Thanks for the answers ! There are some VERY good puzzle solvers on our team but these have been hard. Since I personally am puzzle challenged blushes I can't do much but cheer from the side lines, but want to tell the team and everyone that worked on these, whether solved or not...you guys did great!

Also, sending healing thoughts and prayers to those having problems now.. hope all improves for you!

Just want to send all my love and prayers to those that are dealing with RL issues. I'm thinking of you and sending loving, healing thoughts to you and your families. big hugs

My prayers go out to those families who's members are in ICU, that is just awful. I am also praying for those who are dealing with other issues, jobs, illness, and the stresses of daily life, that you will find peace and comfort. We could all use a break, that's for sure.

: Thanks for the answers and for the detailed explanations. While it made perfect sense to rely upon Wu Xing for the five "elements" based on the clues ( and massive hints ) you gave us, we went way too far trying to fit Tsu Tse into the picture. It never dawned on us that it was necessary to make an assumption about her personality (ie. she is a liar) in order to solve the puzzle. It also didn't dawn on us to assume that the distance of Pyong Katae was spurious as it didn't fit the established pattern. But we live and learn, and so, we now have a new technique to add to our puzzle solving arsenal, making assumptions. I must say, your puzzles get harder as time goes on. We're going to have to keep our eyes on you. ( buys you a beer ) But in the end...Everybody Wins!

Man these puzzles are hard! ( giggle )

- I'm so sorry that you and your judges are apparently getting so many complaints from people who are playing a game that you are working hard to provide for their entertainment. In my opinion, you should never have to justify allowing extra time or otherwise making concessions for special circumstances, or clarification for language issues. Even as a new participant in Wayward Squirrel this year, it is very clear that you and your judges go above and beyond to try and be fair to everyone and players need to trust you all to do your jobs.

- to those Wayward Squirrel participants with family members in the hospital or ICU, please know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and your families. If there is anything at all that I can do to help make things easier for any of you, please feel free to get in touch with me, either here, or elsewhere on Subeta.

To anyone for whom English is not their first language, you all have my utmost respect and admiration for being smart enough and brave enough to participate in an English based roleplay and puzzle game.

To my fellow players who have job issues or other demands on your time for whatever reasons, I completely agree with GreenRowan

That said, perhaps I can help resolve one issue - Problem 5 and the quote from your math professor.

If y is a consonant, then Pyong Katae has 10 letters, 4 vowels and 6 consonants, so Pyong Katae = 4v + 6c = (4 * 100) + (6 * -50) = 400 - 300 = 100 but Pyong Katae in the puzzle as presented to us is given the value of 150 Lilu not 100

Similarly, if y is a vowel, then Pyong Katae has 10 letters, 5 vowels and 5 consonants, so Pyong Katae = 5v + 5c = (5 * 100) + (5 * -50) = 500 - 250 = 250 but Pyong Katae in the puzzle as presented to us is given the value of 150 Lilu not 250

Since the values of 100 for vowels and -50 for consonants work for all of the other cities, and since taking any two of them (other than Pyong Katae) fixes those values (because two equations in two variables results in a single, unique solution), there is no way to get a consistent solution with the data as given. (And I know, because I spent most of yesterday trying all sorts of different options and researching other concepts used to solve similar sorts of puzzles.)

Just some of the things I tried - different values for each vowel with consonants a single value (or ignored as in our original solution) using the hyphen to indicate subtraction trying to figure out an operation to apply for a city with a space (like Pyong Katae) and many others.

I actually asked that my team submit the v=100 and c=-50 idea with notes about why it didn't work since it came so close to being right. (I admit that, since it was not correct, I did not do the simple arithmetic to calculate and submit the value for Kon Blin-tae.)

I was not someone who complained about the puzzle (I don't think we should be complaining, as I said above). However, it is also not fair to have those who justly could not solve a puzzle with a mistake described as "self-styled guru"s "who want to be pretentious, but who end up being just plain ridiculous". With all due respect to your math professor judge, we all make mistakes at times, and I know that their quote was probably sent to GreenRowan, so they may not have been expecting it to be made public. But players also deserve respect in my opinion and when several of us say something can't be done with the data as given, perhaps, in future, it would be better to double check the data before reacting. Thank you.

To all of you dealing with RL issues. I'm thinking of you and sending loving, healing thoughts to you and your families.

big hugs

- no, no,, NO you cannot have the green Shishin. He's so little and adorable and HeiYu is in love with him.

All right, all right, in the interests of peace, HeiYu is willing to share the green Shishin with Nightshade.

As for the sugar-free muffins, remember they were created by a magic user, not baked, so they are “Beautiful, delicious, sugar-free muffins.”

Next time, maybe you should actually try and have Nightshade race himself, perhaps performing great feats of athletic prowess by jumping between different rickshaws to make sure that he stays in the leading one (which would always be changing since the others don't have his weight to pull). I'd love to see what you could come up with for that! I'm sure it would be amazing.

Sending thoughts and prayers to those who need it. Hope your family member makes a quick recovery and that you can take comfort in knowing you have friends from all over the world praying for you and your family. ❤️

Woot! Thanks for your understanding. You do great and we are enjoying it whether we flop or fly. ;)

Also...good job everyone on the puzzles! We ran out of time, and except for the cards, we were wrong anyway. ;)

Sending prayers and healing thoughts to those who need it in this difficult time.

Keep up the good work!! We are having a blast! ❤

I'm sending good and healing thoughts and hugs to those that are having a hard time hugs I hope things get better soon 💚

Thanks for the clarifications! :D I have a question, if we answered 100 Lilu but we used a different (valid, in my opinion) reasoning method, do we get full points or half points? :o

Thank you all for the support on behalf of our players dealing with these personal tragedies.

As for our judge, I'm quite certain that she did indeed know and want her opinion to be heard, as she sent it for that purpose, and, since she is not me, she is entitled to her opinion whether or not it matches mine. She also provided that puzzle, so I shall forward to her 's opinion that she is unfair.

If Wayfarers would like to lodge a formal protest, I will be glad to forward that also to the entire judging panel.

(As an aside of my own, I will just remark that, in four years of high scoring teams, Wayfarers is the most publicly contentious, even to calling me out on the thread over an answer you got right! I have to go with on this one, and just laugh and grab a cookie. It saves tears. :D)

Yes, you get credit!

Travelers protest on the other matter has been granted. You were the only team that approached from that base, and the judges are allowing it as an alternate!

PS Never be shy about submitting a protest. I will say that they are more likely to be seriously considered when they are calmly worded.

Ooh ok! Thanks! :D

: Beer and cookies! Sunday Breakfast of Champions!

Actually I meant minority in regards to this particular chapter as I was the only one dumb enough to get the easy questions wrong lol

Would anyone even buy the excuse " me no talk English too good" from me? XD

I wish I had submitted the reasoning for 5 though, I had the vowel part down but not the constant. We live and learn, can't deny me a little sulking though, those riddles were hard!!

Is the formal protest regarding the riddle or the judge's choice of wording, because Han Solo agrees with arixen regarding the later.

Thank god! I kept going to vowels and then even syllable counts to find a pattern but kept failing. Yay my brain didn't evaporate due to the heat wave :)

Nightshade scoffs at your fake muffins and turns them into dust using his sonic screwdriver!

Puzzle only. It's an appeal based on what you submitted.

-hugs- you seem like you needed this.

Breathe in, breathe out.... the answer is always JUST BREATHE! repeats to myself this phrase constantly Even though my home life is in an uproar I did manage to get the rp together for the deadline yesterday and Laurie posted it for me. She did a kickass job on that map! I am not quitting and hopefully we'll get good news for my sister Karen this week and I'll be able to focus better. Luckily my Fallen Angels are the best and always have my back. And you as well Marcie! You are awesome!

: ( hugs )

Thank you to you and the judges.

big hugs to you do an awesome job... always.

big hugs to every single person here.

Still sending love and healing thoughts your way.