Yeah, so, we finished this puzzle in under two hours, which involved lots of stumbling around that we perhaps should not have needed to do. There was a key thing I discovered at 1h25m in that propelled us on our way to the solution. I wish we’d known it, well, 85 minutes earlier.

You can find the puzzle at the MUMS site and the log of Jonathan and my efforts after the cut.

Log:

0:00:00

Opening puzzle

0:00:33

Looks like 3 syllables per card?

0:00:38

J: ? RING TON, maybe   [Correct; we’re almost done, looks like!]

0:01:03

J: ? WOOD EAST [Also correct; killer work.]

0:01:11

MOLE EAR ?  [3 for 3. Keep it up!]

0:01:25

looking up kana

0:02:54

WII CHI ?  [4 for 4! Almost done now]

0:03:09

KEY

0:03:45

googled images of RA, matches.

0:03:51

so, KEY STAFF RA?

0:05:12

maybe it’s KEYRA => knightly + STAFF => SWORD? kind of a stretch

0:05:30

16 year old sun identified 3.3 = GHOUL

0:06:19

MOLE EAR GHOUL …  [I like it!]

0:06:46

MOLAR => mass, tooth…

0:07:22

My working theory is that each card clues a syllable, and the answer is a 4 syllable word.  

0:07:34

google image search for ‘spiky seed pod’ turned up those 2.1 thingyes

0:09:11

sweet gum pods… I’m going to say POD (yes, found exact image in google image search)

0:09:38

POD WOOD EAST  

0:10:29

J: a word that matches all 3?

0:10:43

J: they’re stamps

0:10:56

J: and we’re looking for the destination  [I didn’t think this sounded like a good idea. I responded with silence. J knew what I meant.]

0:13:45

Elijah Wood was also in NORTH, but he was much younger.

0:14:05

Are there LOTR related things in each row?

0:16:47

We think row 5 is WII CHI BANK

0:17:16

I like J’s idea of finding a syllable that goes with each.

0:19:31

J: 1.1 SWAB? (enh)

0:22:12

J: no obvious order on each card, so it may mean order is important.

0:30:07

J: There’s RA’S AL GHUL from Batman

0:34:10

So, what do with 5 postcards with 3 syllables each (on stamps), to fill 4 rectangles on the answer(?) card?   [Yeah, really wish we’d known by now what the orange boxes were. I’d never seen them before this puzzle]

0:35:14

J: There are no anagrams that can be made… maybe of countries or cities?

0:41:06

let’s say RA-KEYS (ROCKIES) for #4… what’s STAFF got to do with it?

0:42:47

J: is it a MEASURE? … we don’t think so

0:44:17

POD WOOD EAST and MOLE EAR GHOUL are pretty solid

0:47:15

J: OK… we’re missing something obviously. We’re both pretty good at making connections between words/syllables. If that was the gimmick, I think we would have gotten some traction.

0:47:26

J: It must be something with stamps or destinations or postage.  [Nope, it’s those orange boxes]

0:49:24

Taking a look at CityRail in Sydney, just in case.

0:50:22

There are sydney stops that end in “ghoul”

0:52:01

ok, one. Booragul, and there’s Wirragulla.

0:54:06

there’s an EASTWOOD

0:54:46

and WERRINGTON

0:55:26

It might be australian places, not rail stations.

0:59:50

Looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sydney_suburbs , there’s a kirrawee, which we have all 3 of, but on different postcards.

1:02:18

J: Why arrange the mail this way? The name of the puzzle is Final Destination and the front card is blank. So we start from the back and move towards the front? Fits subway stops

1:11:50

3 stamp sizes, sets of 3… trying ternary, just for kicks.  [See how desperate you can get when the normal stuff doesn’t work because you’re missing key info?]

1:17:35

Just an IWEAX. nothing better.

1:25:05

Those 4 orange boxes are for Australian postcodes.  [Aha! Thank you photo of Australian mail on wikipedia]

1:25:55

Maybe each one is a city/town in australia.

1:27:48

Downloading the full list

1:28:33

MOLIAGUL, 3472 

1:30:01

BURWOOD EAST, 3151 

1:33:28

#4 may be KEERA. 2404 

1:34:35

J: 4 *RINGTON’s… I don’t like any of them.

1:37:12

#5 is WYCHITELLA 3525 

1:37:43

Our codes are ?, 3151, 3472, 2404, 3525 

1:40:18

KEERA isn’t 100%, and the other 3 are all in Victoria.

1:40:54

In fact, they may well be Melbourne suburbs

1:41:44

Using http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=8271

1:41:51

TARINGTON is the only *RINGTON. so 3301 

1:43:13

Don’t see a good melbourne suburb for KEY(S)-(STAFF/[nothing]/MEASURE)-RA … just KEERA, the only non suburb of melbourne in our list.

1:50:29

Let’s assume KEYSBOROUGH for now, 3173 

1:52:05

so, from 3301, 3151, 3472, 3173, 3525, we need to get the next code, then enter the city for that code.

1:54:24

The ones digits are 1,1,2,3,5   [Nice catch, Eric!]

1:54:56

The hundreds are 31415 (so 9 is next)  [Another nice catch, Eric!]

1:55:05

we have 39?8 

1:56:35

and the ? is 0,5,7,7,2,?

1:57:43

J: Euler’s constant is 0.55721…, and 3918 is BITTERN, CORRECT!  [Nice finish, Jonathan!]