Clue 4

 

Sector I - Golden Gate Park

 

Star-Spangled Shortcake

 

Author:  Raj Gajwani and team Spirit of St. Louis

 

The proof is in the pudding -- or in this case, the shortcake.  No, teams didn't get an actual cake (though Game Control did intend to serve this as dessert at the party; sadly, we turned out not to have the time to make it).  Instead, they got a recipe (note: this is not a valid recipe - it was altered for the clue!)

 

 

Star-Spangled Shortcake

 

 

1 cup granulated sugar

3 teaspoons salt

5 sticks of cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

4 cups all purpose flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

5 tablespoons of heavy cream

 

Optional: Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, red currants, and confectioner's sugar

 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in sequence in a medium bowl.  Next use a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

 

Blend heavy cream into mixture using a fork.  Turn out onto a clean work surface; press away from you with the heel of your hand to juts combine dough.

 

Press dough into a 9-by-9-inch square.  Use a star cutter to cut out 9 biscuits.  Press the stars to flatten slightly.  Form into an "0-ring" on a parchment-lined baking sheet, alternating flattened stars with unflattened stars.

 

Preheat oven to 425°.

 

Bake until golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

 

Optional

 

Combine raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, red currants in a large bowl; toss to combine.  Allow berries to macerate, until very juicy.

 

Use a serrated knife to cut star ring crosswise.  Use large offset spatulas to carefully lift the top half of the ring, and set aside, leaving the spatulas in place.  Set aside tops of stars as well.  Transfer bottom of ring to a serving platter.  Transfer bottoms of stars to plates, if desired.  Spoon macerated berries, and juices over star ring and additional stars.  Place the tops on the star ring and stars using the spatulas, and dust with confectioner's sugar, if using.  Serve immediately.

 

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Senapvf unf tbg gur xrl.

Lbh jvyy svaq uvf ahzore va gur fubegpnxr.

Lbh zhfg nfx uvz sbe bhe zbggb.

 

 

Hints

 

Hint 1 was the solution to the encrypted text (see step one in solution, below).

 

Hint 2 was the actual number in the recipe.

 

If teams already knew one of these items, Game Control exercised their discretion in determining what sort of a hint would be most useful, on a case-by-case basis. 

 

 

 

Solution

 

This was a multi-part clue.  Particularly observant teams realized that the encrypted text at the bottom was rot-13, and decrypted it as follows:

 

FRANCIS HAS GOT THE KEY.

YOU WILL FIND HIS NUMBER IN THE SHORTCAKE.

YOU MUST ASK HIM FOR OUR MOTTO.

 

Rot-13 is a form of Caesar Shift cipher in which each letter is rotated 13 letters to the right, treating the alphabet as a continuous loop.

 

Rot-13 is the only case where each plaintext letter is its own ciphertext replacement's replacement. In other words, plaintext A = ciphertext N, and plaintext N = ciphertext A.

 

Either with or without the decrypted text to guide them, teams found the number in the shortcake by following the recipe; i.e., using the numbers in the recipe as indicated by the directions:

 

4 Flour
1 Sugar
5 Baking Powder
3 Salt
5 Butter
5 Heavy Cream
9 square
9 square
9 biscuits
0 ring
425 oven temperature

 

 

This results in the number 415-355-9990, extension 425.

 

On the voicemail of this extension was the following message:

 

"Hello, this is Francis.  The Sphinx is right.  She and her sisters are right.  A skeleton is all that is left.  Those who are left give thanks. Come find me, call Game Control when you have found our motto, and they will tell you the clue location."

 

The "Francis" who "has got the key" in the encrypted text is, of course, Francis Scott Key, author of the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", referenced in the recipe's title.  Say "Francis has got the key" really fast - does it remind you of anything? Those who noticed the subtle play on words get extra bragging rights. 

 

The only location in Sector I (Golden Gate Park) that one can find the Sphinx, her sisters, and a skeleton all in one place is at the Music Concourse, at which the de Young Museum, the California Academy of Science, and a statue of Francis Scott Key are all located.  The line about "those who are left give thanks" was a reference to a banner hung over the façade of the Academy thanking the firemen and other rescue workers who gave their lives at the World Trade Center site on 9-11.

 

If you stand facing the statue

 

 

 

 

with the Sphinx (i.e., the deYoung) on the right

 

 

and the skeleton (i.e., the dinosaur skeleton inside the Academy of Science) on the left,

 

 

you may notice that the stanzas of the Star Spangled Banner are engraved on the statue's base.

 

 

 

 

 

Reading through them, the fourth and final stanza reads:

 

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

 

Repeating the motto in line 6, "In God is our trust", to Game Control netted teams the nearby location of the next clue (unceremoniously stuffed in the side handle of a dumpster).