Rumor has it Tomi will split the gravy with whoever helps find the key.
But if it's not in "my clock," then where is it?
The Pre-Played Jumble section is a good place to START.
The jumble has already been filled in, but whoever filled in the words didn’t actually use the jumbled letters.
Each filled in jumble is actually a synonym of the jumbled word. For example, the first jumbled word is “HACOS” which can be rearranged to form “CHAOS.” The pre-filled word is “HAVOC,” which is a synonym of “CHAOS.”
From top to bottom, the correct words for the jumble are:
HACOS = CHAOS
YORLA = ROYAL
EARHCVI = ARCHIVE
DANHTEU = HAUNTED
ASWSN = SWANS
NDIEM = DENIM
TNSIH = HINTS
NDCAE = DANCE
NUDOH = HOUND
STOPIL = PISTOL
HTMY = MYTH
ASTRH = TRASH
Once the jumble has been corrected, the circled letters can be used to fill in the phrase at the bottom of the jumble.
The circled letters from the jumble can be combined by starting at the top of each column of jumbled words and moving down. Together, they form the phrase: “COUNT INTO YAWNS, DAY THEN MONTH.”
The Yearly All-Town Work Nights section lists quite a few holidays that sound like they could put someone to sleep.
Each of the events in the YAWNs section happens on one of the dates shown in the timeline.
The Floor is Lava: Rock & Roll Gym has requested that Ultraslow Night happen in July, and there is only one slot available in July on the timeline.
Aluminum Night happens 3 months and 1 day before Ultraslow Night, so counting back from July 2nd shows that it will happen on April 1st.
Escalator Night and Humorless Night are the two events that happen closest to each other, so they must be on February 7th and 9th, in that order.
Shrubbery Night and Headlight Night both happen in the same month. Also no other events happen in that month. Only April and June have exactly two events scheduled, and the April 1st slot is already dedicated to Aluminum Night. That means that Shrubbery Night must be June 3rd and Headlight Night must be June 8th.
There are exactly three events between Worksheet Night and Centering Night, and the only two open spaces on the timeline that have exactly three spaces between them are January 9th and March 6th, so Worksheet Night is January 9th and Centering Night is March 6th.
Oscillate Night happens before Casserole Night and Casserole Night happens before Slideshow Night. There are only three open spots on the timeline, so Oscillate Night is February 4th, Casserole Night is April 9th, and Slideshow Night is May 7th.
Now that the timeline is filled in, use the clue from the Pre-played Jumble and “count into each yawn, day then month.” Each event on the calendar will generate two letters that can go into the blanks above the timeline.
Worksheet Night is scheduled for January 9th. The 9th letter of Worksheet Night is T and the 1st letter (since January is the first month of the year) is W, so the first two letters that fill in the blanks above the timeline are TW.
From earliest to latest, the events on the timeline give the following letters:
Worksheet Night = TW
Oscillate Night = IS
Escalator Night = TS
Humorless Night = SU
Centering Night = RN
Aluminum Night = AM
Casserole Night = ES
Slideshow Night = HE
Shrubbery Night = RB
Headlight Night = HI
Ultraslow Night = LL
When those letters are filled into the blanks above the timeline, they form the phrase “TWISTS = SURNAMES Ex. HERB HILL”
The production of “Give Me Back My Knife” has many twists listed in the Twisted Mystery Theater section.
Each line of dialogue from the mystery theater has a twist that can be filled in. For example, the Person in the first line claims to have eaten something, but the Detective points out that they are allergic to “straw, blue, and rasp.” The twist is a BERRY.
If any of the twists from the Twisted Mystery Theater seem ambiguous, it can be helpful to utilize the Congrats! section.
The YAWNs section mentions that “Herb Hill” is given as the example. Based on this example, the last name Berry can be paired to the correct first name in the Congrats! section.
The twists from the Twisted Mystery Theater are the surnames of the people in the Congrats! Section and can be paired by matching the first letters, so BERRY is Bess’s last name.
The Congrats! section has a list of jobs that also utilize the Twisted surnames.
Each job matches one of the surnames, creating a full job title.
Bess BERRY is a BERRY Picker.
From top to bottom, the twists in the Twisted Mystery Theater section are:
Berry
Price
Little
Short
Gold
Trout
Cobb
Moss
Rye
Walker
Day
From top to bottom, the full job titles in the Congrats! section are:
Walker of Dogs
Cobb Salad Prepper
Price Checker
Moss Spore Researcher
Day Trader
Berry Picker
Rye Bread Baker
Little League Coach
Trout Catcher
Short Order Cook
Gold Coin Counter
The Congrats! section suggests that you borrow the endings of the first names.
Use the number next to their job to determine how many letters to borrow.
For example, West Walker is a Walker of Dogs, so you should borrow the ST from West.
Borrowing the letters from each first name from top to bottom of the job list gives these letters from top to bottom:
West Walker of Dogs = ST
Cari Cobb Salad Prepper = RI
Payson Price Checker = N
Meg Moss Spore Researcher = G
Duffi Day Trader = FI
Bess Berry Picker = S
Ralph Rye Bread Baker = H
Larou Little League Coach = ROU
Tatem Trout Catcher = TEM
Sidd Short Order Cook = IDD
Gilles Gold Coin Counter = LES
Together these letters form the phrase “String fish route middles.”
The Fish on Parade section describes the route that the prize-winning fish took to get through the obstacle course.
The trainer directs the fish through the obstacle course by making four different unique sounds.
The fish started in one of the squares at the edge of the course, then, after the trainer told it to move four times, it ended up at “Notch.”
The fish ended at “Ocean” after the trainer told it to move the same direction six times in a row.
If the fish had moved up, left, or down, it would have had to have started outside the tank, so when the trainer says “Meep” it must mean that the fish should move right.
The trainer’s directions correspond to the following directions:
Woo = Left
Cha = Up
Meep = Right
Ziz = Down
Based on the words the trainer said, they directed the fish through this path:
Posts
Ashes
Briar
Taffy
Notch
Rafts
Knife
Gorge
Mists
Flotsam
Buoys
Seafolk
Reeds
Agate
Dicer
Mushers
Lockbox
Chest
Crypt
Jelly
Froth
Decks
Beach
Ditch
Brine
Thorn
Bendy
Cabin
Crank
Rocks
Cakes
Jetty
Anchors
Barge
Weeds
Ocean
Stringing together the middle letter of each word in the fish’s path reveals the phrase “Shift first of each key location back three.”
The article on the front page mentions eight locations where a particular key was seen at various times.
Some of the eight bolded locations in the article are not very specific, but they refer to specific locations mentioned at other places in the paper.
The eight locations where the key showed up are:
Em’s Embroideries
Lovely Things Craft Gallery
Nathan G’s Haunt Shoppe
Hincks’s Thrift Emporium
Onsite Learning
Robe-a-dub-dub Laundry Service
Floor is Lava: Rock & Roll Gym
Nectar Flower Garden
Shifting the first letter of each of the locations back by three gives the word BIKELOCK, which is the final answer, and the current location of the key, since the assistant at the Nectar Flower Garden didn’t hear Wouter correctly.