The “col” in fridayfoxercol.jpg is short for collaboration. Although today’s co-op puzzles (there are two) have been executed by Roman, they owe their themes and the majority of their clues to guest foxer setters. Colonel_K populated most of the hexagons in the following hive foxer, and eye-opening emails from a reader I can’t name for fear of letting the fox out of the bag, inspired the collage puzzle.
The honeycomb below is a fancy form of wordsearch in which every cell is used, and words can curl and zigzag but never overlap. Each hive foxer has a theme (some past ones: gloves, mazes, earthquakes, and The 39 Steps). Identifying the theme is a vital part of the defoxing process. Colonel_K’s puzzle is composed of 13 answers.
Our second foxer is decidedly old school. To defox this collage, identify the hidden theme and explain why each of the components is present.
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SOLUTIONS
Last week’s geofoxer theme: annularity (defoxed by chrisol)
a – krimsky bridge, moscow – garden ring (ylla)
b – home of jrr tolkien, oxford – lord of the rings (Phlebas)
c – super photon ring 8 gev, sayo town, japan – particle accelerator
d – slagelse trelleborg – ring fort (chrisol, Maquisard)
e – newark air museum – lee-richards annular biplane (AKAMC)
f – gammel strand – copenhagen cityringen (Viscount, ylla)
g – plaza de toros méxico – bullring (Viscount, chrisol)
h – m25 near Merstham – london’s orbital motorway (ylla)
i – bayreuth opera house – wagner’s ring cycle (chrisol)
j – west lake street, chicago – “the loop” (chrisol)
k – gchq – “the doughnut” (chrisol)
l – leptis magna – circular amphitheatre (Viscount)
a) Teehee!
b) On the collage, the photo of the man on the left is from the Wikipedia entry ‘Punt gun’.
Collage: figure in the centre looking upward is the character Alex Rogan from movie The Last Starfighter.
Collage, airport map in lower right is for Ramstein AIr Base, headquarters for the USAF in Europe.
Honeycomb: starting A2 and occupying upper left corner: MESON (sub-atomic particle).
Honeycomb, starting far right row C: BIRD OF HERMES
Honeycomb C5: PHILOSOPHER
And POETRY at E6
Honeycomb, starting E5: RIPLEY
Maybe related to Bird of Hermes?
https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/ripleys-alchemical-scrolls
Edit: I think captaincabinets has the better suggestion, but it would be PHILOSOPHER’S STONE
Oooh, very well spotted.
Collage: Building photo from top left seems to have a sign for KLM if you zoom way in, although I haven’t gotten any further than that.
Honeycomb: Ripley’s alchemical scrolls
Far right row I: HOMUNCULI
F3: GREEN LION
F7: FURNACE
G1: GRAPES
SERPENT at M1?
SERPENT OF ARABIA, actually!
H5: CRESCENT MOON
J7: TREE OF KNOWLEDGE
I7: ADAM AND EVE
Leaving D9: TOAD
Sorry… I got so excited that once I started I couldn’t stop…
And G10: BLOOD
a) Harrumph! I won’t make the mistake of setting so easy a subject next time.
b) The stamp in the top right of the collage I think comes from “Republik Maluku Selatan” (the South Moluccas). I’ve yet to identify the actual stamp and its subject.
Seems these stamps maybe “Bogus” as they’re not officially produced. Something about staying part of the Netherlands
Well the honeycomb was the highlight of my day, so thank you!
Thanks. I’m normally a bit lost with the honeycomb puzzles, but “Bird of Hermes” was too long to be coincidental, and from then on Google was my friend.
Collage: The wet nose of a golden retriever, on the right.
https://www.slashgear.com/researchers-investigate-the-benefits-of-a-wet-dog-nose-12637805/
Collage: Is the theme the 1977 Dutch train siege?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Dutch_train_hijacking
https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/40-years-on-questions-remain-the-extraordinary-story-of-the-1977-dutch-train-siege
Republic of South Maluku, De Punt and F-104 Starfighters were all involved.
Moluccans also conspired to abduct Queen Juliana in 1975 (or she was queen at the time of the hijacking)
Very good! That might make the photo in the top left the Indonesian consulate in Amsterdam. I had been searching all over for old photos of places with a KLM sign.
Some pictures: https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Gijzeling+amsterdam+consulaat
The bottom photo of the man in a striped shirt delivering boxes, appears to be part of the Indonesian Consulate hostage business December 14th 1975. Again Moluccans involved.
ETA: Makes one wonder what the name/username of the collage-maker might be that it would give it away.
Edited to further add: Is the trident on waves the insignia of Dutch Special Forces then?
Am right on the last point: it’s M-Squadron, known at the time as Bijzondere Bijstands Eenheid (BBE).
ETA: So, what are we missing?
– The armoured car
– The mask thing
– Ramstein AFB (unless it’s Schipol)
– Dogs with wet noses ?!
The mask thing is a Maluku headdress ornament:
https://www.artoftheancestors.com/maluku
The armoured car looks like the ones here (notice the lights), but I haven’t identified it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070713094547/http://gaf.zeelandnet.nl/yp408/de_punt.html
Yeah, DAF YP-408.
All I’m getting for Ramstein is that its IATA code RMS is the same as the initialism for the Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS).
Collage: Sign on the right can be found at Princess Juliana International Airport, St Maarten:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Juliana_International_Airport
The pixelated people are from Hijack, on the Spectrum.
https://zxspectrumgames.com/games/hijack/