Puzzle Solving Exercise Thread
Moderator: Moderators
-
romanceismusic
- Owen's Helper
- Posts: 1797
- Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:53 am
- Location: Colorado
romanceismusic wrote:for some reason your disclaimer made me giggle deagol
Well, if you want to know how close I was to the triangulation zone... you'll have to solve the puzzle!
Now, I wouldn't want this to distract our Puzzle Crew from solving the drop location or contents. But it seems that another video should be forthcoming. Like, even assuming we sent Lad to the southern area and Luv to the northern tip, what would they do, scour every inch of the bowling alleys and areas surrounding? That just seems like a bad idea to me. I think we need a video showing us the precise place in or around the building where the drop can be found. Just like tachy's drops: behind a sign, in some bushes, under a rock, under some stair steps. Otherwise it would be a very frustrating drop retrieval.
I noticed that the slanted alignment and arangement of the characters looked like a keyboard. In fact, it matched the same set of alphanumeric characters, a-z and 0-9, or on the keyboard 1-0, q-p, a-l, and z-m. When you rearrange the letters and those lines around them to match the keyboard you get this:deagol wrote:Alright, I've worked on this since monday so I want it to last more than a day, hoping to reach the weekend. Thus, I won't be giving any major hints until then. Here goes:
________________________________________________________
Driving directions for "the middle of nowhere" (Jonastown?)
City, ST Zip (?)
From: 'z'
To: 'a'
aaahhhgg I'm lost!!1!12!asd;flkjas;dlkjfCode: Select all
_ _ _ _ _ _ a\ b\ \c\ d\ \e \f g h\ i\ \j ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ _ _ _ _ k l\ m\ \n \o p\ \q r \s t ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ _ _ _ _ _ _ \u \v w\ x\ y\ z 0\ \1 2 ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 4 5 6 7\ \8 9 ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯
Driving directions are supposed to tell you where to turn, what road to take and stuff... wtf is this?
Code: Select all
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
\1 2 3 4 5 6 7\ \8 9 0\
¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
\q w\ \e r t y\ \u i\ \o p\
¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯
_ _ _ _
a\ \s d\ \f g h\ \j k l\
¯ ¯ ¯ ¯
_ _
z x\ \c\ \v b\ \n m\
¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯
Code: Select all
+-------------+-----+
|1 2 3 4 5 6 7|8 9 0|
| --+-------+ +-+-- |
|q w|e r t y|u i|o p|
| +-+ +---- +-- | +-+
a|s d|f g h|j k l|
--+ | | --+ | +---+
z x|c|v b|n m|
----+-+---+---+
What would the driving directions be though? They don't specify every single landmark you pass along the same road when there's no more options than following along. It's not a tour guide. :pdiastres wrote:Well, I got this far then got distracted:
It says:
From: 'z'
To: 'a'
So, following the maze...
zxsdertyhnmjkiu7654321qa
Maybe I'll work on it more when I'm not feeling bleh.
'zxsd' are all along the only road possible. All that time you didn't have to make any decision (except starting at 'z'), and then at 'd' you did have a choice between 'e' or 'c'.
Well, you have your map (thanks Sparky), and all the streets are marked. And you can see which are the important ones.diastres wrote:Oh my goodness. I'm fired already.
I'm the worst navigator ever, darling. I have people draw me maps. For real. With all the streets marked (or at least the major ones).
Turn left at d, go straight at h, turn left at k, go straight at q.
Whatever that means.
Sorry, you may be too young to get that quote.imdb wrote:Max: I crashed into electrical towers and my star charts were erased. I need the ones in your head to complete my mission.
David: So you need ME and my inferior brain to fly that thing?
Max: Correction, I need the superior information in your inferior brain to fly this... thing.
Don't tell me in which letter to turn, nor if it's left, right, or straight. Just tell me which letter to turn TO. Wouldn't that be less confusing? Oh, and dont forget to include the starting point.
Flight of the Navigator used to be one of my favorite movies. I just saw it again recently on cable.deagol wrote:Well, you have your map (thanks Sparky), and all the streets are marked. And you can see which are the important ones.diastres wrote:Oh my goodness. I'm fired already.
I'm the worst navigator ever, darling. I have people draw me maps. For real. With all the streets marked (or at least the major ones).
Turn left at d, go straight at h, turn left at k, go straight at q.
Whatever that means.
Sorry, you may be too young to get that quote.imdb wrote:Max: I crashed into electrical towers and my star charts were erased. I need the ones in your head to complete my mission.
David: So you need ME and my inferior brain to fly that thing?
Max: Correction, I need the superior information in your inferior brain to fly this... thing.
Don't tell me in which letter to turn, nor if it's left, right, or straight. Just tell me which letter to turn TO. Wouldn't that be less confusing? Oh, and dont forget to include the starting point.
Based on this last set of directions I'd have to say that the answer is zenia. start at z, at the first intersection make a left onto e, at the second go straight onto n, next make a left onto i, finally go straight to a.
I really liked using the keyboard to rearrange things, but after that... 1) this is too far different from a set of roads for me to not think of counting every square, or at the very least every turn even if it is the only option. 2) Even with driving directions it is custom to ignore the decision point at an intersection where you just keep going straight. 3) I can't accept that the streets are labelled such as "turn onto n", why isn't that street called m or j?
I would agree with 1) if the maze was on its own, but the other clues clearly point to addresses and directions and roads. Of course you're right about 2) so I can only say, a puzzle can't always be straightforward and leave no room for misinterpretation. About 3) I thought it this way: if you were actually inside the maze, driving through it, and you found yourself at a point where the road branches in two directions, you'd probably only see the next letter on each fork on the road, and you'd want your driving directions to tell you which was the next letter to follow, thus 'n' and not 'm' or 'j' because you haven't seen those yet so it would seem confusing when inside the maze.sparkyb wrote: Flight of the Navigator used to be one of my favorite movies. I just saw it again recently on cable.
Based on this last set of directions I'd have to say that the answer is zenia. start at z, at the first intersection make a left onto e, at the second go straight onto n, next make a left onto i, finally go straight to a.
I really liked using the keyboard to rearrange things, but after that... 1) this is too far different from a set of roads for me to not think of counting every square, or at the very least every turn even if it is the only option. 2) Even with driving directions it is custom to ignore the decision point at an intersection where you just keep going straight. 3) I can't accept that the streets are labelled such as "turn onto n", why isn't that street called m or j?
I understand the difficulty in reaching the correct directions, and that was partly intentional. But if you think back what the question posed was, you'd have to realize nonsensical words would have to be discarded, and I hoped some trial and error would get you the only answer that fits. Of course, you would have to follow up on it and look it up to confirm it, which I'm not sure you did.
You see, what you got is just one part of the answer. There were three questions in the original puzzle: The first was rhetorical and the reason for my disclaimer (which, by the way, that should have been recognized as a free hint about what type of word or thing you were supposed to be looking for). The last, you answered on your first post. The remaining one has three parts, and you just figured out one.
Once you get the rest, it would be cool if the answer was mapped next to our last drop's location, just to make it clear that you understand the significance of the answer, and the relevance of the rhetorical question.
-
WonkaNerdsRule
- Casual Observer
- Posts: 46
- Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:01 am
Are you asking him to give you Zenia, CA 95595 and then plot it and Yokayo Bowl on the same map?deagol wrote:I would agree with 1) if the maze was on its own, but the other clues clearly point to addresses and directions and roads. Of course you're right about 2) so I can only say, a puzzle can't always be straightforward and leave no room for misinterpretation. About 3) I thought it this way: if you were actually inside the maze, driving through it, and you found yourself at a point where the road branches in two directions, you'd probably only see the next letter on each fork on the road, and you'd want your driving directions to tell you which was the next letter to follow, thus 'n' and not 'm' or 'j' because you haven't seen those yet so it would seem confusing when inside the maze.sparkyb wrote: Flight of the Navigator used to be one of my favorite movies. I just saw it again recently on cable.
Based on this last set of directions I'd have to say that the answer is zenia. start at z, at the first intersection make a left onto e, at the second go straight onto n, next make a left onto i, finally go straight to a.
I really liked using the keyboard to rearrange things, but after that... 1) this is too far different from a set of roads for me to not think of counting every square, or at the very least every turn even if it is the only option. 2) Even with driving directions it is custom to ignore the decision point at an intersection where you just keep going straight. 3) I can't accept that the streets are labelled such as "turn onto n", why isn't that street called m or j?
I understand the difficulty in reaching the correct directions, and that was partly intentional. But if you think back what the question posed was, you'd have to realize nonsensical words would have to be discarded, and I hoped some trial and error would get you the only answer that fits. Of course, you would have to follow up on it and look it up to confirm it, which I'm not sure you did.
You see, what you got is just one part of the answer. There were three questions in the original puzzle: The first was rhetorical and the reason for my disclaimer (which, by the way, that should have been recognized as a free hint about what type of word or thing you were supposed to be looking for). The last, you answered on your first post. The remaining one has three parts, and you just figured out one.
Once you get the rest, it would be cool if the answer was mapped next to our last drop's location, just to make it clear that you understand the significance of the answer, and the relevance of the rhetorical question.
Yeah, after I posted I did realize I was looking for City, ST zip and got Zenia, CA 95595, but didn't care enough to post it. I mean, since I had to guess the CA part (not much of a guess though since that's where everything in this game is centered on) it wasn't too much of an extra step from just getting Zenia. I got where you were going after a couple of your messages and it makes some sense, I was just saying that it was non-obvious enough that I don't think I ever would have tried it. I mean, I did know that I was looking for driving directions and was thinking about maps and streets, but I just didn't see it the way you did. I was thinking I had to overlay it on a map or something because I didn't see it as relating to streets directly. It is hard to know what other people will think once you already know the answer which is the purpose of playtesting, so I guess I'm just giving you some feedback. I do appreciate the time you took to make it, it was fun.deagol wrote:I would agree with 1) if the maze was on its own, but the other clues clearly point to addresses and directions and roads. Of course you're right about 2) so I can only say, a puzzle can't always be straightforward and leave no room for misinterpretation. About 3) I thought it this way: if you were actually inside the maze, driving through it, and you found yourself at a point where the road branches in two directions, you'd probably only see the next letter on each fork on the road, and you'd want your driving directions to tell you which was the next letter to follow, thus 'n' and not 'm' or 'j' because you haven't seen those yet so it would seem confusing when inside the maze.sparkyb wrote: Flight of the Navigator used to be one of my favorite movies. I just saw it again recently on cable.
Based on this last set of directions I'd have to say that the answer is zenia. start at z, at the first intersection make a left onto e, at the second go straight onto n, next make a left onto i, finally go straight to a.
I really liked using the keyboard to rearrange things, but after that... 1) this is too far different from a set of roads for me to not think of counting every square, or at the very least every turn even if it is the only option. 2) Even with driving directions it is custom to ignore the decision point at an intersection where you just keep going straight. 3) I can't accept that the streets are labelled such as "turn onto n", why isn't that street called m or j?
I understand the difficulty in reaching the correct directions, and that was partly intentional. But if you think back what the question posed was, you'd have to realize nonsensical words would have to be discarded, and I hoped some trial and error would get you the only answer that fits. Of course, you would have to follow up on it and look it up to confirm it, which I'm not sure you did.
You see, what you got is just one part of the answer. There were three questions in the original puzzle: The first was rhetorical and the reason for my disclaimer (which, by the way, that should have been recognized as a free hint about what type of word or thing you were supposed to be looking for). The last, you answered on your first post. The remaining one has three parts, and you just figured out one.
Once you get the rest, it would be cool if the answer was mapped next to our last drop's location, just to make it clear that you understand the significance of the answer, and the relevance of the rhetorical question.