52 replies to this topic

[odaatmo]

_{Is the numeric combination 2711 and the password filtering?
two men - seven people - 11 days - all prime numbers
guests filtering in}

[WitchOfDoubt]

More than one of the guests had hit upon the solution to the numerical safe puzzle. Even someone who was otherwise incorrect was able to see that 7 was part of it! But it took a bit more work to find an answer to the second puzzle that made sense. Finally, someone muttered a word that would, indeed, fit all the criteria of the puzzle. But, for whatever reason, they hesitated to put it forward as the real answer with any confidence - perhaps they had skipped a step and jumped to a conclusion.

Meanwhile, Ocean Zweidler, one of the youngest members of the club, hit on the same answer. "You know," she said to the doorman, who watched as each participant tried out the safe, "this puzzle was somewhat inequitable, wasn't it? It should've been much easier had I ever seen that men's room light in person."

"My apologies. But it was fair," said Samuel, who had been given first dibs at the puzzle. "You got all the clues you needed. See? Right there on the page, if you squint a little, maybe get a magnifier, use your little Internet phone if you need to do the research... it wasn't what we call a 'self-descriptive' answer at all, was it? Once you got it from the clues, you knew it."

Ocean shrugged (she had a good eye for colors, so it hardly bothered her) and retrieved a keycard reserved in her name from the safe. "Not complaining! When's dinner?"

Meet the Pieces (Part One of Many)

Ocean Zweidler

Age: 32

Profession: Author

Quote: "My Grandma Margareta made scarecrows. When I was a girl, my parents showed me some of the faces she gave them - laughing, smiling, crying... I still remember hearing them! It was Grandma who taught me what a writer does.

My stories are puzzles. A little dry, a little silly, filled with straw people. But I prop them up on a stick and put faces on them, and my readers create the rest for themselves."

Background: The daughter of a neuroscientist and a chef, Ocean is the author of the bestselling Vanishing Island series of mystery novels. As a relatively recent initiate to the club, she specializes in folkloric riddles and Victorian letterplay. She also has a working knowledge of both English and German, acquired during her childhood in the town of Bernkastel-Kues.

Random Fact: Once, after receiving a negative review, she anonymously tricked the police into putting a highly inconvenient barricade around the reviewer's house.

Sample Riddle: As Ocean waited for the rest of the guests to finish cracking the first two locks, she pulled out a pencil and penned a simple challenge to the others to kill the time.

On paper or tablets from man or Divine,

I am made of ten parts, and yet only of nine.

[Thalia]

Spoiler for

The fraction 9/10?

[TheChad]

Here's my guess

Spoiler for

Spaces.
If you have ten words, you have 9 spaces between them.

[Aziraphael]

Slightly overthinking this, maybe, but here's my guess:

Spoiler for

Possession.
Laws are written by man or God, whether on paper or tablets (The ten commandments or 'God's Laws')
Possession is 9/10 of the Law.

[plainglazed]

Nice puzzle WitchOfDoubt

Spoiler for comments

figured vinays84 had the second key. also, just from the interpretation of the asterisks. there must be something logical to the off-colored letters. had been working with anagrams. lots of potential/appropriate words including "umeniko" and now "sense" seems to be likely if an anagram it is. as for this one, think maybe "commandment" as in the ten and is written with nine letters. still feel am missing something else re the second key to the first part.

[rvc113]

my answers are:

Spoiler for

1 / 2711
2/ the word " asterisks"
3/ commandments

[BobbyGo]

Spoiler for I think

Decalogue
9 letters long, another name for the 10 commandments, the first tablets where broken by Moses and then re-written by God.

[revathiest]

Spoiler for new guess

Lock #1 = 2711
Lock #2 = limegreen

Alternate guess for Lock #2 = greenroom

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with green... or 'lime'

Edited by revathiest, 22 December 2011 - 05:32 PM.

[revathiest]

I was going to edit my last post, but I got to it too late.

Spoiler for new guess

Lock #1 = 2711
Lock #2 = limegreen

Alternate guess for Lock #2 = greenroom

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with green... or 'lime'

I wanted to offer my explanation

Spoiler for explanation

The letters that are a different color, when considered with the letters that are normal represent morse code. When I translate the code, I find the following:
AZURECYANLIMEINDIGO
Of the 4 colors indicated, Azure, Cyan, Lime and Indigo, only 1 is not blue. Being that it doesnt fit, I keyed in on LIME (a shade of green). LIMEGREEN has 9 letters as indicated on the digital display, therefore, it is my guess.

The greenroom guess is just because of the indication that part of a previous guess was partially right (restroom/toilet).

Edited by revathiest, 22 December 2011 - 05:49 PM.