Secret Spot · Puzzle #16 · Thursday, October 15
Secret Spot: the answers
Seven prompts, one answer each, and the fewer surfers who said yours, the more it scored. Here are the prompts with the answers we expected to be most common, and the rarest. Play today's Secret Spot, or play this day as practice (never counted).
1. A prompt still in play
This prompt comes round again within 14 days, so it's hidden until then.
2. A prompt still in play
This prompt comes round again within 14 days, so it's hidden until then.
3. A prompt still in play
This prompt comes round again within 14 days, so it's hidden until then.
4. A prompt still in play
This prompt comes round again within 14 days, so it's hidden until then.
5. Name an Italian dish
Each dish counts once, by any of its names (spaghetti bolognese is Bolognese sauce, eggplant parm is parmigiana). Pasta shapes, pizzas, breads, soups and desserts count; Italian-American classics like chicken parmesan count too. Cheeses, cured meats and drinks do not.
The answer sheet for this prompt accepts 371 different answers. The usual answers are Fettuccine Alfredo, Lasagna and Pizza, the party waves, worth 1.0 each. Watch out for Tiramisu and Ossobuco: however original those picks seem, the sheet marks them as kook moves, worth 1.5. The big scores sit further out: Maritozzo, Ribollita and Porchetta are rated Locals only on the sheet, worth up to 8.5. One deep cut: Since 2017, Rome has celebrated Maritozzo Day for its whipped-cream buns every December.
Most common
- Fettuccine Alfredo
- Lasagna
- Pizza
Rarest
- Struffoli: Struffoli, Neapolitan honey balls of fried sweet dough, are often served at Christmas. Source: Wikipedia, “Struffoli” (CC BY-SA)
- Pizzelle: Pizzelle, Italian waffle cookies, are an official traditional food product of Abruzzo. Source: Wikipedia, “Pizzelle” (CC BY-SA)
- Farinata: Farinata, a chickpea pancake, is eaten with pizza in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, where it is called fainá. Source: Wikipedia, “Farinata” (CC BY-SA)
Before the crowd came in: the answers we expected to be most and least common, from how well known each one is.
6. A prompt still in play
This prompt comes round again within 14 days, so it's hidden until then.
7. Name a famous scientist
Each scientist counts once, by full name or a well-known short form (Galileo, Einstein). A surname alone counts when only one scientist on the list has it, so Curie and Darwin need a first name. Inventors and doctors famous for science count.
The answer sheet for this prompt accepts 2,911 different answers. The obvious picks are Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and Marie Curie: party waves on the sheet, worth 1.0 each. Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson look like clever picks, but the sheet marks them as kook moves, worth only 1.5. For a big score you need something like Vera Rubin, Mary Anning and Norman Borlaug, which the sheet rates Locals only or Secret spot, worth up to 10.0. One deep cut: the Rubin Observatory in Chile is named in honor of astronomer Vera Rubin.
Most common
- Albert Einstein
- Isaac Newton
- Marie Curie
Rarest
- Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit: Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit made the first successful mercury-in-glass thermometers. Source: Wikipedia, “Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit” (CC BY-SA)
- Alfred Wegener: Alfred Wegener said in 1912 that continents drift, but geologists didn't accept it until the 1960s. Source: Wikipedia, “Alfred Wegener” (CC BY-SA)
- Christiaan Huygens: Christiaan Huygens invented and patented the pendulum clock in 1657. Source: Wikipedia, “Christiaan Huygens” (CC BY-SA)
Before the crowd came in: the answers we expected to be most and least common, from how well known each one is.