Let's Fire Up Those Neurons!

The images:

I used five images to refer to 'Monkey', after discarding Hanuman, Darwin etc. as too obvious!

(1) Pic-1: Could be school, student, classroom etc., but I was pointing to 'Teacher'. Note operator overloading with 'Guru'.:rotfl

(2) Pic-2: It's the Hubble Telescope.

(3) Pic-3: Is a Bioscope. You peer in through the opening (as the kids are doing) to watch a short movie!

(4) Pic-4: Is a Horoscope. The Aishwarya Rai part is a red herring.

(5) Pic-5: This is the first Perry Mason novel. Intended to point to 'Lawyer' or 'Trial'.

"Teacher + Scopes + Trial" should lead you the very famous 'Monkey' Trial. You can read all about it here.

(6) Pic-6: The focus is on the tattoos - there are three visible, the pic of the arm should make it clear that it is the tattoos that are the clue. A quick search of 'Angelina Jolie + tattoos' should help you find out that the one on the shoulder is a Pali incantation, although it is in Khmer script. (sort of like writing Urdu in Devanagari).

(7) Pic-7: Palm-Leaf Manuscript. A pointer to ancient times, scripture.

(8) Pic-8: Three Baskets - pointing to the 'Tripitaka' (Sanskrit) or 'Tipitaka' (Pali). Xuanzang and the Monkey King took back with them scriptures written in Pali that are referred to in Buddhist tradition as the 'Three Baskets' - a literal search for the words would have led you to the answer!

(9) Pic-9: Shows the Buddha handing fruit to a monkey, with a palm-leaf manuscript with Pali inscriptions! :biglaugh'Buddha + Monkey' would have led directly to the answer.

PS: You can search the web and find Aishwarya Rai's horoscope and an exegesis on Angelina Jolie's tattoos - what a time to be alive! laugh1smiley

 

The high-signal , no noise clues are the last two:

'Three Baskets' is exactly that 'Three Baskets' !

Buddha + Monkey + Pali is straight as it comes. They, by themselves, are sufficient to solve the puzzle!

 

OK, now I want to hear from @surekhap, @butterflyice, @vaidehi71, JAG / @justanothergirl and others re: your interpretations!

 

Wow! Wow! Wow! I have not only learned how to interpret clues but also how to structure puzzles. A great learning experience. After I read your posts, I saw a lot of missed opportunities. Detours give a lot in terms of learning something but as far as finding solution to a puzzle, it is frustrating. Focus, focus, focus seem to be the answer.

This whole thread helps structured thinking.

Viswa

 

Not always - sometimes it depends on the style of the puzzle setter.

I do like it structured - so you are right there. I have little fun sometimes with misdirection, but I don't like to blatantly mislead. I like it when every clue is solved by at least one person, even if no one solves all of them. That is my test for good design.

For example:
I first chose a 'microscope' as one of the scopes. I decided that was bad because then a telescope, bioscope and microscope are all visual aids, have lenses, are modern, are instruments etc. etc. However with Telescope, Bioscope, Horoscope, it is almost impossible to find any commonality without excessive shoe-horning. If you think about it a bit, the only striking thing is 'Scopes'.

Also, the clues are echoed multiple times. 'Guru'/ 'Teacher', 'Monkey' trial / Monkey pic etc.

The idea is to make it just tricky enough to be interesting, but not deliberately obscure. On the whole, I want you to think "oh man, I can't believe I missed that!" not "oh, man, I was tricked - that's too far fetched!".

Others styles are conceivable, so others can chime in about their design preferences! :boo:

 

Good learning on how to interpret puzzles. For #2753 I was looking for Teacher + Astronomer + Spiritual and then tried Teacher + Scopes and landed at John T Scopes and the Monkey trial but nowhere closer to Buddhism.

Good Learning experience though.

@Gauri, regarding your puzzle RR symbol I interpreted as Rajasthan Royals and that was probably only connection between the General and Gayathri Devi.

 

@sokanasanah

My final answer was Xuanzang..Did not catch your first choice..
In between had a some wanderings which I told..but the Angie tattoos- did take me to Cambodia, but lost my track with Angkor wat..
Thanks to you and Surekhap for coming to an answer..
Had a nice time with lots of confusions...really good puzzle..
I will on silent mode again for some time..
Catch up with you all again when I am free..
Keep on firing your puzzles..

 

I was hovering between two choices Xuanzang and Faxian .
Faxian could handle one extra clue which xuanzhang could not. Both were visitors but they did not stay back.They returned.


The first image was a school (related it to Taxila or takshasila)
The Chinese monk Faxian, writing of his visit to Taxila in 405, mentions the kingdom of Takshasila, meaning "the Severed Head". The first thing that pops into the mind
about ancient universities/schools are Nalanda and takshasila.
As I was toying with Xaunzang I supposed this could mean Xaunzangs visit to Nalanda.

Second was hobble telescope . Of the important things about hobble telescope one was its ability to photograph moon. The first time a telescope was used actually. So I thought u meant that to reference moon= Chandra =Chandra Gupta the king during whose reign Faxian visited India. This was one clue Xuanzang could not handle.

The 3rd image was one of a bioscope. Very common in fair in india . Incidentally ESG's(image 5) pen name was AA fair and it was under this name that he wrote the book Der zweite Buddha . Image 6 Angelina jolies tattoos are Buddhist prayers.
The three baskets represent the triptika..the early writing of Buddhism. Now the other two images were sanskrit manuscripts.
So I thought that was to point towards the many translations of Faxian (Xuanzhang)from Sanskrit to Chinese I could not fit the astrology thingy with either .But between the two I went with Faxian with a nagging feeling that 3 baskets or trpitika fit better with Xuanzang Hence my answer Raja(Chandra gupta) uvaca
lambhakam (finder) uvaca .In chinese Faxian is one who finds.

Do I getting a passign grade atleast:hide:

PS Fantastic puzzle ..I had a zillion things to do today but I was thinking about it practically the whole time. I am going to have to borrow ur Lamborghini:biggrin2: to do my grocery shopping ..

 

I love this! I know 'Lambhaka' but missed this connection!ideasmiley

Well, it's not about the grades is it? The point was to say: "Go read 'Journey to The West' ". It's great fun!

As a child, I really loved the stories about Hanuman: thinking the sun was a fruit, cursed to forget his strength, forgetting the Sanjeevani and carrying the whole mountain, showing up in both the Ramayana & the Mahabharata, being an expert grammarian, Bhima not being able to move his tail and of course setting fire to Lanka ("Hanuman!" by Michael Bay! Summer 2016!).

Trickster Monkey is equally lovable.

 

I was hoping that you would see the monkey in the last pic and think "Hmmm, this can't be a coincidence!".