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Post by zaphod73491 on Oct 13, 2018 22:56:53 GMT -5
I haven't purchased Jenny's book yet, but the challenge of a code/cipher to crack, coupled with Jenny's sunny personality and giving nature is enough for me to do so. Didn't want to order through Amazon since I'd love a Jenny-signed copy, so I guess I just need to figure out how to do that here.
I figured by now the code/cipher had aleady been solved by somebody, but if so they and Jenny are keeping mum. I'd ~prefer~ if it hasn't been solved yet -- more exciting to be first!
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Post by heidini on Oct 13, 2018 23:07:33 GMT -5
I haven't purchased Jenny's book yet, but the challenge of a code/cipher to crack, coupled with Jenny's sunny personality and giving nature is enough for me to do so. Didn't want to order through Amazon since I'd love a Jenny-signed copy, so I guess I just need to figure out how to do that here. I figured by now the code/cipher had aleady been solved by somebody, but if so they and Jenny are keeping mum. I'd ~prefer~ if it hasn't been solved yet -- more exciting to be first! I like the book and it is nice to read all of Forrest’s sayings in one place without having to hunt and poke around for it. I think it would’ve been nice to have the pictures that originally accompanied the quotes and sayings that were on the website. I think it was a great purchase but I am like you – I wish I could’ve had a signed copy also. |
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Post by onthechase on Oct 13, 2018 23:39:15 GMT -5
Oct 13, 2018 21:56:53 GMT -6 zaphod73491 said:
Totally agree -- Jenny and Mahlon seem like super great people, and they have by far the most detailed and thorough and well-researched videos out there on a range of topics related to TTOTC. I was more than happy to support them by buying a copy!
I don't think so. Anyone who solves the FF puzzle has no obligation to reveal that to anyone, including Jenny, but I suspect we'll know when it's solved, even if we don't know the solution until we solve it ourselves. The related forums on this board have fewer than 700 views at this point, and most of that is probably just curiosity -- hence my question asking "Where are all the other people trying to solve this?!" I have no idea how many copies of the book they have sold to this point, or how many of those who bought it are actively trying to solve the FF puzzle, but I think there would be a lot more views on this board if there were a lot of people actively working on this.
But also, I have spent a lot of time on the FF puzzle, and it's very challenging. Even the "easy" ciphers that Jenny has scattered through the pages are only easy in hindsight -- once you crack them, they're so obvious that it pains you that it took you so long to see how to solve them. (They're a lot of fun, too...). A few of them require doing some research about standard historical ciphers, and a few are totally novel and creative. A few I haven't cracked yet. But the FF puzzle, and the "Forgotten Word" puzzle, as far as I can tell so far, require solving several layers of puzzles, and there is very little if any indication about what you have to do to progress from each step to the next -- you just have to put your thinking cap on and realize when and how things line up in just the right ways (by analyzing the structure of the problem, matching counts, etc.) to indicate what you need to do next. And although the two big puzzles (FF & The Hidden Word) follow patterns of some other well-known puzzles and ciphers (including perhaps requiring techniques that Jenny describes in the book for solving other treasure hunts), they are put together in a completely custom way.
Based on some statistical analysis of things I have decoded so far (to validate that some steps have to be correct), and by process of elimination (by solving things that are not related to the puzzle at hand), I would like to think I'm 80% of the way through the FF puzzle and 20-30% of the way through the Hidden Word puzzle, but who knows -- there are probably further layers I haven't discovered yet, and I'm probably kidding myself about how much I have solved. But at this point I have hit a wall on both puzzles. There's something I'm missing about what to do next in both cases!
One thing's for sure, what I have seen so far gives me an appreciation for Jenny's talent as a puzzle designer! These puzzles are quite brilliant, and they're hard :-)
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Post by zaphod73491 on Oct 15, 2018 0:37:57 GMT -5
I'm a decent cryptanalyst and have solved hard ciphers, so I'm looking forward to Jenny's challenge.
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Post by Jenny on Oct 25, 2018 12:36:15 GMT -5
Q) On page 31, is the number 289-9 on the puzzle piece a typo? I'm thinking it is.
A) YES. You are correct. It is a typo. Thank you for pointing this out to me. It should be 289-8. All other numbers are confirmed correct. And although this one typo wouldn't have altered the discovery to the final solution, it stands corrected. Thanks again.
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Post by zaphod73491 on Oct 25, 2018 20:40:21 GMT -5
Onthechase: I have Jenny's signed book now. Thanks Jenny! I'll certainly be happy to discuss progress on the various ciphers in her book (without spoilers!) I've only read up through the Masquerade chapter so far, but have solved about a half dozen of the codes. Jenny appears to be taking the logical incremental teaching approach to solving ciphers, with codes getting progressively more challenging. Substitution, transposition, steganography. Should be fun!
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Post by zaphod73491 on Oct 29, 2018 21:24:51 GMT -5
Onthechase: Ok, I've had Jenny's book about 5 days and have enjoyed solving her puzzles. I understand stage 1 of the significance of the Fenn Secret Words cipher, but the next stage has eluded me so far. Still, I'm confident I'll get it eventually. At least one person is ahead of me because they recognized the presence of an error which I couldn't confirm, which itself is a bit of a clue.
What I'm most curious about is how many people are trying to solve Jenny's ciphers!
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Post by onthechase on Oct 29, 2018 21:54:40 GMT -5
Yes indeed, the correction of the error can be used to confirm when you are making progress on the FF puzzle.
I'm not there yet, and I believe nobody has solved it yet. I know of one other person who has made progress, because they messaged me in response to my post.
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Post by zaphod73491 on Oct 30, 2018 20:30:41 GMT -5
Jenny: a couple questions if I may. Your cipher on page 55: should it not have ended "13-23!"? Second question: fourth line has the triplet "CFA". Just wanted to confirm that was correct. Thanks!
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Post by zaphod73491 on Oct 30, 2018 20:31:37 GMT -5
Sorry: didn't specify the CFA context: page 214.
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Post by Jenny on Oct 31, 2018 17:36:00 GMT -5
Jenny: a couple questions if I may. Your cipher on page 55: should it not have ended "13-23!"? Second question: fourth line has the triplet "CFA". Just wanted to confirm that was correct. Thanks! Those are not typos.... the WM is my way to emphasize 'Mysterious Writings' by being WM (Writings Mysterious). It made me smile when I did it that way, not so much now...lol.. I have received so many emails about it, and I'm realizing I am the only one who 'gets it'. My silliness.  And the CFA is ok too. It's supposed to be that. Thanks for the questions.... and hope you are enjoying it.... they are just fun codes to solve when you find some free time by the fire.... I live by Beale/Ward's words....... |
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Post by zaphod73491 on Oct 31, 2018 19:36:57 GMT -5
Thanks Jenny! Very interesting (and probably revealing) that CFA is not a typo. ;-). As for MW/WM, 10-4. And it's a nice ambigram to boot!
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Post by astree on Nov 1, 2018 4:43:57 GMT -5
Thanks Jenny! Very interesting (and probably revealing) that CFA is not a typo. ;-). As for MW/WM, 10-4. And it's a nice ambigram to boot! . Your comment reminds me of a word i learned only yesterday... “emirp”. ( from a discussion of number 13 ). I like that it was on Oct 31. Great day for things mysterious. |
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Post by zaphod73491 on Nov 1, 2018 16:35:49 GMT -5
Hi astree: Oct 31 also reminds me of a joke: Why do computer scientists get Halloween and Christmas confused? A: because Oct 31 = Dec 25
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Post by zaphod73491 on Nov 7, 2018 1:27:54 GMT -5
Jenny appears not to miss an opportunity to exploit an encription methodology! Even the tilts of the puzzle pieces are apparently exploitable.
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