Hunt Number 7, SOLUTION and RESULTS

[efanton]

My apologies for the late post of the solution and results, I still have no PC.


Thanks to all who participated, especially those that submitted solutions.



Here is a complete solve for Hunt Number 7.



A score table with results of submissions received is also posted below the solve.






SOLUTION


33 53 74 33 G8 49 G T8 16 T 53 23 99 53 MET A MA7 74 53 90 34 23 E7 74 53 23 99 E89 1 74 53 26 1 AD 34 23 E7 16 89 19 16 E89 1 16 89 19 1 AD 34 23 E7 20 117 E89 1 20 T 1 AD 34 23 E7 19 53 117 19 53 117 20 117 16 89 19 16 A60 74 53 23 99 67 74 MA7 39 74 68 E 90 68 E G8 49 G T8 16 T 53 23 99


What to do?  It's obviously a cipher of some kind, and the early hint I gave should have been enough for most to zone in on just dealing with the numbers.
I did deliberately mix up where the spaces appear otherwise it would have been easy to guess a word and then easily identify a solve from there.
Having substituted the number for the chemical symbol they represent in the periodic table you would get this


AS I W AS GO IN G TO S T I V ES I MET A MAN W I TH SE V EN W I V ES EAC H W I FE H AD SE V EN S AC K S EAC H S AC K H AD SE V EN CA TS EAC H CA T H AD SE V EN K I TS K I TS CA TS S AC K S AND W I V ES HO W MAN Y W ER E TH ER E GO IN G TO S T I V ES

Its pretty obvious now where the spaces should be.  
Fixing the spacing you will get this,  its a very old well known  riddle.

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were there going to St. Ives?


Now we have the riddle what is its solution.
There is absolutely no need to try calculate a total, that is the trick to this riddle.  If I am going to St Ives and I meet people on my way it obviously means that they are coming from St Ives and not going to St Ives.
The answer to the riddle is ONE






RESULTS


There were three  submissions, all of them with the correct solution.

But only one correct submission was submitted within two weeks and before any clue was posted, so that makes jtown7 this months clear winner. 
Well done jtown7


Winner

jtown7



Correct solves 

matthew
geddybee

[jtown7]

Thanks for the thrill of it! It was my first of your hunts as I’ve only been around this forum for about a month. I am eagerly awaiting your next one!

[susb8383]

Congrats!

I remember this puzzle from grade school and the answer has always bothered me. If you’re talking about material, the word ‘met’ refers to two things in opposite directions such as something like ‘The circle was too short and the ends would never have met.’ But for people, it just means you introduce yourself to someone you don’t know. These two people could easily have both been going in the same direction but at different speeds. Then as one goes to pass the other slower person, he says “Hello, I don’t think we’ve met, my name is Nelson. That’s a lot of cats you’ve got there.”

That’s not anything against your puzzle because I know One is the accepted answer. But even as a kid, this didn’t seem logical to me.

Good job on solving this. I had no idea how to start.