In May I wrote my first puzzle for this blog. If you tried that puzzle but didn’t solve it, don’t worry — that was a really hard one. This one’s easier — I’d put its difficulty at around 3 out of 10. If you haven’t done these sorts of puzzles before, this isn’t a terrible one to be your first, but you might want to try one of these easier ones first.
Just like last time, I’m offering prizes! (EDIT: all prizes have been claimed!) I’ll give $20 to the first person to email me the correct answer (which is an English word or phrase) and $10 to the next three people. You’re allowed (in fact encouraged) to work with others, but your group will be eligible for only one prize. You are also allowed (and encouraged) to use the internet. I’m tentatively planning to end the contest a month from now, on October 15th, in the event that not all prizes are claimed. See here for further details, disclaimers, etc.
Edit: Here are the winners!
- Oliver Hayman (9/14 at 11:13pm ET)
- Anonymous solver (9/15 at 1:45am ET, refused the prize)
- Steppan Konoplev (9/15 at 3:34am ET)
- Kira Goldner (9/15 at 7:13pm ET, Kira asked that I donate her prize to the Malaria Consortium)
- Anonymous solver (9/29 at 3:42pm ET)
The puzzle is below. You should be able to see (and play) 16 audio files. Good luck and have fun!
[Edit: see here for hints, comments, and a solution.]
Losers and Winners
(3)
(1)
(7)
(5)
(5)
(6)
(9)
(5)
(6)
(9)
(1)
(2)
(7)
(6)
(3)
(6)
Unexpected Values 
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