(Meta-meta puzzle solution)

Meta-puzzle for Round 1 (M1)

by Marc Moskowitz

Today (Friday) the boss came into work to do what he always does at work. Whatever that is--you realize you're not entirely positive what it is he did here. On his desk, though, there's a small stack of...how very odd. Are these puzzles?

This round has seven puzzles. Each puzzle leads to an answer, and those seven answers combine to give the Round 1 Metapuzzle answer (and get teams Round 2).

Additionally, each puzzle clues, somehow, a bigram. These spell out TA KE TH ER ED PI LL. Calling in this message resulted in the Acme operator saying "THAT ANSWER IS INCORRECT! [whispering] I must be brief -- this line is tapped. Someone will be in contact with you shortly." Teams were then sent on a runaround in which they met Morpheus and were informed that they were really in the Matrix.

The puzzle answers for this round are:

  1. CHALET
  2. LABORATORY
  3. MORTGAGEES
  4. EXTRAORDINARY
  5. SALMON
  6. DEBTOR
  7. ARKANSAS
Each word has a single silent letter. The answer is TOTAL B.S.