2006 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time in the history of the hunt that the first clue was released early. It appeared in the early Saturday Edition of the Sunday newspaper. The clue also lets us know that unlike in 2002, the hiders took note of the warm weather conditions and lack of snow cover when hiding the medallion, not leaving it out in the open.

An early clue revealing what was concealing the medallion, although this clue directed many hunters to Highland Park, near the vicinity of Pearson's Candy. After this clue was published, there were multiple reports from people on the Pioneer Press's discussion boards that they had found empty Nut Goodie wrappers in various parks that had been placed there by jesting hunters. Brings back memories of the days when hunters would distribute slugs in an effort to thwart metal detector users.

This one was a good well-rounded clue, in our opinion, indicating that the park has got playground facilities for kids.

Missing from the official explanation of this clue is the fact that one of the meanings of the word "ken" is "realm of knowledge". So staying within your ken would mean keeping the hunt confined to St. Paul, an important thing to note, considering Battle Creek Park straddles the boundary between Saint Paul and Maplewood. A street clue, which gets us to the proper side of the park. but is way off in identifying the location.

Most people figured out 3M with this one, as an obvious reference to Battle Creek. After all, what fun would an East Side hunt be without an obligatory 3M reference? Other people touched on the notion that scarlet is a shade of red. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's book, The Scarlet Letter, the letter was "A". A, B, and C streets, the only single letter named streets in the city, are at the south end of White Bear Avenue, adjoining the western end of the park.

Again, an excellent clue and explanation from the cluewriters.

Yet another really good clue; one that got the naysayers of Battle Creek into the park. It also eliminated the portions of the park north of Upper Afton Rd.

Woodbury??? Here's where we start scratching our heads. First of all, Woodbury is in the next county over, and it's two cities across from where the medallion was hidden. L'étoile du Nord, anyone? At least they confined the hunt to St. Paul. As we go through these next few clues, we think most people would be scratching their heads at it. A simple re-ordering of the clues placing this one and the next earlier in the hunt could have kept the hunt going into the weekend.

This one has us scratching our heads even more. Point Douglas Road is on the other end of the park from the hiding place. We should be getting closer to the puck, not farther, at this point. Again, this clue should have come earlier. The cluewriters do redeem themselves slightly by making reference to a regional park

Interestingly enough, the PhD level explanation for this clue is similar to that of Clue 6 from the Press's capture the flag hunt in 2005. Now this one's a good clue, although, again, with the reference to Highway 61, and the park as a whole, should have come sooner.

The mere references to Battle Creek are starting to get old at this point. Of course, the clue writers are habitually giving us 10 clues of which park it's at and 2 clues pinpointing the location.

See! The first of two clues pinpointing the treasure within the park. Right there!

A relevant street name with Winthrop, however the earlier references to Hillsdale and Glenridge Avenues, both of which end at Winthrop, makes this a redundant clue.

X marks the spot. Not much else can be said here, except that the ordering of the clues could have extended the hunt by a few more days.