Solution Posted: Puzzle Train incl. Mortal Kombat X

SOLUTION:

I won't go through the answers to all the questions as most were quite straight forward. Q6-9 or Q6-10 stumped a lot of people and it came down to how well you followed instructions and read the questions thoroughly. At the top of ITH, I specifically instructed people to "Read through all the questions before beginning." This should have been a hint that there was something in the questions that would help you. However, even if you didn't take my advice and jumped straight in, you should have spotted the answer I was looking for if you didn't skim-read the questions.

Specifically, Q18 reads as follows (emphasis now added):
The name of that bird is also the name of a fruit. However, in New Zealand we rarely use that name to describe the fruit because it can cause confusion with the bird. If you don't know the answer to a question, try "Did you read the instructions?". So what name do New Zealanders generally use to describe that fruit?

Hmmm . . . if you don't know the answer to a question, try "Did you read the instructions?". So how many people tried "Did you read the instructions?" as their answer to questions 6, 7, 8 and 9? Exactly 57 people, which happens to be the same number of people who solved the puzzle. For reference, "Did you read the instructions?" was also an acceptable answer to Q10 so you didn't need to brute-force this (and Q16). Also, I have absolutely no idea who John, Jack, James, Andrew or anyone else is.

If you solved ITH and got on to the GA Train, you would have noticed that the GA for MKX was in my hidden lair. Some people gate-crashed my lair in a legal way, however, when you solved ITH you were told: "You might also need this . . . 456092fa". This was part of a separate SGTools link which was hidden in the ITH puzzle. If you look at Q6, there is a link "PUZZLE #1:" If you were perceptive, you would have noticed there were actually two links - "PUZZLE #1" and ":". The second link was the intended entrance into the MKX GA once you had solved ITH.

I think that covers everything - drop me a line if you have any further questions. Congratulations to the winners and I hope everyone had fun. Until next time.

UPDATE:

There is less than a day to complete the puzzle (closes Fri 18th March 12:00pm NZ Time / Thu 17th March 11:00pm GMT), which should be more than enough time if you approach it the right way. So far there have been 55 solvers, and entries for the 8 GAs range from 8 to 26 - so anywhere from 4% to 13% chance of winning each GA. I'm seeing more and more people get through on their own, which suggests there are more than enough hints in this discussion to solve, so don't expect too much more from me. But if you really are struggling, feel free to ask a question.

Ok, so initially I wanted to celebrate my cake day . . . but that is still 11 months away. So instead I've decided to celebrate my birthday, which conveniently enough is today. And in doing so, I've created a relatively easy puzzle train.

I also wanted to say thank you to the outstanding community here (especially the puzzle creators and solvers). In the one month I've been here, I've constantly been on SG and as a result, my time actually playing games has drastically reduced. As a thanks, I've created a special GA for my whitelist.

Who is on my Whitelist you ask? Well a few random people. You might be on it because:

1. I've won something from you.
2. I've attempted your puzzles.
3. We've had some form of conversation.
4. I've seen you actively participate in the puzzle community.
5. You're a support / moderator who's helped me along the way (and probably doesn’t get recognised for the work you do).
6. Any other reason that made me think I should whitelist you.

Whitelist GA here.

If you think I might have missed you from my whitelist, drop me a line and let me know why you should be added.

Back to the train - The puzzle is an easy 20 question ITH I call Kiwi Triathlon. It's a combination of trivia, (simple) jigsaws and riddles. Please read the instructions.

GAs are L2+ (Real CV Ratio 0.2+)
Mortal Kombat X Premium Edition is L3+ (Real CV Ratio 0.2+)

Note this is my first discussion, train, SGTools, ITH and Jigidi so chances are something is broken . . . please bear with me!

Hall of Fame (First 5 entries to Whitelist)

1. PlayDis
2. kederijan
3. mrt39
4. Caractacus
5. silentguy
6. samusx
7. shadow1fire (although with a lot of coaching)
8. AceMcCloud
9. balloonimal
10. Lysse

TL;DR
You'll probably struggle more than most with this puzzle, but here it is - Enjoy!

HINTS Added below (damn you Zaugr!!!).