ROUND TWO!

If you missed the first contest, read the original post in that thread to catch up.

A reminder: I wanted to celebrate our own @ChrisMWilliams and his Fanatic: Stories from 20 years inside Iowa State book with Rob Gray. I'll be giving away three books total and local ethical bagman @Cycsk is kindly helping me send them out.


HOW DO YOU SOLVE THIS PUZZLE?

To give people time to see this thread, there are two parts. PART ONE is below. I'll post PART TWO (by editing this post) on Thursday (June 4). The clue from PART ONE will help you solve PART TWO.


WANT A HINT?

To keep this thread visible, post something random (pets???) in this thread. If you do that, you can ask me a single question via private DM about PART ONE that I can answer with yes or no. One question per account.

That will give you a head start on PART TWO. Then once PART TWO is released, the first person that posts the solution in this thread wins.


THE PUZZLE:


PART ONE - What does this mean?



PART TWO:



TO WIN, WHAT DOES THAT SYMBOL MEAN?


BONUS CLUE TO HELP FIGURE OUT PART ONE:


BONUS CLUE 2:


BONUS CLUE 3 (REFERS TO PART ONE) - FIXED TYPO (UNDERLINED):

BONUS CLUE 4:


BONUS CLUE 5:


BONUS CLUE 6:


BONUS CLUE 7:


ONE CLUE HAS BEEN SOLVED:


BONUS CLUE 8:


BONUS CLUE 9:


Even if you already have the book, let me know in this thread if I can improve this process somehow. After the books, I might keep doing more contests for goodies from the CF Shop.

It's tough out there, so trying to spread the love. Any other thoughts or questions, let me know.

We're considering upgrading(?) from our 5th wheel to a Class A diesel pusher-probably a 41-42' range-that seems to be the sweet spot for us but I'm open to opinions. I'm nearing retirement and we are looking forward to traveling west the next few summers and doing some wandering around along with our time in The Village. For those of you that have a class A and tow a vehicle to the games-where do you park your toad? We currently have to park our truck elsewhere which is a PITA. Can you make it fit on your site? What size do you have now? Do you wish it was smaller/bigger? (All kinds of "that's what she said" references are in my head.) Anything we should consider as we make our decision? Any recommendations/advice is appreciated. Go Clones!

In his first Big 12 Media Day, head coach Jimmy Rogers brought five players down to Frisco ahead of the 2026 season. Watch everything Rogers, quarterback Jaylen Raynor, running back Aiden Flora, defensive end Isaac Terrell, cornerback David Coffey and kicker Kyle Konrardy said on Wednesday morning.

The Big 12 released our 26-27 conference opponents today, so I take that as a sign to start the season thread.

The Big 12 releases the preseason All-Big 12 teams with zero Cyclones represented for the 2026 season. https://cyclonefanatic.com/2026/07/zero-cyclones-represented-on-preseason-all-big-12-team/

The following is a press release from Iowa State Athletics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 6, 2026

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State Men’s Basketball Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger has finalized his staff for the 2026-27 season.

Chuck Ruffing has been named an assistant coach, while Richardson Maitre and Fletcher McGarvey have been added as graduate assistants. In addition to the three latest newcomers to the staff, Thomas Pollard has been moved to the Director of Recruiting, while Diante Garrett is now the Director of Player Development.

With no sports and peeps recommended to stay at home, what are you watching or have watched that you can recommend?

I finished Altered Carbon 2 last week. Netflix. Would recommend if you have watched season 1. New story but would be way easier to understand if you've watched the previous. Good sci-fi.

Thinking of checking out the South Korean "Kingdom", also on Netflix.

I feel like there are quite a few music aficionados on CF and I have even discovered new bands on here. I wanted to start a thread where we could share what we are currently listening to and just talk music.

I couldn't find another thread like this but admittedly I haven't used the search function a whole lot.

I will start. Currently listening through City and Colour's If I Should Go Before You album and am really enjoying it!

T.J. Otzelberger announces that freshman wing Christian Wiggins will miss the 2026-27 season with a torn achilles that he suffered in practice last Friday.

Otzelberger adds that he had a successful surgery and will be back at this time next year.

Jake Brend and Chris Williams recap day one of Big 12 Football Media Days. What to make of Brett Yormark's interaction with a Texas Tech reporter? Plus, reactions to Monster's sponsorship of the conference and Deion Sanders' press conference. All of that and more presented by Whiskey River in the Northwest Bank Studios. Login to view embedded media

Season kicks off tonight so figured time to start up this thread.

Some news for tonight's game:

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New year starts with the the draft.
With Sauce mostly likely gone, do the Vikes end up with Stingley, McDuffie, or go an entirely different route like D-line?

edit: The Vikes have had a magical season, but it’s time to see how far they can go in the playoffs. My guess is they’ll beat the Giants and then pack it in.

I know they have a lot going on with all the announcements. I would like to see the Roster updated on the Cyclones site. I count 14 wrestlers that have either left or graduated. It would be nice to know who we have to work with. I think T.J. Koester Gray shirted? So hopefully he is still with us plus the in coming freshman. Hopefully we add some transfers.

Its the offseason, and a lot of the discussion around the World Cup and soccer rules makes it clear that it's been too long since we have been able to complain about officiating, and also that every sport could use some changes.

So, if you had the power to make or change any rule, or the way a rule is enforced, etc, in any sport, what would you change?

Hello all,

I have been following the site for a few years and decided to make an account to pick your brains. I have seen a bunch of posters call others out for not putting threads in the correct forum, so I put this in off-topic.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what kind of smoker to get for a first time user? I love the taste of smoked meat and wanted to purchase one and give it a shot. From what I have seen online a good one for a beginner is a Weber Smokey Mountain 18'. Any information would be helpful.

Thanks

I don’t know if this was posted somewhere, but I figured it deserved it’s own thread. The players having fun,

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Every FIFA team is full of Marcus Smart flopping fakes.

That's all.

While doing research on which phone service to buy, don't EVER click on anything that has anything to do with Mint Mobile. Here's what happens if you do. Every video you watch will get interrupted by at least three Mint Mobile ads. Even if you aren't watching a video, there will be pop-up ad after pop-up ad on your computer, many of which get in the way of the content you want to read and they won't go away. The buttons to exit the ads are inoperable/inactive in most of them. A third problem: Your email will be flooded with Mint Mobile ads, even if you didn't give them your email address. It's just better not to click on anything to do with Mint Mobile.

Let me know if there are any corrections needed.

Rankings:
ES -- ESPN 2027 SportsCenter NEXT 100 (retrieved 6/3/2026)
PN -- Prospects Nation 2027 Ranked Players -- 60 ranked plus watchlist (retrieved 5/13/2026)


Verbals:


Potential Targets:
--Sorted by date added--

Formerly on the list:

New Randy column is up.

He looks back at the Big 12 from 2016 to now and the amount of turnover is pretty wild. Not a single head coach from that group is still around. Good perspective piece with Media Days this week!

Did anyone hear Jamie Pollard on last night's Coaches Corner radio show? I missed some details as was doing something else but thought I heard the university had secured a large donation that might speed the development of the area over what was originally projected. I did hear Pollard and others had met with hotel chains to discuss possibilities of new construction in the north part of the area.

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Chris Williams and Brent Blum preview Big 12 Media Days for the Cyclones and the rest of the Big 12. What could they learn about Iowa State? Expectations, recruiting news, and remembering a legend. All this and more courtesy of Mechdyne.

Over the weekend, the United States of America celebrated 250 years of independence.

In this week's Monday Musings, Andrew Harrington says that the leaders of college athletics need to take notes from the founding fathers and make some rules.
https://cyclonefanatic.com/2026/07/monday-musings-declaring-iowa-states-independence/