A. 歩 B. 行 C. 来 D. 出 E. 入 F. 走

Okay.  I’ll admit it.  I was kind of hoping to trick you guys with this one.  And it appears I have succeeded.  Both Dragon and Shirley, who most likely were not colluding, went for E, which does look like a man walking (I will not comment on how many arms he appears to have).  This, however, means “enter.”  I did not prepare this grand plot from the get-go, but once I had set up the list, I did notice the potential trap, and I did nothing to remove it.  There, an admission of guilt.  Hopefully that’s “un-Republican” enough for Shirley to forgive me.

A Fan had the right idea this week, which was to guess randomly, thus eluding the snare.  His answer wasn’t correct, but at least he had the right idea.  He gets an A for . . . lack of effort, I suppose.  A is, in fact, the correct answer.  B means go, C means come, D means leave, F means run, and Yellow means, depending on your mood, either slow down or give it all you’ve got.

That ended up not being very exciting to explain.  Hmm . . . what shall we have for next week?  Wait, stand back: I’m going to try . . . SCIENCE!  The next challenge will be on the periodic table of elements.  Fortunately, you don’t have to memorize all of them.  In fact, you only need to worry about one, which, compared to what the chemistry students have to deal with, is remarkably simple.  And hopefully this time people will believe me when I tell them not to worry about the last character, because it appears in every single answer.  It’s elementary, dear readers.  Now, I understand that all the elements are important (with the possible exception of boron), but I can’t see us getting very far without oxygen, so I’ll have you hunt for that.  And if all you aggrieved boron fans want to track your favorite element down, then you can go ahead and do that too.

A. 酸素　B. 水素　C. 炭素　D. 窒素　E. 弗素　F. 硼素

“We gotta hear that meeting!”
Barret said in a harsh hiss
“Meeting?” said Cloud.  “Boredom time
Let’s just give it a miss”

And one more man in a white coat
Who hung back from the show
Cloud did not know how he knew
The man’s name was Hojo

Their collections are second to none
The Hope Diamond and the Bell X-1
Plus old Honest Abe’s hat
They display all of that
By the will of a man named Smithson

Event: Smithsonian Institution established by act of congress
Year: 1846
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution

A. 車 B. 自転車 C. 新幹線 D. 地下鉄 E. 電車 F. 飛行機 G. 船

The responses to this week’s challenge featured displays of logic, a tactic not often utilized in KYPC.  The proofs were arranged thusly: 1. Assume that “A” is the basic character for train. 2. Assume that the shinkansen, which is a type of train, will contain this character.  3. Ergo, the shinkansen must be either “B” or “E,” as these are the only compounds which contain “A.”  Q.E.D.  Based on this analysis, A Fan elected to go with B, and Shirley chose E, presumably to increase their chances of at least one of them being right.  It may not seem fair of me to accuse my readers of conspiracy, but if they are going to continue to believe that I am trying to fool them, it is only natural for me to think that they are trying to fool me.

Of course, the problem with this logical approach is that it is based on assumptions.  If either part 1 or part 2 proves to be incorrect, then the conclusion falls flat.  And it goes without saying that, if both propositions are untrue, as they are in this case, you might have been better off picking one at random without even looking at them first.  As it turns out, A by itself means “car,” though this is derived from its original meaning of “wheel.”  Thus, while it does not mean “train,” it does appear in the names of trains:

汽車  列車

The first is a steam train, and the second is a more general term for “train,” referring to something made up of linked cars that travels on tracks.  So, while proposition 1 was not technically correct, it was close enough that they almost got away with it.  But once proposition 2 collapsed, they really had no chance.  Shirley came closer, picking out the “electric train,” which is generally the word that a typical person would use when talking about taking the train.  And she was also correct about it being sleeker than B, A Fan’s older, more utilitarian “bicycle.”

Not that they necessarily would have been any better off ignoring character A.  Let’s take a second to wave to Dragon, who’s way out there on G, hanging out with T-Pain.  Sing it: “SHE’S ON A BOAT!”  She can see F from there, a compound that was entirely forgotten by readers.  Apparently you don’t like traveling by plane any better than I do.  Our other misfit this week is D, the subway.  Theoman, using his hidden technique of actual knowledge, outstripped the bicycles, the boats, and the planes to end up on C, the mighty bullet train.  And, in case you’re curious, shinkansen literally means “new trunk line”- the word refers to both the train itself and the route it travels.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.  How can I quiz you on ways to go places if you don’t even know how to go?  So we’ll look at some basic verbs of motion: come and go, walk and run, enter and exit.  We know that you can all talk the talk, but let’s see if you can spot the walk.

A. 歩 B. 行 C. 来 D. 出 E. 入 F. 走

The Mayor they met one floor up
“What? Visitors? Oh yes!
I’m just so lonely way up here
Can you my password guess?”

But AVALANCHE excused themselves
With apol’getic looks
“We really have no time, you see”
“And plus, I just hate books”

The next floor was some sort of maze
With items to be found
But since they were not puzzle geeks
They quickly went around

Sixty-four was the gym floor
With showers, lockers, saun’
Cloud wanted to ogle babes
But Barret dragged him on

Next they found a model town
With pieces to replace
Barret wondered who the hell
Had built this crazy place

Finally, on Sixty-six
An interesting sight
All the Shinra VIP’s
Were gathered there that night

His great journey was a real hard sell
(Though the roundness of Earth was known well)
All his figures were wrong
The route was far too long
But he got to Ferd and Isabell

Event: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain, bound (he thinks) for the East Indies
Year: 1492
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

Unlike many blogs out there, we at the Wandering Wordsman do not see it as our role to engage in social commentary.  That being said, I will make an observation.  I ask you to look for politics, and what do I get?  Shirley, the self-proclaimed expert, hunts for something murky.  Dragon suspects subterfuge.  Theoman is drawn to the unfamiliar, and A Fan concurs.  I don’t know what this says about the state of politics in society today, but whatever it is must be difficult to state explicitly.

Now, for a refreshing change of pace, let’s be blunt: you’re all wrong.

A. 外国語 B. 心理学 C. 数学 D. 政治学 E. 文学 F. 歴史学

On several occasions, participants in KYPC have decided that I am trying to trick them, that I, like an infamous teacher at my high school, feel that I am not doing my job unless people fail.  Not that I have been keeping close track, but I have the impression that guesses based on this assumption have, so far, invariably been wrong.  However, I am pleased that Dragon’s misguided ways led her to guess my particular area of expertise: A, foreign language.  A Fan wandered off on a bizarre tangent, meaning that perhaps he should consult with experts in the field that he guessed: B, psychology.  Theoman’s possible insider knowledge did not lead him to the correct answer, though it did perhaps prevent him from being lured by his own specialty: C, mathematics.  And it seems plain that none of the participants is at all interested in what were called “Textual and Historical Studies” at my university, having completely ignored E, literature, and F, history.  Political Science is D.

We at the Wandering Wordsman understand that the journey is more important than the destination, especially in a feature like KYPC, where so often people don’t end up where they expected.  So this week, instead of concentrating on where you’re going, let’s focus on how you get there.  The topic is modes of transportation.  Since I recently wasted away a few more hours of my life on airplanes, I will ask you to pick out a method of cross-country transportation that I much prefer: the shinkansen, or, as it is better known in English, the “bullet train.”

A. 車 B. 自転車 C. 新幹線 D. 地下鉄 E. 電車 F. 飛行機 G. 船

They were on Floor Sixty
And to top were drawing near
‘Cross the hall was a staircase
But they could four guards hear

Barret whispered, “We’ll sneak by
Avoid this one combat”
Cloud, still dizzy, dropped his sword
“Oops.  Sorry about that”

Guards dispatched, the big man groaned
“There goes our chance at stealth”
“What’s the matter?” chuckled Cloud
“You worried ‘bout your health?”

“Charging in was fun, for sure
I’d do all that for free
But even I don’t wanna fight
The whole damn company!”

AVALANCHE trudged up the stairs
Not showing much aplomb
On Sixty-one they found a scene
Of most surprising calm

A man whose suit was sharp as tacks
Approached, gave them a key
“Now go and clean that bathroom
And be quick!  I’ve got to pee”

“You . . . didn’t hear a fight below?
Shots fired?  Busted doors?”
“Good lord!  I’ve no time to keep track
Of all those lesser floors”

Okay, vacation’s over.  Time to get back to work.

A. 雨　B. 風　C. 雷　D. 霧　E. 雲　F. 晴　G. 雪

Some of you may have noticed that many of these characters contained a shared element, identified by Shirley as “the cloud.”  It is, in fact, a compressed version of character A, which means rain.  Now, as I may have mentioned before, if you see a part of a kanji character that you recognize from another one that you already know, you can guess that they have similar meanings, though since I told you these were all weather-related, that probably wouldn’t help much.  And also, shared elements sometimes indicate similar pronunciation rather than similar meaning, so it’s a tricky process at best.  However, none of that has anything to do with wind, one of only two characters here to not include the rain radical (a term used to refer to parts that show up in multiple characters, such as in this example).  Wind is B.  Nobody got it.  Better luck next time.

This is not to say, however, that none of you got anything correct.  Shirley, who boldly set out to take stabs at all of them, walked away with a decent score–though I regret to inform her that “This time, No rhyme.  Except that one.” is not a haiku, as the haiku form is one of three lines of five, seven, and five syllables.  She picked out rain right off the bat, one of the few easily identifiable kanji characters, in my opinion (it looks like rain falling outside a window).  She missed the next couple, though I award partial credit for her guess of “radio” for C, because C is thunder, which is caused by lightning, which is a form of electricity, without which radios could not function.  She also gets partial credit for guessing “hail” for D, even though the character means “fog,” because I was considering using the character for hail instead.  E, A Fan’s flying hibachi, is a cloud, and F was correctly identified by Shirley as meaning “sunny.”  I almost tripped up Dragon by throwing in a character with a backwards E in order to get her to accidentally guess E, though you might wonder why I bothered, as neither answer was correct.  G is the weather my hometown is best known for: snow.

50 points to Theoman for locking himself in the house and trying to avoid all this weather.  That’s the only smart thing to do.

I’ve been thinking a fair amount about going back to school recently, so this week we’re going to have a back-to-school themed puzzle.  The following is a list of things you can study in school.  Now, this may seem like a lot of characters to deal with at first, but really it’s not so bad.  Notice how five of the six end with the same kanji? That just means “study” or “learning,” so for the purposes of this quiz you can basically ignore it.  Anyway, go ahead and pick out from the list the one discipline in which I never took a class in college, which, in this case, will be political science.

A. 外国語 B. 心理学 C. 数学 D. 政治学 E. 文学 F. 歴史学

No opponent that he cannot mock
No hunter’s gun he cannot block
Don’t want to get hit hard?
You’d best be on your guard
When you hear him ask, “Eh . . . what’s up, doc?”

Event: The character known today as Bugs Bunny makes his first “official” appearance in the animated short “A Wild Hare”
Year: 1940
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_Bunny