Kristi Waddell

Won Crucial Detail’s Nip Tumblers and Porthole
by cracking the code to get into The Gallop Pole

Kristi (left) and her sister Alex

How did you hear about the game?

I received an email from Alinea regarding its 15th anniversary. Initially I thought it seemed really difficult and would take a lot of time, so was not going to participate. My sister Alex also forwarded to me and convinced me to try! So happy she did because we have had so much fun doing them together.

How many of the puzzles have you solved?

All except Torus. That one is haunting me -- I am missing something and cannot figure it out!

Walk me through your experience with solving the Gallop Pole puzzle.

My sister and I work on them together. Alex and I are sheltering separately so we work on them by ourselves and then together through texting and FaceTime. This one we solved the quickest! Initially we identified the animals and then she focused on "familiar characters" and realized the number of ingredients represented the number of letters in the character's name. Character names were easy except for Chester- my sister had to help me with that one. Once we had those we spent a lot of time re-writing the ingredients and animals. I think I have 5 pages of notes! Order is something we have struggled with in past puzzles. In the clue it said "move around" so I wasted some time thinking "fly" for eagle and "scurry" for mouse etc. lol. Then realized the animals are at different heights so put them in order that way. In Torus we had noted that all the flavors had o's and had lined them up that way (which didn't help). We figured the pole was important so eventually lined up the ingredients to spell the character names. Then was stuck on Camelot, Batman, table, partner, shape until I realized Camelot, table and shape were on 1 side and batman and partner on the other! Camelot table shape: round and Batman partner: Robin. Round Robin.

What other kinds of puzzles or games do you play?

I love doing The New York Times crossword puzzles and playing board games- Codenames and Trivial Pursuit are 2 favorites. I love watching Jeopardy! and have been doing jigsaw puzzles while sheltering in place. My college roommate, Becca, lives in LA and we still play Words with Friends daily. 

What’s your favorite kind of carnival ride?

Big fan of roller coasters! 

Have you dined at Alinea or our other restaurants?

Alex and I have been to Aviary and Roister and love them both. We went to Aviary for her birthday and it was so much fun, cannot wait to go back.  We love going to musicals and Roister is our favorite place for a pre-show dinner. I have never been to Alinea but have been obsessed with it since reading Life, on the Line. It is a definite goal to get there someday!

How do you spend your days?

My sister and I are both pediatric nurses. I am a nurse practitioner on a pain service at a children's hospital. Luckily most children with COVID-19 are faring well so I have been working from home a lot. I have 3 kids so majority of my time is helping them with e-learning and keeping them busy.  We have been doing a movie night 3-4 times a week and have been showing them some of our favorite films from the 80s/90s. My sister and I are both big bookworms and have been reading a ton. It has been my favorite way to unwind and relax.

How are you keeping healthy and sane during quarantine?

We rescued a poodle mix puppy at the end of March when we realized we would be home for awhile. He has been a ton of work and so much fun! Been doing a lot of hikes and bike rides with my husband and kids. My youngest is 5 and just learned to ride a bike without training wheels so it's all she wants to do. Definitely cooking and baking more. Watching television, reading books and these puzzles are helping keep us sane!