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

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion revolves around a collaborative treasure hunt game hosted on Physics Forums, where participants solve a series of cryptic clues leading to a final solution. The first clue, which involved deciphering the keyword "extremities," was successfully solved by user TenaliRaman, who interpreted the clues correctly and identified the hidden message. The second clue introduced a cipher puzzle that requires participants to connect various hints to find a keyword, which was identified as "CAESAR." The game emphasizes teamwork, communication, and adherence to specific rules to enhance the experience.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of cryptic clues and wordplay
  • Familiarity with basic ciphers, particularly monoalphabetic substitution ciphers
  • Knowledge of acrostics and their structure
  • Ability to collaborate and communicate effectively in a forum setting
NEXT STEPS
  • Research techniques for solving cryptic clues and puzzles
  • Learn about monoalphabetic substitution ciphers and their applications
  • Explore the concept of acrostics and how they are used in puzzles
  • Investigate collaborative problem-solving strategies in online forums
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for puzzle enthusiasts, cryptography learners, and anyone interested in collaborative problem-solving within online communities.

  • #31
Ouch ! 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 ?
 
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  • #32
Gokul43201 said:
Ouch ! 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
 
  • #33
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.
 
  • #34
So, before trying to understand the plaintext (revealed by chroot), crack the hints, find the keyword, and save it for later.
 
  • #35
Gokul43201 said:
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
 
  • #36
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
 
  • #37
Hmmm Thinking

(II) Macduff’s unique qualification
Not of woman born
[/color]
 
  • #38

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! :biggrin:
 
  • #39
I believe Caesar was the first to popularize the cipher exemplified by Gokul's clue.

(NOW it all makes sense! :biggrin:)

- Warren
 
  • #40
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
 
  • #41
Okay chroot...time for you to give it a rest. See you later ! :biggrin:
 
  • #42
Gokul43201 said:
Okay chroot...time for you to give it a rest. See you later ! :biggrin:
Yes sir! :blushing:

- Warren
 
  • #43
chroot said:
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!
 
  • #44
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]
 
Last edited:
  • #45
Chroot, don't leave yet. You owe folks an explanation of how and where you found the third clue.
 
  • #46
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.[/color]
 
  • #47
Gokul43201 said:
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
 
  • #48
And chroot, how did you know what to do with the plaintext, and what did you do ?
 
  • #49
Gokul43201 said:
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
 
  • #50
Huh ?? So how did you know where to find the third clue ?
 
  • #51
Gokul43201 said:
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.[/color]

- Warren
 
  • #52
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"

[/color]
 
  • #53
Tenali, you're back in the game. :smile: Chroot, you're out. :frown:
 
  • #54
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? [/color]

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.
 
  • #55
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.[/color]

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.)
 
  • #56
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?[/color]
 
  • #57
:cry: :cry: Naw fair ! You were supposed to struggle with the math problem (as I did...it wasn't easy coming up with that )and give me time to maybe make another clue.

Moonbear, you're real close, but not quite there <phew> !
 
  • #58
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?
 
  • #59
Gokul43201 said:
:cry: :cry: Naw fair ! You were supposed to struggle with the math problem (as I did...it wasn't easy coming up with that )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.[/color]
 
  • #60
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.
 

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