Solution: Articles of Incorporation
Answer: HYPOTHESIS, RAM
Written by Philip Z Loh
The puzzle presents a list of nonsensical questions each containing the word "which". Using "which" as a separator, we create a left half and right half, along with the given letter banks:
| Left half | Middle | Right half |
|---|---|---|
| 1. foggy phenomenon | which | Epic headquarters today? (7) |
| analog TV color system | which | commercial? (3) |
| belt | which | Super Bowl ambition? (2) |
| Catholic ceremony | which | Hadoken-using game character? (3) |
| father | which | skin opening? (4) |
| female emperor of China | which | FR regional rail system? (7) |
| Hamilton's number | which | what's after Turing as seen from One Esterra? (1) |
| lipstick brand started by two Franks | which | PK-using game character? (5) |
| NMSU telescope home | which | early 1900s chanson réaliste performer? (8) |
| pelt | which | necessity when at SEA?? (6) |
| religious ceremony | which | spasm? (8) |
| Saigon's new namesake | which | Seattle or Bellevue, e.g.? (6) |
| stake | which | PR time zone? (8) |
| traditional unit of distance | which | unpleasant noise? (7) |
| universal logic gate | which | Twilight Zone cookbook ingredient? (4) |
| AAAAAACEEEFGHIIIILLMMMNNNNOOOPPPRRRRSSSSTTTTUUW | AAAAAACCCDDDDEEEEGIIIIIIKMMMNNNNNOPRRRRSSSSTTTTTYY |
Each half is solvable to a short word or initialism. "Articles" from the title of the puzzle suggests that in lieu of "which", we should use either a definite or an indefinite article. Besides the first question, everything else is sorted alphabetically by the left half. This suggests that a reordering step is required.
We find that the right half of each question actually belongs to the "next" row, and make this chain of words that incorporate articles, alternating between "a" and "the", starting from the 1., along with the remaining letters from the letter banks:
| Left half | Left | Middle | Right | Right half | Index | Extract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| foggy phenomenon | mist | a | ken | Hadoken-using game character | 3 | S |
| NMSU telescope home | apo | the | cary | Epic headquarters today | 7 | C |
| lipstick brand started by two Franks | mac | a | damia | early 1900s chanson réaliste performer | 8 | I |
| traditional unit of distance | li | the | ness | PK-using game character | 5 | E |
| analog TV color system | pal | a | din | unpleasant noise | 7 | N |
| Saigon's new namesake | ho | the | ad | commercial | 3 | T |
| Hamilton's number | ten | a | city | Seattle or Bellevue, e.g. | 6 | I |
| pelt | fur | the | st | what's after Turing as seen from One Esterra | 1 | F |
| religious ceremony | rite | a | id | necessity when at SEA? | 6 | I |
| father | pa | the | tic | spasm | 8 | C |
| belt | sing | a | pore | skin opening | 4 | G |
| female emperor of China | wu | the | ring | Super Bowl ambition | 2 | U |
| stake | ante | a | ter | FR regional rail system | 7 | E |
| universal logic gate | nor | the | ast | PR time zone | 8 | S |
| Catholic ceremony | mass | a | man | Twilight Zone cookbook ingredient | 4 | S |
| R | M |
Indexing with the given numbers into the words we find the phrase: SCIENTIFIC GUESS. Following the spirit of incorporating articles, in this case "the", the first answer is therefore HYPOTHESIS. Using the leftover letters and "a", we find the second answer, RAM.
Author’s Notes
Part of the original plan for this puzzle was to get to HYPO THE SIS as separate chunks, but unfortunately that plan went under, or as they say in Greek, hypo. A previous draft did not present the first clue separately and required solvers to form a loop instead, but almost every single tester submitted SCIENTIFIC as they had interpreted the phrase GUESS SCIENTIFIC as an instruction.