Thursday, December 27, 2018

Christmas Puzzle for 2018

Our annual Christmas puzzle is available now. Follow the simple directions, eliminate those words and see what's left...

As in prior years, the reward for solving is a video Christmas card, but you'll need to figure out the password by solving the puzzle.

Feel free to add a comment below to let us know that you successfully figured it out (without giving away the answer to others). We are always looking for new ideas for next year's Christmas puzzle, so submit those too.

If you need help with the puzzle or if you missed the reference in our Christmas family photo, here is the answer to the puzzle. But try to solve it yourself before looking there.
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23 comments:

  1. ronThu Dec 27, 10:50:00 AM PST

    I have it. Great video! Best wishes for the New Year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 68ChargerThu Dec 27, 11:45:00 AM PST

    Nice video and have a Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. legolambdaThu Dec 27, 12:41:00 PM PST

    Great video, Blaine, and great family. You are a creative crew!

    LegoWhoIsCuriousToKnowTheNameOfTheFamilyCat

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlaineThu Dec 27, 12:50:00 PM PST

      Two cats: Zooey (dark gray) and Zelda (orangy gray)

      They were introduced in our Christmas Puzzle for 2014

      Delete
  4. SuperZeeThu Dec 27, 12:41:00 PM PST

    Beautiful family, great puzzle.
    Thanks for all the work you put into developing and maintaining Blainesvile.

    ReplyDelete
  5. SnipperThu Dec 27, 02:55:00 PM PST

    What a fun family you have! Thanks for administering this amazing blog. Look forward to more puzzles next month!

    ReplyDelete
  6. ViolinTeddyThu Dec 27, 05:46:00 PM PST

    Had a bit of trouble with password, as didn't know if it was supposed to be capitalized (or even ALL capitalized), or as it turned out, all small letters.

    LOVED all those fancy cakes, especially the (marzipan?) mice, the African animals, and that treasure chest! Used to make fancy cakes myself (usually painting pictures in icing.)

    The adventures on the railway and Tahoe adventure place surely looked FUN! But the renovation looked like a bear to do!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlaineThu Dec 27, 06:31:00 PM PST

      I can definitely say I'm glad the renovation is done and we can be upstairs again.

      Delete
  7. Mort CanardThu Dec 27, 08:16:00 PM PST

    Nice use of Sergei Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf!!
    Thanks for this sandbox for us all to play in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlaineThu Dec 27, 08:32:00 PM PST

      Do you mean Edvard Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King"? My wife picked most of the music so I'll let her know.

      Delete
    2. Mort CanardFri Dec 28, 10:53:00 AM PST

      Went back and listened. Yeah you are correct.

      Delete
    3. janFri Dec 28, 11:03:00 AM PST

      "In the Hall of the Mountain King,
      Mountain King, Mountain King.
      In the Hall of the Mountain King,
      From Peer Gynt Suite, by Grieg."

      Love those mnemonics.

      Delete
  8. Word WomanThu Dec 27, 10:43:00 PM PST

    Thanks for the puzzle, the video, and this space, Blaine.

    It looks like a fun year. Those cakes! My baker friend made ugly sweater cookies and a geology cake complete with amethyst crystals, marzipan stones, sedimentary layers, and dinosaur bones for her son and friends to excavate.

    All best wishes for 2019!

    ReplyDelete
  9. janFri Dec 28, 05:27:00 AM PST

    Great video, Blaine! We were at El Morocco in Pleasant Hill, CA, just last week, to celebrate our niece's graduation from nursing school, but I seem to recall you're from southern California, and that's a really common restaurant name. Thanks for hosting us for another year, and well wishes (?) for the next one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlaineFri Dec 28, 12:34:00 PM PST

      Hmm... Not sure where you got the idea we're from Southern California. We're probably nearly neighbors.

      Delete
    2. janFri Dec 28, 12:43:00 PM PST

      So, it was the same place? Was that Zahara you were belly dancing with? Small world!

      Delete
    3. BlaineFri Dec 28, 12:57:00 PM PST

      Zahara first, and the name of the second dancer escapes me.

      Delete
  10. saukriverFri Dec 28, 12:12:00 PM PST

    (I think the password works if entered in lower case?)

    Thank you for all you do year-round!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlaineFri Dec 28, 12:30:00 PM PST

      Yes, as noted in the instructions near the password... easy to overlook. 😁

      Delete
  11. JaxonSun Dec 30, 08:39:00 AM PST

    Got an error message when trying to open the video card and enter password –

    "NetNewsWire can’t open the page ‘https://vimeo.com/blainefelicia/xmas2018’ because of an error: An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made.."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BlaineSun Dec 30, 09:30:00 AM PST

      Try opening it in your browser instead.

      Delete
    2. JaxonSun Dec 30, 11:01:00 AM PST

      Blaine, you have a lovely family and you made a lovely video to share your year with us. thanks for the tip to open your link directly in my browser, everything worked smoothly. And thanks, too, for all you do for us here on this blog! I wish you a Merry CrispNose and a Happy Nude Year!

      Delete
  12. skydiveboySun Dec 30, 08:29:00 PM PST

    Blaine,

    I get the feeling Marie Antoinette may be watching over your family. That one vacation in the forest must have been a real treet.

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!

    ReplyDelete

For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the deadline. Thank you.