The Grey Labyrinth is a collection of puzzles, riddles, mind games, paradoxes and other intellectually challenging diversions. Related topics: puzzle games, logic puzzles, lateral thinking puzzles, philosophy, mind benders, brain teasers, word problems, conundrums, 3d puzzles, spatial reasoning, intelligence tests, mathematical diversions, paradoxes, physics problems, reasoning, math, science.

On Anon · Daedalian Member

After making some mistakes, I thought the clue had read
NEW KEYBOARD ORDER STAAT-ATTOX
but after heavy research into the German pharmaceutical industry, I think
NEW KEYBOARD ORDER START AT TOP
is probably better.

ZutAlors! · Daedalian Member

Ah.

I suppose it's significant that there are exactly 26 different lyrics, eh?

Celt · still thinking

Well the German one (i.e. "Nein auch im Winter wenn es schneit") is [O Tannenbaum] and I suspect the "new keyboard order" is [Dvorak] although that's probably a little presumptuous of me so early in the puzzle.

mikegoo · Daedalian Member

"She was pure like..." is ["Centerfold"- J Giels Band]

GH · Daedalian Member

So we think that [each of the lyrics keys a single letter (Nothing Compares to U, Johnny B Goode, Springsteen and the E Street Band, O Tannenbaum, J Geils Band, etc.)], right? Then what do we plan to do with them once we have them?

[This message has been edited by GH (edited 01-07-2004 01:17 PM).]

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

Very cute. (I had to Google a lot, of course; most of this is far, far outside my music experience.)

--Tahnan

Jangler · Daedalian Member

No shame there. In creating it, I could only find 19 suitable songs/bands without websearching, and even on those, I had to google for some of the lyrics.

Laramie · Daedalian Member

*bump* I seem to recall Tahnan mentioning a "germ" of a puzzle a while back. I take it he got sick from the germ and has been unable to post it.

On Anon · Daedalian Member

"Bump, Bump, Bump"
(feat. P. Diddy)

[p diddy:]
We sending this out to all the ladies all over the world / All the ladies all over the world / All my sexy mamas come on / Come on a come on now / As we proceed to give you what you need / You kno i like it when your body goes

[b2k:]
Bump bump bump

[p diddy:]
Bad boy, b2k, yo o, talk to em player

[omari:]
I like your lil sexy style / I love it when you getting wil' (uh, i see you) / Girl in the club wit me / (come over her let me talk to you for a minute, yeah / I wanna tell you something) / Girl you need to be in magazines / Wit a crown on your head cause you's a ghetto queen / Like bling bling bling (uh come on, you fine girl) / The way you shakin that sexy (oh) / Body
Shaped like an hour glass (ow) / Can we spend some time / (yeah, lets do it ya'll) / I wanna get you to myself / You and me and nobody else / Yo do the things we do / Baby there is something that i need from you / (uh, come on, check it out)

[chorus]
Baby turn around, / And let me see that sexy body go / Bump bump bump (yeah) / That is all i want to see, / Baby show me (come on) / Baby turn around, / And let me see that sexy body go (yeah) / Bump bump bump / The way you throwin that thing at me (uh yeah) / I can take it

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

A Difficult Task

ED: So let me get this straight...I needed you to contribute a puzzle, and this is what you have?

PW: Um, yeah...I really like Vigenere ciphers.

ED: Well, yes, but they're really difficult to solve...and this..

PW: Well, it's easy...the list of 13 items below are 12 different related things, each encoded using a different key. But the 12 keys are related too. And the 13th item is the category of the plaintext items, encoded using the category of the keys.

ED: It would take somebody months to labor through all these items. I mean, come on. How bout we just shoot for fun? [pause] Hey, there are 14 items in your list.

PW: Oh yeah, the 14th item is what you wanted the final answer to be. I encoded it using itself as a key. Only by figuring out the other 13 items can you figure out which one is the unrelated item.

ED: No...that's not true at all.

CBP AAYEYW VFJU
CHR EEIWWEVUN JRJG
FHC NEJF OD TINBOJKTY
FHV GYKMRPATIRP IAAI
GVZ RQNIRA ZDSZ
HJX QBXKZG HT HIIMQG
KOEIIKWOCOK
LLT ZSXEIE STEEIE PJ KZI WXWBFVZVIH
LYEFNLHW
TBK HWFEUT BQWRU
TWV ULRTJ WQ DXFUPDTJ
WLG EGHIRQW VENMIJ
XOOHYK AT UXYUGZRL
YLF JNYDNMEMZUN SGWHT

[This message has been edited by IT 4 (edited 03-03-2004 09:24 AM).]

The Cruciverbalist · Lucrative Britches

Got it, but I'm saving all of my puzzle ideas for the hunt. A bit advice, though: In the future, you may want to leave off the leading "the"'s. It makes these a lot easier to crack. Otherwise, a very nice puzzle!

Foggy · In the clouds

As a side note, [there is a more elegant way of solving the puzzle, as ED suggests...that's why I wasn't concerned with the difficulty of the other items]

------------------
I wasn't lying, I was writing fiction with my mouth. -- Homer Simpson

mikeamok · Daedalian Member

well, it seems to me that [any word encoded with itself as the key will only use odd letters of the alphabet. all but that one of the items uses even letters.] is this what you mean? (i didn't actually think to solve it that way.

)

Foggy · In the clouds

That is correct mikeamok.

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

That certainly makes things a lot easier

Salty

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

True--though I personally kind of liked decoding the other thirteen items. It was clever. And after all once you have one of the categories, the whole thing falls pretty quickly. (Three-letter words helped immensely, of course.)

--Tah

Foggy · In the clouds

Out of curiousity, say I hadn't left the THE's on many of the lines. Knowing you had a list of 12 items encoded using 12 different keys, what approach would you take? Would it still be solvable?

As an example:
VPGH CLLNAHOCCL
QYIGWQ COHPBID
YPLCTIQ DSOIP
HHHTRG ECFSWVZGG
JTHBGKZ EYKUBGCUBSP
JAFEP PKJBQ
ZVZRGG CTMSCX
QCAR XHBWVLRS
MGKML ZBJMRA
WCVQXT BUCTSYO

In this case, it's a finite list of 10 items, in a certain order.
The keys are the FIRST 10 items of a sequence, in order.

------------------
I wasn't lying, I was writing fiction with my mouth. -- Homer Simpson

[This message has been edited by Foggy (edited 03-05-2004 12:41 PM).]

Tahnan · Daedalian Member

Oh, by the way, there were two small errors in there: you had ["Nemean Hydra" for "Lernean Hydra"], and a misplaced space in [The Augeans Tables].

Tahnan · Daedalian Member

The approach I'd take (includes answer):

[Write a Python script that tries every word in a rather complete word list as a decryption key for one of the strings--say, YPLCTIQ, as it's the longest of the first words--and match the result of each decryption against the list to see if it's in the word list. (Program available on request.)

Ignore "SHARLENE/GILLIED" and "SHANLEY/GILPIES" in favor of the much more likely looking "WILLIAM/CHARLIE," one of which must be the (start of the) key and the other of which must be the decrypted string.

Suspect that "Charlie," being the third letter of the phonetic alphabet, is the key, the rest of which is "alpha, bravo..." Try to decrypt the rest of the third phrase using "charlie" as the key.

Laugh upon discovering that the William in question is William Blore, meaning that I'd picked at random the character I played when we performed it ten years ago.]

So it's solvable. But only by machine, I think; I suppose one could repeatedly try the first elements of a list (one? washington? the fool?) until hitting on the right key-list, but that's pretty dicey.

(Idle note: I discovered that I got even luckier in picking the one I did, since [different film adaptions changed the names quite a bit. Quincannon? Not Wargrave? But sure enough, one movie did change it...])

mikeamok · Daedalian Member

Foggy: [i guessed the sequence for the keys, after trying a few other things. actually, i thought it was a different but related sequence at first.]

heh. dicey perhaps, but it works for me.

[This message has been edited by mikeamok (edited 03-05-2004 02:10 PM).]

Foggy · In the clouds

Fair enough...Tahnan's approach has the appeal that if the strings were not in the proper order, it would still work. I had incidentally thought about an even more obscure set of 10 (and yes Tahnan, the order is from [the first movie adaptation, which not only changed a few names, but also the outcome]).

------------------
I wasn't lying, I was writing fiction with my mouth. -- Homer Simpson

Tahnan · Daedalian Member

Take the spaces out, and my program doesn't work, because it doesn't know what string it should check for wordhood. A variation might work, in which the program checks initial substrings, but there's going to be a whole lotta garbage in there from two and three letter words.

Pick a list of things that aren't on my wordlist and I've got the same problem. It isn't easy, since in this case it told me that ["Williamsburg" decoded the seven-letter string to "charlie", so even without "William" on my list it would have found a match]. In fact, I'm not even sure what list wouldn't match anything; even a list of Homestar Runner characters would let me match "Strong" as a six-letter word, or, at worst, "Marzipan."

The shorter the word, the more false positives I'd get, I suspect. (Indeed, checking even the six letter QYIGWQ instead of the seven-letter word gives me possible words like WHOOPI, ORATOR, BECALM, PERIOD, in addition the right one. Any shorter and I'd start to get buried in the possibilities.)

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

Here's a new puzzle:

Madison,Harrison,Adams,Adams,Monroe,Grant,Monroe,Pierce,Jefferson,
Monroe,Harrison,Cleveland,Truman,Fillmore,Pierce,Jackson,Van Buren,Johnson,
Jefferson,Clinton,Van Buren,Roosevelt,Taylor,Bush,Hoover,Washington,Roosevelt,
Arthur,Monroe,Reagan,McKinley,Adams,Jackson,Arthur,Ford,Lincoln

Georgia,Illinois,Pennsylvania,Nevada,West Virginia,Hawaii,Massachusetts,Florida,
Kentucky,New York,Nevada,Florida,Ohio,Washington,Georgia,Vermont,North Carolina,
Virginia,Missouri,Rhode Island,Oklahoma,Kentucky,Connecticut

Solution is my password (no caps)

[This message has been edited by IT 4 (edited 03-08-2004 01:35 AM).]

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

Got it - but I will not get a chance to make another puzzle for a while, so I will leave the password unchanged.

-Salty

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

Lucky Wizard · Daedalian Member

ZutAlors! · Daedalian Member

Zag · Unintentionally offensive old coot

M: I know that Slothrop is from a Thomas Pynchon novel. At one point, he is in a hot-air balloon throwing tarts or pies at a nearby plane. Sorry, I don't remember any more detail.

J: European falcon is probably Kestrel, or maybe Merlin

Fuldu · Daedalian Member

The final answer for D is probably AIDAN:

Assuming each row and column is length 13, D would be:

RESDENEBAIDAN

CBS offering is probably CSI, but could easily be something else.

Fuldu · Daedalian Member

I have a mostly complete grid:

code:




INKBLOTSGENES


WEEAARONSSODA


OMNIGRAB?TOWN


RISDREDCARPET


CACAOGASBESTS


ECONOMICSLITE


SORRYTRYAGAIN


TAPESNELLANNE


EXIST?DL?BMGM


RHODESJAGPITY


SODERBERGHCAP


EWAN??R?ADROI


MARE?LI?NKOBE

But the center row doesn't produce the password, so there's another step I'm missing, presumably clued at by the "odds" in the flavortext.

Foggy · In the clouds

This I believe is the completed grid

[

code:




INKBLOTSGENES


WEEAARONSSODA


OMNIGRABCTOWN


RISDREDCARPET


CACAOGASBESTS


ECONOMICSLITE


SORRYTRYAGAIN


TAPESNELLANNE


EXISTADLIBMGM


RHODESJAGPITY


SODERBERGHCAP


EWANMYRIADROI


MAREILIONKOBE

]

------------------
I wasn't lying, I was writing fiction with my mouth. -- Homer Simpson

nopants · Daedalian Member

Traditionally, you would realign the tumblers so that the first answers of each are at the top, and then read to "output" (line 7), but here the realignment only produces something (maybe) in the first row: SAD RON AS A KITE (my spacing - obviously)Cryptic clue? It does seem that "odds" will clue something.

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

really? is there a "traditional" slot machine puzzle that "traditionally" aligns in the manner nopants suggests? who knew?

when designing it, i intended an even more traditional mechanism...namely, [a nice payoff when the readout displays the winning combination...]

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

Hello. It made sense after all. Cool! I don't have a puzzle, so not IT.

Foggy · In the clouds

Bump...

I know I could use a hint...

------------------
I wasn't lying, I was writing fiction with my mouth. -- Homer Simpson

mikeamok · Daedalian Member

i hope IT doesn't mind me giving hints. i liked the solution and just want to share.

[nopants had the right idea, but a different alignment would be more productive.]

[what exactly is the puzzle asking for?]

["odds" doesn't mean anything cryptic.]

On Anon · Daedalian Member

For anyone who wants any further hints on the most recent puzzle (mine, in reply 186), just consider that [it works like a normal slot machine, and you'll get a payoff if the machine's readout hits the right set of glyphs...what might they be?]

I've been far, far away from internet access for a while, and was not present when this thread ground to a halt and IT 5 started up. I leave it to the next IT to decide which thread to continue.

[This message has been edited by On Anon (edited 04-11-2004 05:57 PM).]

On Anon · Daedalian Member

Okay, let's move things along. Here's the solution to the IT puzzle:

[Solve the grid. Then align the vertical tumblers so that one row reads the phrase given in the instructions, "THE BIG JACKPOT." By doing so, another row will read the answer, IMPROBABILITY.]
The password is unchanged, for whoever would like to post the next one.

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

Jefferson Bronze

Scholars pretend all yellow clothing is mysteriously cloaked. Malice never heeds morality. Yes, in this century, an unknown phenomenon opens Tupperware. Rainbows don’t anger us now; rainbows put aches in better inherent spirits. Yesterday, it happened. Your “buzz buzzing” yellowjackets flew east to Gettysburg. Unhinged bees came over to attack Schenectady. Over El Paso, though, fall wouldn't return. This shouldn't bend it. Heidi has an optimistic, otherworldly idea of futuristic yahoos. Bait for haddock is ribbed. Choo choo! Ask me about life. (Or not.) Ash cleaned up around Bulbasaur and he pet Beedrill. Fusion catalysts neared completion. Been contacted yet?

IT 4 · Daedalian Member

A much quicker puzzle. Nice.

---Foggy

[This message has been edited by IT 4 (edited 04-15-2004 10:22 PM).]