UCP Shenanigans: Scavenger Hunt

This time, we’re going to play a game – a scavenger hunt! Your mission, if you so choose to play, is to solve a few mini word puzzles. Upon completing these mini-puzzles, you will need to decipher the clue in each that will help you solve the final crossword puzzle – this is after all, UCP Shenanigans: Scavenger Hunt. All puzzles are rated as medium-ish difficulty (perhaps easier if you are familiar with the real life Shenanigans of the UCP?).

The file is a FREE 2-page PDF file download – file size approximately 1.3MB. Clicking “download” above opens the puzzle from where you can save and/or print it (dependant on browser/device used to access the file).

Missed version 2.0? Download my first crossword puzzle here: UCP Shenanigans 2.0

So many ways you can support my efforts in providing these free sources of Shenanigans:

• THE EASIEST and arguably the most beneficial: share the link to this page (2 easy ways to share in the short description above)
• Purchase a high quality poster print of the original UCP Shenanigans drawing I did in 2020 (7 print sizes available) – this is what started the #UCPshenanigans series
• Buy me a coffee / leave a tip here via the Buy me coffee button at the bottom of your screen or buy something at my Ko-fi shop to support my creative shenanigans
• Rate this puzzle in the short description above – this helps the almighty algorithm to find it!

Some tidbits about this puzzle:

• This third adaptation of UCP Shenanigans was inspired by Evan Birnholz’s The Haunted House Halloween 2021 puzzle.
• Don’t I have anything better to do?!? I certainly do (a project like this is HUGELY time consuming) but I got a little sidetracked with this. I didn’t expect a third version to be a thing for quite some time but here we are!
• If you’re stuck, contact me here.
• I employed a few anagram/letter scramblers for the construction of most of the puzzles… so of course, you can too. Any diehards out there going the manual paper/pencil/only-your-brain route?
• Clues (references to MLAs, events, etc.) are current as of the release of this puzzle (*released into the political wild November 2021)… save maybe for one but I’m leaving it in.
• I constructed the puzzles entirely within Numbers for MacOS and iPadOS, starting with the minis.
• It’s true: whether making puzzles or writing letters to elected officials, I can’t help the snark and cynicism.
• This document is 100% free to use. You may download this PDF and print it as many times as you like. I would prefer you to share the link to this page for others to download rather than share the downloaded file with them – more actual downloads/interactions is a better way for me to know how many people are interested in this. NOTE: As of December 31, 2023, the puzzle has been downloaded 316 times!
• Once again, I referred to my original UCP Shenanigans drawing several times over the course of creating this multi-puzzle scavenger hunt, as well as the #ableg Twitter feed, loads of articles, many, many, many new Shenanigans… and always, a dictionary and thesaurus
• There are 9 words I discovered, relatively speaking, that were connected to the puzzle. Did you find them all and how they were connected?
• Did you know there is at least one Easter egg in UCP Shenanigans: Scavenger Hunt?
• If you secretly continue to work towards independence, there may be a way to find three words of sage advice. (don’t overthink this)
• Attention tech nerds: The PDF file is not editable.
• What’s that you say? You need a password? How did you find that?!? You don’t need one if you’re holding the puzzle in your hand. But you might need one if you’re in a newer macintosh orchard. Wait. What?!?
• Oh, hey, it’s future me (July 2024)… I recently had a look at this Scavenger Hunt (after nearly 3 years!) and realized it might not be the easiest puzzle to solve – even I was stumped on a few mini puzzles! Kudos to you if you’ve managed to crack the clues and solve the entire thing!
• Listen to my Classical music playlist as you plug along in the puzzles, or step it up a notch with my Women of Music or my 2021 #SpotifyWrapped playlist.
• UPDATE October 2022: Aw c’mon man, seriously?!
• UPDATE May 29, 2023: Oh boy, Alberta, it’s going to be a long 4 years
• UPDATE December 31, 2023 … so much lying… not surprised one bit
• UPDATE July 1, 2024… is it time for another version of UCP Shenanigans? At this point, Shenanigans doesn’t even begin to describe this moment in time.