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This is an archived version of the 2025 Key Clues Challenge website. For information on the upcoming event, visit https://keyclueschallenge.uwaterloo.ca/.

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Solution: Zero to Hero
Answer: NEMEANLION

Written by The Enigmatologists

The puzzle refers to "page 0 of The Encyclopedia Free", which refers to the article for 0 on Wikipedia. From here, you will be following a chain of Wikipedia links. Each sentence of the puzzle hints at what link to follow. Ctrl+F will be your best friend here.

For instance, the first sentence mentions "the academy of John and Edmund", which is in reference to the following citation on the Wikipedia page for 0:

O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. (January 2004), "Chinese numerals", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews

"The academy of John and Edmund" is the University of St. Andrews. Click this link to get to the next stage of the Wikipedia chain. Continuing in this way, you should visit the following pages:

  • University of St. Andrews
  • Keira Knightley
  • Pride & Prejudice (2005 film)
  • Netflix
  • Montreal
  • Habitat 67
  • Lego Architecture
  • Statue of Liberty
  • Bell Labs
  • Galaxy
  • Heracles

The number in each sentence refers to a specific character in that sentence's link. For instance, the number 7 in the first sentence gives the 7th letter of "University of St. Andrews", which is S. You will end up with the letters SIRFT BOULAR, which can be anagrammed into FIRST LABOUR. This will point you to the link on the Heracles page for NEMEAN LION, which is the answer to the puzzle.