final answer and try and make the connection for themselves - help them to see it more easily... :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Sep 9 at 14:09

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