Save the World SOLVED - Save the President SOLVED

[Suspence]

Presidential Password Puzzle

A few moments ago, the clumsy leader of some far-flung country accidentally tripped and activated his country's Big Red Button, launching its entire nuclear arsenal at the United States.

The leader frantically called the White House to inform them of the error. Ready for just this situation, President Obama prepared to launch his top-secret AWARDS (Accidental War Avoidance Rocket Defense System). Being more technologically advanced, the Big Red Button for the AWARDS system also requires a verbal password. Like most of us with passwords, the President had forgotten this one.

Fortunately, he does have a Cheat Sheet that contains hints for all of his passwords. For the AWARDS password, the Cheat Sheet lists only the following:

(35 + 3) + (5 + 1) + (2 - 1) + (39 + 4) + (15 - 2) + (33 - 4) + (18 + 7)
(23 - 2) + (38 + 2) + (38 + 4) + (17 - 3) + (19 + 1) + (11 - 2) + (41 - 6) + (1 + 2)
(4 - 2) + (33 + 1) + (25 + 2) + (23 - 1) + (28 + 2) + (21 - 4)
(13 - 3) + (21 + 2) + (38 - 1) + (12 + 3) + (34 + 5) + (35 - 2)
(38 + 3) + (10 - 3) + (33 - 5) + (2 + 6) + (36 - 5) + (12 + 4) + (17 + 2) + (18 - 6) + (1 + 3)
(19 - 1) + (31 - 5) + (32 + 4) + (37 - 5) + (1 + 4) + (17 + 7) + (14 - 3)

The President can no longer remember how he had come up with this encryption technique, so he has handed his Cheat Sheet over to you, his top code-breaker.

Can you decipher the password and save the world?
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Jack_Ian]

[Suspence]

If you do the math in each set of parentheses, you should at least find something interesting.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Zag]

I had started that, but didn't see anything in the first few. Also, mathematically, it doesn't make any difference, so I felt silly doing it. Well, here goes:


38 + 6 + 1 + 43 + 13 + 29 + 25
21 + 40 + 42 + 14 + 20 + 9 + 35 + 3
2 + 34 + 27 + 22 + 30 + 17
10 + 23 + 37 + 15 + 39+ 33
41 + 7 + 28 + 8 + 31 + 16 + 19 + 12 + 4
18 + 26 + 36 + 32 + 5 + 34 + 11

GF + JQA + GW + GWB + MF + WH + WM
CA + RR + WC + FP + JG + WH + JFK + JM


I don't see anything in those in the first two lines, so I'm not going to continue. Possibly, though, we still need to use the different parts in parentheses? Maybe the second one is an index into the name? I don't have time to try it now.

[Quailman]

Perhaps there are six categories into which these guys fit. All are accounted for. It can't be home states, birth months or astrological signs. It isn't political parties. hmmm...

[Suspence]

If only Zag had more time.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Oscar]

So it's rocket appropriately

[Suspence]

ROCKET is correct. Figured it worked out well to have the forgotten password be embarrassingly simple.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Oscar]

Another excellent puzzle, Suspence.

Out of interest, are you working through a backlog, or is this throughput of puzzles par for the course? Personally I hope it's the latter

[Suspence]

Thanks for the kind words. It's pretty much my normal output when the mood strikes. The Microsoft Puzzle Hunt has inspired many puzzle ideas for me.

I also have a currently unsolved puzzle the the Return of the Quickies thread that hasn't gained any traction yet.

The sad thing is that I've got about 60 or so puzzles in my URL changing puzzle that have never seen the light of day, though I've tried to incorporate some of those ideas into my recent puzzles here.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Suspence]

Congratulations, you have successfully armed the AWARDS system and (most likely) saved the world.

Of course, AWARDS is brand-spanking-new and just to be safe, the President would fly to his top-secret underground bunker and take cover. To scramble Air Force One and set this plan in motion, the President need only to recall his password for the Bunker Retreat Activation System (BRAS).

Alas, the President can no longer recall his password for BRAS, though he does remember chuckling at both the BRAS acronym and the password he chose for it. Once again, he pulls out his Cheat Sheet and hands it to you.

The Cheat Sheet shows only a world map with stars placed on the following 5 locations:

Florence, South Carolina
Orenburg, Russia
Ciampino, Italy
Tucuman, Argentina
Espiritu Santo, Vanautu

Can you decipher the password that will allow the President to get to safety?
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Zag]

[Scurra]

[Suspence]

No doubt the BRAS program was originally created by Clinton.

Spoiler for the last one: The second number in each parentheses provided an index to the last name of the President suggested by the math. These letters spell out the Secret Service codenames for six Presidents. Convert the codenames to last names of the Presidents, the first letters will spell out ROCKET.

[Suspence]

Bump and minor edit (edited in previous post as well, so as not to be totally obvious):

Congratulations, you have successfully armed the AWARDS system and (most likely) saved the world.

Of course, AWARDS is brand-spanking-new and just to be safe, the President would fly to his top-secret underground bunker and take cover. To scramble Air Force One and set this plan in motion, the President need only to recall his password for the Bunker Retreat Activation System (BRAS).

Alas, the President can no longer recall his password for BRAS, though he does remember chuckling at both the BRAS acronym and the password he chose for it. Once again, he pulls out his Cheat Sheet and hands it to you.

The Cheat Sheet shows only a world map with stars placed on the following 5 locations:

Florence, South Carolina
Orenburg, Russia
Ciampino, Italy
Tucuman, Argentina
Espiritu Santo, Vanautu

Can you decipher the password that will allow the President to get to safety?
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Oscar]

I can only apologise for guessing that the password is FLATUS

[Suspence]

Correct, excellent work!
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[referee]

How about some explanation for the utterly confused?
_________________
Jan 21st, 2008: The pillaging continues.
Mar 4th, 2008: Rest in Peace, Gary Gygax. May your dice always roll a natural 20 wherever you are.

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[Suspence]

For the last one, use airport codes:

Florence, South Carolina - FLO
Orenburg, Russia - REN
Ciampino, Italy - CIA
Tucuman, Argentina - TUC
Espiritu Santo, Vanautu - SON

That gives you FLORENCIA and TUCSON. Those airport codes make FLATUS.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.