The PF Treasure Hunt

[Gokul43201]

This is the game I've been promising at http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=45456

It involves solving a sequence of cryptic clues, one leading to the other. The game is completed when the final clue is successfully solved.

Rules & Guidelines : Please read carefully, and follow strictly. Violating the rules can spoil the game for others.

(i)Clues : Each clue tells you how to get to the next clue. All clues are to be found within PF, unless specifically stated otherwise. Solving the clues may involve cracking a simple cipher/code (nothing that involves heavy computational capability) or word-play, solving a math puzzle/riddle, or simply following instructions intelligently. Some clues involve keys; these are important.

(ii)Participants : All are welcome to participate. There will be no division into teams. All participants belong in one team. The aim is for you all to collectively reach and solve the final clue, through symbiotic individual efforts. Communication between participants is done by posting your ideas in this thread, as described below.

(iii)Posting : If you have solved a clue, or have a partial solution, or even an idea that you believe will be helpful, post this immediately, in WHITE (use [ color=White] ... [ /color] tags, without spaces). If you want to ask me a question or make a clarification, post this normally. Anyone that solves a given clue may not solve the immediate next clue until 24 hrs have passed since posting the solution of the first clue. I will insert subsequent clues as and when I see you getting close...so don't try to go all the way. The way doesn't exist yet.

Note : All misspellings or incorrect grammar are intentional. Having a familiarity with the forums/sub-forums/sections/threads in PF could be useful. Look sharp : I like white.

[Gokul43201]

Select to see : (click here and drag towards bottom of post)

It is essential that you read and understand the rules above, before jumping in. So I request that you please make sure you are clear with all of them. If you have any questions or doubts, please ask me.

The first clue will be up in a little while. First, I'd like to make sure I haven't made any big screw-ups or left out anything important.

[Gokul43201]

Here's your first clue :


A word that you're looking for refers to the loci :
"Such points that never may be found in between."
Know that it refers to your fingers and your toes, but a
message it conveys is vital to crossing this step.
Ere it's mixet, when mixed, will tell you its form.



Discover the keyword that the above passage describes, and use that keyword to decipher the hidden message in the passage. And keep the keyword with you; you'll have to use it to get the next clue.

[Moonbear]

A partial guess and some thoughts on the puzzle in white:

The fingers and toes line makes me think the word might be digit. However, the rest of the clue reads like we're supposed to find an anagram of the word for the full solution, and I can't figure out any.

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear, you are very, very close on both counts ! Good going...keep thinking along those lines. :approve:

Keep in mind that if something sounds weird, it is written that way for a particular reason.

[NoTime]

""Timex" the watch? Or is the whole phrase an anagram?

[Gokul43201]

You decide...if you've got it, you'll know you've got it.

P.S : Don't you know that Andy's a good anagram solver ?

[TenaliRaman]

::
infinity
its never found in between
it is always at the "extremities" of the number line
::

[Gokul43201]

Tenali :bugeye: !!! You actually got the keyword, but guessed something else instead !!

If you now know which it is, please give a more complete explanation. :approve:

[arildno]

Can it be extrema??
Edit:
extreme/extremal points are possibly better..

[TenaliRaman]

::
My guess was "lemniscate of bernoulli"
the word loci combined with the shape of infinity gives it
::

-- AI

[Gokul43201]

Tenali, you're going too deep. Stop.

arildno, you are close...but the exact keyword has already been found, though not acknowledged as the keyword.

I repeat : Tenali actually found the correct keyword in his previous guess and it's not "infinity" !!!

[arildno]

Ere it's mixet juggled about a bit yields extremities..

[TenaliRaman]

::
LOL! dont tell me
extremities ??
::

:tongue2:
-- AI

[Gokul43201]

Yes, now use the keyword to decipher the message hidden in the passage.

You walked right over it, Tenali ! :biggrin:

[Hurkyl]

Me map a sink!

Ok, needs a bit of work, but this is an anagram of the "extremities" of each line...

[arildno]

Spank me, ami?? Last word french for (male) friend

[Gokul43201]

Okay, all. The keyword has been cracked. It is ...
EXTREMITIES

Here's the reasoning :

**A word that you're looking for refers to the loci :
"Such points that never may be found in between." **

This is a direct clue. Extremities are points that are not found in between. They are peripheral points.

**Know that it refers to your fingers and your toes, **

Finger and toes are called extremities. Google "dictionary extremities", and pick the first hit.

**but a
message it conveys is vital to crossing this step.**

This suggests that the keyword will help you find the next clue, if you figure out how to use it.

**Ere it's mixet, when mixed, will tell you its form.**

When jumbled (mixed) the letters of "ere it's mixet" gives you 'extremities'. I did not italicize that phrase for no reason.

Now I repeat the last part of the clue :

Discover the keyword that the above passage describes, and use that keyword to decipher the hidden message in the passage. And keep the keyword with you; you'll have to use it to get the next clue.

[Gokul43201]

Hurkyl and arildno : You are on the exact right track...but perhaps you are driving the anagram car farther than you ought to...

As you've both realized, your guesses do not tell you how to find the next clue. When you get it right, you'll know it's right.

Too much said already. I've gotta run...

[arildno]

make s in a pm????

[TenaliRaman]

::Ask me in a pm::
:biggrin:

-- AI

[arildno]

First stage was clearly solved by TenaliRaman in all essential aspects.
Anyone who disagrees with that?

[Gokul43201]

Okay, I'm the one that decides this...it's not up for vote.

Tenali, perhaps you'd like to post what success/failure you've had so far, in your latest endeavour ?

[arildno]

Oops, sorry..:redface:

[TenaliRaman]

Tenali, perhaps you'd like to post what success/failure you've had so far, in your latest endeavour ?

I have the keyword.
I parsed the clue to let me know what to do.
I have to figure out the message i believe.

-- AI

[Gokul43201]

UPDATE : The first clue has been successfully solved.

The keyword : Extremities (as explained)
The solution : To get the next clue....look at the letters that make up the extremities of each line in the passage (I've separated and capitalized these letters below) :

A word that you're looking for refers to the loc I :
"S uch points that never may be found in betwee N."
K now that it refers to your fingers and your toes, but A
M essage it conveys is vital to crossing this ste P.
E re it's mixet, when mixed, will tell you its for M.

The letters spell : "Ask me in a PM"

Tenali just did this. So, the first clue is solved.

Incidentally, a piece of verse where the fist (and sometimes last) letters spell a message, is known as an Acrostic. (just for your info)

Unfortunately, as I don't have the next clue nearby (it's at home)...it won't be up for several hours.

Sorry for the delay. :redface:

[TenaliRaman]

Yeehaw! i dun it!!
:biggrin:

-- AI

[Gokul43201]

Upon Tenali's request, I'm posting the next clue here, instead of giving it to him. Tenali must refrain from participating in this clue until I give him permission (no later than 24 hrs from now, probably sooner.)

Your second clue :


Qttp sty ns Sfyzwj, tw Xhnjshj, gzy rnsj.

To find out what type of cipher is used above, connect the following hints to a common theme:

(I) a hot time (not for the Kiwis, Swazilanders, those from the silver country, and other such types)
(II) Macduff’s unique qualification
(III) (I’m going to disguise this hint, lest it be a giveaway) blurrfinerdentoutsparmaninstead (What are the odds that you’ll crack that ?)

[Gokul43201]

Please post feedback on the level of difficulty here : http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=339464&posted=1#post339464

I'd like to know if I should modify subsequent clues to make them easier or harder.

[chroot]

Look not in Nature, or Science, but mine.

buried not praised

So we're looking for a dead scientist who wrote something but was not recognized for it... maybe von Neumann? Still thinking.

Hmm.

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

Ouch ! :surprised That took no time at all !! :eek:

Chroot, care to explain how you figured that out ?

I was hoping to see some discussion of the hints first...too easy, wot ?

[chroot]

Ouch ! :surprised That took no time at all !! :eek:

Chroot, care to explain how you figured that out ?
The first word is way too obvious for such a cipher.

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

So you just didn't bother with the hints ?

I'm going to require that the hints be cracked. And I do this by making the solution of the hints a keyword for a future clue. When the time comes to use it, you will be informed.

[Gokul43201]

So, before trying to understand the plaintext (revealed by chroot), crack the hints, find the keyword, and save it for later.

[chroot]

So you just didn't bother with the hints ?
No, I figured you'd be using an easy cipher (everyone starts with a monoalphabetic substituion cipher eh?), and figured it out within about 10 seconds. Sorry to be a killjoy, I will erase my decryption if you'd like.

- Warren

[chroot]

buried not praised

So we're looking for a dead scientist who wrote something but was not recognized for it... maybe von Neumann? Still thinking.

Hmm.

- Warren

[NoTime]

Hmmm Thinking

(II) Macduff’s unique qualification
Not of woman born

[Moonbear]

II. If this refers to Shakespeare's Macduff, then his unique qualification is that he was never born of woman, but ripped from his mother's womb, which allowed him to kill Macbeth. I have no idea how that fits in with the rest of the puzzle.
I. Since II got me thinking about Shakespeare, a hot time makes me think of summer, as in a Midsummer Night's Dream.
III. A google search of the phrase "buried not praised" came up with a headline for Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

I could be way off, since I don't know how any of that would have helped in deciphering the first code that chroot already cracked, other than once the code is cracked, it could also before telling us to look to Shakespeare's works for the answer.

These are tough! :biggrin:

[chroot]

I believe Caesar was the first to popularize the cipher exemplified by Gokul's clue.

(NOW it all makes sense! :biggrin:)

- Warren

[chroot]

Bonjour? Gokul's journal reveals this:

G : "Go to this quetion !"

U : "Which quetion ?"

G : "This, stupid !!"

U : "This ???? What's 'This' ?"

G : "Figure it out. AS*TO=THIS"

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

Okay chroot...time for you to give it a rest. See you later !! :biggrin:

[chroot]

Okay chroot...time for you to give it a rest. See you later !! :biggrin:
Yes sir! :blushing:

- Warren

[Moonbear]

I believe Caesar was the first to popularize the cipher exemplified by Gokul's clue.

(NOW it all makes sense! :biggrin:)

- Warren

Aha! Yes, that does finish putting the puzzle pieces together!

[Gokul43201]

Good work, NoTime and MoonBear. But the hints have not really been solved yet (Shakespeare was not the keyword)...though the keyword has been obtained almost independently, as a result of working backwards.

The keyword is CAESAR, save it for later.

NoTime,MoonBear : What one word might you use to describe Macduff's birth/delivery ?

MoonBear : The summer is a warm time for everyone...why did I exclude certain types of people ? Think 'month'.

P.S : Didn't seem unusual that I was numbering the hints using Roman Numerals, eh ? Perhaps, not really !

[Gokul43201]

Chroot, don't leave yet. You owe folks an explanation of how and where you found the third clue.

[Moonbear]

Oh...d'uh! Beat me over the head with hints and I'm bound to figure something out eventually! :biggrin:

Macduff's delivery would have been a Caesarian section.
My first instinct was a month, not a season, because of the exclusion of the Southern hemisphere, but I couldn't figure out which one. Now I realize it is July, named for Julius Caesar.

[chroot]

Chroot, don't leave yet. You owe folks an explanation of how and where you found the third clue.
Here:

Some of the repeated letters led me to think it must be an encryption where every other letter is part of the plaintext. Gokul's last line "(What are the odds that you’ll crack that ?)" seems a bit cheeky at first, until you realize it's an easy cipher and he's telling you to consider the 1st, 3rd, 5th letters -- the odd letters -- as part of the plaintext. The even letters don't happen to spell anything special. Imagine my surprise if they had instead read "no, the other letters!"

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

And chroot, how did you know what to do with the plaintext, and what did you do ?

[chroot]

And chroot, how did you know what to do with the plaintext, and what did you do ?
Er, well, I... well, I uh... I read the plaintext. And didn't know what it meant.

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

Huh ?? So how did you know where to find the third clue ?

[chroot]

So how did you know where to find the third clue ?
Ohhh THAT third clue. :redface: You said not to look in Nature or Science (the names of two highly-respected scientific journals), but to look in your (journal) instead. So I did.

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

Okay folks, there you have it. The third clue is revealed (as this is getting solved really quickly, and I'm rapidly running out of ideas, I think you are now nearly halfway through :frown:).

To repeat, the Third Clue is :



G : "Go to this quetion !"

U : "Which quetion ?"

G : "This, stupid !!"

U : "This ???? What's 'This' ?"

G : "Figure it out. AS*TO=THIS"

[Gokul43201]

Tenali, you're back in the game. :smile: Chroot, you're out. :frown:

[Moonbear]

I think these are getting harder as we go along!
okay, it's obvious I'm supposed to go to the "Ask a Stupid Quetion" thread, but I have no idea what to do once I get there.

AS*TO=THIS Okay, that's a puzzle to solve, I guess something similar to those puzzles in the Google quiz in this forum, but those were addition and this one is multiplication....much harder if that's what I'm supposed to do.

Bonjour? I suppose something to do with French.

Is there significance to the GUGUG as well, or is that just "Gokul" and "You" with no more significance to it?

Better go get the plug for my laptop, the battery won't last until the end of this puzzle and I'm too addicted to walk away.

[Gokul43201]

No more significance. And this is moot now, but I was trying to get you to think along the lines of "Comment allez vous ?" or "Comment ca va ?" and that would lead you to look at the comments.

I'm hoping this clue buys me some time. Hope someone doesn't just write up a nifty piece of code to solve it in 5 minutes. :eek: I don't have very much more up yet...and only vaguely formed ideas about the remaining clues.

Fortunately, I believe I can stop y'all dead shortly, until I decide I'm ready.

(Duh...what a screw up...hope that wasn't caught by too many folks :redface:. I know it was noticed by at least one.)

[Moonbear]

Okay, I got some of it (maybe more than some, but I'm not sure if I've missed something):

I knew I had to go to the stupid quetion thread, but had to figure out which question. THIS is the solution to the cryptarithm which gives the number of the post to go to. But, there are many possible solutions. Once figuring out that the thread is not past 2000 replies yet, I knew T was 1. That still left too many possible solutions, so I started looking for clues in Gokul's replies in that threat approximating the time frame when the treasure hunt idea was suggested until now. Mysteriously, he replied to himself in reply #1504 (Now working backward, I could solve the cryptarithm: AS*TO=THIS; 94*16=1504). In reply #1504, wouldn't you know there's some hidden white text. It reads, "Find out more about for 3 to 0 won": ie., find out more about 43201...that's Gokul! So, what are we supposed to find out about you?

[Gokul43201]

:cry: :cry: Naw fair !! You were supposed to struggle with the math problem (as I did...it wasn't easy coming up with that :grumpy: )and give me time to maybe make another clue.

Moonbear, you're real close, but not quite there <phew> !

[Math Is Hard]

I went to another quetion type thread to look (the "Who is?"thread). Does the answer have something to do with the cartoon character Asterix?

[Moonbear]

:cry: :cry: Naw fair !! You were supposed to struggle with the math problem (as I did...it wasn't easy coming up with that :grumpy: )and give me time to maybe make another clue.

Moonbear, you're real close, but not quite there <phew> !

Sorry, I tried struggling with the math, but there were too many possible answers, so I decided to take a different approach. :redface:

Okay, I'm not sure what I'm missing, and I can tell you're not inclined to share lest we solve this too quickly, but I'll grasp at the only straw I can see:

Find out more about 43201...does this refer to the Member Photo thread where the origin of 43201 getting tacked onto your name was discussed? I think it's your zip code, but will go back and check.

[Gokul43201]

All I'm going to say now is that if you do figure out the intent of the discovered words, you should not be able to go any further, because of (I hope) a technical detail that I'm using to my advantage.

I could let you try, but you'd simply be banging your heads against a wall.

When I find that someone correctly interprets the message, I'll announce a break, so that you get to rest and I get to make a clue ot two more.

[Moonbear]

Slight modification to that answer:
It was in Tribdog's "What's in a Name" thread, that you revealed 43201 is your zip code, but also the largest prime number formed by the digits 01234.

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear, you're on a wild goose chase. Give it a rest (that's not an order)...you done enough damage already ! :wink:

[Math Is Hard]

so I was on the wrong track?

[Moonbear]

All I'm going to say now is that if you do figure out the intent of the discovered words, you should not be able to go any further, because of (I hope) a technical detail that I'm using to my advantage.

I could let you try, but you'd simply be banging your heads against a wall.

When I find that someone correctly interprets the message, I'll announce a break, so that you get to rest and I get to make a clue ot two more.

Well, there is the technical detail that you don't have a journal. That was of course the obvious first place to look with the way the clue started. But that did seem far too obvious, so I thought it was intentional misdirection. I'm trying to figure out how you edited your Stupid Quetion reply when you did...do you have a conspirator?

[Gokul43201]

Yes, MiH - kinda like that train that Soul Asylum sings about. Hard luck !

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear, are you talking to me ? And I don't have a journal ?? :confused: I'm sure my journal has public access and that's where I hid clue #3 ! Now, I'm really confused.

[NoTime]

Playing with the spectrum?
->Anything to do with "REMO"

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear has figured out where to go...check out her posts.

And I've got no co-conspirators, yet.

[Moonbear]

Gokul:
yep, I was talking to you. I checked again and don't see a journal for you. :-( There's no way to search the journals either if it's hiding somewhere. I'll try one more time, but don't expect one to suddenly appear :-)

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear : How did you read the third clue without getting to my journal ? And it exists alright, else chroot wouldn't have been able to read it. There's just a simple trick involved in getting to it. So simple, you'll wan't to dive out a window, when you figure out how.

[Moonbear]

Gokul:I didn't have to go to your journal to read the third clue. It was posted right here in this thread, in Chroot's reply and yours. Oh, wait, I think I see where to look. Be right back! Okay, found the journal at least!
And this clue: You're very close, but not really there yet...think about how you'd start to greet a Frenchman - that might help

comment allez vous ?
We're back to the Bonjour clue, aren't we?

[Gokul43201]

Wow ! I've been thinking all along, that other's have been following the trail.

If not, go back and read the posts carefully.

[Moonbear]

If it's any help, I finally just figured out how Chroot found the third clue:
"Look not in Science or Nature, but mine." Science and Nature are journals, so you were telling us to look in your journal. That second clue was harder than you thought!

[NoTime]

I was going after the red text thing but

It reads, "Find out more about for 3 to 0 won": ie., find out more about 43201.
"Columbus" its the right day any way :eek:

[Gokul43201]

Okay folks, Big Announcement (pay attention) : The clues are sequential, or the solving of a given clue may require knowledge obtained from a previous clue.

So make sure you go through previous clues' solutions (and follow the trail) before trying to solve any given clue

[Moonbear]

Hmmm, more thinking:
Find out more about For 3 to 0 won. A sports score perhaps? I tried thread #43201, and nothing there...too old for you to have gotten to it with clues. Grr. This clue started out so well, and now I don't know where else to go with it.

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear, this round goes to you...even if it takes someone else to figure out this last part.

And let me say this one last time : Follow the trail of the clues completely, else you will miss out essential details.

[Moonbear]

Moonbear, this round goes to you...even if it takes someone else to figure out this last part.

And let me say this one last time : Follow the trail of the clues completely, else you will miss out essential details.

I've gone back through. Found the one post I missed from Chroot that explained the journal. I didn't realize that one had white text in it. I'm working on making sure I didn't miss any others.

One more thought:
You keep telling us to hold onto the keywords. We have extremeties and caesar in our collection of keywords now. I'm just not seeing if I need to use those again yet, but I'm holding onto them.

[Gokul43201]

The first keyword (extremities) has been used - by Tenali, to get me to release the second clue. It's not needed anymore.

His first message (PM) to me was responded to in the negative. He recovered and asked again, this time providing the keyword in his message. That was when I revealed the second clue.

The second keyword may or may not be needed in the future. But if it is, you'll know for sure, at that point, that you have to use it.

PS : And when I ask you to follow the trail of the clues, I mean actually go to the places where the clues are located, and read them for yourselves.

[Moonbear]

Hmm...I may have gotten it. Hopefully I've sent a PM to the right member name, and it isn't Gokul!

[Gokul43201]

Unless you actually read the previous clues in their original locations (NOT in this thread, starting from clue #3), you won't be able to go further.

Okay, here's clue #4 (it's pretty straightforward if you've been following my repeated rants)

Find out more about for 3 to 0 won

[Moonbear]

So, here's what I have new to add:
Our "new" member for3to0won lists as activities "practising LaTeX" I've PM'd for3to0won and am hoping for a response so we can get to know him better :wink:

Oops: spelled that wrong the first time!

And just wanted to add how I found this new fellow has joined us. In Gokul's journal, you have to notice the discussion entry with clue #3 isn't posted by Gokul, but by for3to0won.

Note, I've edited for a critical mispelling!

[Gokul43201]

I'm going to bed now, folks...more clues will be up tomorrow.

Sorry :redface:

PS : Don't stop posting, if you've got anything to add.

[Moonbear]

I'm going to bed now, folks...more clues will be up tomorrow.

Sorry :redface:

Awww. Okay, goodnight. Get your rest so you can come up with more good clues for us!

By the way, I got a PM:
"What ? I'm only be visiting to this sight for the learning up of some fysiks. I not be hunting for any treasures. Please do not to be confusing me ! If you are wanting to be find out more about me, please do read in my profile. It be saying there.

Sorry for disappointing...no treasure today. Patience is virtue ! Good night.

for3to0won"

Getting a PM made it much easier to get to his profile. It was tough catching the character online to view his profile...there's no other way I know of to view a user profile if the user has never posted and is offline. I guess that's the technical detail that was supposed to make this tough, you sneaky devil! :devil:


Um, one question...did I break the rules? I realized part-way through that you posted Clue #4, which is what I was still trying to track down as part of Clue #3. Sigh. Now I'll take my time-out while drooling over my next chance to play! This is a fantastic treasure hunt! :approve:

[TenaliRaman]

Whoa!!! too many things happened before i could even come here :surprised:

Wowee Moonbear!!! Bravo!!
Not to forget chroot who got things going very fast it seems!!!

Now let me see if i can string together something to end this but believe me its no more than a long shot guess .....

::
1st clue : Gokul says he has a technical advantage
Interpretation :
the answer is something that he is bound to know prolly??
*suddenly tenali is hit with random thoughts*
he should know more abt the place he lives and ofcourse he know more abt physics atleast more than me ...

one thing in the original clue which seems to not have been solved is "buried not praised"..

and ofcourse the now infamous for 3 to 0 won?
so i googled 43201 to find out more abt it and it seems to be the zip code of ohio ....

then i googled for ohio's famous ppl and among the inventors i found ..
"Granville T. Woods"
(knows as Ohio's forgotten inventor)

Hmm this is where i am drawing a blank right now ... i'll see if i can make any heads or tails of the whole ordeal .....
::

-- AI

[Gokul43201]

I'm almost ready to start again, but I'd like to make a few announcements first :

1) Moonbear's now out (Moonbear, I'll give you a last chance to clearly convey your findings to other folks before you retire...please tell them where to look, if that's possible.)

2) Chroot, you're back in...as is Tenali.

3) I'm running out of ideas and time, so I'll say that at this point, the game is nearly done...there's just a little bit left.

3) The next clue will be up in a few minutes - I'll inform you when it's up.

[Gokul43201]

Ready....set....GO

PS : Tenali, you're looking too deep, again. (the "buried not praised" hint has been solved and it pertains only to that clue; read carefully)

For those that have been out of the action, I suggest you read Moonbear's posts. I believe she last found clue#4.

[Moonbear]

I'm almost ready to start again, but I'd like to make a few announcements first :

1) Moonbear's now out (Moonbear, I'll give you a last chance to clearly convey your findings to other folks before you retire...please tell them where to look, if that's possible.)

2) Chroot, you're back in...as is Tenali.

3) I'm running out of ideas and time, so I'll say that at this point, the game is nearly done...there's just a little bit left.

3) The next clue will be up in a few minutes - I'll inform you when it's up.

Okay, I'll try to summarize my findings all in one place:

First, solving the puzzle:
The third clue was found in Gokul's journal, which took me a long time to find. I didn't do the simple thing of just click on "view my journal" under his name over there on the <---Left, I went to the journal page where it is hiding. Since the clue was posted there, I didn't know I needed to find it myself to move forward. So, the key was to notice we were told to go to this "quetion" not "question". This is a clear reference (at least to me) to the "Ask a Stupid Quetion, Get a Stupid Anser thread", which intentionally mispells question.

"Which quetion?" meant I needed to look for a specific post in that thread. Then, "Figure it out. AS*TO=THIS" "THIS" is the number of the post to go to, so it was necessary to solve the cryptarithm: the letters substitute for numbers and is explained in another brainteaser in this section. The solution was 94*16=1504 (there are other possible solutions, but they are not the RIGHT solution, because they don't take you to a post containing any clues...I reasoned it had to be one of Gokul's posts and relatively recent, so narrowed down possible solutions from there.

When you find the correct post in that thread, #1504, highlight the text and find the hidden message in white (the other clue that I had found the right post was that Gokul replied to himself in a fairly blatant way that sounded a bit suspicious). Hidden in the text is the message, "Find out more about for 3 to 0 won." For a while, I was headed along the wrong path, thinking it referred to Gokul's nickname 43201.

Then, we started getting all those repeated warnings to follow the path of the former clues, so I went back to Gokul's journal and looked more carefully. It was so obvious and I nearly missed it. I actually didn't notice until I went to "discuss" one of the discussion entries (you have to go to the discussion of the first entry to find the clues). When tried to quote it, I noticed the title did not include all the text on the title bar. That's when I realized the discussion entry including clue 3 was written by a different username, "for3to0won." So, I PM'd for3to0won, and asked. I posted the reply I got above. That told me to look inside the user profile for for3to0won for the last part of the puzzle. Once I got a PM from him (I posted it above...just in case it contained any other clues I missed that were necessary to continue), that made it easier, because then I could easily access his user profile by clicking on his name in the PM. Otherwise, you had to catch him online (which I actually did while he was READING my PM...by going to the list of currently active users).

In for3to0won's user profile, his biography says: Practising LaTex. So I think that was the final thing I was supposed to provide. I didn't see anything else suspicious in his user profile, but I'd suggest the other scavenger hunter's keep an eye on it just in case new information appears there!

Okay, did I cover it all?

Happy hunting! I'll take my break now.

[Gokul43201]

Thanks for the recap, Moonbear.

Any questions, folks ?

[chroot]

I'm getting there. :devil:

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

I'm getting there. :devil:

- Warren

You know the thread you closed last night ? :grumpy: Could you not have waited just a little longer ? :mad: It messed up all my plans.

Anyways...if you've found something, post it here before you set about cracking it.

[chroot]

for3to0won has posted twice. One post dealt with "practising latex" and contained the transliterated english phrase

"turn back sig and eliminate the repeating key."

I have reversed your new signature (as well as performing a simple histogram on it), and am trying to figure out the repeating key business. It appears to begin with the word 'if' and end with the word 'others,' but I'm still trying to figure out the exact pattern.

- Warren

p.s. Sorry about closing the thread!

[Gokul43201]

Remember the unused key, from before...

[Gokul43201]

Okay chroot...you've done enough. You have solved another clue, so I'm shutting you down again.

Moonbear may get back in at 9pm ET and Chroot gets activated again at midnight ET (9pm PT).

[Gokul43201]

Chroot, if there's anything you wish to say, short of solving this last clue (yes this one's the final clue), you may say it now, and then hold your peace for another 8 hrs.

[chroot]

*bites tongue*

- Warren

[chroot]

*stunned*

*bites tongue really really hard*

Bravo, Gokul, Bravo.

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

Thanks chroot, I take it you've...

Anyway, put some ice in your mouth - you'll be okay. :biggrin:

[Moonbear]

Glad Chroot found that because I saw it earlier and was having a hard time keeping my fingers off the keyboard! :rofl:

9PM, okay...I guess local time, since we're both on the same local time? I guess I better wrap up what I'm working on in the next three hours so I can jump back into the game! Or maybe since the prize is a membership upgrade, and I don't need one of those, I might just give some other folks a chance and just help out with hints as I find stuff.

Oops, just realized you did specify the time zone. I better get my game cap back on!

[Moonbear]

Thanks chroot, I take it you've...

Anyway, put some ice in your mouth - you'll be okay. :biggrin:

Try scotch! It's better at numbing the pain. :wink: :biggrin:

[Gokul43201]

Try scotch! :biggrin:

Is there any other way to have ice ?? :confused:

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear : you're ON. Looks like you're the only one playing, anyway.

[Moonbear]

And I'm late getting back. I need to catch up.

[Moonbear]

I know I'm close, but am not certain of the final detail:

Reverse Gokul's new signature and remove the repeats of the key "Caesar"...we were told to keep it, and I did, but took a while to see how it was used.
This gives the phrase:
"if u factor hardy’s cab#, the unlucky one is the __ of the others"

Not being a mathematician, this took a little Googling to figure out.

I found out that 1729 is known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number, based on some anectdote about an unlucky cab ride for Hardy in cab #1729.

The factors are: 7*13*19 (this figures, we know Gokul's fondness for prime numbers).

So, remove the 13 (the unlucky one). But I'm still not sure how to fill in the blank. Do I just multiply the remaining two? That's 133. Or is the blank supposed to be a word, the middle. It's the average as well (I hadn't thought of that until I wrote middle).

I'd have posted as I worked through it, but it just all struck me at once, so there wasn't much work to show until I suddenly cracked the code.

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear, check the clue again, carefully. "if u factor hardy’s cab#, the unlucky one is the __ of the others" You are missing a very tiny detail here...but I'm not sure that'll help.

Do you see any pattern between the numbers ?

[Moonbear]

That's the part I wasn't sure about:
Mean. 13 is the mean of 7 and 19. That's what I meant by average above.

If that's not it, then I'm stumped. Chroot will probably swoop in at midnight and finish the solution for me.

[Gokul43201]

You've got it, save for the following tiny detail : "if u factor hardy’s cab#, the unlucky one is the _ _ of the others" - there's 2 words required.

[Moonbear]

Oh, wait! Is this what you're looking for?
arithmetic mean

[Gokul43201]

No. It's what you should be looking for ! :wink:

[Moonbear]

No. It's what you should be looking for ! :wink:

:grumpy: No wonder you got the homework helper medal! No new ideas yet. Dammit Jim, I'm a biologist, not a mathematician! :rofl:

[Gokul43201]

Wait. I think you misunderstand. You are correct - it is the AM. Now you just have to figure out what to do.

[Moonbear]

Oh! Cool. Now there's something to be done? Alright, back to thinking.

[Moonbear]

Aha!
You started a thread titled: Arithmetic Mean that says:
Well done, brave adventurer ! This is THE END, my friend.
Thanks for playing. Hope you enjoyed the game !
(I didn't think the plea to not have the thread locked was part of the clue. :rofl:)


Yay!

[Gokul43201]

Well done Moonbear.

This is THE END, I guess.

[Moonbear]

Sorry Chroot, got that in just in the nick of time before you were allowed back in the game. :wink:

[Moonbear]

Well done Moonbear.

This is THE END, I guess.

:smile: Yay! Cool game!

:uhh: But that means it's over. :frown:

When should we watch for Part 2? :approve:

[Gokul43201]

Given the interest this generated....I'm not sure I'll attempt a Part 2. :frown: It's just too much work...even though I thoroughly enjoyed making it. Also, the possibilities are now greatly reduced, and it'll take a lot more thinking (and probably conspirators as well) to come up with more ways to hide clues.

Glad you enjoyed it ! :smile:

[chroot]

I'm actually considering making my own. Too bad there wasn't more interest. I think it was one of the neatest things I've ever seen on PF.

Unfortunately, I think I will have a hard time making mine non-technical.

- Warren

[Moonbear]

I'm actually considering making my own. Too bad there wasn't more interest. I think it was one of the neatest things I've ever seen on PF.

Unfortunately, I think I will have a hard time making mine non-technical.

- Warren

I've never seen a scavenger hunt on any forum before. I thought it was great fun. I wonder if it would have gotten more interest if posted in General Discussion rather than Brainteasers? I don't think there's as much traffic in here. Of course, you'd have an easier time creating threads and characters without them being inadvertently locked by the admins! :biggrin:

I don't think I could be clever enough to come up with challenging clues on my own, but if anyone needs a conspirator... :wink: :wink:

[arildno]

I think it was great, but it moved too fast for snails like myself..:cry:

[Moonbear]

I think it was great, but it moved too fast for snails like myself..:cry:

Only insomniacs got to play...you know what they say...you snooze, you lose! :rofl:

Maybe the next time, clues could be provided in stages, that you're not allowed to solve them out of order (this would be a disadvantage to both Chroot and myself since we both seemed to work backward more than forward). Or maybe they could rely on using some of the knowledge posted in threads here (like going to a homework problem and having to solve it, or solve another similar problem using that method).

[chroot]

I was considering writing a php script that would show my clues only at specific intervals, say, one clue per 3 hrs. or so. I'm designing one that is quite a bit more technological/scientific/problem-solving oriented. Are you interested in a techie hunt, Moonbear?

- Warren

[humanino]

Well, I did not have the chance to participate :cry: :cry:
Even from the outside, this game looked amazingly good :surprised
I guess if I ever did put my foot into that game, I would have been swallowed in a no-sleep-parallel-universe :smile:
Congratulations to the winner(s) :wink:
Ramanujan himself might have been trapped in a fractionally continuated elliptical erratic path while trying to solve this out... :rolleyes:
And of course, congratulations and many thanks to the culprit of this fascinating masterpiece : namely Gokul :approve:

[Gokul43201]

Thanks for the feedback folks...I'm glad it was enjoyed, by some, at least.

Chroot, I'd love to take part in a techie hunt (though if I think I'm looking at a Vigenere cipher, I'll let someone else write the code for that). OR, if you'd like help or ideas, I'd be glad to offer.

humanino and arildno : where were you guys ? Oh, I guess everyone's not as jobless as me ! <shrug>

Moonbear : This game would have proceded on schedule (without the overnight break after you discovered for3to0won) had it not been for a curve ball, that chroot inadvertently threw me. By my original plans, I had created several (about 12 or 13) decoy posts for for3to0won in a text document, that I would have pasted into various threads. The actual clue, with the Greek text, was of course meant to go into the "LaTeX Math typesetting" thread. By a stroke of sheer misfortune, chroot locked that thread, virtually nimutes before I was going to do this...after that thread had been running for months now. Who'd have thunk ! :eek: So at that point, I had to change plans, and hence requested a time-out to figure things out.

[Gokul43201]

Another thing that was fun : When chroot and Moonbear were working on the clues, I just happened to be logged in too at the time, and I could tell whether they were on the right track by watching their movements on "Who's Online"

For instance, towards the end, I was spying on chrooot's movements and I saw something like this :

viewing thread The PF Treasure Hunt
searching forums
viewing thread Simplifying Radicals
viewing thread Group vs. Phase velocity
viewing thread The PF Treasure Hunt (and some minutes later)
replying to thread The PF Treasure Hunt

That was fun !

For whatever it's worth, I'll post a complete solutions to the game in a new thread.

[NoTime]

That was fun Gokul43201 :approve:

[Gokul43201]

Thanks NoTime...much appreciated. :smile:

[TenaliRaman]

Gokul its been fun !!!
(too bad i could give little time to this ... but i guarantee i enjoyed every moment of it)
though i expected this to go a little longer than this ... :(

-- AI
P.S -> chroot , if u are planning anything like this ... u can definitely count me in .... i have my exams coming up and many things have gone haywire lately but still it would be a pleasure to play this game again .....

[Moonbear]

I was considering writing a php script that would show my clues only at specific intervals, say, one clue per 3 hrs. or so. I'm designing one that is quite a bit more technological/scientific/problem-solving oriented. Are you interested in a techie hunt, Moonbear?

- Warren

I guess it depends on how techie it is. :wink: As I pointed out to Gokul, I'm a biologist, not a mathematician (mean is one word, not two in my vocabulary)...and I'm definitely not a computer programmer. So, if I need to write programs or understand code to solve puzzles, I won't do very well. Then again, if you throw some of those types of clues in with others like Gokuls that required knowledge of how to search PF, then that would be okay, the technical parts I'd just have to leave for the other game players.

Since you're the code wizard behind PF, are there tricks you can employ that us mere mortals couldn't even dream? Such as making an old deleted thread reappear with now embedded clues?

And now that I know Gokul was watching my every move, and that means other treasure hunters could be doing the same, I'll have to remember to turn myself invisible for the next hunt!

I'm very amused that Gokul managed to create his own conspirator. When I asked about conspirators, that certainly wasn't what I meant. I thought he may have had an admin or mentor on his side to go back and edit threads older threads in order to insert clues without risking them getting noticed by someone quoting them.

When I saw Gokul's comment about threads being locked, it was soon after I saw that for3to0won had started posting, and was worried those were the posts getting locked or deleted.

Oh, just want to add one more thought on getting more participation. Perhaps something as simple as starting the game near the end of the week and into a weekend would work better than starting at the beginning of the week. More folks around who can spend some time time playing if it's a weekend and they aren't supposed to be at work or spending their nights doing homework, etc.

[Gokul43201]

I'm very amused that Gokul managed to create his own conspirator. When I asked about conspirators, that certainly wasn't what I meant. I thought he may have had an admin or mentor on his side to go back and edit threads older threads in order to insert clues without risking them getting noticed by someone quoting them.

I gave some serious thought to seeking special favor from the uberlords to allow me to "break some rules", but I decided against it. As a result, the manouevering required to get the clue into "stupid quetion" was quite extensive. When I had the idea, that thread had about 1497 posts. If you look again, ou'll see that I suddenly started putting in a lot of effort into getting that thread rolling. Not only did I want to get to 1504, I also wanted to get that thread into the next page before I put in the edit (which gave me a 24 hour window to ask some really stupid quetions and hope The Bob would be there for me) so people wouldn't inadvertently notice it - espicially if they hit QUOTE. A post is most any other thread suffers the danger of being quted, and hence discovered. Of course, the other thread that doesn't have posts quoted is the LaTeX thread.

Oh, just want to add one more thought on getting more participation. Perhaps something as simple as starting the game near the end of the week and into a weekend would work better than starting at the beginning of the week. More folks around who can spend some time time playing if it's a weekend and they aren't supposed to be at work or spending their nights doing homework, etc.

I agree.

I spent most of the weekend completing and checking the game. By the time I was ready, it was late sunday. It was either "now", or "wait a week", and I was just too anxious to see how it would go...:uhh:

[hemmul]

Huh, good job Gokul! You're the MAN!!! :approve:
Unfortunately i didn't have an opportunity to participate, because, due to my timezone the main part of discussions was held when i was sleeping :redface: but anyway i can't forget myself scanning the list of new members starting from member.php?u=17950+ down to 17700+ while trying to find profile of /already/ famous for3to0won :D argh this was evil :devil: ...
Looking forward for chroot's challenge! :surprised :rolleyes: :biggrin:

[chroot]

I guess it depends on how techie it is. :wink: As I pointed out to Gokul, I'm a biologist, not a mathematician (mean is one word, not two in my vocabulary)...and I'm definitely not a computer programmer. So, if I need to write programs or understand code to solve puzzles, I won't do very well. Then again, if you throw some of those types of clues in with others like Gokuls that required knowledge of how to search PF, then that would be okay, the technical parts I'd just have to leave for the other game players.
I wasn't anticipating actual complete C code -- I was thinking more along the lines of simple pseudocode, like this:

SET X = 1
REPEAT TEN TIMES {
ADD 1 TO X
}

Which I think most people can logically understand even if they don't know how to program a computer.
Since you're the code wizard behind PF, are there tricks you can employ that us mere mortals couldn't even dream? Such as making an old deleted thread reappear with now embedded clues?
There are an astonishing array of tricks I could use. I am currently devising my treasure hunt plan, and I have put some serious thought into using these tricks. I can pretty much make anything I want appear anywhere I want. I can embed hidden statements inside other people's posts without even showing an edited message, I can change people's join dates, user ids, post ids, anything I want. It would be really easy to make a treasure hunt with all those tools available to me.

On the other hand, is that fair? Should I really design a treasure hunt that no one else on the site but Greg could design? I think it might be more fair if I only use the member tools. That way, other people (besides Greg) could follow in my footsteps.
And now that I know Gokul was watching my every move, and that means other treasure hunters could be doing the same, I'll have to remember to turn myself invisible for the next hunt!
Except, I can still see you. :eek:

- Warren

[chroot]

Huh, good job Gokul! You're the MAN!!! :approve:
Unfortunately i didn't have an opportunity to participate, because, due to my timezone the main part of discussions was held when i was sleeping :redface: but anyway i can't forget myself scanning the list of new members starting from member.php?u=17950+ down to 17700+ while trying to find profile of /already/ famous for3to0won :D argh this was evil :devil: ...
Looking forward for chroot's challenge! :surprised :rolleyes: :biggrin:
Can you think of a way around the time zone issue?

- Warren

[Gokul43201]

Can you think of a way around the time zone issue?

- Warren

Sorta.

If it all happens during the weekend, and doesn't last forever, you could announce the precise start time in advance (and like you said, release new clues every couple of hourse or so). People who are really crazy about this will stay up if they have to.

And as far as a good start time goes, I think, early Saturday morning (would 7:00am PT be crazy ?) would be best. 7:00 am PT = 10:00 am ET = 3 - 6:00 pm in most of Europe/Africa = 8:30 - 11:00 pm in South/East Asia. Only the Aussies and Japanese get a bad deal.

[chroot]

I just thought of a much easier way to deal with time zones. Offer perhaps four independent threads, one for each region of 6 time zones. People would just have to use the honor system to avoid peeking at the solutions in the threads for time zones ahead of them.

- Warren

[hemmul]

Can you think of a way around the time zone issue?

- Warren

What about creating extra difficult tasks, so only godlike hunters could solve them faster than 24 hours? :)

[TenaliRaman]

If honor system is followed then we can even have separate teams system i.e if anyone is still interested in such a system.....
we can have separate threads for separate teams and the team members must go to their threads alone and discuss and not peek into other team threads...

-- AI

[hemmul]

I just thought of a much easier way to deal with time zones. Offer perhaps four independent threads, one for each region of 6 time zones. People would just have to use the honor system to avoid peeking at the solutions in the threads for time zones ahead of them.

- Warren

good idea, but only for very very honest people... i do promise not to watch others' threads, but what about other members? also it somehow divides the community - ei it's better when all the discussions are open for all hunters

P.S. it seems the time zone makes its job! Good night! ;)

[chroot]

Well, dishonesty just makes the game less fun. I'll bet that anyone who's intelligent and educated enough to solve the kinds of problems I am likely to provide is not going to be dishonest.

And really, you have two mutually exclusive choices:

1) Make all discussion open for all hunters.
2) Make the competition fair for people in all time zones.

Which one is a better choice?

- Warren

[TenaliRaman]

If u ask me the first is better,
reason 1> that way no one will be even tempted to cheat or anything like it and we can all be clean souls with nice golden rings over our head....
reason 2> dividing into time zone may not attract equal number of members in each ... prolly it lessens the interactions between the members ... (isn't interaction betn different part of the world an objective of a discussion forum?)

me#1 : But we have problems as ppl from different time zones don't get to work out things ....

me#2 : a few ways round it are .....
1 .... make it really hard so that no one gets it quickly (not an interesting soln)
2 .... make a condition that one can post an answer to the clue only after say 24 hours of posting the clue .. this prolly gives everyone a chance to view the clue ...

me#1 : this is slow going and not only that ... it could extend beyond the weekend and mess up schedules

me#2 : we can live with this i suppose rather than getting stuck in a time zone where participation is less and u find out that some other time zone has already solved everything .. and all cuz it had good participation ..

I rest my case!
-- AI

[chroot]

2 .... make a condition that one can post an answer to the clue only after say 24 hours of posting the clue .. this prolly gives everyone a chance to view the clue ...
You make a good point. Perhaps this is the best way. Unfortunately, people naturally want to compete to be the first to answer a question. If we declare that treasure hunts are just for fun and the admin will not declare winners, then perhaps this is a fine policy.

- Warren

[NoTime]

And really, you have two mutually exclusive choices:

1) Make all discussion open for all hunters.
2) Make the competition fair for people in all time zones.

Which one is a better choice?

- Warren
Just a thought.
Could you write a script so that only responses from a particular period could be viewed.
With two threads. One with clues read only. The other with replies that can only be viewed later after the timer expires.

True this setup would require godlike powers to create :smile:
But, could possibly be made available general use.

Or mabey just one thread where the thead starter gets to post timer panels.

[Moonbear]

I wasn't anticipating actual complete C code -- I was thinking more along the lines of simple pseudocode, like this:

SET X = 1
REPEAT TEN TIMES {
ADD 1 TO X
}

Which I think most people can logically understand even if they don't know how to program a computer.

Okay, along those lines, I could handle it. I did learn a little BASIC eons ago. I could help you dumb down the code if that's a concern, but I'm probably the only one on this board with so little competence in programming. :rofl:


There are an astonishing array of tricks I could use. I am currently devising my treasure hunt plan, and I have put some serious thought into using these tricks. I can pretty much make anything I want appear anywhere I want. I can embed hidden statements inside other people's posts without even showing an edited message, I can change people's join dates, user ids, post ids, anything I want. It would be really easy to make a treasure hunt with all those tools available to me.

On the other hand, is that fair? Should I really design a treasure hunt that no one else on the site but Greg could design? I think it might be more fair if I only use the member tools. That way, other people (besides Greg) could follow in my footsteps.

It depends on how you use it. If you're leaving a trail of clues, and we are supposed to follow the clues to find those phoney threads, it might actually be more fair than relying on current or existing threads, where the inhabitants of particular subject areas might be more familiar with thread content or accidentally stumble upon a clue without following the trail to get to it. It only wouldn't be fair if you made a thread disappear before we found the clue in it. :wink: If you make it clear from the start, as part of the ground rules, that any thread in the forum is fair game for containing clues, then it will actually help make it more challenging (I'd have never gotten that clue AS*TO=THIS if I didn't have a limited time window to search within).

Except, I can still see you. :eek:

I'm not worried about you! You'll already know where the clues are hidden. I meant to hide from other treasure hunters so they can't follow me and swipe my treasure just as I'm about to collect the last clue...you know, like always happens in the movies. :biggrin:

Time zone issues: well, like I said before, only insomniacs need sign up. :wink: But, I think if you have clues that are released at specific times, then the game won't only occur on your time zone when you're awake to supply new clues. I guess I had an unfair advantage in the last round since Gokul and I are in the same time zone.

I'd rather have one thread with the clues. I'd be honest, but it would drive me nuts not being able to peek into the other threads to see how the other teams were doing. :tongue:

Maybe you could work out a way that it's sort of like a relay race, where one person isn't allowed to solve the entire puzzle, but has to solve only one part at a time and then pass it on to another participant to have it count. In other words, the way I solved the final clue wouldn't be allowed. Even if I found the whole solution, I'd have to just give one part, and hope someone else playing would pick it up from there, and when the next step was solved, then I could jump back in with a third step, but not sooner. This way it's more of a passing game than a ball-hogging game.

But if you just make the clues diabolically difficult, nobody will solve it in less than 24 anyway!

[Moonbear]

You make a good point. Perhaps this is the best way. Unfortunately, people naturally want to compete to be the first to answer a question. If we declare that treasure hunts are just for fun and the admin will not declare winners, then perhaps this is a fine policy.

- Warren

Honestly, not declaring winners wouldn't curb my competitive nature. I would try, but I know I can get carried away in the enthusiasm and forget. Besides, to me, this sort of treasure hunt isn't so much about competing against the other players as it is competing against the creator of the game. :wink: What can I say, I'm a mystery junkie, and to me, the treasure hunt was just like trying to solve a mystery ahead of the characters in the book. One of the best parties I ever attended was one of those murder mystery parties where everyone arrives as a character and tries to solve the crime! (I know I've warned you all I'm a geek...surely this has sunken in by now).

[TenaliRaman]

Maybe you could work out a way that it's sort of like a relay race, where one person isn't allowed to solve the entire puzzle, but has to solve only one part at a time and then pass it on to another participant to have it count. In other words, the way I solved the final clue wouldn't be allowed. Even if I found the whole solution, I'd have to just give one part, and hope someone else playing would pick it up from there, and when the next step was solved, then I could jump back in with a third step, but not sooner. This way it's more of a passing game than a ball-hogging game.


chroot : ok i decoded ur puzzle Gokul, so we are looking for your Journal eh .. over to you Moonbear ...
Moonbear : ok i read through his journal ... found the answer of 1504 and then got this question find out more abt for 3 to 0 won? over to you Tenali
TenaliRaman : ok i searched abt 43201 and found out that its ohio's zip code and then i searched for ohio's famous ppl and i got Granville Woods. Over to you <insert any poor innocent participant here>
<insert the same poor innocent participant> : hmm now what am i supposed to do with Granville woods :confused:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


(I know I've warned you all I'm a geek...surely this has sunken in by now).


Moonbear Poirot Sir,
Let me introduce myself i am Captain Hastings :biggrin:

-- AI

[Math Is Hard]

Moonbear Poirot Sir,

Ahem... That's Moonbear Poirot MADAME!

[TenaliRaman]

Ahem... That's Moonbear Poirot MADAME!

AH!
Madamoiselle Moonbear,
Sincere apologies!

and thank you MathIsHard for your comment is all but welcome!

-- AI