Hypercross: Battlefields

[Edited]

ohhhhhhhhh....not wargaming enough these days!

The thing is, [1], I figured that out on my own. But understandng the clues is far from simple; after ten minutes, I've got four, maybe five.

EDIT: Hey, given that [1] was two days ago, it looks like that wasn't meant to be left here, but was a note to the Tanga organizers. (Very sloppy, if so.)

[3] Yeah, same here...

The one set of combatants that I've figured out so far never met on a battlefield, and the site of battle most associated with them doesn't fit the number of spaces in the answer.

I may not get through this one.

[5] Some of the battles are fictional (hence they really never met on a battlefield), and others might not have actually led troops on said battlefield, but are better known than the actual military leaders.

Wikipedia is your friend.

Wikipedia gives a LOT of answers on these. It makes it trial and error on the one's you can even figure out.

5 - I agree.

I gave up on this even though I got about 5 or 6 right off - some are obvious at first glance, and some are just really reaches. There are pairs where I could pick dozens of "battles", that neither were actually at.

Too hard! I hate war and politics!

IF you can figure out the clues (which are quite a reach) then you still have to find the battle?? And they aren't necessarily real battles???

puzzles like this really make me wonder why mine don't get published.

Got everything but the freaking bird!

Stuck on 4 and 10... I don't think I'll ever understand how Aaron decides which puzzles to publish... I think he must blindfold himself and use a dartboard or something.

Trade the bird for the jelly!

I'm not having trouble finding the battlefields once I have the combatants; it's just that some of the clues are *such* a stretch. The metal thing in the "Picairn" clue has a long vowel, but the thing it's cluing has a short vowel. The strand of DNA requires removing the initial consonant and completely changing the vowel. Things like that...the clues here just aren't very clear at all.

Nevermind...the guy should have been on the ground.

not a clue...not even one is coming together for me here...too much guessing for my taste.

all I can say is wow. I don't want to ever knock a puzzle or the puzzle maker, but really??

[17] it was not really a lobby... just statement... but thanks. And I am quite proud of the one you linked to. :) I still laugh once in awhile about that one. I suppose my statement was a complaint... but I didn't intend it that way. But I can see I am not alone in my feelings that this one is extremely hard due to the amount of work just to get half way there.

you have GOT to be kidding me.

bleh.

[17] Wait... who published that one again? I forget who's responsible for picking those puzzles...

I surrender. I have six of them and that gets me not even halfway.

That took FOREVER! Very very hard

[17] Darn archives!

I must rain on this parade. For those of us who are not war buffs, this is no fun whatsoever.

Salt on the bird one?

OK, done. And by "done" I mean "I read the answers people posted in the livejournal community, and I feel no remorse about doing so, because this was really terrible".

There's a difference between someone getting punched and someone who's been KO'd. Having looked up the combatants, I still don't know what that thing next to the bird is supposed to be. And I suspect that if you had told me "Leo Knight DOS", I still couldn't have translated that into the clue.

This is quite frankly one of the worst puzzles I've ever seen here. I have no idea what the hell y'all were thinking by publishing it, and I'd love to know what the testsolvers thought.

This was tough, and I know a little bit about battles. The clues would be next to impossible to guess if you had never heard about the guys involved. Some of the clues were top notch, though.

Never mind. Reverse engineered it. 68th.

Nope:(

[27] Big salt (made with the assumption that nobody will care too much): It's a hawk, a piece of wood from a barrel, and an HTML code.

[All] I originally submitted a few of these as individual HOWWs, but with many similarly themed puzzles, HC made more sense. I know some of them are real groaners. If you do get all of them, you'll have definitely earned it.

[32] I think it was worth it just for the Michael Jordan clue.

[28] You make a good point, and after solving over 1000 puzzles on this site, you are qualified to say it. Thanks for contributing.

[33] That one still makes me laugh.

[32] They're not groaners; they're broken. I'm sorry: that bird one apparently requires:

* Remove the first sound from the bird.
* Remove the first sound from the piece of wood.
* Insert an "ee" sound between the wood and the HTML code.

That's like cluing "accidental" with "hacks / rid / tall". That's not "a groaner". That's unfair and practically unsolveable.

If it will make anyone feel better, I haven't solved any of the other three puzzles yet.

[37] Karma, baby! ;)

I laugh every time I see "pudding vs calves".... I have no idea what it means but it sounds stupid. :)

boy what a brain burner, but nothing's cookin try again tomorrow
night all

[36] You mean we're supposed to decipher "hawk stave en" and somehow guess that it means "Octavian"? That really is unfair. So unfair that I have absolutely no compunction about posting this, because there's way anyone could be expected to make that leap.

Hmmmm, I had no problem w/ the Jelly one even though I had no clue how the boxing part fit in (until reading here) but then again, I am very familiar with that battle. Some of the others were easy for me too, but I am still stumped on several - like the bird that apparently is a hawk but looks like a golden eagle to me. And the "pudding Jordan" one - huh? I also don't have the one w/ Conan or the briefcase.

The thing that really bums me is #7. I thought for sure it had something to do w/ Mary Queen of Scots, but now that I know the characters involved, I still can't get an answer that fits. The two possible names for that battle don't fit.

[17] I liked that puzzle, mainly because I was working on a very similar one at the time, so it was an easy solve.

[40] Holy crap! That is supposed to be Octavian? Wow! Never would have gotten that. Why not go with a clue containing a musical octave? That would have been sooooo much easier. OK, more googling to do!

[41][42] Sadly, not everyone has the kind of SPACE BRAIN required to make the leaps of logic this puzzle demands you make.

Now that I know the answer, I actually like the clue w/ Jordan. And #7 is NOT the battle I was thinking of, that's for sure. Still no clue on the one with the case - any additional salt on that one? It's the only one I have left. I am assuming it is the Duke with the same name as a pack of cigarettes, but if that's the case, I can't find a battle that fits, unless it is one of the many lesser known Dukes by the same name, in which case, that stinks.

[44] TG sent.

[44] OK, so that ain't the Duke of Marlborough! I thought that fit as good as any (mare + burro), especially because he was a famous general.

The thing I like least about this puzzle is that it mixes real battles with fictional battles. Been waaaay too long since I read the books for this one, as well as #6.

Hmmm, stuck on 6 - who is that dude? Not to mention the trio under him.

[47] That dude is a late night talk show host with a very Irish sounding last name. You want his first name. And I don't think it is important who those people are under him... they don't make the grade like the rest of the clue. In fact... your post is quite salty itself.

3 1/2 hours later... 91 Completions. does that mean there is STILL bonus points available on this? I don't recall if 100 is cut off for Hypercrosses.

four left and I am completely stuck. Jelly, pudding, mare are winning!

and dna...oops

any salt on mary or the thing that looks like an ark next to the talk show host?

cavefish... it ain't pudding, but it's similar

[50]
not pudding. and think about the person, his team and what he is doing in the picture.

not dna... but if you double it, it would be Great. I don't understand how the second set ends up as the opponent.

yes it is a mare... but that is a mere technicality.

[51] you know what the first half is... put that with the hosts first name... but you might want to preface the whole thing with an H.

OK got it, although i get a six letter battle, not seven.
All I have left is the one with mary. Grrr

mary and the guy next to her make two people, you are not looking for one character.

thanks to you and monocle for the help!

[54] I'm not sure exactly the desired logic for that one. I think the Mary one has a tiny arrow pointing to something... you may want to sort of mutilate that word. and then the #33 player sort of goes with the first part but not really conjoined. But I also think her name is significant... but then the #33 person is really not conjoined. And then the opponent... you have a board game (which you will need to mutilate the name of) and a gender symbol...

edit... [55] seems to confirm my second thought about the Mary one.

[49] the picture of the boxer was taken about 3 seconds plus a 10 count before the part that you really want. you have the first part. I think a few mutations will be needed before Google helps you at all. For the opponent... I'm not sure what animal that is in the picture, but it could easily have been a sheep... or even a llama. In either case, the person would be unchanged.

[49] Jelly - this is one of the more recent battles of this group (although it's still nearly a century ago). It is not a land battle, even though it involved something known as the "death ride." That's probably quite a bit saltier than I would normally try to be, but in the case of this puzzle, I think it is warranted.

Edit: oh, what the heck, one more tidbit, 'cause I am feeling generous :-) The two sides involved still argue to this day over who won this battle. I really shouldn't get started on this topic, or my "salt" might involve 20 paragraphs or so!

Egad. I like a good rebus, but "mangle and mutilate some words inspired by these pictures, then guess what I'm thinking" is a far cry from a rebus.

The Hawk-stave-en clue is just ridiculous, but with a proper rebus, it could have been (Hawk) - H + (Stave) - S + E + (en dash). Well, provided you could figure out that some random piece of wood was a "stave" from a barrel.

(Pudding) - D would have been a much better clue than just (Pudding). His name wasn't (Pudding). And (Jordan) wasn't even at that battle.

(Helix) (Sander)? (Case) (pn)? Those are really too much of a stretch to be good clues. At some point, these clues really go beyond being "groaners" and just become bad clues. Some of the clues are perfectly fine, but many need fixing - either with proper rebus "math" or better pictures (or both).

Even with the answers, I'm having a hard time back-solving for some of these clues. I can't fathom that this puzzle was playtested successfully in its current format.

I think I'm down to one left. The one with the mare is driving me crazy. To make it worse, I think I have the combattants' names, but the battle eludes me. Starting to think I'm on the wrong track, so can anyone tell me if we are talking Ancient Rome, or if I need to back up?

[60] Fictional battle / premiers May 16, 2008 / Appeared in SuperBowl ad

This is really sad. 11 hours later and I finished 101st. Thank you livejournal group!

Thank you. That got it for me. 102nd place finish and now I can go to work. :)

105th - Thanks Monacle - would have never found it otherwise. Not "well rounded" in either area

Wow, 4:36 pm and I'm 120. Good idea, bad execution for this puzzle. I love the idea of having to take another leap, but this was too many rabbit holes to go down...

Blech. Not even trying this one.

OMG!!!! That was the hardest Hypercross I've EVER seen!

This puzzle is just plain awful! The clues are bad enough, but then I have to guess what the relevant battle or place is? I'm out!

Two and a half months later, and I'm 145th. Just for the record.

[69]..Two and a half YEARS later, and I still haven't solved. Just for the record.

Thanks [12]....Never would have gotten without your help...hurts that I'm not a gamer or much of a "fictional" battle guy.....ugh, what a huge time investment for 5 points!

Thank you CWarrior for your help, hard puzzle but glad to have finished.