IT endures

[IT 4]

I concede the point, Laramie. A couple of questions were ambiguous, and at least one was arguable. Tweaks and corrections have hopefully improved it...

[This message has been edited by IT 4 (edited 11-23-2003 12:10 PM).]

[Laramie]

I hesitated to even ask because ambiguity is often a good thing in a puzzle. I have no complaints at all thus far-- I rather like this kind of puzzle.

[Lucky Wizard]

32 has been changed, and 35 has been changed again. Originally 32 was about the epicenter of some cultural thing I can't remember now, and 35 was originally asking who wrote a certain Bible-related concordance.

Okay, [35 now asks what the gorce (force) binding the nucleus together is. There are two such forces, the strong force and the weak force. Laramie doesn't mention a concordance-writer named Weak, so we can assume that the answer is Strong.

Oh, and for 32, the typo now says nehghborhood (neighborhood). It may be worth noting that, in the original #32, I became H in "epicenter", like now. And in the original #35, F became G in "of", like now.]

[Laramie]

In the interests of group solving (i.e., since I don't appear to be capable of solving this on my own), here are my thoughts.

Assuming that the HGWZ... sequence is a simple substitution cryptogram, it is a difficult one. No trigraphs appear twice and only two digraphs appear twice (GY and SR). There is only one double letter (GG). If the word "the" appears, it is likely to be SCG or SRG. It does not appear that spaces have been coded into letters (if so, there would have to be a word at least 13 letters in length), so it appears that spaces have been removed. I find no clues in the flavor text that appear to be helpful. I spent a few unfruitful hours trying to solve it, but I did not looked into more sophisticated ciphers because the text is so short (which would make solving it difficult if not impossible).

Is anyone else still working on this?

[Foggy]

It seems like certain answers consecutively refer to places that these folks visited, e.g.

[
17-20 refer to "U.S. One Southern Terminus", which appears to be Key West, FL. 34-36 appears to refer to "Cochise Stronghold", which is near the Dragoon Mountains in Arizona. Beyond that, while there are numerous directions and numbers, as well as other explicit pitstops (Four Corners, Bozeman Trail), I'm at a loss.
]

[ZutAlors!]

After some intensive Googling (Sorry IT!), I believe 3 is Monica Lewinsky ("Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" is in Whitman's Leaves of Grass, given to Lewinsky by the Prez). That would give:

1 9th Avenue
2 Santa Maria
3 Monica Lewinsky
4 South Carolina
5 Beyond Good and Evil
6 Marina Sirtis
7 Vice Versa
8 Port Authority
9 Thomas Jefferson
10 Catch 22
11 Ferry across the Mersey
12 Go
13 Southwest
14 Four Corners
15 60 Minutes
16 Harper Valley PTA
17 Gary U.S. Bonds
18 Capricorn One
19 Southern Man
20 Terminus
21 If They Mated
22 Bozeman Trail
23 West Point
24 Belgrade (or perhaps Podgorica)
25 One
26 One Hour Photo
27 South Pacific
28 Mince
29 Susan Minot
30 8 Mile Road
31 8 Miles High
32 Harlem
33 Throw Mama from the Train
34 Cochise
35 Strong
36 Hold Me Now
37 Misty Mountains
38 Well Done

So there's a "Santa Monica" in two and three...Avenue [in] Santa Monica, South Beyond Marina? Looking at a map of Santa Monica, it could be the Vista Del Mar, but that's pretty obscure, I think.

[Tahnan]

Hmmm. Perhaps 34-47 is "Cochise Stronghold mountains," and 38 is simply "Done." (I don't see Google hits for "Misty Well.")

But then, what's "Mince"? There's no South Mince, Pacific Mince, Mince Susan, or Mince Minot.

[ZutAlors!]

Yeah, I was wondering that too. "Minot" is a city in ND, but how does mince connect?

On another note, "Port Jefferson Catch Ferry Go Southwest 4 Minutes" seems like a sensible set of directions that lead approximately to Fairfield Connecticut. However, that's somwhat ambiguous, and it unfortunately leads to a gap of only one line between it and the Santa Monica clue (if that's right) as well as it and the Key West clue (which is almost certainly right).

[eta]: Now that I think about it, though, maybe that makes sense. "vice versa" is probably an instruction to be applied to "vista del mar" (if that's correct) to reverse the letters. "mince" is probably another instruction, as is "mated" (applied to key west and the subsequent location). Not sure about "valley" though.

[This message has been edited by ZutAlors! (edited 11-25-2003 01:00 PM).]

[Laramie]

I think #32 should be "Lower East Side" instead of "Harlem" (IT changed the clue). I was thinking the following.

<9th Avenue>
Santa Monica South Beyond Marina: LAX airport
<Vice Versa>
Port Jefferson Catch Ferry Go Southwest Four Minutes: La Guardia airport
<Harper Valley PTA>
U.S. One Southern Terminus: Key West, FL
<If They Mated>
Bozeman West Belgrade One Hour South: Yellowstone
<Mince>
Minot 8 Miles East: Surrey, ND
<Throw Mama from the Train>
Cochise Strong Hold Mountains: Dragoon
<Well Done>

[Laramie]

Random thoughts:

I had a hunch that airport codes might be important, but I'm not getting very far with that. The codes are

Los Angeles: LAX
La Guardia: LGA
Key West: EYW
Yellowstone: WYS
Minot: MOT (airport is a few miles northeast of Minot...doesn't seem to fit our clue).
Dragoon (closest airport is Tucson, TUS...again doesn't seem to fit)

My best so far: If we take the 9th letter of Los Angeles, tack on the "vice versa" of LGA and the airport code for Key West, we get EAGLEYW-- a bit of a stretch I know.

My initial thought was that the separating clues might describe transportation modes (PTA=public transportation authority (buses), Train). Perhaps there's something there.

Still no luck on the cryptogram (if it is one).

[Foggy]

Question: Given that the instructions for the second stop state "Port Jefferson, catch ferry"...wouldn't that put us in Bridgeport, CT? That's not 4 minutes away from La Guardia.

About 4 minutes SW of Bridgeport, CT is nothing overly famous...Captain's Cove...the Arena at Harbor Yard maybe, but nothing famous.

[Laramie]

I thought about that too-- I'm not at all sure what is meant by "minutes." It could be a latitude-longitude reference, for example. I went with La Guardia because I was still working on the airport theme. I've just about given up on that though.

[IT 4]

It's a road trip -- none of your destinations are airports.

[ZutAlors!]

OK then, how about this:

<9th Avenue>
Santa Monica South Beyond Marina: Vista Del Mar? Playa del Rey?
<Vice Versa>
Port Jefferson Catch Ferry Go Southwest Four Minutes: Fairfield CT
<Harper Valley PTA>
U.S. One Southern Terminus: Key West, FL
<If They Mated>
Bozeman West Belgrade One Hour South: Yellowstone
<Mince>
Minot 8 Miles East: Surrey, ND
<Throw Mama from the Train>
Cochise Strong Hold Mountains: Dragoon
<Well Done>

Guesses:
1. Start with 9th letter of "Vista Del Mar" ( = MAR)
2. Reverse it ( = RAM)
3. Do somethingsomething mumblemumble with Fairfield and PTA (public transit, maybe?)
5. Mate Key West and Yellowstone ( = EST)
6. Mince it up ( = STE? SET?)
7. Add Surrey
8. Get rid of some letters? MOM?
9. Tack on Dragoon.

[IT 4]

Zut!,
You can be my navigator any time, but remind me never to let you drive in the mountains. You're a speed demon!

[Laramie]

Thoughts:

I've been mating Key West and Yellowstone to get keystone.

I've given up on the "cryptogram" entirely. There's just not enough letters to get there without a hint of some sort. I'm now working on the hypothesis that the clues give us a 26 letter sequence (with "k e y s t o n e" in the middle, for example). The "cryptogram" would then refer to those letters.

[ralphmerridew]

It's unlikely since he said this is a car trip, but could 'minutes' refer, not to time, but latitude & longitude?

[Laramie]

I've thought about that (see reply 92), but discarded it because minutes between lines of latitude differ in length from those along lines of longitude. For latitude, a minute is one nautical miles. For longitude, it varies depending on your distance from the equator. In any case, a minute is close to a mile, so we might as well think of it as four miles.

[Laramie]

Presumably IT's post is a clue. If Zut is traveling too fast, perhaps Fairfield, CT is too far from Bridgeport. maps.yahoo.com lists Black Rock, CT as being a 2 minute drive from Bridgeport and Grover Hill, CT as being a 6 minute drive. I don't see anything of interest in between those towns.

IT also mentions driving in the mountains, so perhaps one hour south of Belgrade doesn't get us to Yellowstone. maps.yahoo.com shows Big Sky, MT as 1 hour and 10 minutes from Belgrade, so Yellowstone is probably a lot more than an hour. Big Sky seems to be a better guess at this point.

[IT 4]

Here's a pair of rotten hints for anyone who wants one.
If you don't want a hint, don't decrypt, sheesh.

2) DRO COFOX BOCD CDYZC KBO XYD MBIZDSM MVEOC.
1) COD DROW KCSNO KXN GYBU GSDR DRO CSH NOCDSXKDSYXC.

[Laramie]

Thanks, IT.

Probably just a coincidence, but ..

The six destinations Vista Del Mar, Fairfield, Key West, Big Sky, Surrey, and Dragoon use 19 letters of the alphabet. This is the same number of letters used in the "cryptogram."

[IT 4]

Well, Laramie, since this puzzle has failed to inspire further collaborative effort, here's another pair of hints for you:

2) DRO PSBCD NOCDSXKDSYX VSCDON KLYFO SC SXMYBBOMD.
1) S RKFO KNNON K COXDOXMO DY DRO ZEJJVO'C SXDBY DOHD KC DRO XOHD RSXD.

[ZutAlors!]

IT's hints are:
2) THE FIRST DESTINATION LISTED ABOVE IS INCORRECT.
1) I HAVE ADDED A SENTENCE TO THE PUZZLE'S INTRO TEXT AS THE NEXT HINT.
2) THE SEVEN REST STOPS ARE NOT CRYPTIC CLUES.
1) SET THEM ASIDE AND WORK WITH THE SIX DESTINATIONS.

And, looking at the first hint:
I'm still pretty sure "Santa Monica south beyond marina" is correct. Looking at a map, this could be Vista del Mar, Playa del Rey, LAX, W. Jefferson Boulevard, Del Rey Lagoon Park, Bellona Creek, Lincoln Blvd, Westchester Recreation Center, or, less probably, El Segundo, or Dockweiler Beach State park. The most obvious to me seem to be the first three, but IT has already discounted those. Other than that, nothing's jumping out at me.

[This message has been edited by ZutAlors! (edited 12-08-2003 07:45 AM).]

[Laramie]

I should have seen it long ago. *slaps head repeatedly* No solution yet, but I now see what we're supposed to do. (Although one part is still unclear to me).

Incidentally, the correct answer for the first one is Playa del Rey.

[This message has been edited by Laramie (edited 12-11-2003 01:42 PM).]

[Laramie]

Hmmm... I finished the decoding and think I know the "answer," but the obvious passwords don't work. Too bad I have work to do...

For anyone still working on it, the puzzle is quite fair (at least to this point). We should have figured it out long ago.

[Laramie]

I'm stumped again... In the interests of group solving, progressive steps/hints are listed below.

#1: Use the first syllables of the 6 answers
#2: This gives Playfair key "big sur drag"
#3: "Big sur drag" is the "pacific coast highway," which is the keyword for the playfair cipher taken from the typos in the original post"
#4: Decoding gives "the road you seek winds through seven states"
#5: This is likely the Mother Road (Route 66). Presumably, we need to apply the seven rest stops to "Mother Road" to get the password. No luck on that yet.



[This message has been edited by Laramie (edited 12-12-2003 10:18 AM).]

[Foggy]

Just a thought: [If the Mother Road goes through seven states, and there are seven rest stops, perhaps they match up somehow. If that's the case, then well done may indicate the state that's the password.]

[Foggy]

Just a quick note: most of the reference material I can find states that [the Mother Road cuts through 8, not 7 states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California]

[Celt]

Not being a native American I'm way out of my depth with this one but a quick google relating to a road going through seven states pointed to this.
P.S. Do you have to live on a reservation to be a "native American" or is it enough to be born on the continent of America and would that include Canadians and Cubans? My head hurts

[Laramie]

My source was http://www.geocaching.com/track/track_detail.asp?ID=31027 , which might very well be wrong. I'm definitely stumped on it. I can envision reasonable interpretations of the last 6 rest stops, but don't know what to make of 9th Avenue.

[Laramie]

I found quite a few sites that list 7 states for Route 66, but then found a map that clearly shows it going through 8 (http://travel.lycos.com/roadtrips/rtrips_map.asp?itemid=507). Perhaps people miss Kansas because it barely catches the southeast corner.

Either IT made the same mistake or we're looking for something else.

[mikeamok]

Route 66 seems likely correct. like you said, Kansas doesn't really "count" and, for what it's worth, even the song "Route 66" mentions all the states but Kansas.

[IT 4]

Final December hint!
Before you travel too far down Route 66, I would suggest you
[pull over and question your literal reading of the final clue].

[Laramie]

The last clue is

38. How do you describe a burger cooked to a temperature of 170 Fahrenueit?

I suppose "clue" might be interpreted as "hint," which directs us to

SET THEM ASIDE AND WORK WITH THE SIX DESTINATIONS.

[mikeamok]

or he might mean ["the road you seek winds through seven states"], in which case we perhaps shouldn't be looking for an actual road.

...or actual states? *shrug*

[This message has been edited by mikeamok (edited 12-19-2003 04:24 PM).]

[Laramie]

What's scary, of course, is the phrase "final December hint." A cynic would read that to imply that IT expects to have to give us more hint(s) in January.

One thought is the seven states of consciousness (from transcendental meditation):

hunger
subjection
fear
emotion and intellect
reason and logic
divine and human reasoning
cosmic consciousness

Another site lists them as

Waking
Dreaming (REM sleep)
Dreamless Sleep (non- REM)
Transcendental Consciousness (TC)
Cosmic Consciousness (CC)
Glorified State of Cosmic Consciousness (GC)
Unified State of Cosmic Consciousness (UC)




[This message has been edited by Laramie (edited 12-19-2003 06:32 PM).]

[IT 4]

All my "hints" only confuse the issue, rather than nudging you in the right direction.
I am clearly a lousy hinter. So let's forget that last hint.

Permit me to be clearer:
As the GL quickly figured out, the meat of this puzzle involved plucking one word from the answer to each trivia question. EACH trivia question. Most of these plucked words proved to be parts to route instructions leading to six destinations; those destinations in turn combined to hint at a keyword that decrypted a final clue. However, there were seven trivia answers (so-called "rest stops") that didn't fit in with the others...

[Foggy]

What IT 4 may be suggesting is that we should take one word from each of the rest stops as well...although I'm not sure what Ninth Vice Harper If Mince Throw Well would yield (the first six suggest Nevada, Hawaii, Montana)

Another thought on IT 4's last "lousy" hint was that the last sentence of the introduction is vital, and it's something we haven't determined yet...namely, how does on get home? Where is home?

[Laramie]

Nevada, Hawaii, Montana? You lost me there.

[Foggy]

Ninth Vice starts with NV, etc.