Clarabelle's Furever Home Contest--with Answers

There is much curiosity about Clarabelle's furever home. I thought we could turn this curiosity into a fund raiser for FDMB Cats in Need. I will post hints about where CB is going. They will be factual hints that serious sleuths can search on the internet. To enter your guess about CB's new mamabean, send your guess in the memo section of a PaylPal donation of $1. I prefer cash or check donations to ennis93 AT att DOT net (because there are no fees). Credit card donations go to vmaewood AT att DOT net. This will be a 50/50 fundraiser. All those with the correct answer will go into a hat and I will draw one out. The "winner" will get 1/2 of the net amount collected to do with as they please. So come on folks. We have through September 9 (the day CB flies home) to have some fun with this and raise a little money for FDMB Cats in Need. Those with actual knowledge of CB's new home are not eligible for the contest, although they are welcome to donate to the fund. ***************************************************************************** Hint 1: As the crow flies, the distance between CB's takeoff point and her final landing point is more than 1000 miles and less than 1200 miles.

• Answer: It's 1160 miles from Philly to Tulsa.

Hint 2: CB's trip requires a change of planes in the city that used to be nicknamed the Mound City. She will be departing for her final landing point between 6 and 7 pm.

• Answer: St. Louis used to be nicknamed The Mound City. This page shows the flights out of St. Louis by time. There is a Tulsa flight at 6:45 pm.

Hint 3: I hope CB likes snow, because so far in 2009, her new hometown has received X inches of snow. X equals my (Venita's) age when the first record album was released by a group whose lead guitarist was, in 2003, named the 88th Greatest Guitarist of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine.

• Answer: I was 57 this August 10. That makes me born in 1952. Dave Davies of the Kinks was no. 88 for Rolling Stone in 2003. The Kinks released their first album, The Kinks, on October 2, 1964, when I was 12. Tulsa has had 12 inches of snow so far in 2009, mostly from a single storm in March.

Hinnt 4: Kanda dunt rekwire kwarentin to bringin katz in.

• Answer: This was Ennis's first hint, and he didn't understand the nature of hints. There had been questions on the Board the day before about whether cats had to be quarantined to get into Canada. So he simply posted a true statement--"Canada doesn't require quarantining to bring cats in." This site supports this statement. Ennis also wanted to throw off track those who were continuing to focus on the Southern states.

Hinnt 5: Iz tinks CBz nu homme iz mor sunni then klowdy, and Iz nose itz sumtimes reel winndy.

• Answer: Oklahoma must be windy. The song Oklahoma, written by Rodgers and Hammerstein and the state song of Oklahoma, says "Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin down the plain...." Ennis just thought Oklahoma was more sunny than cloudy; he didn't have any facts to back that up.

Hinnt 6: Teh playce CBz nu homme iz en wuz not a statte udder teh kuntrul of teh Cunfedrate Stattes uf Merica durin teh uncivil warr.

• Answer: Again, Ennis was being tricky. Oklahoma was not a state during the civil war, so it was not "a state under the control of the Confederate States of America." As a territory, though, there was support for the Confederacy in Oklahoma.

Hinnt 7: A lettre poozel--8, 14, 19, 19, 31, 25, 19, 22, 35. Hinnt 7a: Anuder hinnt tu teh lettre poozle--counnt teh alfabit backwurd. Hinnt 7b: Befor yu finds teh backwurd alfabit lettre, reduc eech numbre fur itz lukashun in teh wurd. Reduc the furst noombre bi 1, teh sekund noobre bi 2, etc.

• Answer: This three part hint was called "ingenious" by one contest player. Ennis, getting pretty cocky by this time; thought he could top puzzle-master Will Shortz. (Funny, I just found out that Will Shortz was in my college graduating class.) Ennis did explain that it was a letter puzzle, meaning the numbers stood for letters. But he threw in some twists. Hint 7b explains that you must reduce each number for its location in the word. Thus 8, 14, 19, 19, 31, 25, 19, 22, 35 becomes 7, 12, 16, 15, 26, 19, 12, 14, 26. Hint 7a explains that the solution uses the alphabet counted backwards, meaning a=26, b=25, c=24, and so on.Thus the letters are TOKLAHOMA---for Tulsa Oklahoma!!