A hearty congrats to Maggie Wittlin of New York City, who tied the HDYK record for a finished final puzzle in the least amount of time at 9 minutes flat!

In a moment, I’ll introduce you to to our new champion, but first:

WE’RE UPPING THE STAKES for the next How Did You Know?!

Here’s the deal: If any champion can defend his or her title for three consecutive months, he or she will win not only the usual prizes for that month, but… but… BUT… well, we haven’t figure out the ‘but’ yet, BUT, it’ll be pretty darn snazzy, that much I can guarantee (short of A NEW CAR!).

So the pressure is on Maggie, who I introduce to you now – in her own words:

I currently live in New York City, with three wonderful and trivia-knowledgeable roommates. I spent the past three years working with the very awesome Seed Media Group — the folks who produce the equally awesome Seed magazine — performing various editorial duties in print and on the web. I’m now taking the summer off before going to law school in the fall. (This is why I have time to do trivia hunts.) I was born in the Bronx, and I grew up in fabulous and exciting Westchester County. Some of my dorkiest interests include physics, musical theater, and hunting down information, which is truly the most dangerous game. I would like to thank the friends, parents, and friends’ parents who helped me with the puzzle.

[Just to clarify on the Name That Country challenge: for the first one, in addition to Saudi Arabia I would have also accepted Iran, Sudan, Serbia or Spain. And for the last one, Austria and Australia both worked.]

Now on to Maggie’s brilliant, winning solution:

Final Day:

The answer to the puzzle is: Polaris

Located 431.42 light years away, I am the most famous star in ursa minor: Polaris.

day 2 = 8a 6b 7c 5d 3e 0f 9g
Latitude = 39.593
Longitude = -83.587
Milledgeville, OH (From yesterday)
431.42

day 4
Italy
LY = Light years (I know this)

day 1
star - filled in blank :)

day 3
Little bear = ursa minor in Latin
Day 1 - Mystery Foliage

1. Eucalyptus (I found this similar image on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lauraelaine/1983632/in/set-31331/ and emailed the photographer. She said she believed it to be a juvenile Eucalyptus. I confirmed this at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Eucalyptus_polyanthemos_vestita_juvenile_foliage.jpg)

2. Star Jasmine (Recognized by my SoCal-raised roommate, Betsey. Confirmed at: http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/05/13/jasmine/, “star” from day 5 puzzle)

3. Bougainvillea (Also recognized by Betsey. Confirmed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvillea)

4. Magnolia (I’ll admit, I just got this from the clue for the next day’s puzzle. Confirmed which one was a Magnolia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia)

Tomorrow’s Clue
http://www.mentalfloss.com/HDYK/hdyk5_clue1.html
Three coins on a red background

Day 2 - Name That Tune

1. 25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago (I recognized this one off the bat. I confirmed it with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSOaoPDO16Y)

2. 1-2-3 - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine (Recognized by my friend Joe, who grew up during the 80s. Confirmed with: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kgVPRc5FBtk)

3. 19th Nervous Breakdown - Rolling Stones (Recognized by my Dad, a fountain of oldies and classic rock wisdom. Confirmed with http://youtube.com/watch?v=bHwTygK05_M)

4. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon (Recognized by my friend Lauren, who was sad she didn’t get more of them. Confirmed with: http://youtube.com/watch?v=91euERWH2M4)

5. Three Coins in the Fountain - Sinatra, Styne/Cahn (I googled “sinatra” + “make it mine” + “lyrics” and came up with this. Confirmed with: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eJQuZOg2Dfo)

6. 867-5309/Jenny – Tommy Tutone (Recognized by Joe, the 80s boy. Confirmed with: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lqUPApCUt90)

Tomorrow’s Clue:
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/yr/childrens.html
Penguin Children’s books

Day 3 - One of These Things is Not Like the Others

All pictures are cover illustrations by the not-so-late and very great Maurice Sendak except for the third, which is from There’s a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer.

1. In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak (I just recognized this. I read the book a million times in my youth. Confirmed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Night_Kitchen)
2. Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak (I also recognized this one…who wouldn’t? Confirmed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Wild_Things_Are)
3. There’s a Nightmare in My Closet - Written and Illustrated by Mercer Mayer (A Google search for “monster” + “closet” led to: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/omc/kidsphil/questions/Nightmare/nightmare_cover_250pixels.jpg)
4. Little Bear - by Else Hlmelund Minarik, Illustrations by Maurice Sendak (Browsing for Sendak works, I found this at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0064440044/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link)

Tomorrow’s Clue:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/HDYK/hdyk5_clue3.html
Outline of Tanzania (looked at a bunch of maps and matched the outline)

Day 4 - Name That Country

1. Saudi Arabia - eStAteUpDrIveARkAsBlIndAt
2. Belarus - saBErsLAtRUSt
3. Italy - slIceTALkhappY
4. Tanzania - esTAteNowZootrAiNIsAt (this could also be Estonia, but yesterday’s clue hinted otherwise)
5. Australia - sAbersUSTRApsLIceApple

I had Tanzania from the previous day’s clue, and the clue for today helped me spot Australia. To browse for countries, I also used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries.

Tomorrow’s Clue:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/HDYK/hdyk5_clue4.html
Outline of Ohio

Thanks for the great puzzles! I had a lot of fun this week, even if my friends got sick of me bugging them for help the first couple of days. Woot!

~Maggie