Solution to Hockfield Court

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Answer: SALTED

by Josh Alman

The puzzle consists of five clues whose answers (which are in alphabetical order) are ATLAS, EAST, EDEN, HDTV, and WELSH. The puzzle title, the occurrences of "map", "path", and "MIT" in the clues, and the fact that EAST is supposed to be placed east to west, all suggest that we want to place these answers along the five paths that cross through Hockfield Court at MIT:

aerial photo of Hockfield Court

Perhaps with some trial and error to figure out what "rules" we need to follow when placing these letters, we find that we can place a letter at each intersection so that the five paths spell out the five answers:

aerial photo of Hockfield Court with letters placed on the intersections

Finally, reading the letters at the intersections of the five paths spells out the answer SALTED:

Aerial Photo of Hockfield Court with the final answer circled

Author’s Notes

A friend and I once had a long argument about which of the five paths through Hockfield Court is traversed the most often. I hope this author's note has convinced you to think about this important question too.