The crossword is not my problem, it is working out why the lanterns go out

Some lanterns may go out as the game resets, but other lanterns are not linked to resetting games...

I'm enjoying this - I think!

I definitely need something to reignite my FT engine...

This is what, the fifth year of Halloween challenges?

I think next year we should all create a challenge and force the Evil Twin to solve it.

Absolutely!

A "challenge from the masses" would actually be kind of a fun twist, if there were a way to do it. Wouldn't be an easy feat, though -- ever see the show "Penn & Teller: Fool Us"? Lots of great magicians come and each one tries to stump P&T about how the trick was done. But they are NOT easily tricked! Wesley / TET is kind of our equivalent -- it wouldn't be easy to fool our mastermind fooler!

I think I'm going to have to take some time off work for this, the only good thing about Halloween. Got my head spinning though!

Killing me! (In a good way)

Dear WesleyCrusher,

Thank you for the feedback about the crosswords. I am looking forward to whatever is replacing the current system. While I have your attention, where the heck is my Duck?

Sincerely,

Scorpion1960

The FunTrivia magical research team has consulted their Ouija boards and came up with a few omens. You can read them on the challenge page in the hopes that they might lead you onto the correct path.

Just a brief note to congratulate Wes on what was a frustrating, challenging and most entertaining minibadge. At one point I was certain I'd never get it; needed to take a closer look at Wes's hint. Great fun, thanks Wes!

The new hint about the specific order was more than welcome.

Many thanks for another intriguing bundle of fun, Wes. It is a highlight of my FT year

Mine too. It has been very challenging but great fun to do and such a good moment when all the lanterns light up! I am already looking forward to next year's adventure! Thank you Wes

I'm still plucking away, but I will get there!

Lots of fun, and imagine a lot of work to put together, thank you FT!

I finally defeated the Evil Twin! Only took me five opportunities!

Thanks Wes for a great challenge.

A certain Hogwarts professor paid us a brief visit today. I added her comments on some of the attempts to the challenge description. Maybe it helps...

Oh, and I also have it from a reliable source that "random" things done around the tower in October aren't random at all but always have a deeper purpose.

Thanks for the alternative to the crossword I've managed that, just the other eight I'm, struggling with!

If you haven't figured it out yet, play close attention to all the hints in the challenge.

If you haven't found out WHAT to do, maybe take a break and look at a few of the other monthly feature challenges. (Non-GMs: you need the LOWER listed of the two GM challenges for the missing one).

If you don't know WHEN to do what... look again at what Professor McGonnagal said. A word (ONE word, not two) in the graveyard will tell you what you need to know.

I wish I could have seen a picture of the graveyard prior to even playing!

I appreciate your efforts with the quests!

Who's still trying to get it?

Last chance for those few still trying (if any) - the game will be closed tonight.

It's over and we have staved off the machinations of the Evil Twin for another year. Most of you have figured it out even though it seems some of you blissfully overlooked the rather huge clues, at least early on. But then why look for clues when you can just do it all the hard way, by trial and error.

When you first set out to solve the latest riddle, you faced this HOLE in the LAWN:



The attentive ones among you quickly noticed that the lanterns each had a letter on them, spelling HOLE and LAWN, respectively. Some of those were sneakily hidden in the frames, of course, but once you found a few, that shouldn't have posed much of an obstacle. But wait, there's a ninth lantern, featuring an extra E. It didn't take long for most to figure out that these letters rearrange to make the word HALLOWEEN. That of course had a meaning.

The part where most struggled early on was the prompt to go inside the tower (of challenges) to retrieve the lanterns. Nine challenges - later conveniently rearranged into the allegedly completely random (as if!) October monthly feature - each had a lantern in their descriptions. For a bit of added fun, those didn't include the letters, so you had to match them by picture. Those challenges were the clues as to what to do (and next time if you think there aren't any clues, you might want to actually look for them!)

In the order listed, the challenges were:

GC All Rounder ("6 out of 49?"), corresponds to "A". You needed to play the full 6 sets allowed in a 12 hour GC round. This one didn't have a score requirement.
I See All! ("Guess What?"), corresponds to "O". Making any guess for the Crystal Ball fulfilled this one.
Crossword Crusher ("Solutions: 1 - Peeking:0"), corresponds to "N". Solve any one crossword in hard mode, no peeking!
AskFT Researcher ("A spare lantern... Ask or answer, as you wish"), was an alternate "N" requirement for those who can't play crosswords. Ask or answer a question in AskFT.
Monthly Winner: Fill Me In ("Half Is Enough"), corresponds to the "L" on the grave. Play the Fill Me In Hourly, scoring at least 500 (half of the maximum).
Chatterbox ("Spammers Never Prosper"), corresponds to the upper right corner "E". Any post on a chat board (not team board) was good enough; most of you posted in the Halloween thread and some quite often.
Master Masher ("Evil or Better"), corresponds to the "E" on the grave. You needed to play any mash (not necessarily a duel) with at least 666 points.
Perfect Score ("Only check boxes allowed. No clicking of buttons!"), corresponds to "W". You needed to play a perfect score on any quiz of your choice, in HTML mode (that's what the check boxes alluded to). Game mode (clicking of buttons) didn't do the trick here.
Achievement: Team vs. Team ("At least the date"), corresponds to "H". Play the Team vs Team game and score at least 1031 (the date, Halloween).
Seven Done ("There can be only one"), corresponds to the "L" on the lawn. Completing any one daily challenge finished this one.

If you didn't have a Gold Member on your team to check the challenges, you couldn't see two of the challenges (sorry), but that shouldn't have caused too much trouble: You had clues for eight of the nine requirements (including the alternate N), so there were only two things to try for the ninth. Near the end, when time got tight, a clue was added to clarify that non-GMs needed the lower of the two - the Mash - for the missing ninth.

So far, so good. Now this year's challenge had a new element: You had to do things in the right order, namely H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N.

This was enforced because each lantern you lit also extinguished the next one in order. Completing the H canceled the A, the O canceled the W and so on. This even wrapped around - a stray N without everything else lit could kill your H and make you start over. The only way to halt this mutual extinguishing madness was to do them in the right order. This aspect of the challenge may (intentionally) have made things a bit harder for veteran Evil Twin fighters than for first timers. Never assume things work the same way they always did!

Oh, the two "E" and the two "L"? Well, you were on your own for that. If you tried those in the wrong order, you needed to replay one of them (The Fill Me In and Mash, which were quite easy to get another shot at). Professor McGonnagal (thanks for the visit) clued in any late stragglers on the order here by stating that when in doubt, you should work towards the grave. That worked in both cases.

In the end, 302 of you were smart and persistent enough to enjoy a fully illuminated graveyard. Here it is for everyone's enjoyment:



I hope you'll all be back next year - the Evil Twin hasn't been defeated (and it looks like he never will be), only driven back, so we will inevitably need your help again when the spooky week rolls around.