Solution: Crazy Eights
Answer: OVERRIDESECURITY
Written by Josh Fernandes, with ideas from Dawson Do
Near-words can be identified in the grid. Given the title (“eights”), as well as the use of the Unicode eight-spoked asterisk in the flavortext, star-like shapes become visible in the grid. Each has seven arms, with the central letter shared and usually incorrect for all words. Below shows the grid solved with words highlighted. (The grays correspond to the missing words, see later).
We can see that each word is a member of a group of eight, and each star has members of the same rank. For example, the bottom left has Harvard (the oldest Ivy), Hawaii (the largest Hawaiian island), Mercury (the first planet), etc. Across all the eight stars, one element is missing from each, and it varies from each group. Below shows a table of each star, with explanations for each group’s order. Missing elements are bolded.
Reading the central letters in order gives: HEXAGRAM. Then, reading the letters from the missing spokes corresponding to the missing elements gives the message: SIX BY NINE UNBROKEN LINES IF CENTER VOWEL
| Wheel of the Year | Reindeer | Taxonomic Rank | Planets | V8 | Ivy League | Islands | 8-Ball Colors | First Letter | Missing Item |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting from Yule | From song | Broad to narrow | Proximity to Sun | Order on label | Oldest to newest | Area | Ball 1-Ball 8 | (In gray) | |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| YULE | DASHER | DOMAIN | MERCURY | TOMATO | HARVARD | HAWAII | YELLOW | H | SIX |
| IMBOLC | DANCER | KINDGOM | VENUS | CARROT | YALE | MAUI | BLUE | E | BYNIN |
| OSTARA | PRANCER | PHYLUM | EARTH | CELERY | PENNSYLVANIA | OAHU | RED | X | EUNBR |
| BELTANE | VIXEN | CLASS | MARS | BEET | PRINCETON | KAUAI | PURPLE | A | OKE |
| LITHA | COMET | ORDER | JUPITER | PARSLEY | COLUMBIA | MOLOKAI | ORANGE | G | NLINES |
| LUGHNASADH | CUPID | FAMILY | SATURN | LETTUCE | BROWN | LANAI | GREEN | R | IFCE |
| MABON | DONNER | GENUS | URANUS | WATERCRESS | DARTMOUTH | NIIHAU | MAROON | A | NTERV |
| SAMHAIN | BLITZEN | SPECIES | NEPTUNE | SPINACH | CORNELL | KAHOOLAWE | BLACK | M | OWEL |
A quick search reveals the six line I Ching hexagrams, corresponding to the numbers 1-64. These are represented by broken and unbroken lines. The grid divides nicely into 4-by-4 rectangles of 6 rows and 9 columns. Shading an unbroken line for each row of 9 cells with a vowel in the center and a broken line for each row with a consonant gives the following.
Using the King Wen sequence (most commonly-used), all hexagrams correspond to numbers from 1 to 26. Using alphanumeric substitution, the message OVERRIDE SECURITY can be read by reading down each column, giving the solution.
Author’s Notes
Originally, the Bagua trigrams were going to be used for the entire puzzle, since each corresponds to a cardinal direction (useful in a word search grid), as well as many other categories (planets, dragons, body parts, relationships, elements, etc.). These were going to be used and the relationships would have to be matched to the trigrams. However, this proved challenging, as different texts give very different mappings, and it was difficult to find a canonical order or clue a specific text. The trigrams were still used in the hexagrams as those were less ambiguous.