INTRODUCTION
This series is inspired by the website Kevin's Puzzles,
on which Kevin Orfield posts an instructionless puzzle-hunt-style
puzzle every Monday. Kevin Orfield's puzzles usually lean towards the
easy side of this genre in order to target a less experienced and/or
younger audience. Kevin's Puzzles at Home is my knockoff of Kevin's
Puzzles, so called because of the "we have X at home" meme:
The puzzles in Kevin's Puzzles at Home are intended to be easier than my
Wordy Wednesday posts, and hopefully at least 80% as entertaining as the
real Kevin's Puzzles. Kevin's Puzzles at Home will be presented by my
"we have X at home" version of Kevin, a prodigious and colorful wolf named Kevin Edmund Kepler:
(This illustration by Tintinabar is not part of any puzzle. Any resemblance between this Kevin and the one who runs www.kevinspuzzles.com is purely coincidental.)
Every Monday during September and October 2024, a new episode will be posted at 12:01 AM (Central); as
with the real Kevin's Puzzles, as is the standard with other puzzle hunts, the final answer will be a word or
phrase. Email me (at glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com) the correct solution
to this puzzle within the next week to score 50 points. Each puzzle will
also have a hint posted for it one week later; solving the puzzle while
the hint is up will be worth 25 points. Episode 9, which will be posted
on October 28, is a meta puzzle which requires the answers to all of
the previous puzzles in order to be solved; this puzzle will be worth double (100 points before the hint, 50 points after). The highest
possible score a solver can attain will thus be 500 points, by solving
each puzzle during its first week. In an effort to aid people who don't have food at home, for every point scored by my readers
by 11:59 PM (Central) on October 10, I will donate 1¢ to the Food Bank for Larimer County,
up to a maximum of $150. (Thus, each solver can contribute a maximum of
$5 to this pool.) Three anonymous benefactors have
agreed to match my donation as well, making the maximum possible
donation $600 (and thus the maximum contribution to this donation by a
single solver $20). To date, the Kevin's Puzzles at Home series has raised $2,613.00 for
various food banks! A huge thank you to the solvers and anonymous
benefactors who have made this impact possible!
Unlike the
real Kevin's Puzzles, which posts each puzzle's solution one week after
its hint is posted, all puzzle solutions will be posted simultaneously
on October 11, one week after the final hint is posted. This will make
the meta slightly harder, since you can't just look up the solutions to
the previous puzzles to start solving it, but will also permit
latecomers to score more points (and thus raise more money) than
otherwise possible.
Astute readers will notice
that the words "Season 8" appear in the title. Links to the previous seasons follow:
Season 1 (May-June 2022): Puzzles and hints, solutions.
Season 2 (September-October 2022): Puzzles and hints, solutions
Season 3 (January-February 2023): Puzzles and hints, solutions
Season 5 (September-October 2023): Puzzles and hints, solutions
Season 6 (January-February 2024): Puzzles and hints, solutions
Season 7 (May-June 2024): Puzzles and hints, solutions
Have
fun, and remember to check out the real Kevin's creations (which go up
at noon Central time every Monday) if these fake ones are up your alley!
Special thanks to Jason Boomer, John Bulten, and Joseph DeVincentis for testing these puzzles!
KEVIN’S PUZZLES AT HOME
SEASON 8, EPISODE 1:
CONFECTION CONUNDRUM
Kevin is craving some candy, but he can’t decide which one he wants – there are just so many options!
• This candy with shredded coconut and chocolate was advertised
alongside Mounds with the jingle, “Sometimes you feel like a nut,
sometimes you don’t.”
• This candy with a rhyming name famously has jokes printed on the wrapper.
• These torus-shaped candies resemble something you can toss to rescue someone who fell off of a ship.
• This candy, once described as “The Freshmaker”, can cause an enormous eruption when dropped into a bottle of Diet Coke.
• If boxer Tyson were friends with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, they might share this fruity candy.
• This square fruit-flavored candy’s name suggests having some at the present time while saving some for the future.
• This gem-shaped sucker can be worn on your finger.
• The name of this bar of peanuts, nougat, caramel, and milk chocolate might elicit some “chuckles”.
• These candies shaped like children have a tart sugar coating.
• These chewy candies shaped like scaly swimmers can be eaten anywhere, not just in Stockholm.
• This chocolate-coated caramel and cookie bar comes packaged in pairs.
• This candy with a rhyming name famously has jokes printed on the wrapper.
• These torus-shaped candies resemble something you can toss to rescue someone who fell off of a ship.
• This candy, once described as “The Freshmaker”, can cause an enormous eruption when dropped into a bottle of Diet Coke.
• If boxer Tyson were friends with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, they might share this fruity candy.
• This square fruit-flavored candy’s name suggests having some at the present time while saving some for the future.
• This gem-shaped sucker can be worn on your finger.
• The name of this bar of peanuts, nougat, caramel, and milk chocolate might elicit some “chuckles”.
• These candies shaped like children have a tart sugar coating.
• These chewy candies shaped like scaly swimmers can be eaten anywhere, not just in Stockholm.
• This chocolate-coated caramel and cookie bar comes packaged in pairs.
(This illustration by Tintinabar is not part of the puzzle. Any resemblance between this Kevin and the one who runs www.kevinspuzzles.com is purely coincidental.)
Submit
your answer to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com for 50 points, and stay
tuned next week for Episode 1's hint and Episode 2's puzzle. Good luck!
