[TV show Puzzles] Bioshock: Infinite Giveaway - solutions, explanations posted

Bonus puzzle for the game name with giveaway, now ended. Alternative giveaway has also ended.

All puzzles are TV show genre-based, leading to the same giveaway. Examples (and solution methods) of a previous puzzle-set on books are here. Any and all spelling, punctuation, and/or syntax errors/oddities in the puzzles are almost certainly intentional (ie some sort of hint).

Puzzle links are Alpha, Beta and Curses, Gamma doesn't start with a 'C'.

Solutions with numbered explanations for corresponding clues below:

Alpha answers and clues:

All the shows featured in this one are in the sci-fi genre: time travel, supernatural/future tech/genetically mutated powers/beings/objects.

A1 - Alphas, Syfy channel

1. Cancelled before third season; alphas sort of have mutant brains; Red Flag was an organisation in the show; calling out to the puzzle name ie Alpha(s).
2. Machos, or alpha males.
3. They write using the alphabet, first letter is alpha (us for plural).
4. Blackbriar was an agent program in the Bourne movies; the person who played Noah Vosen, the guy in charge, also plays a doctor in Alphas.
5. When bulls see red they don't heed things, thus reinforcing that warning flags = red flags.

A2 - Matthew Kellog from Continuum, Showcase/Syfy channels

1. Straight-forward, sci-fi show that incorporates time travel but is procedural (usually crime, cops). "Supporting" indicates supporting role, not lead. Managed to get renewed for third season unlike above.
2. Special 'sereal' (cereal), or Special K, is the popular product of Kellogg; without a second 'g' for Kellog; "weal" for both well and wealthy.
3. Straight up plot point, mentioned in wiki bio.
4. Show title is "Continuum".
5. Friend in question is Eric Sadler founder of Sadtech, and is a techie. Also plot point.
6. Real name is Stephen Lobo, spanish (Iberian) for "wolf".

A3 - Tamsin from Lost Girl, Showcase/Syfy channels

1. "Recent supporter" ie recently added supporting role; "forgotten waif", or lost girl; one 'step', or season, ahead of the above.
2. Tamsin is a Valkyrie, which is a legendary Norse figure that can fly.
3. Along with Clue 9, these two quotes are speech actions that Valkyries make in the StarCraft games.
4. Cliffhanger had her possibly dead, but soon confirmed not to be (in season four.
5. Using her ability accelerates hair loss; she is Dark Fae.
6. "Faer" suggesting 'fae', the central race in this series; The Wanderer is the lead character (the lost girl)'s father, and has an affinity for cards.
7. Ability is revealing her skull; "s****" with four asterisks hinting at "skull" in the next sentence.
8. Self-explanatory.
9. See 3.

A4 - Myka (Ophelia) Bering from Warehouse 13, Syfy channel

1. Straight-forward; SS = Secret Service rather than the Schutzstaffel, to throw you off a bit :p
2. Also pretty straight-forward; partner does get 'vibes' detecting danger, his signature asset.
3. "Formerly h̶e̶a̶v̶y̶ tanned" and came third, thus bronzed; SF author with reference to "broadcast ... world" indicates HG Wells and their War of the Worlds novel. In WH13, HG Wells was bronzed and is 'it's complicated' with Myka.
4. Her hair does vary a lot; "bering" typo refers to name; "case" indicates occupation somewhat.
5. "Strait with me" refers to self, plus should bring to mind "bering" in previous clue because of the Bering Strait; middle name is Ophelia, who died loving Hamlet (a small town); the Bering Strait is between Alaska/Russia.
6. Warehouse 13, an unlucky number; plot point.

A5 - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fox channel

1. "Stories" or Chronicles; plot point; "ended: abruptly" suggesting terminated/ors.
2. Lots of T-XXXs in the show/franchise, eg T-800, 1000; "socially-challenged Ironman contestants" are terminators.
3. Terminators don't sleep, have red eyes and are dangerous.
4. Names refer to being part of a franchise; longer hours, less money ie TV show compared to the four films.
5. 24 hours a day, 31 days in July, so thirty-one episodes.
6. "Break up" refers to ex; Daleks (from Doctor Who) say "Exterminate. Exterminate.", thus if you don't see or hear the "ex", becomes "terminate"; both cyborgs.
7. "Initially, 'time travel'", or TT; "special crop cut" in italics, or SCC cut short; TTSCC = Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

A6 - Olivia Dunham from Fringe, Fox channel

1. "AU" is 'alternate universe', a term in fan fiction; thus PU would be 'parallel universe'; "edges" or fringes.
2. "Fake" in French is "faux"; Fauxlivia is a nickname for her doppelganger in the show.
3. My steam profile shows Australian and she's played by Anna Torv, an Australian actress. Not many who are leads on sci-fi TV shows.
4. "Cross-eyed chess piece" is a Bishop, and the door feature that rings is Bell; working with Bishop leads her to Bell.
5. Her daughter is called "Etta", short for/the other half of 'Henrietta'.
6. "Livia" for her name, duns chase debts; "pork smoking", or ham.
7. Works at the Fringe Division; side benefits also called 'fringe benefits'; "whackjobs" somewhat fringey.

A7 - (Eliza)beth Childs from Orphan Black, BBC America channel

1. "Left behind" suggests orphan or at least adopted/fostered; "night" is black; rest is plot point (creators, birth mother, legal parents, clones).
2. Alison the soccer mum clone; tortured her husband with a hot glue gun ("heated and sticky").
3. Cosima the scientist clone; has a French girlfriend, glasses.
4. Sarah the British (across the pond) punk clone; took over Beth's life; has a daughter hidden away from bad people.
5. Helena the religious fanatic clone; "Sister" signifies religious; unknown whether she is dead for sure or not; "not-so-dearly" refers to much feared and not missed; HG Wells in WH13 was Helena G Wells.
6. Katja the German clone; brief clue because she died pretty quick, not much to say.
7. Beth did kill herself in the first few minutes of the show.
8. Implies she is at a train station, which is where she jumped.
9. "Haughty Austen heroine" is Elizabeth (Eliza) Bennet from Pride and Prejudice; other side of coin = more well-known as Beth rather than Eliza; she and her sisters are clones, thus manufactured.
10. Partner is Arthur (king of legend), or usually Art.
11. Tatiana (Russian princess) Maslany; M is before Aslan (lion in Narnia), then 'y'; actress who plays all those roles.
12. Maslany holds Ukrainian and German ancestries among others; plot point.

Beta answers and clues:

All the shows featured here are dramas: crime, fantasy, legal, espionage.

B1 - Harold Finch from Person of Interest, CBS channel

1. Harold often uses bird names as aliases, eg Crane, Quail, Finch, Wren; likes keeping in the shadows.
2. Harold II is famous for apparently getting shot in the eye (and dying) at the Battle of Hastings.
3. Their dog is called Bear; the number one threat to America is BEARS (running joke concerning Stephen Colbert and bears).
4. Straight-forward, show is Person of Interest; they try to find those PoIs.
5. Said friend is Nathan Ingram; Ingram is in the name of MAC-10s for some CS games, and is its maker.
6. In the show, a significant antangonist is called Root; she is played by Amy Acker.
7. Harold's glasses have a tracking device in them; was used to track him a fair bit when he was kidnapped.

A2 - Arrow, the CW channel

1. Refers to "I was an adventurer too, until I took an arrow to the knee" from Skyrim.
2. Lead is the Green Arrow; "seein" refers to both 'seen as' and 'seeing', seeing as he has green eyeliner and a green outfit; show is somewhat 'dark'.
3. He had some training from Shado, a character.
4. (Oliver) Queen (gender-bent from "King") is the lead; (Tommy) Merlyn is his friend.
5. "The 'C' Word" is the channel (CW); "funny 'c' word" means comics, because the show is an adaptation.
6. Queen Consolidated include Queen Industries, Merlyn (master of magic) Global was Daddy Merlyn's corporation. I admit this clue was rather bad.
7. Refers to Sherwood Forest and Nottingham (of Robin Hood legend).

A3 - Sherlock Holmes from Sherlock, BBC channel

1. Single word in name; proficient at singlestick.
2. SH = Sherlock Holmes.
3. Old Country = England; younger sibling refers to new adaptation, Elementary, where the NYPD isn't as dense as the poor London Met.
4. "Dominating adversary" is Irene Adler in the series, played by Lara Pulver; she also replaced the previous head of Section D (fictional department in MI-5) in Spooks' 10th season.
5. Straight-forward, suggestive of period it was adapted from.
6. In French, "the" is "le", thus Lestrade, Sherlock's ally in the police force.
7. "It's elementary, my dear Watson" is a familiar phrase from many sherlock novels or adaptations. "The box" was meant to indicate TV, which was a tad superfluous.

A4 - Suits, USA channel

1. The USA channel is known for having many buddy shows; here, one is the other's boss/friend.
2. Mike, one of the two leads, faked his Harvard degree to join a law firm.
3. "Fancy" = suit; "appropriately" = suited.
4. Plot point (he got the job while escaping from a bad drug deal).
5. Louis Litt is a character with the catchphrase "... get Litt up".
6. The channel it airs on.

A5 - Claudia from The Americans, FX channel

1. She is the handler of two Soviet agents (who shouldn't 'break' under torture).
2. "Larger 'picture'" implies a film, in this case Je t'aime Paris; she played a US tourist, the only one I think, at least with their own segment.
3. Nuclear households are 2 parents, boy and girl, with a pun here for the nuclear era (Cold War).
4. TLC = Tender Loving Care, but "her Torch" twists to torture, thus tortures with water.
5. Plot points and nickname.
6. Denotes era, plus "Heavy (red) hands" = KGB (tf2 item Killing Gloves of Boxing, or K.G.B.) agent.
7. She is the agents' control officer.
8. More hints that she is a spy, and no known last name.

A6 - Carrie Mathison from Homeland, Showtime channel

1. Pun on title, also refers to the US.
2. The "unfortunately young Italian widow" (previously "girl) ie died early, refers to Juliet in the R+J film; also starred in "My So-called Life".
3. When she's happy, she's still frowning.
4. She thinks Brody is a liar/traitor, so she took off his pants, ie slept with him in a cabin.
5. Her sister gives her psych meds (sister is a medical professional) to avoid the CIA knowing about Carrie's bipolarity.
6. Plot points, rather similar to Hitler's internet-famous "Nein, Nein etc" in Der Untergang.
7. See Clue 6.
8. See Clue 6.
9. Homeland features a mole (traitorous spy) whom Carrie frustratingly cannot uncover.
10. "Sex ... City" refers to a character from Sex and the City. "Recently-released diaries" indicates it is Carrie (The Carrie Diaries).

A7 - Daenerys Targaryen/Stormborn from Game of Thrones, HBO channel

1. "Gritly" means both grisly and gritty; select audience because GoT is known for not being able to reach many countries legally.
2. "Musical chairs " and "cold" indicate the (game) of the Iron Throne; also regal status and climate.
3. This may be a little obtuse, but she doesn't die in a fire (DIAF), others die by fire from her dragons.
4. Daenerys is the 'Mother of Dragons'; dragons are magical creatures that have very strong breath.
5. Lower case "'nick'" signified nickname; "thunder ... rain" is storm, thus Stormborn; the Irish song in question is Danny Boy; her nickname is "Dany".
6. Madness runs in the Targaryen line; her father was the Mad King; there is an expression called "dead as a doornail" (can't recall why I added the plank bit).
7. White tends to reflects sunlight, thus white wig; her natural hair colour is much darker; suggests she is in a hot area (desert).

Curses answers and clues:

All the shows featured here are comedies. The last three (Q5-Q7) range from 90s, to 00s, to 10s, not necessarily in that order.

A1 - Abed (Gubi) Nadir from Community, NBC channel

1. "Old, Greek friend" is Troy; "lost without" doubles as literal need for Abed's company and the fact that Troy was lost (razed); they had a fake morning show called Troy and Abed in the Morning (with "morning" drawn out).
2. Refers to community, name of the show; they have several demographics represented, but notably no major Hispanic characters or Asians in the core group.
3. Abed's father in Community also plays the principal in Glee [similar to Apu, with a stereotypical Indian (sub-continental) accent]; he sells falafel.
4. Inspector Space-Time is a 'real' show in the fictional Community universe standing in for Doctor Who, that Abed is a fan of; there are 'evil' versions of the cast from a parallel universe; one of them loses an arm.
5. Abed is a budding film-maker, and this is all set in a community college; meta reference for a meta show.
6. Plot point.
7. Sayf al-Rawi is the 'Jack of Clubs' from the 'Iraqi Most Wanted' Deck the US military keeps; in a paintball game, Abed is the Jack of Clubs.
8. Again meta reference for a famously meta show, plus Nadir is last name.

A2 - Ann (Meredith) Perkins from Parks and Recreation, NBC channel

1. Puns on her name(and she is cute); she often trails off and waves naughty finger at people.
2. Indicates her profession as a nurse.
3. Leslie (incidentally a colloquial name for lesbian) is her best friend, and married to a guy who works for Sweetums' charity department; a running joke is her use of outlandish or interesting ways to tell Ann how beautiful she is.
4. Both Ann and Abed are on the NBC network of shows.
5. The original quote from Leslie is "Oh Ann, you beautiful tropical fish".
6. She is bi-racial.

A3 - Bunheads, ABC Family channel

1. "G.G" is for Gilmore Girls, a long-running similar show from the same creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino (ASP).
2. The lead married a guy in the first episode, and he dies at the end in an off-screen car crash.
3. Refers to Fanny, the ballet teacher and general non-motherly 'mother' figure; one meaning is 'derriere', the other is 'beaver'.
4. They tie their hair up in a bun, hence the name Bunheads; obviously "bun" replaces "tied-up".
5. "'Garden of Eden'" refers to Paradise, which is the town the show is set in (in California).
6. The aforementioned Fanny's last name is Flowers, played by Kelly Bishop.
7. One character is called Sasha, with a friend nicknamed "Boo"; Boo works at the local Oyster Bar.
8. Refers to the channel it airs on, ABC Family (easy as ABC).

A4 - Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, CBS channel

1. Puns on the show name.
2. Puns on the character name; "Da Vinci -o" is Leonardo without the 'o', thus Leonard, his friend and copper of abuse.
3. Sheldon tends to act like a child (genius), which he is (as an adult).
4. The Roommate Agreement is a thing in the show; he likes trains.
5. Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur. Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr.
6. His catchphrase is "bazinga", so close enough (sounds wrong).
7. Wil Wheaton starts off as Sheldon's personal nemesis on the show; Portal 3 was just for the pun, so remove it from existence as per the clue.

A5 - Edmund Blackadder from Blackadder, BBC channel

1. Pun on the name.
2. Edmund was the name of the second Pevensie child to discover Narnia when it was under a hundred years of winter; Edmund Hilary was the first to reach the top of Mt. Everest.
3. "I have a cunning plan" is often said by the sidekick, but then 'borrowed' by his master Blackadder and pronounced his own.
4. Said sidekick is named Baldrick, and gets more incompetent as the show goes on.
5. There are four iterations, or series starring Blackadder, with the last called "Blackadder Goes Forth", with a poignant ending.
6. "English ... 'Toilet'" refers to Johnny (a 'john' is a toilet) English, one of Atkinson's (plays Blackadder) later endeavours.
7. Featured Brian Blessed in the first (and other?) series.
8. Straight-forward.
9. Pun on actor's name, Rowan Atkinson, who also played Mr. Bean.

A6 - (Vice President) Selina Meyer from Veep, HBO channel

1. Pun on show title; implies relationship to President of the United States; in-joke is that he never calls; secretary who takes calls is Sue.
2. British original was In the Thick of It.
3. She offends half of Europe (the Continent) in a song at a party.
4. Pun on name; refers to political position and religion.
5. Initials are S & M; Gary is a bit of a sub.
6. "Have body odour" or BO, indicates HBO.

A7 - Scrubs, NBC (later ABC) channel(s)

1. Pun on name (scrubs are clothes that hospital personnel wear).
2. Indicates the field of work featured on the show.
3. Uses narrator from the main character with the last name Dorian (of Dorian Gray fame).
4. The hospital the show is set in is called the *Sacred Heart" teaching hospital.
5. 'Scrubs' is another way of saying "noobs"; but in this context it is a homonym, thus "not talking about me, exactly."
6. Refers to the X-ray in credits being flipped for a long time.
7. The show centres on medical interns.
8. Emily (Owens) M.D. was a short-lived show (1 season) about a medical intern; in contrast, Scrubs lasted from 2001-2010.