If anyone is interested, the tiebreaker puzzle can be found here. It’s an extremely challenging crossword puzzle and I realized pretty quickly that I wouldn’t be able to solve it in a timely fashion. There’s a good discussion of the tiebreaker puzzle on the Diary of a Crossword Fiend blog.
The final trivia question was: Who was Captain Ahab’s first mate?
Answer: Starbuck
This has rightfully upset a few people since it makes the end seem anticlimactic. It also means that the prize may have been won by someone who didn’t even solve the final crossword and, judging by how quickly the prize was won, this may very well be what actually happened. In the end, I don’t begrudge the winner because whoever he/she is looked past everything else and saw the puzzle for what it really was, knowing the answer before it was even posed. They outwitted us all and we are humbled.
It is a shame to have wasted such a great crossword puzzle though.
Thank you for posting the last puzzle.
I was one of those sad folks lost lost lost. But, it was fun to try… my first time doing crossword puzzles, trivias, blogs, and the treasure hunts.
I hope there is another hunt like this again, but I think I’ll let my brain cells relax for a few months first.
Thanks again for everything.