2007 Allison Wonderland Mock Hunt

Clue #1 
Signal ye the start of fun for ye old Mock Hunt has begun 
Thou shalt go out and seek thee the Crown Jewel 
Tis hidden in St. Paul, nestled before snow did fall 
And before Mother Nature decided to be so cruel 

This wintry hunt of 07 may not strike thee as pleasant 
But doth it not represent all that hunters stand for? 
Perhaps ye can satiate by dwelling instead on 08 
Or hunt like a Tiger and ye shall have riches galore. 

The first verse is mainly just there to introduce the hunt and tell you what you already know, that it is hidden in St. Paul and that we seem to have a lot of snow. The second verse makes reference to “08” which is meant not as 2008, but rather 1908 which is when Newell Park was founded. It was named after Stanford Newell and Stanford is both an anagram of “stand for” and the college that Tiger Woods went to. Tiger Woods of course comes from “Tiger” and “Woods” also hints at it being hidden in a tree. 

Clue #2 
Ten times ten, squared, a hundred then 
Is how many chains thou shalt need 
Core to thy hysteria, use them to cover the area 
Ruts in thy thinking are a danger indeed. 

A chain is a unit of length and 100 chains would still be a unit of length, but 100 square chains is a measure of area and is equal to 10 acres, the size of Newell Park. Also, if you look at the first word of each line- Ten Is Core Ruts, and say it fast, you get Tennis Courts, referring to the courts that are in the park. 

Clue #3 
Don't be defensive friend, tis all but a game in the end. 
Tis the goal to have wintry fun, not to prove ye be hardcore. 
Thou art well likely to howl, if thou likes to stay foul. 
But it's not how well ye boast, but how well ye keep score. 

This clue has various sports references meant to hint at the various sporting fields in the park which include tennis courts, a basketball court, a volleyball court, and a softball field. It also hints more specifically that you’d be in foul territory of the baseball field. Also, to “keep score”, since a score means 20, if you count every 20th letter through the first three lines, you get “Newell”. 

Clue #4 
Thy lord doth state, that ye best not wait. 
This clue shant lead thee easily to thy destination. 
Yet at the end of thy jaunt, thou shalt find what ye want 
Where 100 and 96 doth meet in conjunctive combination. 

No doubt this will be remembered as the “rich Shepard’s dirt” of this hunt. A quick look at a map will tell you that highways 100 and 96 do not meet and even if they did, it wouldn’t be anywhere near St. Paul. The next question I was hoping people would ask is “Do they meet anywhere else?” If you look “at the end” of each line, you’ll get “tntn”. If you look at a map then of TN for highways 100 and 96, you will see they meet in Fairview, TN. Fairview is a street that borders Newell. 

Clue #5 
Bid thee search high and low, over hills and under snow 
Search every cranny where the lowly worm sneaks. 
In the depths shall thee dwell, whilst the heights they do tell 
The right park in which ye shalt find the twin peaks. 

This clue had mostly general information. “Over hills” refers to the rolling hills of the park. “Cranny” refers to the diamond being hidden in a crevice”. “Where the lowly worm sneaks”, and “in the depths shall thee dwell”, refers to the crevice being on the ground at the very bottom of the tree. The heights that do tell is a vague reference to the smokestack that is visible from the park and the twin peaks refers specifically to the two picnic shelters with pyramid-like tops. 

Clue #6 
As thou moveth to and fro, inscribing arcs as ye go 
Near where a medallion was found in days of yore, 
Thou shalt surely know that the place to go 
Is to a park in which ye can find a door. 

If you are making an arc as you go back and forth, then odds are you are sitting on a swing. Back in 2000, the Winter Carnival Medallion was found near a swing in Newell. Finding a door simply refers to the building on the property and is meant to eliminate other small parks that have no buildings (or doors) at all. 

Clue #7 
To find thy secret stash, think of a ring of cash 
Though thou hath no need to try and step through it 
Envision it with thy mind, for though ye be not blind 
Thou shalt find thyself unable to see to chew it. 

Johnny Cash had a very famous song called “Burning Ring of Fire” which in turn should make you think of a fire ring. There is a fire ring in Newell, but the treasure is not really near there. As for “unable to see to chew it”, if you remove the “c” from “chew it”, that leads you to Hewitt, another street that touches Newell. 

Clue #8 
Tis surely a curious thing that Americans have no king. 
Who shall lead thee in the future is most anyone's guess. 
What a crazy condition when there's an open position. 
And yet thou must fill one more or perhaps fill one less. 

This clue is pretty clearly talking about Presidents for the first three lines. With that in mind, the last line makes you think of President Fillmore. But once you have that, then you have to think of one more and one less, the Presidents before and after Fillmore, Taylor and Pierce. Taylor and the Pierce Butler Route and two more streets that touch on Newell. 

Clue #9 
Under the national tree is where thou shalt be 
If thou wishest to recover thy Lord's lost treasure. 
Find thee a gnomon tall, seek where the shadow doth fall 
As if to say two hours past high noon were the measure 

The national tree is the Oak, of which there are many in Newell, including the tree the treasure is hidden under. A gnomon is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The obvious choice for a gnomon in Newell would be the smokestack. If you then look at a map of the area, and draw a line from the smokestack, through Newell Park such that the line would be in the same position as the hour hand would be at 2pm if it were a clock, that line would then go through almost exactly where the treasure is. 

Clue #10 

Play not the fool, look for the jewel 
In a park that fitteth this little rhyme. 
At the right plot, thou mightst not see a lot 
But ye shall be dry above the water and slime 

This clue is just saying to look for a park that rhymes with “jewel” such as, Oh, I don’t know, maybe Newell! And then you’ll want to look at the far end from the parking lot where you can’t really see the parking lot (or not a lot of it anyway). 

Clue #11 

No sign of the jewel? Then get thee to Newell 
Thou hast little time left to fritter. 
And if thou pauseth to eat, then find thee a seat 
Then search around as far as thou can throw thy litter. 

This clue is finally stating to go to Newell and that the treasure is within a litter toss’s distance from a picnic table. 

Clue #12 

Art thou having displeasure finding thy treasure? 
Then thou shalt mark fifty three paces southwest 
Starting on ground made holy by the find of John Davoli 
And there ye shall find the tree that hath been blessed. 

Thou shalt see most stark a split in the bark 
Or perchance more like a woodchucks first meal 
Down in the shadowy black, deep in a baseline crack 
Thou shalt bring forth the jewel to seal thy deal. 

This clue starts at the spot where the person who found the Winter Carnival Medallion in 2000 actually found it. It’s a bit west of the bench swing. The directions then lead you to a damaged tree and in a crevice at the very bottom of the tree, the diamond was tucked.