Post by ILLUMINATINPS on Mar 6, 2020 21:42:48 GMT -5
THE LOST SKULL COMPLETE SOLUTION
BY N. SPERA AND R. JENNER
BY N. SPERA AND R. JENNER
With permission from the author, we are releasing the complete solution for The Lost Skull: An Armchair Treasure Hunt. BE ADVISED SPOILERS ARE BELOW. IF YOU WISH TO CONTINUE TO WORK ON THE PUZZLE WITH NO HELP, DO NOT READ.
I) COORDINATE SYSTEM AND MASTER PUZZLE
To solve the puzzle and get all the coordinates necessary, one must first determine the order by which the puzzles go in order to slot them correctly in the coordinate key in the back of the book. Throughout the book, you will find names attached to some of the puzzles. Those are names of Greek Gods. The trick is to convert the Greek Gods to Roman Gods, which are planets, then order them from the Sun to Pluto. This order is then used for the coordinates in the back of the book A-J. Example Helios =A
The Gods and order are as follows: A)Helios (Sun) B) Ermis (Mercury) C) Aphrodite (Venus) D)GE (Earth) E) Aris(Mars) F)Dias (Jupiter) G) Kronos (Saturn) H) Ouranos (Uranus) I)Poseidon (Neptune) J)Pluton (Pluto).
II) BONUS CLUES FOR THE STATE AND GENERAL AREA.
1) Kickstarter donaters were given a clue that read as follows: ORION WAS LAST SEEN HUNTING DURATHROR. THE NATIVES ATE OF A FRUIT THE SHAPE OF SIGHT. To answer: Durathror is the constellation of the Deer. The picture shows a Buck. The shape of sight is an eye. Together you get: BUCKEYE. In other words, Ohio
2) In the back of the book is a page with 50 skulls on it. The 17th skull is red. Ohio is the 17th state
3) Pg 14 shows an image of a pyramid and yellow submarine. These are hints to the shape of the building structure and a nod to The Beatles. The riddle is made up of song lyrics. Each lyric is assigned to an artist. Each artist was a member of the first ever induction of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland OH, which is pyramid shaped. They are : ALMOST ALWAYS TRUE(ELVIS) ALL AROUND THE WORLD (LITTLE RICHARD) LITTLE BEE (FATS DOMINO) IM JUST A COUNTRY BOY (SAM COOKE) AMERICA IS MY HOME (JAMES BROWN) ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM (EVERLY BROS) CATCH A FALLING STAR(JERRY LEWIS) GUESS I WAS JUST A FOOL(BUDDY HOLLY) TELL THE TRUTH(RAY CHARLES) IT’S A MEAN OLD WORLD(SAM COOKE).
“The spoke in the chariots wheel is 34.2” is a hint to use the HOF as the center of a wheel on a map. The radius of that wheel extends 34.2 miles, which encompasses all the locations for the puzzle.4)Pg 26 also has a riddle that hints to the general area. The riddle is speaking about the counties involved in the locations of the puzzle: Crossing the river askew(Cuyahoga) Peak of the Mountain (Summit) Stark void of night (Stark). The robot in the picture is also pointing at the word, Port. This is a hint to Portage County
III) THE GODS
HELIOS:
The riddle of Helios mentions Food, Culture, Bazaars Etc.. Its hinting about a market. In the image you see a W in the upper right as well as signs for foods common with the Hungarian culture of Cleveland. The answer to this puzzle is the Westside market in Cleveland. The “1912 worlds” is a hint to the date the market was founded. One must visit the Market "count the stars" aka count EVERY light on the ceiling, totaling 327. After using the key in the back of the book, The final number is 41ERMIS:
To solve Ermis, one must enter a code that is 7 characters long and contains 4 letters and 3 numbers. The hint is on the girls shirt: YOU FORCE HEAVEN TO BE EMPTY. The code is U472BMT.
The location of Ermis is the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland which holds the Skylab 3 Apollo module.
After running the number through the key in the back of the book, you get 15
APHRODITE:
Aphrodite’s puzzle starts with a Caesar shift cipher . The proper shift is 13. In the upper right corner of the page , one will find a 26.98 number. This is the atomic weight of Aluminum. Aluminum's atomic number is 13. The answer to the shift cipher is FIND THE PREACHERS ROCK OF OPPRESSION. The answer to that riddle is Henry Church Rock or Squaw Rock, a rock that was carved in defiance of the treatment of Native Americans. On the rock you find matching symbols with the image, like the eagle, and serpent surrounding the Squaw woman. The clue at the bottom of the page states "THE NUMBER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WRONG PATH". The number at the bottom of the wrong path is solved by hiking to the rock and then going to the staircase that leads back up to the trail. One will notice a separate staircase that descends to the river. On the arm hold at the bottom of the stair case is carved the number 5826. After putting it through the key in the back of the book, and flipping it, you get 6.
***In the beginning of the book, on the first page, a pigpen cipher once solved talks about locations that require a visit. Aphrodite was 100% non solvable unless you went BOTG to Henry Church Rock.**
GE:
GE is solved in a two part riddle. The first riddle is a description of a knight's apprentice, A squire. The second riddle is describing a common move in chess called Castling. Both of these answers are shown in the image with the knight and chess pieces. You combine the answer of each riddle. The answer to GE is Squires Castle. To solve the exterior windows, travel to the castle and count the windows. The total is 34. After the key in the back of the book, The answer is 9
ARIS:
Aris has many hints. Under Milk Wood was a radio cast about a fishing village. The riddle also mentions the word, Boat. Move in the Belly of Death is a subtle nudge to Jonah in the whale. The image shows a 224 on the mermaids arm. The mermaid herself is another clue about being underwater and out of water. The answer to the riddle is the USS COD, a submarine memorial in Cleveland. Confirmers are the 224 on the boat, the martini glass with 0-19 which is an ode to the rescue of the Dutch Sub 0-19. Also COD is spelled backwards in the riddle, DOC.
The letter before the number of men is found on the nearby plaque, which says “more than 3900 men”. The answer to Aris is N.
WE NOW HAVE THE LATITUDE FOR THE PUZZLE:
41DEG 15M 6.9SEC NDIAS:
Dias is another two part puzzle. The riddle speaks of 3 moons. For the number puzzle multiply 5x3=15. Then minus 1 and one will see the next number in linein the image is 14. Repeat that pattern with 150 (150x3=450-1=449).
The location of Dias is Willard Park in Cleveland. This is hinted by Vanbruggen(the designer of Free Stamp), Freon (Free Stamp), three moons but once had four(park used to have 4 pathways but now has three), Wizzard (Willard) Fire(the park housed a fire memorial). After running the 449 through the key, you get 31, however knowing at this point most of the puzzles are in the Cleveland area, checking 31 in Longitude would put one in the Atlantic Ocean. The riddle talks about a missing moon. If you look at an 8 and 3, an 8 looks like a 3, but with a piece missing. The actual answer is 81, which puts you right in the Ohio/Cleveland area.
KRONOS:
The riddle of Kronos is solved by first identifying Kopenhagener’ s Plunder, which is describing a Danish. The trick is to notice the word GNALRE in the riddle. GNALRE backwards is ERLANG. An erlang is a dimensionless unit of TRAFFIC. The unit was invented by Agner Erlang, a Danish Mathematician. A sentinel is also called a guardian. The answer to the riddle is The Guardians of Traffic on the Hope Memorial Bridge. Confirmers is the 216 on the angels hand which is Cleveland’s area code. HOPE can be seen on the sail. The number 7 is a hint on were to slot the puzzle in the coordinate sheet. To get the towering sum, get the height of all 4 guardians on the bridge and add them together. After running the number through the back of book key, you get 24.
OURANOS:
To solve Ouranos, first convert the Roman Numerals to letters using basic A1Z26. Looking at the image you see rocks with 7 birds on them. The trick is to count every 7th letter in all 4 rows of letters. The answer is FORT HILL. The clues in the poem clue you in on the Rocky River Reservation. The question being asked is "how many steps do they descend"? Fort Hill is famous for its staircase of 155 steps. Take the number of steps and run it through the key to get 18.
**On page 3 you are given a hint to add the missing number to Ouranos. At the bottom is a number puzzle. To solve the puzzle, leave the middle number of each row, add the outside numbers together and divide by two. Your answer should always equal the number in the middle of that row. The bottom row is missing a middle number. Simply add 6+2 then divide by 2. Answer is 4. Add the 4 to Ournaos 18+4=22. Final number is 22
POSEIDON:
To solve Poseidon, find the clock that is related to the hinted Ellsworth key in the image. The clocktower is found in Hudson, OH, built by James Ellsworth on the 16th of the month. To solve the riddle stand under the flagpole (glory) and look north to the clock. It points east at 3:15 to the masters of stone. The masters of stone is the FreeMason Hall on Streetsboro St. Under the gold emblem on the building, and to the right, is the corner stone with the number 510. After running it through the key in the back of the book, you get 5.18, or 5
PLUTON:
To solve Pluton, first identify where the land of rolling pumpkins is. Chagrin Falls, OH has a yearly pumpkin roll. Next is to solve the pyramid puzzle. You will notice 3 corn cobs in the test tube with the frog. The trick is to start at the top of the pyramid, when you get to a line that has 3 letters of the same letter, take the letter. You will notice from the 3rd line on, each line has 3 letters of the same letter. Once you pull that letter from each line, you get the word GREEDEEP. GREE DEEP is a frog statue that is in a park in Chagrin Falls right by the famous pumpkin roll hill and also near a famous popcorn shop (corn cobs). When you face GREEDEEP there is (or was) a plaque at his feet. You take the first letter of the 3rd line, which is W
WE NOW HAVE LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE
41DEG 15MIN 6.9SEC N81DEG 24MIN 22.5SEC W
IV) FINAL LOCATION:
Inputting these coordinates brings you inside a hedge maze inside Hudson Springs Park in Hudson, OH. At the coordinates is where the treasure was buried.
There are 2 confimers to Hudson Springs Park:
1) On the coordinate page there is a maze and a tree.2) In the back of the book is a puzzle with a sign that says DRAGONS PUP SHRINKS. The sign is pointing to Chinese characters that translate to “4th Floor of building words”. On the 4th floor are 3 math problems which answers are 6,7, and 4. There are 3 symbols representing winter, fall, and summer, but spring is missing. DRAGONS PUP SHRINKS is an anagram for HUDSON SPRINGS PARK. The 6, 7, and 4 are the amount of the letters in each of the 3 words
CLOCK GIRL PUZZLE:
When the treasure was recovered, one was supposed to answer the riddle inside the case. It asked for the “name of the girl from the book from the clock puzzle”. In the image you see 3 symbols on the ground, as well as the number 5 and 19th on the wall. The 3 symbols are used as a Rebus puzzle for WATER, SHIP, and DOWN. So in the book Watership Down, on page 5, the 19th word is Hazel.
This concludes the complete solution. Congrats to all who participated and to those who claimed runner-up and Champion prizes!!