Solutions to Nikoli Hurdles – 2/5

100m-200m: Tentai Show

When I listed possible types I want to include in Nikoli Hurdles, I promised to myself that one had to be a picture-puzzle that would violate the answer keys. I originally thought of Tetsunagi (Connect the Dots), but oh boy is it hard to make on computer.

I’ve solved less than 10 Tentai Shows and never tried making one. This construction feat was also a personal challenge. The one used was actually the second Tentai Show I made. This was the first one:

I would’ve asked:  identify this sport.
Difficult right?
I thought so too, which was why I made another one.
(Give me your best guess in the comments.)

Now, what answer would be appropriate, and internationally-recognized enough, to be the solution? Thinking Japanese, I quickly thought of Pikachu. Even if you haven’t been to Japan, or watched Pokemon, I thought it would’ve been quite difficult not seeing a Pikachu before.

Fearing age bias, my second option was Colonel Sanders of KFC fame. I even came up with a rough dot-to-dot puzzle resulting in the smiling old man we’ve all seen before, I would ask for a 3-letter solution, namely: K, F and C. No matter how much I like their chicken, I just couldn’t resist including the famous yellow mouse in Nikoli Hurdles.

A stream of comments came in after a few days. Some liked the idea, some said it was unfair. I’m left to wonder what would happen had I opted for the KFC puzzle instead.