← Back to BAPHL 24 homepage

Field Trip (Solution)

Normal | Hard

Field Trip used street art, sculptures, and signage within Filippello Park and along the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway. Many are visible on Google Street View, but we’ve put together a gallery page showing all of the relevant sites. The clues can be interpreted as follows:

Right at the start I spot a very slow creature (stationary, even). Apparently he’s meant to be on wheels? Or the wheels are meant to be on him? Would that make him faster? The name of his creator anagrams to arboreal genetic material, so I take the fourth letter of that material and put it in the position indicated by the only repeated digit on its plaque.

This refers to the snail bike rack sculpture in Filippello Park by Nat Reed, which was created in 2024. NAT REED anagrams to TREE DNA. The fourth letter of that is E, and the repeated digit on the plaque is 2, so put E in position 2.

I pass a bird and a fish, but have a feeling I’ll be seeing them a lot today. Shortly afterward, I see a critter eating an acorn. Hi, little friend. I take the first letter of her common name and put it in the position matching the length of the second word of her common name.

The critter is the EASTERN CHIPMUNK, so put E in position 8.

Next up, a bird! I thought they weren’t real. He’s as pretty as the name implies, but I didn’t know he was Caribbean! I take the center letter of his common name, and put it in the position matching the full length of his common name.

The bird is a RED-TAILED HAWK (“Caribbean” because the scientific name is Buteo Jamaicensis). The center letter of the common name is L, and the full length of the common name is 13, so put L in position 13.

I come across an animal that I’ve seen many times and looks very much alive, but apparently she’s not actually from around here. I take the most common letter in where she’s supposedly from, and put it in the position matching the length of the scientific name for that far-away place.

The VIRGINIA OPOSSUM, or VIRGINIANA in the scientific name. Put I in position 10.

I pass the organizers of some sort of archaeological expedition. Are they part of the zoo? I stop and gawk. I ask them for a useful letter. Then I pass another bird and a fish. It might be a little bit before I see any more animals.

BAPHL 24 GC are the organizers of the archaeological expedition. Upon asking GC for a letter, GC chastised solvers — “What are we, some sort of zoo exhibit?” — but then tells them to put the letter M in position 9.

To my right is a very large racer. Is he winning? It’s hard to tell. He seems to be associated with a nearby grassy glade. I take the fourth letter of the name of that place, and put it in the position matching the number of toe’s visible on the racer.

The “racer” is the turtle on the large mural on the backside of the KUSH GROVE dispensary, so put H in position 7.

I spot a local critter and spark a philosophical debate — if she had the ability to perform the second part of her on the first part of her, exactly what quantity of the first part of her is she able to do the second part to? My mind spins — there’s no way I’ll be able to get a letter from her. Fortunately, a post a few feet further along just has a letter on it. Phew. I put that in the position matching the length of the first part of her.

The local critter is a WOODCHUCK (and the philosophical debate a reference to the famous tongue twister "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood"). The subsequent post has the letter R, so put R in position 4.

Right across the way from the vexing creature, is another creature that’s frankly tough to identify. A fish, maybe? I don’t think they usually come in that color pattern. She excoriates me to protect something. Is she a flat earther? I think she must be missing a letter. I put that in the position matching the number of words in her exhortation.

There is a mural of a fish with the text SAVE THE PLANE (which is presumably supposed to be SAVE THE PLANET). Put T in position 3.

There’s an animal hulking out, but I don’t think the exhibit’s label is correct. It doesn’t seem to be having any issues with minestrone, and it looks an awful lot like a mouse to me. I take the middle letter of what animal the tag says it is, and put that in the position matching the length of the last word that I saw next to the previous “fish”.

The animal is “hulking out” because it’s painted in green and purple. The “label” is a tag next to it that says TROUBLE SOUP DOG. The word next to the previous fish was PLANE, so put O in position 5.

Another bird!!! And in a different color than the previous bird I saw. I mix the colors, take the most common letter in that new color, and put it in the position where it first appears in that new color. There’s also a letter that appears more than any others in this bird’s common name. I count the number of appearances, treat that as a letter, and put it in the only remaining prime number position.

Mix the “blue” from the GREAT BLUE HERON with the “red” from the RED TAIL HAWK. The new color is “purple” (from the mix of blue and red). The most common letter in “purple” is “P”, so put P in position 1. The letter that appears most often in the bird’s name is “E” (appearing 3 times). Three corresponds to C, so put C in position 11.

I see a clawed visitor from far far away. Across the way from her I see a vase that somebody really wanted me to know was meant for me. I take the two lowest letters alphabetically in the one-word description of the visitor - the higher of those, I put in the position matching the number of times I’ve been told to take the vase. The lower letter alphabetically I put in the position that is double the other letter's position.

The clawed visitor is a crab, labeled “space” (from far far away). The vase says “FLOWERS FOR YOU” repeated 6 times. The two alphabetically lowest letters are A and C. Put C in position 6 and A in position 12.

After putting all of these letters in the correct position, teams get the answer to the puzzle: PETROCHEMICAL.