17
$\begingroup$

Hold my crossword clues, I'm going in!

  1. 1973 Ford tow truck
  2. Trip to geeks’ country in Portugal
  3. Why Germany imprisons mother
  4. John Stewart, according to Wikipedia
  5. Classic m7xBI.jpg

Hello future solvers! Have you read the puzzle yet? If so, answer me this: What am I thinking about right now?

HINT 1: No shovels, please!

HINT 2:

Like the flavortext says, these aren’t crossword clues but something else entirely. Perhaps a more direct search is in order?

HINT 3:

Each clue gives a specific thematic word, and the method to get each word is the same across all clues.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
13
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I think you spelled John wrong? Unless that's a clue. $\endgroup$
    – Rushabh Mehta
    Mar 28, 2019 at 18:26
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @DonThousand No, it’s not misspelled, and I guess you can call it a clue, as long as you know the main mechanism $\endgroup$
    – HTM
    Mar 28, 2019 at 18:28
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I get this reference $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Apr 5, 2019 at 15:39
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I feel like this is gonna end up being a rot13(ybpu arff zbafgre guerr svsgl wbxr) $\endgroup$
    – Nick Vitha
    Apr 5, 2019 at 19:29
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ This has been a fun one. I'm a bit stumped now after going down all the various rabbit holes. Maybe another hint will help or someone will see a connection I'm not $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Apr 5, 2019 at 19:58

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
5
$\begingroup$

You're thinking about:

MEMES

The mechanism used:

reddit uses an alpha-numeric pattern to code each comment/post. Some of these randomly end up as "words". By going to reddit.com/(whatever) you will go to a random post. The clues are the random posts visited by using the names of subreddits as the code. See here: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/are009/why_does_redditcommusic_redirect_to_a_7_year_old/

1973 Ford tow truck

http://www.reddit.com/music lands on a random post about the contents of this clue

Trip to geeks’ country in Portugal

http://www.reddit.com/meirl lands on a random post about the contents of this clue (Thanks to @noedne)

Why Germany imprisons mother

http://www.reddit.com/iama lands on a random post about the contents of this clue

John Stewart, according to Wikipedia

http://www.reddit.com/excel lands on a random post about the contents of this clue

Classic m7xBI.jpg

http://www.reddit.com/texas lands on a random post about the contents of this clue

Now:

By taking the first letter from the first answer, second from second, etc. we get Music mEirl iaMa excEl texaS, which spells out MEMES

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
8
  • $\begingroup$ Yep, that’s the mechanism! The rest might take a bit of finagling to find, but so far so good $\endgroup$
    – HTM
    Apr 5, 2019 at 22:10
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Nice. Could #3 be this: reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/iama/… $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Apr 5, 2019 at 23:11
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Updated a couple answers. I think I have #4 now $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Apr 6, 2019 at 0:06
  • $\begingroup$ Updated my answer. Thanks @noedne - that approach for the clue didn't occur to me. Seems obvious now haha $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Apr 6, 2019 at 0:58
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Got it! Actually, I almost just put that as the answer just because of the context without even seeing the pattern in the clues. But thought it was too random with no reason for it. $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Apr 6, 2019 at 1:20
3
$\begingroup$

My guess is you are thinking about:

this upcoming movie: GREEN LANTERN CORPS (most clues point to this one)

Title: Ah, the old SE puzzlearoo

This is clearly a reference to the "old redditaroo", in which a reddit post contains an ambiguous reference and a comment is made reacting to it as if the reference is pointing in the direction it clearly is not. The comments are archived and daisy-chained together in a seemingly never-ending chain of fun. People often declare "Hold my (whatever), I'm going in!" when reading the chain. https://www.reddit.com/r/switcharoo/

1973 Ford tow truck

This is a reference to the fact that when you visit reddit.com/music, you are redirected to a photo of a 1973 Ford tow truck. You probably meant to visit reddit.com/r/music

Trip to geeks’ country in Portugal

Found on dc site: Several years ago, the terrorist known as Kobra threatened to destroy Portugal's capital city Lisbon with a dangerous hydrocarbon weapon. The Justice League members Aquaman, Batman, and Green Lantern fought against Kobra, and though the villain escaped, they did succeed in saving Portugal.

Why Germany imprisons mother

Doing a reddit search on this brings up several results, one of which references DC universe and Green Lantern Corps specifically: " Ever since the fateful day that Krypton was destroyed, the Green Lantern Corps has been preparing for the day that the legions of Apokolips might attack another inhabited world, and they have reason to believe that day is drawing near. "

John Stewart, according to Wikipedia

John Stewart is one of the Green Lantern characters from DC

Classic m7xBI.jpg

I found this referenced by a thread in the texas subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/texas/classic/

Still looking for better connections between some of these...

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Any comment on whether any/all/none of my explanations of the clues are on the right track? (Maybe which ones, specifically?) $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Apr 5, 2019 at 20:12
1
$\begingroup$

  1. 1973 Ford tow truck

    James Webster discovered that this seems to be an F350.

  2. Trip to geeks’ country in Portugal

    Harry Potter geeks might be interested to visit the city of Porto in Portugal, where it's possible to go on Harry Potter tourism.

  3. Why Germany imprisons mother

    Following James Webster's idea, if this is letterplay it could be Y + DE + ? + MA. That doesn't give a word, but maybe an anagram of one?

  4. John Stewart, according to Wikipedia

    I've got nothing. Too many to choose from!

  5. Classic m7xBI.jpg

    The referenced image depicts a case of irony. Classical irony is one of the types of irony.

Given hexomino's confirmed answer to the hint puzzle, could it be that these five clues refer to

subreddits?

Specifically,

number 2 could be r/HarryPotter or any of several others such as r/RowlingWritings, and number 5 could be r/Irony.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
1
$\begingroup$

Taking some from @Metazen

Partially done

1973 Ford tow truck

music -> reddit.com/music (metazen) Looks right. redirects to /r/carporn

Trip to geeks’ country in Portugal

tbd

Why Germany imprisons mother

iama -> reddit.com/iama (me), is right. redirects to /r/reddit.com

John Stewart, according to Wikipedia

trees -> reddit.com/trees (metazen) I think this is wrong.

Classic m7xBI.jpg

Texas -> reddit.com/texas (metazen) Is probably right. redirects to /r/funny

Some deduction, not an answer:

These are all fairly big subreddits that are probably easily confusing people that don't put an r/ before the name.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ @pilsnot3 I'm stuck from here. Am I on the right track? For the Portugal one, I can't find anything. $\endgroup$
    – Nick Vitha
    Apr 5, 2019 at 23:26
  • $\begingroup$ Found #4, I think $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Apr 6, 2019 at 0:08
0
$\begingroup$

Flimsy reasoning so far but I think you're thinking about

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Pieces so far:

  1. 1973 Ford tow truck

The TV movie was released in 1973.
The most common result for a 1973 Ford Tow Truck is the F350. I don't know how this fits in.

  1. Trip to geeks’ country in Portugal

Nothing yet

  1. Why Germany imprisons mother

Why = Y.
Germany = DE.
Imprisons = Hide
Mother = ?
Total = HYDE

  1. John Stewart, according to Wikipedia

Nothing yet

  1. Classic m7xBI.jpg

The jpg on Imgur points to an image of an article condemning weedkiller called Atrazine with an ironic advert for Atrazine. enter image description here
I think this might be a parallel to the Jekyll/Hyde conflict

Hint:

Appears to point to Hunt for the Red October, a novel by Tom Clancy.
Resuming my flimsy reasoning: they're both novels.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.