What's All This Random Stuff?

Figure out what to do with all this random stuff!

12.05.25 - You cannot replace the ⚾️ with a 🏀

12.05.25 - You cannot replace The Deer Hunter with Bambi

12.06.25 - [Re tongues, teeth, and toes] Not sure which is better but at least one is material to the solve!

12.06.25 - Trump could replace more than 1 and less than 4 of the pictured Presidents.

12.06.25 - You could replace alligator with crocodile.

12.06.25 - You could replace all of the pictures with different pictures of the same thing.

12.06.25 - You need to go beyond the names to make the connection(s) necessary to solve (unless you happen to make a very lucky guess!).

12.07.25 - It would be really bad to go 2 weeks in a row without a solve! Cipher and I are making preparations for a peasants' revolt, just in case!

12.07.25 - As we approach 24 hours to go, and with uncertainty still prevailing, it’s time to phone a friend. If you have Magnus Carlsen’s number, he’d be a great choice.

12.07.25 - You most certainly could replace George Clooney with Kevin Spacey (or Bacon for that matter).

12.07.25 - Yup, you could replace George Clooney with Nathan Fillion.

12.07. 25 - Andrew Johnson and Andrew Jackson can switch positions, and the dark/shaded boxes in the background can switch positions throughout.

12.07.25 - Last clue of the evening: two of the pages contain one "hit"; two of the pages contain two "hits"; two of the pages contain three "hits" (thus, zero pages contain either zero or four "hits").

If you found the "chess boards" early on, you were well on your way to connecting these dots:

ACTORS! (L) - Pitt, Redford, and Statham have all portrayed characters named Bishop (like the chess piece) in feature films. Clooney has not :(

SPORTS! (T) - American football and hockey use a time clock, while baseball and tennis do not. (While a game of chess does not need to be timed, most games are, especially in tournaments.)

REPTILES! (G) - All snakes and monitor lizards (like the Komodo dragon) have forked tongues. Almost all other reptiles (including the other two pictured here) do not. A fork in chess is when one piece attacks two pieces at the same time.

LEAD SINGERS! (V) - Not much mystery to this one. Freddie Mercury was the lead singer of Queen (another chess piece).

PRESIDENTS! (E) - Another relatively simple one when looking to basic chess terminology, as Richard Nixon is the only US President ever to resign. In chess, it is considered good etiquette to tip your king once your position is hopelessly lost.

FILMS! (I) - Three of these films were based on a book. "The Deer Hunter" was not (rather famously even, as its screenwriter credit ultimately required a controversial, and to this day still disputed, arbitration decision). In chess, "book moves" (or simply "book") are considered standard and well-known to opening theory.

Using Vigenere, EGILTV + KGUMBO result in ... GAMBIT, a.k.a. an opening chess move where a player sacrifices material (usually pawns) for a positional advantage. Or, given the gumbo reference, perhaps Gambit really means the X-Men character, a.k.a. Remy Etienne LeBeau, a Cajun from New Orleans who is fiercely proud of his heritage and speaks both Cajun English and Louisiana French. Nails will never tell...