next guess for 6 would be

pharyngeal jaw

"Moray eels are the only animals that use pharyngeal jaws..."

which connects very well with the Alien.
Not sure about the phone<->pharyngeal relation

A few hints before puzzle 2 goes live
 

SeaFlower nailed it!

The cell phone is to indicate mobile (mobile phone). I suppose the fact that I'm American may have been a red herring :p

So my intention was for you to look for a mobile part of a Moray eel. Eels have a second set of jaws in their throat, called pharyngeal jaws. Morays are special in the eel community in that their pharyngeal jaws are mobile. And like SeaFlower said, this connects beautifully to Alien.


For clue 5, PacifierGirl was on the right track. The genus of fungus here will lead you to the answer.

Also, since clue 1 seems to be giving people more trouble than I thought, so here is one more hint. Think in broad terms, very broad. And remember that this story comes in more than 1 format.


Keep those guesses coming. I will post puzzle 2 in a few hours :)

Okay I think space/black/acid fit well for 2/3/4

1 gets me crazy lol

Only words I've come up so far for 1 are

patronizer (is it even a word?) and absolution

:confused::confused:

Great Job on Puzzle 1!
 

Excellent job on puzzle 1 everybody!

SeaFlower was correct for clues 2-4 as well.

As for number 1, I did not intend for this one to be so difficult. You correctly guessed that the characters were Hannibal Lector and Clarice Starling. I specifically chose those characters because the movie was based on a film, and I wanted to invoke a literary reference. The relationship between the 2 characters is about as general as you can get. Hannibal is the antagonist to Clarice's protagonist. This was meant to lead you to search for movies with an antagonist/villain as the title.

As for clue 5, the fungus in question is of the genus Cordyceps. This is a parasitic fungus that invades a host and lives inside it. Since the parasite lives inside the host, it is known as an endoparasite. (Once the fungus is ready to reproduce, it's fruiting body erupts from the head of the insect, releasing spores to infect more hosts. While inside the body, the fungus actually alters the brain chemistry of the host, forcing it to maximize potential for the spread of spores.) Because Alien reproduces using the human population on the ship, this clue seemed appropriate to suggest the Xenomorph character.

The clues I mentioned should have led you to a quote from E.O. Wilson about parasites. Admittedly, this one may have been a bit too ambitious on my part. It's a bit of a stretch for those not really interested in biology, and probably even for those of you who are. (Sorry everyone!)

For reference, the answers are:
1. Antagonist
2. Space
3. Black
4. Acid
5. Endoparasite
6. Pharyngeal Jaw
A. Deep Sea
B. Amphipod
C. Genus

The next puzzle will be going up momentarily. It will be a lot less science-based and a little shorter. I'm making a few changes to how I will do them based on how the first puzzle went.

Puzzle 2
 

Puzzle 2: Even though I did not appear in the movie, I received a lot of attention for it. Who am I?

This puzzle will be similar to puzzle 1. I will provide links to images. From these 4 images, you should be able to guess the name of the movie. From images A-C, you will be able to guess who received the attention.

Since we have players from a broad range of time zones, rather than post all the clues at once, I will only post the clues that lead to the movie. After all 4 clues are guessed correctly and the movie identified, I will post the remaining clues that will lead you to the answer. This way everyone should have a chance to participate in the puzzle. Also, to give everyone a small break, these references are much less sciencey.

1. https://imgur.com/a/rxsLu
2. https://imgur.com/a/MQZ5z
3. https://imgur.com/a/fnkAu
4. https://imgur.com/a/PF7jl

Rejoining for 2 more puzzles.
I will spend at least an hour a day doing housework - naked - until theu are solved.

Albert "Cubby" Broccoli (1) produced the Bond movies, including GOLDFINGER (2).
He did not appear in the movie(s) but was certainly famous for them.

I am not sure about the other clues.

EDIT: He also produced the movie Mamma Mia.(4) So I think clue (3) stands for Cubby.
??

Yeah, I have seen all the Bond movies, most of them too many times, have most on disc, etc.!

Marv, not all of your guesses are correct.

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold!!!!

Kidding obviously. I’m actually gonna sit this one out and spectate

1 and 2 as Marv says point to Goldfinger

- Bond movie ---> ......

- Band, their song Superman is a track to a movie, here 4 is SuperMario lol

or could be
1-2 for Goldfinger movie
3 C for Connery

Anything connecting Sean Connery with Super Mario or Mama Mia?

still the obvious(?) relations are

1-2: Goldfinger
3-4: Mario and Cappy

but what connects them :confused:

Marv said about "Cuppy" for A.Broccoli but...

Pierce Brosnan also links Bond with Mamma Mia

and Daniel Craig... C

Cubby also advised on the Bond film GoldenEye.