Sage Advice

[Suspence]

Seeing that I am new to the GL, I was looking for some advice on how to look at puzzles so as to solve them. One day while continuing my search for wisdom atop a mountain, I ran across a Puzzle Sage and told him of my quest. He handed me a sealed envelope and told me that its contents would help me see things more clearly. I ran home excitedly and opened the envelope to find the following letter:
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Apqebrcncfs to uhg miod dsh pf gqut kjpet.
Vikqcu ilwjju evk wkfx ylly grsmhw zr bn;
sx amoz rpmbnqy iyr, stz jtuskz cu ct;
va doua lbv, mtf gw uxe nvweoc fy dx;
zd gpyd pez vah, qwh cai rxybsf jb ec.
Gnhqkld lc ton px umn mrdve dvwfx qy nsq xrzh owy'a oxbl.
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Great!!! How's that supposed to help me? I guess it's up to you guys to help me out. What is the Puzzle Sage trying to tell me?

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature

[This message has been edited by Suspence13 (edited 12-29-2001 11:19 AM).]

[Ghost Post]

Observations:
This is not a simple letter substitution although may be within each line.
The first two words and the last four words of lines 3, 4 & 5 appear to be the same, rotated between 1 and 6 characters between each line (with 1 exception)
The last three words of line 2 also fit the pattern.

Can't see much more at the moment but still looking.

[Neo]

Agree with Archie for the most part. I just spent entirely to much time trying to decode the whole thing, then each individual line and didn't get much. Maybe it's a letter sub prob and it's also backwards? Might be something to look into.

There is an apostrophe in the 11th word of the last line. That should help a little if it's letter sub.

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I know you're real proud of this world you've built, the way it works, all the nice little rules and such, but I've got some bad news. I've decided to make a few changes.

[Suspence]

Phew... I was pretty positive that someone was gonna solve this puzzle on the first post. I've at least made it past that. I can't see it taking too long though. It's not all that tough...

[Suspence]

Did everyone give up already??? (Thinking) Maybe if I post again and this topic goes to the top of the list, more people will take a look at it...

[Neo]

I'm still work on it. Just have nothin new to report yet

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I know you're real proud of this world you've built, the way it works, all the nice little rules and such, but I've got some bad news. I've decided to make a few changes.

[Suspence]

Still nothing? Man...

[Neo]

I've got it! The gist of the message is "This message says nothing important, it was just a test to see how much time you'd waste on it."

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I know you're real proud of this world you've built, the way it works, all the nice little rules and such, but I've got some bad news. I've decided to make a few changes.

[Suspence]

Nope!!!! Not even close? Do you want the answer or are you gonna keep working on it???

[Suspence]

Or.... I could give you a hint. Let me know.

[Neo]

Alright.....yes.....a hint...please.....

[Suspence]

Alrighty then! 3 hints:

1. The Puzzle Sage's wisdom is not his own. It's actually a quote from another source.

2. The second word in the solved quotation is "to".

3. The word with the apostrophe is not a contraction.

That might be too much, it might be not enough...Let me know if you need more.

[Son of Waj]

Maybe a Vigenere split up into fake words? (Wild wild guess)

[Suspence]

What's a Vigenere?? I don't think it's one of those...seeing as I've never heard of it. It's strikingly simple, especially with the clues. I'm highly suprised that noone has gotten it yet. Keep working on it. If you need another clue, just say the word...

[Suspence]

Everyone should've already figured this puzzle out by now. I don't think that this puzzle is all that difficult. Take a really good look at all of the clues and think about it! I already told you that the second word of the solution, "to", is not even going to change. That should be a major hint! ArchieOwl was on the right track when he said that lines 2,3,4, and 5 appear to have the same ending. The apostrophe is also an excellent hint, especially since you know that it's not a contraction. You will be able to figure this puzzle out without a wasting a whole lot of time, energy, and trouble, unless you are thinking way too hard. Remember, this puzzle is really very very simple!!!!!

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature

[Suspence]

By the way, I'v already posted 2 more clues to this puzzle. One is currently the last post in the Cryptic Crossword thread. So you don't have to go there, here is the clue:

Discourses on Homer's Oddysey and some statues. (9)

If you figure that one out, it will lead you to the answer to this one, and then you'll have figured 2 threads out at once. The other clue is hidden somewhere, too. It shouldn't be too hard to find. I'm also gonna post in the Cryptic Crossword Thread and tell anyone trying to solve that problem that they might want to read this puzzle for some help. Good luck!!!


(The edit was just to correct a typo. I hate those!!! Nothing pertaining to the solution was changed.)
(Another one!!! Sheesh!!)
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature



[This message has been edited by Suspence13 (edited 01-21-2002 07:35 PM).]

[Neo]

To lazy and tired to work right now, but 's a good puzzel so *bump*

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I know you're real proud of this world you've built, the way it works, all the nice little rules and such, but I've got some bad news. I've decided to make a few changes.

[Suspence]

You are my only hope, Neo. I think you are the only one trying to solve this one.

[Neo]

When I have the time, I have been working on it. I still have to investigate the hints you've put up. Tell you what, I should finish my INF speech for forensics tonight, I'll work on it more then.

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This message brought to you by the Headmaster of The Duct-Taped Gerbil Rehabilitation Association of North America (DTGRANA)

[Marvin]

It's not a variant of Autokey 'cos the 'to' wouldn't encrypt to 'to'.
It's not rotating each word by a different amount, 'cos the first word can't be rotated to anything meaningful.
Vigenere uses a fixed length key, say 6 letters long, that is applied repeatedly to the plaintext. The first line doesn't use vigenere with a short key (< 9 letters), and it wouldn't be longer than that with such a short message.
It's not simple transposition, too many q's , z's etc for that.
I doubt it's something like taking every other letter, either (the 'to' kind of messes that up)

[This message has been edited by Marvin (edited 01-23-2002 12:49 PM).]

[Neo]

*BUMP* sorry, got swamped, still working some, have no fear!

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This message brought to you by the Headmaster of The Duct-Taped Gerbil Rehabilitation Association of North America (DTGRANA)

[Macaco Do Cavalo]

Well it means that No matter waht a puzzle is always going to be hard to figure out. And there is never and easy solution.

[Neo]

*sniffs* I'm sorry, but I must declare this a stumper and give up. It's been a great puzzle, and if nobody is working on it, I'd like to see the solution.

[Suspence]

I will post the solution on Thursday, Jan 31st at around 10 o'clock Eastern Standard time, unless anyone still working on this puzzle has any objections. If you don't want me to post a solution, speak now or forever hold your peace. If you want an extension, or an additional clue, just say the word before then.

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature

[Antrax]

You could just post the solution with invisible tags...
Antrax

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I was handcuffed by an evil goth limey chick in a really cheesy motel room, and now she's engaged to the labboy.

[Suspence]

I could...if I knew how to do that, but I don't. If you wanna explain it to me, I'd be happy to try it.

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature

[ralphmerridew]

If you want invisible text, like this, just do

[INVISIBLE ]text to be invised out[/INVISIBLE ] without the space. Or just edit the post of somebody who has invisible text to see how its done.

[Suspence]

Oops, busy day today...sorry. I'll will post an invisible solution tomorrow. No one wants more hints???

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature

[Suspence]

Here is the invisible solution:

"Appearances to the mind are of four kinds.
Things either are what they appear to be;
or they neither are, nor appear to be;
or they are, and do not appear to be;
or they are not, yet appear to be.
Rightly to aim in all these cases is the wise man's task."

This is a quote by Epictetus from Discourses (Chapter xxvii)

The key to the code is that the first time a letter appears, it appears as itself. The next time it appears, it appears as the following letter in the alphabet. For instance, the first "A" in the word "Appearances" stays an "A", but the second occurence of the letter "a" in the word becomes "b" instead.

The cryptic clue was:
"Discourses on Homer's Odyssey and some statues. (9)"
I gave you the name of the source work right in the clue. Also, the Odyssey is an "epic" poem, and with the right "peices" of the word "statue", you could come up with the author, Epictetus.

The other clue I left could have been found by accident, but I guess it wasn't. You should be able to resize your window so that in Post 14 , the first letters of each line spell out the word "Epictetus".


There you have it...

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature



[This message has been edited by Suspence13 (edited 02-02-2002 08:17 AM).]

[Neo]

Ahhh i see it now! Good puzzle!

[Marvin]

Encrypting the plaintext gives you only one cipher text, but the encrypted text can be deciphered more than one way following the rules to get to the plaintext.
In other words, the mapping between ciphertext and plaintext is not one-to-one.
Eg (I think) apqeaqancfq would also encipher to apqebrcncfs.
I could be wrong though.

[Suspence]

I am not smart enough to know what in the world Marvin meant, but I figure it breaks down to the idea that deciphering this code would've been very difficult. I was wondering how someone would go about it myself. Basically, I figured that the "to" hint would make people go through the puzzle and realize that some letters would remain the same. All you had to do was figure out what made "to" unique, and then do some trial and error guessing as to whether each letter is making it's first appearance, therefore representing itself, or if it is just the next letter in the sequence of another letter. Though it was difficult, I believe it was entirely possible. By the way, you now have the solution to the Cryptic Crossword thread, in case anyone is interested.

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature