[superprismatic]

36 circles are arranged in the form

of an equilateral triangle, eight

circles to a side. The letters of

a message are written in the

circles, starting from the top and

proceeding from left to right. A

triangular piece of cardboard with

twelve holes cut out is placed over

this and the exposed letters read

out. The cardboard is given a 120

degree clockwise turn and another

twelve letters read out. A final

120 degree clockwise turn allows

the last twelve letters to be read

out. The result is:

HLRSO CGTBT AITEA OITUH

YEYBT EWMNA HERLR D[/code]
Read the message.


SUPERPRISMATIC CLARIFICATION:

The 36 circles are arranged like

bowling pins.

[Guest]

36 circles are arranged in the form

of an equilateral triangle, eight

circles to a side. The letters of

a message are written in the

circles, starting from the top and

proceeding from left to right. A

triangular piece of cardboard with

twelve holes cut out is placed over

this and the exposed letters read

out. The cardboard is given a 120

degree clockwise turn and another

twelve letters read out. A final

120 degree clockwise turn allows

the last twelve letters to be read

out. The result is:

HLRSO CGTBT AITEA OITUH

YEYBT EWMNA HERLR D

Read the message.

SUPERPRISMATIC CLARIFICATION:

The 36 circles are arranged like

bowling pins.

Good puzzle.

The subject needs a new alarm clock to stay on time. Of course it saved him here.

[Guest]

I got it! I usually don't even try cipher puzzles!

[Guest]

I would be interested (after you believe that a sufficient number of replies have been entertained) to know the template for the hole pattern. I identified 18 patterns (and saw potential for many more) that when rotated twice would reveal all 36 holes. After trying one, which did not reveal the answer, I postponed further attempts. Kudos to those who have submitted their answers.

[Guest]

I would be interested (after you believe that a sufficient number of replies have been entertained) to know the template for the hole pattern. I identified 18 patterns (and saw potential for many more) that when rotated twice would reveal all 36 holes. After trying one, which did not reveal the answer, I postponed further attempts. Kudos to those who have submitted their answers.

I solved it another way. I determined the phrase and then figured out the hole pattern (though not needed at that point).

Edited September 14, 2009 by ljb

[superprismatic]

I would be interested (after you believe that a sufficient number of replies have been entertained) to know the template for the hole pattern. I identified 18 patterns (and saw potential for many more) that when rotated twice would reveal all 36 holes. After trying one, which did not reveal the answer, I postponed further attempts. Kudos to those who have submitted their answers.

If you are doing this problem "by hand", it's too difficult to look for possible hole patterns -- there are just far too many to consider. However, if you write a program to solve it, this is a good way to go. I don't know what the hole pattern is for this problem, but I'll post it in a week or so if nobody does it first. Perhaps ljb will post it in a spoiler for you. I hope so.

[Guest]

I would be interested (after you believe that a sufficient number of replies have been entertained) to know the template for the hole pattern. I identified 18 patterns (and saw potential for many more) that when rotated twice would reveal all 36 holes. After trying one, which did not reveal the answer, I postponed further attempts. Kudos to those who have submitted their answers.

well, since super was so persistent, I'll post the pattern...

see the pic. I've given the pattern for each 'ring' of the triangle, though they may not be in the right configuration w.r.t. each other (so you'll have to figure out how they fit together). the black circles are the holes.

Edited September 14, 2009 by ljb

[Guest]

I solved it another way. I determined the phrase and then figured out the hole pattern (though not needed at that point).

Thanks for pointing me in the correct direction. It's nice to have a little bird give a helpful hint to a wayword worm now and again.

[Guest]

ljb is right with his pattern of holes (although as he says, they are not in the right position with relation to each other) but I could not make the puzzle work based on what I understood the rules to be. See my explanation in the spoiler:

I could not create a cipher that would work with the circles in a 'bowling pin' pattern. I needed to stack them in a pyramid formation, i.e. point at the top. I didn't find this orientation, however, until I deciphered the message based on the letters alone and worked backward. When I put the letters out in groups of 12 like this:

HLRSOCGTBTAI

TEAOITUHYEYB

TEWMNAHERLRD

some words immediately jumped out at me: 'the' 'worm' 'caught' 'early bird'

HlRsoCGYbtAI

TEaOitUHyEYB

teWMnAheRLRD

From these words it was a simple matter of going from left to right removing letters in each group to form words until the message "The late bird is not caught by the early bird' appeared.

If I were then to reconstruct the triangle it would appear like this.

T 2 If you replace the '1s' X

H E 1 2 with 'Os' to recreate O X

L A T 1 2 3 the key it looks like: O X X

E W O R Or if we use group numbers: 3 3 2 1 (Think of the 'Xs' as X X X O

M I S N O 3 2 1 3 1 solid and the 'Os' X X O X O

T C A U G H 2 1 3 2 1 2 as holes in the X O X X O X

T B Y T H E E 1 1 2 1 3 3 2 triangle) O O X O X X X

A R L Y B I R D 1 3 3 2 2 1 3 3 O X X X X O X X

You will find if you rotate this around the triangle it will indeed output the letters in the same sequence we were given them (HLRSO CGTBT AITEA OITUH YEYBT EWMNA HERLR D) when read from left to right/top to bottom.

I could not make this work with an inverted triangle, and I still don't understand how one would arrive at this pattern before knowing the answer.

Can anyone help me with these aspects of the puzzle?

[Guest]

Darn! I'm new to this site and don't understand the formatting just yet. My last post looks like jibberish, maybe this one will work better... anyone know why I 'don't have permission' to delete or edit my old post?

I could not create a cipher that would work with the circles in a 'bowling pin' pattern. I needed to stack them in a pyramid formation, i.e. point at the top. I didn't find this orientation, however, until I deciphered the message based on the letters alone and worked backward. When I put the letters out in groups of 12 like this:

HLRSOCGTBTAI

TEAOITUHYEYB

TEWMNAHERLRD

some words immediately jumped out at me: 'the' 'worm' 'caught' 'early bird'

HlRsoCGYbtAI

TEaOitUHyEYB

teWMnAheRLRD

From these words it was a simple matter of going from left to right removing letters in each group to form words until the message "The late bird is not caught by the early bird' appeared.

If I were then to reconstruct the triangle it would appear like this.

T

H E

L A T

E W O R

M I S N O

T C A U G H

T B Y T H E E

A R L Y B I R D

and when arranged by group numbers it looks like

2

1 2

1 2 3

3 3 2 1

3 2 1 3 1

2 1 3 2 1 2

1 1 2 1 3 3 2

1 3 3 2 2 1 3 3

And then taking the '1s' and turning them into holes in a triangular piece or paper gives up a cipher which looks like this:

X

O X

O X X

X X X O

X X O X O

X O X X O X

O O X O X X X

O X X X X O X X

(Here the 'Xs' are solid space and the 'Os' are holes)

You will find if you rotate this around the triangle it will indeed output the letters in the same sequence we were given them (HLRSO CGTBT AITEA OITUH YEYBT EWMNA HERLR D) when read from left to right/top to bottom.

I could not make this work with an inverted triangle, and I still don't understand how one would arrive at this pattern before knowing the answer.

Can anyone help me with these aspects of the puzzle?

[superprismatic]

Darn! I'm new to this site and don't understand the formatting just yet. My last post looks like jibberish, maybe this one will work better... anyone know why I 'don't have permission' to delete or edit my old post?

I could not create a cipher that would work with the circles in a 'bowling pin' pattern. I needed to stack them in a pyramid formation, i.e. point at the top. I didn't find this orientation, however, until I deciphered the message based on the letters alone and worked backward. When I put the letters out in groups of 12 like this:

HLRSOCGTBTAI

TEAOITUHYEYB

TEWMNAHERLRD

some words immediately jumped out at me: 'the' 'worm' 'caught' 'early bird'

HlRsoCGYbtAI

TEaOitUHyEYB

teWMnAheRLRD

From these words it was a simple matter of going from left to right removing letters in each group to form words until the message "The late bird is not caught by the early bird' appeared.

If I were then to reconstruct the triangle it would appear like this.

T

H E

L A T

E W O R

M I S N O

T C A U G H

T B Y T H E E

A R L Y B I R D

and when arranged by group numbers it looks like

2

1 2

1 2 3

3 3 2 1

3 2 1 3 1

2 1 3 2 1 2

1 1 2 1 3 3 2

1 3 3 2 2 1 3 3

And then taking the '1s' and turning them into holes in a triangular piece or paper gives up a cipher which looks like this:

X

O X

O X X

X X X O

X X O X O

X O X X O X

O O X O X X X

O X X X X O X X

(Here the 'Xs' are solid space and the 'Os' are holes)

You will find if you rotate this around the triangle it will indeed output the letters in the same sequence we were given them (HLRSO CGTBT AITEA OITUH YEYBT EWMNA HERLR D) when read from left to right/top to bottom.

I could not make this work with an inverted triangle, and I still don't understand how one would arrive at this pattern before knowing the answer.

Can anyone help me with these aspects of the puzzle?

You did the problem correctly and as it was designed to be done. It's unfortunate that you thought I meant "point on the bottom" when I said "bowling pin pattern". I'm sorry for this confusion. The only reason I said "bowling pin pattern" was to say that the triangle was filled with circles and not having circles just around the edges.

As to how to arrive at the hole pattern first, I don't know how to do that either. Of course one could write a program to enumerate all 12-hole triangles which take out all 36 letters using the 3 orientations, then try each one and look for words. But I don't think that is a viable approach without writing a program.

You have a nice explanation of a good way to solve this problem!

[Guest]

You did the problem correctly and as it was designed to be done. It's unfortunate that you thought I meant "point on the bottom" when I said "bowling pin pattern". I'm sorry for this confusion. The only reason I said "bowling pin pattern" was to say that the triangle was filled with circles and not having circles just around the edges.

As to how to arrive at the hole pattern first, I don't know how to do that either. Of course one could write a program to enumerate all 12-hole triangles which take out all 36 letters using the 3 orientations, then try each one and look for words. But I don't think that is a viable approach without writing a program.

You have a nice explanation of a good way to solve this problem!

That makes me feel good. I thought it was going to be one of those 'duh' moments where I felt really dumb about my approach. This was a good puzzle though, it forced me to look at it from many different angles.