Discuss The Alchemist here

[Lepton]

Puzzle Link

[The Cruciverbalist]

~chirping crickets~

No takers?

Anyone?

Should I give a hint?

[Kd]

Oh, come on. Even an ex-EuroTrash loser is getting a little worried about the lack of input in this thread, that has to be bad.

[Tumbleweed]

~rolls by~

[Magnetic]

Well, just stumbling upon this one...

first thing i notice is that there are 36 number pairs and each one ends in 37.

second thing is that if you divide the first number of each set into the second (ex. 11/37), the answer is a repeating decimal (.297297297...) which repeats a triplet. the four distinct triplets are:

081, 135, 162, and 297

the full sequence would be:

code:

---

297


081


081


162


297


081


162


081


297


297


081


081


162


081


162


135


297


135


162


135


162


162


135


162


162


162


162


162


135


081


162


297


162


297


135


297

---

any ideas from there?

[The Cruciverbalist]

'Fraid not. Since 37's a factor of 999, dividing anything by 37 will get you a repeating decimal.

Hint: Like the flavortext suggests, the solution has had three codes applied to it. You'll want to start off using the code that requires good eyesight. How might you express these times visually?

[groza528]

well, I had a thought that each ratio might represent a morse code symbol. There are four, so they could be a dot, dash, letter break and word break, but those 5 6s in a row don't work too well. Unless it's a number.

[groza528]

Oh wait, I have an idea
A really good idea, based on CV's hint

[groza528]

Replacing the times with Semaphore letters, as per Paladin's GL clocks puzzle, yields the following pattern:
I M M A I M A M I I M M A M A N I N A N A A N A A A A A N M A I A I N I
I had hoped they'd all be between A and G, so I could plunk them out on a keyboard

[groza528]

I tried playing it out on the telephone, but didn't recognize it

[This message has been edited by groza528 (edited 07-28-2003 03:01 PM).]

[Lepton]

You're on the right path, and I couldn't possibly stress enough how important that single line of flavourtext is. But you already know that, of course.

[referee]

Interesting. Morse code:

code:

---

A ·-


I ··


M --


N -.


 


 


I M M A I M A M I I M M A M A N I N A N A A N A A A A A N M A I A I N I


··----·-··--·---····----·---·--···-··--··-·--··-·-·-·-·--·--·-···-··-···

---

Can anyone make sense of this? [edit] added code tags for improved readability

[This message has been edited by referee (edited 07-28-2003 11:25 PM).]

[referee]

OK, as groza suggested, the touching part would be braille code. So we now proceed to take the series into sextets and proceed to translate to braille.

··---- / ·-··-- / ·---·· / ··---- / ·---·- / -···-· / ·--··- / ·--··- / ·-·-·- / ·--·-- / ·-···- / ··-···

now, Braille numbers its dots this way

1 4
2 5
3 6

so we got

code:

---

*    **   *    *    *     *   **   **   *    **   **   **


*          *   *     *   *     *    *    *         *   **


     *     *             **             *         *     *

---

Sadly, this won't make sense in braille, so maybe we must order the dots and dashes differently. I hand the baton to groza now.

[groza528]

The next puzzle is, why is there a website about learning Braille?

[groza528]

I have two thoughts about how to order it. First, just going letter by letter, row by row.

code:

---

** *  *  ** *   * *  *  *  *  *  **


   **          **  *  * *   * **  *


      **    *   * *  *  *     *  **

---

That worked, so I didn't have to try the other one
The answer is Chuck Woolery

[Lepton]

Well done Groza and Referee. This was one of the harder puzzles in the minihunt, I believe.

I was advised to give credit where it is due, so congratulations most of all to The Cruciverbalist for these wonderful puzzles.

[Magnetic]

Well, let's not forget to give some credit to that poster who was SO way off track so as to inspire the hint which lead to the solution.

I'm sure that was said poster's strategy all along.

[Strong Bad]

You guys are all losers.

[Strong Bad]

I mean seriously. Is this all you people do?!?

[Weak Bad]

I think lurkers who insult people anonymously are losers.

[Strong Bad]

So I Guess You Must Be A Loser, Correct?

[Strong Bad]

Anonymously? Check me out at http://www.homestarrunner.com. I seriously recommend checking out the Strong Bad Emails.

[The Cheat]

Like that other puzzle, I believe that this is that semaphore solution all over again. I don't know Semaphore so if anyone does tell everybody that that may be on the right track, just like relieveess-whatever answer to morse code.

[Degenerate Operator]

I think that the lead-in to the puzzle was wrongly worded. "[I performed] Transformations, transmutations, and so on [on this scroll]. They’re all very difficult to perform; one must have excellent senses of sight, hearing and touch. In that order.”

So he performed a sight transformation, then hearing, then touch. So to decode it, shouldn't we have to first decode it using touch, then hearing, then sight?

[mathgrant]

He's describing how to decode it.

[Lepton]

Just to turn off that light bulb.

[The Cheat]

I agree