Like the flavors inside countless boxes of chocolate today, the answers to our local Valentine’s riddles, filled and sprinkled with decadent romantic references, are about to be revealed.
Respondents did better than ever, on average solving more than half of our heart-themed head-scratchers, with each of three winners taking home a $50 gift card to a local restaurant of their choice.
The easiest proved to be riddle #2: “English for ‘plus’ plus French for ‘love,’ this shop’s brave fashions fit the bold like a glove.” 91% of respondents did the linguistic math, realizing that “plus” equals “more” and “love” equals “amour,” with all of it adding up to More Amour Boutique.
Next-easiest was riddle 3: “This nearby ’port’s too small for missed connections, unless both parties depart in different directions.” 74% of solvers must have noticed the apostrophe before “port,” the dual meaning of “missed connections” and the curious salience of “depart,” causing their minds to fly to our own Tweed-New Haven Airport.
Slightly trickier, with a 65% solve rate, was riddle 7: “Sunken and dimmed into relative obscurity, this tunnel’s not of love but rather security.” The answer, named for a once-prominent set of relatives and guarded today by US marshals, is Pitkin Tunnel, a dark underground passage offering more secure access to strategic locations including City Hall and the Lee Courthouse.
The answer to riddle 5—“This marriage of convenience in mass conveying was named for a wedding yet made for straying,” which 62% solved—tracks somewhere between an airport and a security tunnel: Union Station. Facilitating travel without the hassle of driving, it was named for Union Street, which was in turn named for the wedding of America’s original 13 colonies.
49% of solvers can give a toast to riddle 6: “Potions of love steal heart and head; so do this pair’s, from white to red.” “Potions” suggests drinkable liquids; “white to red” indicates wine; “pair’s” indicates a coupled-up answer; and “steal” offered confirmation to those who thought they’d landed on the correct answer: The Wine Thief, which has two locations in city limits.
The answer to riddle 1—“By any other name, it would smell as sweet: an unwild meadow wooed by each spring’s heat”—bloomed for 43% of solvers: the Pardee Rose Garden, whose star flower, Shakespeare famously wrote, “by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Things got thornier from there. Only 22% of respondents solved riddle 8: “Those who intersect with this three-way affair would be shocked to learn it was once called ‘square’”—shocked in part because the answer, Phelps Triangle, about as tapered and sharp as the blade of a dagger, can’t possibly be mistaken for having four sides. And yet, in another lifetime, the same patch of land was called Temple Square.
I thought that puzzle would be the hardest-to-get, but instead it was riddle 4: “In this gated community’s barking excitement, residents howl for their love’s requitement.” Almost all solvers understood the answer must have a canine persuasion, but only 19% realized the answer had to be a place dogs live, not a place they go to hang out (e.g. a local dog park or daycare). And, as per the riddle, this had to be a home for dogs whose love is unrequited. That, of course, leads to the Robin I. Kroogman New Haven Animal Shelter.
So, who won? After tallying up the entries and using an automated number generator, we randomly selected Ted E., Justine S. and Susan W., who chose to receive gift cards to House of Naan, Modern Apizza and Gioia, respectively.
Congratulations to them, and to everyone who riddled with us: Thanks for playing, and see you next time!
Written by Dan Mims.
