Friday Foxer #48

Every Friday at 1300 hours, Tally-Ho Corner’s cleverest clogs come together to solve a ‘foxer’ handcrafted by my sadistic chum and colleague, Roman. A complete ‘defoxing’ sometimes takes several days and usually involves the little grey cells of many readers. Don’t be shy. All are welcome to participate.

When is a cluster foxer not a cluster foxer? When it’s a chronodungeon! In Roman’s latest foxer type a grid of 25 pictures doubles as the floorplan of a dungeon/cave network. Your task is to enter the dungeon, explore it, gathering jewels and slaying monsters as you go, then exit with as many precious stones as possible.

Deciphering the floorplan is the first step. The date a picture was taken (all of the pictures are from Wikipedia) tells you what it represents. Photos taken in December represent doors – your way into and out of dungeons (there’s always at least one of these on the edge of the grid). January, June, and July pics are jewels (the precise date indicates the number, so a Jan 14th pic, for example, contains 14 jewels). March and May images are monsters (Entering these squares for the first time costs you Health Points. A May 12th pic would reduce your HP total by 12). September squares contain salve, a one-time boost to your HP (The pic shown above would restore 19 HP). October squares are obstructions – impassable squares. Lastly there are abysses, squares that you can only traverse if you have sufficient HP (For example, to cross an April 27th or August 27th pic you’d need at least 27 HP). As it’s impossible to change direction on an abyss square and diagonal movement within a dungeon is forbidden, an abyss square in a grid corner is effectively impassable).

Pics taken in February (flip-all) and November (nowt) represent ’empty’ areas.

Once the floorplan has been deciphered, work out a route through the dungeon that a) bags you as many jewels as possible, and b) doesn’t cost you your life! Routes must start and end at door squares. Visiting every accessible square in a dungeon is not necessary.

You enter today’s chronodungeon with 50 HP.

* * *

SOLUTIONS

Last week’s ’33 Things Wot You Might Encounter Or Notice At Night’ missing vowels foxer:

1. PSNT – pesanta (Colonel_K)
2. CRFW – curfew (Viscount)
3. BTSG NL – bat signal (ylla)
4. GGNSCHN – gegenschein (gusdownnup, ylla)
5. MGFHR LC KS – mug of horlicks (gusdownnup)
6. M D MKK – madam koi koi (Colonel_K)
7. LFW L – elf owl LFW L (Electric Dragon, Phlebas)
8. CHM CLRC TNBT WNLCF RNNDLC FRS – chemical reaction between luciferin and luciferase (Electric Dragon)
9. LGHLG HT – leigh light (ylla)
10. SNTC LS – santa claus (Viscount)
11. RNSB RV – irina sebrova

12. BSTR CTVSL PPN – obstructive sleep apnea (ylla)
13. STLL TFLR – satellite flare (Colonel_K)
14. CHRNTST YX – acherontia styx (Electric Dragon)
15. THN GSTH TGB MP – things that go bump (Viscount, ylla)
16. ZGV M PR – zg 1229 vampir (Viscount, Colonel_K)
17. STR NWH PPRW LL – eastern whip-poor-will (Colonel_K)
18. SL MBRPRTY – slumber party (Viscount)
19. S NWGRMR – snow groomer (ylla)
20. TTHFR Y – tooth fairy (ylla)
21. MTNS – matins (Colonel_K)
22. THSP KFS TTR ND – the spook of st trond (gusdownnup)

23. SML LHRS – small hours (gusdownnup, Viscount)
24. SC RLTSLS – scarlet sails (Colonel_K)
25. Y Y – aye-aye (Electric Dragon)
26. CLMNLNT RN – coleman lantern (Viscount)
27. GNGFR MR – gong farmer (gusdownnup)
28. LSTR DRS – last orders (Colonel_K)
29. SMNMBLST – somnambulist (Electric Dragon, Colonel_K)
30. BLTNBN FR – beltane bonfire (gusdownnup)
31. ST RFSHST – starfish site (ylla)
32. THLND S – the leonids (Colonel_K)
33. CRB BNW HTTN TMK NGBT – caribbean white tent-making bat (ylla, Electric Dragon)

38 Comments

    • Ooh, competing dates!

      Did this happen before? At first I could only see ‘April 2007’, but way down below I found the July date.

      • Yeah. It happens to me with FireFox, but only when it’s the last day of the month (maybe more specifically if it’s the 31st, but I don’t remember checking); then it doesn’t show a numbered day, just the next month.

  11. Z68: Senegal page, landmine warning – 9 June 2013 – So-so 9 Jewels

    W66: Mercury-Atlas 8 page, Wally Schirra – 1 October 1962 – Impassable Obstruction

  13. Z67: Stolperstein (“stumbling stones”), Pollack family in Amsterdam – 3 October 2018 – another Obstruction

  14. W68: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry page, monument in Tarfaya, Morocco – 29 April 2009 – Abyss requiring 29HP to traverse
    (Brequet 14 biplane; Aéropostale’s mail stopover station)

    • X67 – 30 July 2015 – Backstab-worthy 30 Jewels

      Y66 – 16 October 2014 – it’s getting very Obstructive this time round
      (appears on the page List of equipment of the Czech Republic)

      V68 – 4 June 2021 – Piffling 4 Jewels

  20. Z66: Quantum-class cruise ship Ovation of the Seas with “North Star” observation tower raised – 6 December 2016 – Another Door!

  21. W69: Chinese HHQ-10 (naval version of HQ-10) 8-round launcher on a Type 056 corvette – 15 May 2013 – finally another Monster, doing 15HP of damage

  22. Z69: Baseball doughnut page, Hunter Pence using a “Hitting Jack-It” weight in practice – 5 October 2016 – yet another Obstruction

  24. V69: Dust explosion page, a cloud of ignited flour-dust – 7 October 2009 – I can’t believe it’s yet another Obstruction

    Remaining to be found:
    W67, Y67
    X69
    V70

    • Most of them are easily findable with reverse image search, it takes the fun out of it and feels like cheating. Roman should tamper a bit with the images or use photos from books and screen print them on sandpaper.

      • Turns out W67 is a Route One job: it’s on the Panzerfaust page – 30 June 1944 – Chunky wodge of 30 Jewels
        Panzerfaust-armed Finnish soldiers (soldier in foreground is also armed with a Suomi KP/-31) passing the wreckage of a Soviet T-34 tank, destroyed by detonation, in the Battle of Tali-Ihantala.

        Door – – – Obst – – – Slv23 – – – Obst – – – Door

        Obst – – – Jwl30 – – – Jwl30 – – – ???? – – – Obst

        Jwl04 – – Aby29 – – – Aby28 – – Aby26 – – Jwl09

        Obst – – – Mo15 – – – ???? – – – Jwl13 – – – Obst

        ???? – – – Mo31 – – – Mo23 – – – ?Obst? – – Door

        Obviously, the two doors in the top row are unusable, and the Jewels on either end of the middle row inaccessible.
        Depending on the correct interpretation of Y70, that might also be an Obstruction, rendering the bottom right Door useless too.

      • “Most of them are easily findable with reverse image search, it takes the fun out of it and feels like cheating.”

        Roman normally tints and/or obscures chronodungeons and cluster foxers to discourage reverse image searches. Not sure why this one didn’t get the treatment.

    • There are two versions of this photo on Wikipedia, both with incorrect creation dates. Roman says you can choose either as your salve.

  28. By my reckoning that gives us

    Door – – – Obst – – – Slv23 – – – Obst – – – Door

    Obst – – – Jwl30 – – – Jwl30 – – – Mo13 – – – Obst

    Jwl04 – – Aby29 – – – Aby28 – – Aby26 – – Jwl09

    Obst – – – Mo15 – – – Slv21 – – – Jwl13 – – – Obst

    Door – – – Mo31 – – – Mo23 – – – Obst – – – Door

    There only appears to be one usable door (in bottom left), and one way into it, that means that the Mo31 square would need to be traversed both way in and out – is that allowed?

    If it is, then I make the route – Door – Mo31 – Mo15(as Mo23 would kill us) – Slv21 – Jwl13 then we’re stuck as we only have 25 hit points and need at least 26 to make it across the abyss.

    Do we then trudge back the way we came with our measly 13 jewels or have we gone wrong somewhere?

    • Monster squares can be traversed as many times as you like, they only inflict damage on the first occasion.

      The photo of paratroops in Oosterbeek was taken on the 23rd of September by Sgt. Lewis
      https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193893
      (The version on the Operation Market Garden Wikipedia page has a date of the 22nd, which might be enough to be workable)

      Door – – – Obst – – – Slv23 – – – Obst – – – Door

      Obst – – – Jwl30 – – – Jwl30 – – – Mo13 – – – Obst

      Jwl04 – – Aby29 – – – Aby28 – – Aby26 – – Jwl09

      Obst – – – Mo15 – – Slv22/23 – – Jwl13 – – – Obst

      Door – – – Mo31 – – – Mo23 – – – Obst – – – Door

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