davem
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Post by davem on Jan 21, 2021 13:28:15 GMT -5
Interesting notion: Doesn't it seem like Anthony and Margo got to Santa Fe really quickly? -- Unless they actually live in Santa Fe (or really close). Did they know the methodology of using the letter after the commas "before" that final clue? Twitter is actually listing the two events as being 1 hour apart - and the winner announcement is first. I don't think it happened like that though. And the Mr. Bean Chicken Eating gif didn't appear there for me until this morning -- with the commas in the WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER. I'd love to know if Anthony and Margo knew ahead of time -- and if so, why release the final clue pointing out the commas?
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Post by susb8383 on Jan 21, 2021 13:55:06 GMT -5
True. AND if we believe Dave's claims that he doesn't know the method (and I don't), how would he know that the cipher explained in chapter 1 isn't used in chapter 3?
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davem
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Post by davem on Jan 21, 2021 14:06:31 GMT -5
True. AND if we believe Dave's claims that he doesn't know the method (and I don't), how would he know that the cipher explained in chapter 1 isn't used in chapter 3? I'm fine with him saying he doesn't know the methodologies - I totally don't believe that either - we've discussed that. But I do have a problem with him saying that there are no Red Herrings. There are tons of them in this Chapter. Nothing to do with Star Wars - as pointed to in the Clue Nothing to do with duplicated words - as pointed out in the Clue, the Title and that it's Chapter "Two" about Star Wars Episode 2, about "Clones" And others. I'm hoping for a more imaginable hunt in Chapter One as I like ciphers and codes. I should have stuck with that when I switched over to Star Wars.... simply because it was Star Wars. Stupid of me.
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knock
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Post by knock on Jan 21, 2021 14:20:28 GMT -5
Interesting notion: Doesn't it seem like Anthony and Margo got to Santa Fe really quickly? -- Unless they actually live in Santa Fe (or really close). Did they know the methodology of using the letter after the commas "before" that final clue? Twitter is actually listing the two events as being 1 hour apart - and the winner announcement is first. I don't think it happened like that though. And the Mr. Bean Chicken Eating gif didn't appear there for me until this morning -- with the commas in the WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER. I'd love to know if Anthony and Margo knew ahead of time -- and if so, why release the final clue pointing out the commas? Apparently they live in New Jersey and solved it based on the clue. They flew down and retrieved within a day. Overall, I dont mind the methodology used for solves so far. Yes, they are difficult and arguably random, but they arent hidden in such a way that it is impossible. I dont believe a cipher will ever be used, and I think thats a good thing. So far hes used first letters of words, so I expect to see that again in future solves. The author didnt want to make it too hard, it seems.
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davem
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Post by davem on Jan 21, 2021 14:29:27 GMT -5
"The author didnt want to make it too hard, it seems." (something not working on the Quote thing) Really? There's no way that anyone would have gotten that without the Clue. Not in a millions years. Chapter four wasn't "easier", it was solvable without the Clue. Side Note - I think Caesar will be used in Chapter One.
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knock
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Post by knock on Jan 21, 2021 14:52:32 GMT -5
"The author didnt want to make it too hard, it seems." (something not working on the Quote thing) Really? There's no way that anyone would have gotten that without the Clue. Not in a millions years. Chapter four wasn't "easier", it was solvable without the Clue. Side Note - I think Caesar will be used in Chapter One. I guess when I say hard I mean intricate. However, it was quite arbitrary. It wouldve required a lot of luck and perseverance to find. When you think about it, its not the most sophisticated way to hide a message (of course, I wasnt even close to thinking of such methodology). I dont know if theyll use a ceasar because youll need to first find a random string of letters, then decipher. but how will you know what string of letters to attempt? Any lettters you derive will look meaningless until it happens to work in a ceasar cipher, which is why im not buying it. What do you think?
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davem
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Post by davem on Jan 21, 2021 15:09:41 GMT -5
"The author didnt want to make it too hard, it seems." (something not working on the Quote thing) Really? There's no way that anyone would have gotten that without the Clue. Not in a millions years. Chapter four wasn't "easier", it was solvable without the Clue. Side Note - I think Caesar will be used in Chapter One. I guess when I say hard I mean intricate. However, it was quite arbitrary. It wouldve required a lot of luck and perseverance to find. When you think about it, its not the most sophisticated way to hide a message (of course, I wasnt even close to thinking of such methodology). I dont know if theyll use a ceasar because youll need to first find a random string of letters, then decipher. but how will you know what string of letters to attempt? Any lettters you derive will look meaningless until it happens to work in a ceasar cipher, which is why im not buying it. What do you think? I've been doing these for a long time. I'm no expert or even very good at them. But a universally accepted "measure" of any ATH is -- Could it have been solved without specific clues? Not -- "did clues make it easier". But -- "was it impossible without them". This is universally accepted for one reason and one reason only: People lose interest if it's the latter. I've done work on Chapter One already. Before I switched over to Star Wars. There are tons of opportunities for Caesar to show his head. lol One I was working on is first letters of the roads -- Caesar shift 1 (for Chapter number). And here's a good one -- the numbering of the roads. I won't tell you the rest cause it might be right. LOL (yeah sure it is Dave). Again Caesar shift 1.
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Post by susb8383 on Jan 21, 2021 15:19:59 GMT -5
I also think a Caesar shift will be used in chapter 1. Yup, also tried every way from Sunday but came up with nothing. But I still think Caesar is hiding in there somewhere.
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Post by susb8383 on Jan 21, 2021 15:25:19 GMT -5
One thing that the solve for chap 2 tells us: I don't think punctuation will be used again.
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davem
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Post by davem on Jan 21, 2021 15:31:32 GMT -5
One thing that the solve for chap 2 tells us: I don't think punctuation will be used again. Great point!
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knock
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Post by knock on Jan 21, 2021 18:10:43 GMT -5
I guess when I say hard I mean intricate. However, it was quite arbitrary. It wouldve required a lot of luck and perseverance to find. When you think about it, its not the most sophisticated way to hide a message (of course, I wasnt even close to thinking of such methodology). I dont know if theyll use a ceasar because youll need to first find a random string of letters, then decipher. but how will you know what string of letters to attempt? Any lettters you derive will look meaningless until it happens to work in a ceasar cipher, which is why im not buying it. What do you think? I've been doing these for a long time. I'm no expert or even very good at them. But a universally accepted "measure" of any ATH is -- Could it have been solved without specific clues? Not -- "did clues make it easier". But -- "was it impossible without them". This is universally accepted for one reason and one reason only: People lose interest if it's the latter. I've done work on Chapter One already. Before I switched over to Star Wars. There are tons of opportunities for Caesar to show his head. lol One I was working on is first letters of the roads -- Caesar shift 1 (for Chapter number). And here's a good one -- the numbering of the roads. I won't tell you the rest cause it might be right. LOL (yeah sure it is Dave). Again Caesar shift 1. I am a treasure hunt beginner, so if thats the case I was unaware. So far the text provides no hinting towards a solution, which is a bit unfortunate. Following as such, I don't know for sure if ceasar will be used just because they mentioned. Its no doubt fair game though! Anyways, I see myself waiting for the next clue. I only joined the hunt after chapter 4 was solved because that was the first time I heard of it... that solution was more attainable, agree?
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Post by susb8383 on Jan 21, 2021 18:22:57 GMT -5
Yup. And he said that Chapter 4 was the easiest to solve.
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davem
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Post by davem on Jan 21, 2021 18:41:47 GMT -5
Yup. And he said that Chapter 4 was the easiest to solve. You've mentioned that a couple of times now. I missed it in the interviews. But given that, I wonder if there's a method to the madness of revealing clues in the order being done so far. Easiest -> Hardest? -> Chapter 3 (no cipher)? -> Chapter 1 (cipher). Again, I don't see either one as being harder than the other. Just is it solvable without a clue ... or not. In fact, if you get right down to it, I'd say Chapter 4 was harder than Chapter 2 -- IF " after the clue was given out" is your metric for measurement. After the clue on Chapt. 4 -- you had to list all the right songs and artists in the correct order, test out first names, last names, first letters of song titles, all letters of them too. Chapt. 2 all you needed to know where the starting point was which turned out to be at the beginning of the chapter.
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Post by susb8383 on Jan 21, 2021 20:41:30 GMT -5
I think it was the first Amy Seeks interview where he said that.
Personally I agree with him because chap 4 had a very definite list of things. (My metric is before the clue). But that might just be because of the way I view things: always in lists and groups, etc. I recall when I was in first grade and we were taught the beginnings of math, they taught us 'sets.' I don't remember exactly what that was but I think it had to do with visualizing groupings. Ever since then, I tend to add things up by grouping them. If I see a list of numbers to add together I'll try to group them together into sets of 10 instead of taking the first and adding the second, etc.
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Post by David C. on Jan 21, 2021 22:21:54 GMT -5
I want to keep a positive attitude towards this contest, but yuck...the chapter 2 solution is so discouraging. Unless I'm missing something, the only way to find it without a clue would have been to try many random methods with no guidance from any internal clues and hope that one of them happens to work. You'd actually have to assume that all details of the chapter were NOT important, otherwise you wouldn't have reason to try this specific method.
There was no opportunity for any clue interpretation (from the text) or puzzle-solving or "aha!" moments or progress along the way. And even if against all odds you tried the right method in the right place, you'd have to be perfect and not miss a single letter (of natural words after natural commas), otherwise one would reasonably abandon TNYWI or TIYWI to start the thread. Of course, if there's a logical reason to apply a method, perfection should be necessary...but if not, it just makes the thought of facing something like this in another chapter more of a chore than something fun.
Hopefully this chapter was the exception! But since they chose to share this as their second chapter with clues, it might even mean that they think this is the second best puzzle. Maybe this is just a contest were we wait for clues and enjoy the race for a day or two each time.
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