The big hint here was the title, a line from the film
"Rising Sun", which featured former Bond actor Sean Connery.
The full exchange has Wesley Snipes saying, "Where are
you from, sempai? Scotland Yard?" and Connery responding,
"Scotland backyard."
The license plate for this clue site ("ARTIST") was,
in fact, tied to a pole next to the only backyard on Scotland
Alley.
But you could have solved the acrostic (more time-consuming,
of course), which read: YOUR MISSION HAS BEEN COMPROMISED.
YOU ARE IN GRAVE DANGER. MEGALOMANIACAL DOCTOR KNOWS YOUR
TRUE IDENTITY. GET OUT NOW. SEEK ASSISTANCE AT SCOTLAND
(YARD).
Answers:
A: JAWS
B: ODD JOB
C: LARGO
D: EWE
E : OWN
F: LYS
G: LIV
H: TWICE
I: DOUBLE
J: OH SAY
K: VIN
L: MI6
M: EM (notice the clue letter is also the answer!)
N: MOON
O: RAY
P: CUR
Q: QUEUE (notice the clue letter is also the answer!)
R: RAJA
S: MOOR
T: SOLITAIRE
U: PUSSY
V: GALORE (notice that the clue for V was the answer
for W...)
W: PLENTY (...and vice versa)
X: O'TOOLE
Y: HUNNY
Z: RIDER
AA: TIFFANY
AB: CASE
AC: ELECTRA
AD: KING
AE: DOMINO
AF: MOD
AG: ADDAMS
AH: ASTIN
AI: MARTIN
AJ: GRACE
AK: JONES
Although the acrostic was lengthy, observant players
noticed that all of the answers doubled as Bond characters,
actors, and film titles - this is easier to see when you
group the answers as we have above.
For example, items D, E, F, G, and H, to which the answers
are "EWE", "OWN", "LYS", "LIV", and "TWICE", can be read
as "You Only Live Twice", a 1967 Bond film; and items
N, O, and P, which work out to "MOON", "RAY", and "CUR",
combine to form "Moonraker", a 1979 Bond film. Similarly,
items I, J, and K, to which the answers are "DOUBLE OH
SAY VIN", can be read as Bond's agent number "Double-Oh-Seven",
and items R and S, "RAJA" and "MOOR", are homonyms for
"Roger Moore", a famous former Bond actor. Kudos to those
of you who picked up on these plays-on-words.
