Brolik's Brain Bender

[Roman]

Prize is a Large Scale. Good luck.

Hint: All up.


RRWXZVPQWVZLDHIYGDRLFJONBA

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6163/puzzle1nx.jpg

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6513/puzzle2.jpg

[rjedi]

.... *wakes up* .... *look at puzzle again* ..... *falls asleep* .... *screams 24!* .... *goes back to bed*:D;):p

[Roman]

For extra fun reconstruct the paragraph that the 1st puzzle "Turn To Me" key words were created from.

[Dexxaan]

I hate you Kongo.

I have a massive headache after only glancing at your %&%$·?/! Brain Bender.

And I have a board meeting to prepare for tonight. :mad:

[Roman]

Hint 1: Turn Up

Hint 2: This is optional. Unscamble the words from puzzle #1 into the original paragraph for a clue.

Hint 3: The answer to puzzle #1 is revealed by what remains.


There is a subtle ambiguity in puzzle #1 that could make it difficult to solve, so I am posting that part of the solution.

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/1392/puzzle1solved1.jpg

[Roman]

I'll post the next hint on Friday, February 19th.

First person to solve this before the weekend will get an additional large scale.

[Roman]

Just got a pm (Thank you for not posting any spoilers). He's very close! We might have a winner before the weekend.

[Roman]

Freebie!

The words in puzzle #1 were taken from the following paragraph. I've added more detail than what would have been originally reconstructed from puzzle #1. Some people are getting close!


In 1792 this person bid under a pseudonym to become the architect that would be selected to design the White House. He was unsuccessful and this fact was not discovered until after his death when the designs submitted under that pseudonym matched, exactly, a drawing from his personal notebook. Turn to one of his inventions for the answer.

[Roman]

I am VERY impressed. One person has cracked the 1st puzzle, and another (not from Sarlona) has cracked the 2nd puzzle.

I'm blown away that puzzle two was solved without any hints. Wow!

Thx for not posting any spoilers. :)

[Montrose]

I am VERY impressed. One person has cracked the 1st puzzle, and another (not from Sarlona) has cracked the 2nd puzzle.

I'm blown away that puzzle two was solved without any hints. Wow!

Thx for not posting any spoilers. :)

You realize your second puzzle has a typo, right?

Also, drop quotes are seriously easy. You need to crypto these. :-)

Anyone with 5 minutes and TEA can crack #2. As I am not on Sarlona, I won't post spoilers, but the V should be an R in column 2.

[BlackcladAngel]

Check your PMs- I have it, or do you want me to post it here? =)

[Roman]

You realize your second puzzle has a typo, right?

Also, drop quotes are seriously easy. You need to crypto these. :-)

Anyone with 5 minutes and TEA can crack #2. As I am not on Sarlona, I won't post spoilers, but the V should be an R in column 2.

Yes a couple people caught that =)


Check your PMs- I have it, or do you want me to post it here? =)

Impressive job! 2 Large Scales for you sir. Please post the answer and explain how you solved it.

You guys are way too clever, I need to make something more diabolical. And with no typos for the next one. :D

A thx to everyone for not possting any spoilers. I think the next one might require more collaboration and team work tho.

[Montrose]

Yes a couple people caught that =)



Impressive job! 2 Large Scales for you sir. Please post the answer and explain how you solved it.

You guys are way too clever, I need to make something more diabolical. And with no typos for the next one. :D

A thx to everyone for not possting any spoilers. I think the next one might require more collaboration and team work tho.

Good puzzle construction is very difficult. It's a fine line between solvable and impossible. For a first try those weren't bad at all. :-)


There are a few puzzle hunts available on the web. I think Google mirrored theirs, and I know that MS mirrored at least PH2, and possibly others.

I think you'll also find that abstract puzzles last a lot longer than language-based puzzles, mostly because the language based puzzles are very easy to crack progammatically. (TEA, for example, will utterly destoy any cryptogram, anagram, drop quote, or crossword in minutes).

Here's a few links to get you started:
PH2: http://puzzlehunt.isetv.com/
googol: http://gooooogol.com/

The team that did PH8: The Hard Way also included Mike Selniker, who does a lot of work in Games magazine and sometimes does mini hunts in that publication.

[BlackcladAngel]

Okay. The first one I figured out based on my experiences with a back-of-the-book advertisement for Hunter: the Vigil- you solved the puzzle and the remaining letters spelled out "Light in the Darkness," and I noticed that after solving the first bit it spelled "Jefferson's Wheel" then 26 characters after that. One quick google search later and I found out what that was, and tried different combinations of the 26 characters at the beginning and the 26 characters that were part of puzzle 1- to no avail. Puzzle 2 gave me problems, as I had never seen a drop-quote puzzle. I tried different configurations that got me nowhere- shuffling rows around, making anagrams, etc- until I decided to keep the collumns fixed and see where that would get me. When I was able to spell the word "warforged," I knew I was on the right track. After that, all it took was a bit of trial and error w/ the Wheel to get me the answer:

"Be nice or the Cube will eat youz"

[Roman]

Good puzzle construction is very difficult. It's a fine line between solvable and impossible. For a first try those weren't bad at all. :-)


There are a few puzzle hunts available on the web. I think Google mirrored theirs, and I know that MS mirrored at least PH2, and possibly others.

I think you'll also find that abstract puzzles last a lot longer than language-based puzzles, mostly because the language based puzzles are very easy to crack progammatically. (TEA, for example, will utterly destoy any cryptogram, anagram, drop quote, or crossword in minutes).

Here's a few links to get you started:
PH2: http://puzzlehunt.isetv.com/
googol: http://gooooogol.com/

The team that did PH8: The Hard Way also included Mike Selniker, who does a lot of work in Games magazine and sometimes does mini hunts in that publication.

Thx Montrose, I'll check those out.


Okay. The first one I figured out based on my experiences with a back-of-the-book advertisement for Hunter: the Vigil- you solved the puzzle and the remaining letters spelled out "Light in the Darkness," and I noticed that after solving the first bit it spelled "Jefferson's Wheel" then 26 characters after that. One quick google search later and I found out what that was, and tried different combinations of the 26 characters at the beginning and the 26 characters that were part of puzzle 1- to no avail. Puzzle 2 gave me problems, as I had never seen a drop-quote puzzle. I tried different configurations that got me nowhere- shuffling rows around, making anagrams, etc- until I decided to keep the collumns fixed and see where that would get me. When I was able to spell the word "warforged," I knew I was on the right track. After that, all it took was a bit of trial and error w/ the Wheel to get me the answer:

"Be nice or the Cube will eat youz"

Outstanding :) And I'll be on later tonight and get your reward to you.


Shameless plug, if you enjoyed the puzzled toss me some feedback :D Thx! I'm off to ponder the next puzzle.

[Roman]

I hate you Kongo.

I have a massive headache after only glancing at your %&%$·?/! Brain Bender.

And I have a board meeting to prepare for tonight. :mad:


I completely missed your post this morning. Get plenty of sleep for the next puzzle. Its going to be a whopper.

[Roman]

Give this one a try, its much more challenging and is the first in a series of puzzles that will be tied into a story line. Please check it out and let me know what you think

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=231825