Solution: Music Meta
Answer: DRUM KITS
Written by Philip Z Loh
The eight puzzles in the Music department all contain two words:
BRUT IMPERIAL
CHOKE KNOBS
CLUB SODA
DECK ROOF
DRUM KITS
MAC TAYLOR
MODERN CHIC
ROY CHIAO
URBAN HEAT
Since the monster that overtook the Music department is a fox spirit, it is natural for us to think of the Ylvis hit song What Does The Fox Say?. The phrases "secret of the fox" and "ancient mystery" also appear in the lyrics for more confirmation.
The song lyrics mention a few animals and their sounds, and we find that one of the words in each answer rhymes with an animal sound. In lyric order:
| Animal | Sound | Answer word 1 | Answer word 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| dog | woof | DECK | roof |
| cat | meow | ROY | chiao |
| bird | tweet | URBAN | heat |
| mouse | squeek | MODERN | chic |
| cow | moo | [blank] | [blank] |
| frog | croak | choke | KNOBS |
| elephant | toot | brut | IMPERIAL |
| duck | quack | mac | TAYLOR |
| fish | blub | club | SODA |
The non-rhyming words are organized in two sets split by a space. Taking their first letters in order, we find the answer: DRUM KITS.
Author’s Notes
This metapuzzle took a meandering journey, which started with the similarity between Elvis and Ylvis, and the department monster KING OF ROC AND ROLL. Much thanks to Jonah for talking through ideas for improvement and suggesting the answer, which is a play on words on multiple levels including the fact that a fox spirit in Japanese folklore is known as a Kitsune. It is regrettable that I wasn't able to fit the answer DRUM KITSUNE with our desired puzzle count or use a puzzle construction that extracted via Morse (how you would communicate with the ho-o-o-o-orse).
No animals were harmed in the making of this metapuzzle.