Orchestra puzzles

“Attention! Attention!” The conductor, Marc Ormond rapped his baton on the music stand trying to get people settled. The orchestra took their seats and the talking stopped after a moment. “As you know, our benefactor Albert Maynard passed this week, may God rest his soul. He has been good to us here in Camden for many years and was present for almost every show.” People nodded. “We have his son Brian Maynard here to talk to us, please give him your attention.”

Brian approached the center of the stage and started solemnly. “Hello, most of you know me, because of my father. If you knew him, you know he had a great sense of humor and a wicked sense of fun.” Again people nodded and shared smiles. “He loved what you do here so he created a game, with a nice reward.” Heads came up. People looked around, puzzled. “He created a scavenger hunt of sorts, but with puzzles. You are to unlock the puzzles, there are five, to get the reward. And the reward is” he paused for effect, “$20,000!” Gasps. “Now- there are rules, of course. You must work alone. You must bring your solutions to Marc, who also in not eligible. If your solution is correct, he will give you the next clue. I hope you can do this in a week! If no one wins, the money will be donated to the Camden animal shelter.” Brian turned to leave the area. Everyone was full of chatter as they envisioned what they would do with $20,000.

Marc tapped his baton, “We are all done for today. I have papers in the hallway with the first clue. Rehearsal tomorrow at 6 pm.”

Stephanie Townsend packed away her flute quickly. What would she do with $20,000? Easy answer. She would spend a year in London working with the Philharmonic, training. She was a good flautist but wanted to be better. There was a position available in London soon and she would almost sell her soul to go and study in London. With her bag and flute in her hand, she exited the rehearsal hall and met the crowd in the hallway to pick up the first clue. Would she be smart enough to do this alone?

At home, Stephanie made a cup of cappuccino and sat at her kitchen table with her pencil. She put some Brahms on the stereo. This sheet was algebra, not her favorite but she could do it. Solve for x- some simple equations that took a few minutes. Things came together quickly. She breezed through the first few and was left with a pile of numbers. What am I supposed to do with this? 41, 38, 51, 2, 17, 34. Her spirits dipped. No London. She pulled the paper out again. At the bottom, she saw more. __.__ __ N, then __.__ __ E. What was this? She put it aside and decided a crossword was better, she understood those. As she worked on the daily crossword, one of the clues was about longitude lines. Longitude? Could this be what that is? She looked at the numbers and the blanks again. What if she put answers into the blanks? She did that and saw 4.38 51 N and 2.74 32 E. Was this a place? She quickly checked Google and found these were coordinates, of Barcelona, Spain! Wow! She cracked it! She checked her numbers again and made sure they were correct! She put her answers in her case for tomorrow. With a sigh, she finished her crossword.

At practice the next day, they rehearsed for 2 hours and Stephanie waited as people packed to see who would approach Marc. People were talking about the puzzle and she listened carefully.

“Algebra? He wants us to solve algebra?”

“Too many numbers! I cannot do numbers!”

“I worked it, hope I am correct!” That was Jesse, a cello player, Stephanie knew him to be pretty smart.

Stephanie lingered with a few others till people packed up and left. Marc had checked answers and handed out slips of paper to 4 people who must have the right answers. She waited till she was the last one. She approached Marc who looked a bit frazzled.

“Marc, I have an answer for you. Can you check it please?” She handed him her paper with the coordinates on it. He nodded but did not smile.

“You have it Stephanie. Here is the next clue.” He handed her a small slip of paper then hurried away.

“See you.” She looked at the paper and again was baffled. She decided to again take it home and solve it privately.

At home, again she made some decaf and put on Mendelsohn this time. She unfolded the paper and wondered if she would need glasses. No numbers but what was this?

A code? How would she solve a code? She had done some in class years ago for a game. She wrote it out. She looked at repeats. Just regular alphabet. She switched letters. She substituted letters. Maybe that was it. Substitutions. She worked it with the next letter, the third letter, the fourth. Geez this was tiring! Finally, on the 7th letter, it made sense! The answer to this puzzle is Paris, France! She wrote it carefully on her sheet and put it away.

At the next practice, she got there early so she could speak to Marc without other people. When he arrived she caught him before he went into the building and handed him her paper.

“You got it again, Stephanie. I did not know you could do this!” He opened a folder and handed her the next puzzle. Three more. She felt good. She tucked it into her case and went in. At the end she waited to see who else was still in the running. Three people came to Marc and he gave them slips as well. The game was on!

As she went to her car, someone called her name.

“Stephanie, I am glad I caught you.” It was Brian Maynard, the son of the patron Alfred who organized this puzzle. “Are you still playing the puzzle?” Brian had his car keys and a small black notebook in his hands.

“I am.” She wondered what he wanted.

“I had an idea. I cannot play this game, but I can help you.” He paused and looked at her face. “This notebook has the answers. Dad wrote them all down here. I could give them to you.” Stephanie felt uneasy. What did he want?

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you are such a pretty girl. I watch you more than any others when you are on stage. I will give you this book for a small favor.” He raised his eyebrows. Stephanie felt her skin crawl. What did he want?

“Are you saying? You want???” She could not even say the words. He wanted to trade the answer book for a roll in the hay? What would his wife say about that?

“You would win. You would get $20,000 to do whatever you want. You would not regret it I am sure.” She would regret it. How could he!

“No, no, that will not happen. I do not need to win. Goodbye Brian.” She quickly got into her car and locked the door and reversed out of her spot, leaving Brian standing alone.

At home, she could not even think. Brian wanted that? Who does he think I am? I do not care what is in that little black notebook! I will figure these out myself! She felt sick so decided to forgo the coffee and have a glass of red wine instead. She put the puzzle aside till tomorrow morning with breakfast. It wrenched her stomach to think about it.

At breakfast she felt better. She pulled out the paper and was confused again. This looked like a jigsaw puzzle. With letters. She got out her scissors and set to cutting out the pieces carefully. With the little bumps and holes, she could arrange the words in a variety of combinations. She set them here and there, then finally pieced together what seemed like a reasonable answer. The answer to this puzzle is Moscow, Russia. She carefully wrote it down and put it in her case. No practice today but tomorrow she would give it to Marc.

She was careful when she saw Marc. There were two other people standing waiting, and Marc turned one away and gave the second a fresh sheet. It was Jesse again. She gave Marc her paper and he almost smiled.

“What will you do if you win $20,000? Any plans?”

“I hope to go to the Institute with the Philharmonic in London for a year, to improve.”

“That would be great- hope you win.” Stephanie felt a tiny bit smug.

She looked at her newest paper on the kitchen table. She was back to cappuccino and Mozart. This sheet had no letters or numbers. How was she going to solve something like this? These were choppy little symbols that looked alphabetical. But she did not know these. She got out her laptop and searched for symbol alphabets. After a few minutes. she recognized the symbols as runes, from ancient Scandinavia. She knew nothing about runes, but she found a translation. She found she tired quickly. She gave up with the puzzle half done and decided to finish with breakfast.

With her cereal, the runes solved quickly. She was not surprised to see the answer: The answer to this puzzle is Rome, Italy. She tucked her answers away. This was not impossible. And much better than being touched by Brian Maynard!

Marc was not surprised to see her approach after practice. Jesse had already turned his in. What would happen if they both won? Would they split it? Marc took her note and handed her the last puzzle. “Let’s get you to London!”

Stephanie was feeling exhausted and hoped her hard sleuthing would pay off. No matter, she still had to solve this last puzzle. Tonight was Tchaikovsky, he always raised her spirits. This puzzle was music! Stephanie could read music! But this would be limited- there were only eight letters. She got her pen and wrote the letters from the music sheet, in some random order. She decided to use a substitution code again, and after a few false starts, an answer came- The answer to this puzzle is London, England! Perfect! This meant she was going to London!

The fresh morning was as beautiful as she had ever seen. Practice was at 6 again and she thought the day dragged. She was early for practice and no other cars were there when she showed up. Marc came a few minutes later and Stephanie rushed to him.

“I have it, I have it!” She cried and thrust her paper out. He gathered his papers and looked at her sheet.

“Yes, you do. Congratulations. But we need to see what Jesse has too.” Stephanie felt deflated. They walked into the room and waited for Jesse. Jesse did not come. She waited and Jesse did not show up at all! But by the end, Marc closed practice Stephanie felt the excitement again. Brian Maynard entered just at the end. She did not even like seeing him. He had an envelope in his hand. Marc stepped aside.

“You are all anxious to know so I will be quick. With great detective skill, our own Stephanie Townsend earned this prize money! As they applauded, she stood for a moment. “Good work Stephanie, enjoy London!” He handed her the envelope and she hugged it. He then handed her the little black notebook and said “This is yours, too.” She tried to hide her distaste. She was going to study in London and be the best this town had ever seen!