[Yoruichi-san]

At 6am, having just finished writing the paper that was due in class that morning, which, as usual, she had procrastinated doing until the last minute, Y-san headed to the computer lab of her dormitory at Redrum University to pick up the printout. Rifling through the unclaimed printouts to find her own, she stumbled upon a sheet of paper with the following printed on it:

&	6	4	9	9&

1	5	3	8

2	0	9	8

2	9^	8^

5&	3#	9&	3

6	3

9	0	0

9	3

1

2	3	2	9	9^


[/codebox]


Y-san rubbed her tired red eyes.  After a few moments of squinting at the sheet, after assuring herself it wasn't just a caffeine overdose-induced hallucination, she grabbed the phone next to the printer and dialed campus security.  Luckily, she remembered the person's room number.  When the campus security desk picked up, she hurridly instructed them to send a security to that room, then sprinted there herself.


As with most of her friend's room combos, she knew this person's by heart.  Flinging open the door, she saw the culprit and the victim sitting around a table, on which rested the fixings for tea, along with a cake and a knife to cut it with.  Behind them, she saw a computer screen open to word processor document that the printout was for.  Y-san breathed a sigh of relief.  The person was still alive.


Soon after, the campus police arrived and took the culprit and the evidence into custody.  After they were gone, the victim looked up at Y-san gratefully and said "Thank you for being clever enough to figure out my message!"


Y-san shook her head and gave the person the benefit of her lopsided smile.  "No, you're the clever one...you thought of it first."

Edited December 4, 2008 by Yoruichi-san

[Guest]

Okay, I've been reading this thread and trying to come up with solutions. Haven't posted anything because...well, frankly, everything I've thought of sucks. <_< But I do have a question: There's a difference between typing it out on a word-processor and typing it out on brainden? is the solution found through the word processor?

I already tried that though

[Yoruichi-san]

I did it and still nothing... am i stupid or something...?

Aw...no, of course you're not...you figure out that I was hinting at you to recreate the document in the first place

Write down all the keystokes you took in recreating the document...

Okay, I've been reading this thread and trying to come up with solutions. Haven't posted anything because...well, frankly, everything I've thought of sucks. <_< But I do have a question: There's a difference between typing it out on a word-processor and typing it out on brainden? is the solution found through the word processor?

If I answered that question...it would give away the solution ;P

[Guest]

If I answered that question...it would give away the solution ;P

I believe you have just answered that question.

[Gambit]

Ok i copied the text into word, recreated it and took down the keys I used... I got nowhere...

but then I looked at the text that I copied and pasted. It looks like a cup when i centralised it. Maybe ysan saw that and figured out that some1 was in trouble...

<_<

Edited December 8, 2008 by Gambit

[Yoruichi-san]

Ok i copied the text into word, recreated it and took down the keys I used... I got nowhere...

but then I looked at the text that I copied and pasted. It looks like a cup when i centralised it. Maybe ysan saw that and figured out that some1 was in trouble...

<_<

Lol...interesting observation, but no...not quite...if you post your list of keys, maybe someone else can help you out...;P

[Guest]

Lol...interesting observation, but no...not quite...if you post your list of keys, maybe someone else can help you out...;P

Well, I still think it's a mysterious mystery, but here it goes:

SHIFT SEVEN TAB
SIX TAB
FOUR TAB
NINE TAB
NINE SHIFT SEVEN ENTER
ONE TAB
FIVE TAB
THREE TAB
EIGHT ENTER
TWO TAB
ZERO TAB
NINE TAB
EIGHT ENTER
TWO TAB
NINE SHIFT SIX TAB
EIGHT SHIFT SIX ENTER
FIVE SHIFT SEVEN TAB
THREE SHIFT THREE TAB
NINE SHIFT SEVEN TAB
THREE ENTER
SIX TAB
THREE ENTER
NINE TAB
ZERO TAB
ZERO ENTER
NINE TAB
THREE ENTER
ONE ENTER
TWO TAB
THREE TAB
TWO TAB
NINE TAB
NINE SHIFT SIX ENTER

[Guest]

i thought maybe if you changed your starting position of your hands on a keyboard, then type out the message it would work. for instance if you move down a line 7 would become u, 8 would become i, and so on. couldn't get anything there.

then i thought if you numbered your fingers 1-10 and used those numbers to type the code...but alas, nothing.

i also spelled out all of the letters and could see a few key words like, table, hate, still nothing.

[Guest]

i thought maybe if you changed your starting position of your hands on a keyboard, then type out the message it would work. for instance if you move down a line 7 would become u, 8 would become i, and so on. couldn't get anything there.

then i thought if you numbered your fingers 1-10 and used those numbers to type the code...but alas, nothing.

i also spelled out all of the letters and could see a few key words like, table, hate, still nothing.

I think you're pretty close,

assuming that I'm right in thinking that poisoning by 'roomate' is something that Y-San would be concerned to hear about

the carriage returns are there for a reason....

Edited December 8, 2008 by foolonthehill

[Guest]

And I may be wrong, but I think the original message should have read:

&	6	4	9	9&

1	5	3	8

2	0	9	8

2	9^	8^

5&	3#	9&	3

6	3

9	0	0

9	3

1

2	3

2	9	9^

[/codebox]

[an extra line break between the final 3 and 2]

Actually, thinking about it again, maybe there's not a mistake, and the message is from a denizen and resident of Redrum University (an equine aquatic, no less) ....that would also explain how Y-san knew who's room to go to.....

Edited December 8, 2008 by foolonthehill

[Guest]

i thought maybe if you changed your starting position of your hands on a keyboard, then type out the message it would work. for instance if you move down a line 7 would become u, 8 would become i, and so on. couldn't get anything there.

then i thought if you numbered your fingers 1-10 and used those numbers to type the code...but alas, nothing.

i also spelled out all of the letters and could see a few key words like, table, hate, still nothing.

ENTER sends two messages:

LF = Line Feed

CR = Carriage Return (thanks, "foolonthehill"!)

[Guest]

ENTER sends two messages:

LF = Line Feed

CR = Carriage Return (thanks, "foolonthehill"!)

While that's true, you're a bit off the track there:

Think about the process of typing that code on a standard (US) keyboard. My 'Enter' hint was to suggest that a '9' in the middle of a row might be different to a '9' at the start or end of a row....

Think about what words you might expect to find - there have been clues!

I'll leave it there so as not to risk giving away Y-San's excellent puzzle!

[Guest]

While that's true, you're a bit off the track there:

Think about the process of typing that code on a standard (US) keyboard. My 'Enter' hint was to suggest that a '9' in the middle of a row might be different to a '9' at the start or end of a row....

Think about what words you might expect to find - there have been clues!

I'll leave it there so as not to risk giving away Y-San's excellent puzzle!

Well the first thing I did about this riddle was thinking of some words and trying to fit them...

I thought of:

CAKE

KNIFE

TEA

HELP

SAVE

But couldn´t find any logic...

I´ll keep trying. Y-san has my attention for almost a week already!

[Guest]

I've been using the top row of my keyboard, 'cause thats all i've got, but what if you used a number pad to do something? I have no idea what, but...

Also if it will do anything, i moved my fingers like i was hitting the numbers, but on the middle row. LIke, 7 is u and and 6 is y. This is what I got:

q t e i
w p o i
w oY iY
tU eE oU e
y e
o p p
o e
q
w e w o oY

U	y	e	o	oU 

don't know what that'll do, but...yeah.

Edit: Missed a line.

Edited December 8, 2008 by Kay

[Yoruichi-san]

Well, I still think it's a mysterious mystery, but here it goes:

SHIFT SEVEN TAB
SIX TAB
FOUR TAB
NINE TAB
NINE SHIFT SEVEN ENTER
ONE TAB
FIVE TAB
THREE TAB
EIGHT ENTER
TWO TAB
ZERO TAB
NINE TAB
EIGHT ENTER
TWO TAB
NINE SHIFT SIX TAB
EIGHT SHIFT SIX ENTER
FIVE SHIFT SEVEN TAB
THREE SHIFT THREE TAB
NINE SHIFT SEVEN TAB
THREE ENTER
SIX TAB
THREE ENTER
NINE TAB
ZERO TAB
ZERO ENTER
NINE TAB
THREE ENTER
ONE ENTER
TWO TAB
THREE TAB
TWO TAB
NINE TAB
NINE SHIFT SIX ENTER

Yep, that's the list of keys...except your grouping is a little odd...maybe my hint will even things up? ;P

i thought maybe if you changed your starting position of your hands on a keyboard, then type out the message it would work. for instance if you move down a line 7 would become u, 8 would become i, and so on. couldn't get anything there.

then i thought if you numbered your fingers 1-10 and used those numbers to type the code...but alas, nothing.

i also spelled out all of the letters and could see a few key words like, table, hate, still nothing.

You're closing in on the solution...but you have to think a little more outside the box (or I guess, in some cases it's a parallelogram ) Combining your ideas with the above from Skywalker and my response...

And thanks FOTH! I see you've gotten yet...and yes, the message was from a BrainDenizen ;P

Edit: And to everyone else, keep trying! You're so close ...you all have great ideas...but there's only one solution

Edited December 9, 2008 by Yoruichi-san

[Guest]

key with upside down?

[Yoruichi-san]

key with upside down?

Umm...I don't really understand what you mean...so I'm guessing the answer is no ;P

[Guest]

key with upside down?

No, but glad to see you're here... (I'd say you're looking in the right place, though)

[Guest]

I just had an idea, but I have no time to try it now.

Well, there are a lot of SHIFTs and TABs in the writing, so maybe you have to move some keys to the right to get some letters!

[Guest]

I really thought I messed it up there at the end, and I figured I must have done something wrong.

As I don't regularly post I don't mind posting the answer...

So I went back and reread all the posts until I finally caught what the actual ending meant. Thanks foolonthehill! (The comment about the resident helped me out)

Use the keystrokes as a coordinate system. The first keystroke is the line that the letter is found on and the second stroke is the column the letter is in. The first letter is Shift - 7, which lead us to the letter 'M'. The second letter would be Tab - 6, which would be "Y". So on and so forth...

If you apply this, you end up with the line...

myroomateispoisoningmecomehelppleasewoon

Although, as a sidenote, the only thing I could think about for the first hour after I read this was Eddie Izzard's sketch about "Tea and Cake or DEATH!"

[Prof. Templeton]

	8

9	9$	3	8	5[/codebox]

Great puzzle Y-san. I'm sorry I didn't make an attempt myself. 5*

[Guest]

Use the keystrokes as a coordinate system. The first keystroke is the line that the letter is found on and the second stroke is the column the letter is in. The first letter is Shift - 7, which lead us to the letter 'M'. The second letter would be Tab - 6, which would be "Y". So on and so forth...

That's a much better explanation that I could have given, so well done! I used importmokey's theory that each number referred to a set of letters and identified each number as one of three letters below it (eg. 3 = E, D or C). Then, I used the top row, unless it was SHIFT modified in which case I used the bottom row. It was only at the end that I discovered that the first letter of each line used the middle row.

myroomateispoisoningmecomehelppleaseSoon!

I'm glad the 'equine aquatic' finally found the topic though, to prove he is alive!

[Guest]

     2     9     2(     2     3

9

9

3     9^     3[/codebox]

at least now i can get back to work! ...until the next one.

kudos

Edited December 9, 2008 by importmonkey

[Guest]

That's a much better explanation that I could have given, so well done! I used importmokey's theory that each number referred to a set of letters and identified each number as one of three letters below it (eg. 3 = E, D or C). Then, I used the top row, unless it was SHIFT modified in which case I used the bottom row. It was only at the end that I discovered that the first letter of each line used the middle row.

glad i could help.

[andromeda]

Wow.. simple, but brilliant! *****

[Guest]

Oh man! I can´t believe it!

I have to admit, it was amazing! Five stars for you, Y-san!