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Scores equal thousand of first car of type.


Two small hints:

The question title is significant, and while it is not strictly necessary to solve the puzzle, it's probably the best place to start.

⠀

The solution to this puzzle should become much easier to find once a particular critical insight is made.

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  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I promise this isn't spam or anything — this is an actual puzzle with an actual answer. $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented Apr 1, 2018 at 16:38
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    $\begingroup$ Is it like a cryptic-clue? $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Commented Apr 1, 2018 at 16:52
  • $\begingroup$ @BeastlyGerbil If I'm understanding what you mean by that correctly, then yes and no. $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented Apr 1, 2018 at 16:54
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    $\begingroup$ How deliciously ambiguous of you! $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Commented Apr 1, 2018 at 16:55
  • $\begingroup$ I think at this point, a hint is expected. $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 16:14

6 Answers 6

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First, the hint

The title hints at the fact that the puzzle should be read backward: "Answer to puzzle is here" makes much more sense.

Then,

Reading the puzzle backwards we can make out three phrases: "Type of car", "first of thousand", "equal scores".

The parts of the word are:

cab (type of car), k (first letter of kilo, thousand), draw - equal scores

And together:

draw k cab, or backward

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    $\begingroup$ Exactly right.⠀ $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 20:40
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    $\begingroup$ Thought it was a very nice puzzle (maybe because my first solved one). Credit to @floraline for the insight! $\endgroup$
    – ivanibash
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 21:12
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The critical insight for this puzzle is...

Reversing the title makes it grammatically correct: Answer to puzzle is here. This suggests that the puzzle text is printed in reverse.

I will expand on some of my thoughts here.

Scores equal thousand of first car of type

Reverse and split it up: Type of car, first of thousand, equal scores
Resolve the hints
Type of car (MAKE, MODEL)
First of thousand (1, T, THOU, M)
Equal scores (TIE, DRAW, DEUCE)
Put the words together, and possibly reverse them again, to make some sensible phrase. This would be the solution (MAKE 1 TIE, DRAW THOU MODEL)

I am not sure about...

The second hint: first of thousand. What does this mean?

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  • $\begingroup$ Nice find, but the first hint says that the title is not strictly necessary. $\endgroup$
    – noedne
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 18:37
  • $\begingroup$ I don't think this contradicts the first hint, because you could come to the same conclusion independently. It is not strictly necessary, but it does help to start there. $\endgroup$
    – floraline
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 18:42
  • $\begingroup$ I really don't see how you could, but maybe someone else does. $\endgroup$
    – noedne
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 18:46
  • $\begingroup$ Very much on the right track. $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 18:48
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Incomplete answer, following up on floraline's "critical insight,"

we can rewrite the puzzle backwards as "Type of car first of thousands equal scores."

...because that's so much clearer. < /sarcasm>

But what if we treat this as a

cryptic clue where "type of car" is Model T, T is the "first of thousands.

But I still haven't figured out how to

incorporate the "equal scores" portion. Could that somehow be used as "model," as in, something serves as a model, to be tested for equality ("Model homes" would all be like the matching homes). Not sure.

But maybe this will kick someone forward. I'm bad at the sort of thing in bold in the second spoiler, so it might be simpler than I think?

Further musings:

What if it's a T from the car, and then the "first of thousands" is one T, which phoenetically sounds like "twenty", which is a score? I know a cryptic clue would normally indicate phonetic cues, but I'm just throwing snother idea in the pot. Also, as pointed out by celtschk, T is the 20th letter, so the relation remains...

See if that helps anyone...

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  • $\begingroup$ Closer, but rot13("G") is not intended as part of the solution. $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 19:03
  • $\begingroup$ Aw, but it works so well! For @Mister B's unanswered one, rot13(Vs lbh jva n tnzr, lbh trg n J, ybfr trgf na Y, naq rira fpberf trg lbh n G) $\endgroup$
    – hagfy
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 19:08
  • $\begingroup$ @hagfy That's a good answer (feel free to post that as an answer, and I'd upvote, as I have this one), but the intended answer should fit even better than that one. $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 19:11
  • $\begingroup$ @hagfy Super clever! I totally missed that. But, as OP has indicated, still wrong. :) $\endgroup$
    – Mister B
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 20:09
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So here is what I have so far:

1 score=20, so, 1000÷20=50, so 50 of first car type (Ford model T) fordt (forty)40 + 50 = 90, so is the answer 90 or 2000(50 x 40)

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  • $\begingroup$ also it would be nice to know if it has anything to do with numbers or was I completely on the wrong track $\endgroup$
    – Yout Ried
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 5:11
  • $\begingroup$ Please hide your spoilers (I've done it for you at this point). Hiding is done by starting lines with >!. As reader, you unhide by either moving the mouse over the spoiler field, or clicking/tapping on it. (As of this writing, my edit is not yet visible). $\endgroup$
    – celtschk
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 5:25
  • $\begingroup$ @celtschk thanks I dint know how to hide spoilers $\endgroup$
    – Yout Ried
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 5:37
  • $\begingroup$ An interesting idea, but still nowhere remotely close. $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 13:44
  • $\begingroup$ oh well I tried and after I awnser one measly awnswer and it gets awnswed within a day $\endgroup$
    – Yout Ried
    Commented May 2, 2018 at 0:40
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OK, here's my thoughts about it, still not a solution

The first car was Ford Model T (that one I got from Yout Reid's answer), and thousand of that, might refer to T-1000, one of the terminators from the movies of that name. I don't know how the score fits in, though.

Another thought:

T is the 20th letter of the alphabet. This fits well with the score (score = 20 = T), but now the thousand no longer fits in.

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  • $\begingroup$ Interesting, but nearly completely off the mark, just like the other answer. $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 13:44
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    $\begingroup$ The first internal combustion car was the the Lenoir Hippomobile, or if we mean production, the Benz motorwagen $\endgroup$
    – Chris Cudmore
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 16:20
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Working on a solution ...

OK so with the hint we got from the title, the puzzle might become:

1.)

Type of car

2.)

First of thousand

3.)

Equal score

Could this be:

The bloodhound SSC? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodhound_SSC
Type of car:
It is a type of car
First of thousand:
It is supposed to be the first car that will be attempted to hit 1,000 MPH
Equal scores:
I'm not too sure about this, but this car would break the world record for land speed ... equal, or "=", is an assignment operator in a lot of programing languages ... assignment ... setting ... could this be because the car is trying to "set a new score"?

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  • $\begingroup$ No. Partitioning is correct, though. $\endgroup$
    – praosylen
    Commented May 1, 2018 at 19:36

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