PF Treasure Hunt - Solve the Clues & Crack the Code!

[Gokul43201]

This is the game I've been promising at https://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. [/color]

 

[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.[/color]

 

[Gokul43201]

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

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
[/Color]::

 

[Gokul43201]

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

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

 

[arildno]

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

 

[TenaliRaman]

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

-- 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..[/color]

 

[TenaliRaman]

::
LOL! don't tell me
extremities ??
[/Color]::


-- AI

 

[Gokul43201]

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

You walked right over it, Tenali !

 

[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[/color]

 

[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 got to run...

 

[arildno]

make s in a pm?[/color]

 

[TenaliRaman]

::Ask me in a pm[/Color]::


-- 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..

 

[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)[/color]

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.

 

[TenaliRaman]

Yeehaw! i dun it!


-- 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 ?) [/color]

 

[Gokul43201]

Please post feedback on the level of difficulty here : https://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.[/color]

buried not praised[/color]

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

Hmm.

- Warren

 

[Gokul43201]

Ouch ! That took no time at all !

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 ! That took no time at all !

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?[/color]), 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[/color]

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

Hmm.

- Warren

 

[NoTime]

Hmmm Thinking

(II) Macduff’s unique qualification
Not of woman born
[/color]

 

[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. [/color]

These are tough!

 

[chroot]

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

(NOW it all makes sense! )

- 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"[/color]

- Warren

 

[Gokul43201]

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

 

[chroot]

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

Yes sir!

- Warren

 

[Moonbear]

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

(NOW it all makes sense! )

- 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 ! [/color]

 

[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!

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.[/color]

 

[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!"[/color]

- 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 ?