Box One: A Hidden Treasure Hunt

[Doc]

Happy Monday Afternoon on a sunny day in Louisiana!

I feel like Nicolas Cage in National Treasure when he entered the treasure chamber.  He dropped his torch igniting a trough of gunpowder that wound up illuminating the entire room.

I can't get past these four grids of letters in amazement of all the gold therein.

1.  Each of the 3 x 3 grids is associated with one of the symbols on the top of the box.
ITS
NOT = the lower left corner.  The 'Mint' that was derived was a 'tic-tac' and here is its missing 'toe'.  (For simplicity, this will be referred to as 'Grid 1')
KEY

HER
SHE = A 'hole' key.  An 'O' key with the 'O' representing a 'hole'.  The operator key.  (Grid 2)
EWE

LEO
REX = 'Excelsior' = 'Hire' = 'Employ' = 'EM Ploy' = 513 ploy.  The lower right symbol was a puzzle for 1-3-5.  (Grid 3)
SIC

PUC
ORA = A 'cad' on the case.  The Purloined Letter by POE.  This is the top right symbol of the floppy disk.  (Grid 4)
END

As you trace this on the top of the box, you see a BIG 'N' LINE.  This homophone is the BEGIN LINE.  I suspect 'The END' line is a homophone of 'The N Line'.  Since we've traced those symbols starting with the floppy disk, the whole key, and now the fingerprint, I suspect this 'end line' will start with the Lock and trace a reverse Z.

This ordering concept is important because for whatever reason, when we solve these grids, the order of the rows is 2 - 1 - 3.

2.  Row 2 = NOT SHE REX ORA.  The initial solution is 'Not she-rex'.  It's 'T-REX'.  That leads to two different words:  EXTINCT and DINOSAUR.  If you complete the initial puzzle, it's not only 'Not T-Rex', it's also 'Not ORA'.  Removing the ORA from DINOSAUR leaves us with this:

ID SUN

The name of the sun or SON.  This has three solutions, primarily involving 'The Sandman'.  One is DANIEL, the son of Morpheus.  Note that an anagram of this is AD LINE.  Using A = 1 and D = 4, then AD = 14 = the letter 'N'.  This is an N line as well.  This might be 'in line' this iteration.

SON JOHN--an anagram of our intrepid author, Cliff Johnson, as well as something more personal.

The sun is the MORNING STAR.  Which might imply LUCIFER from 'The Sandman' or possibly DAWN.

3.  Leaving this for a second, go back to the order of the rows 2 - 1 - 3.  
a.  213 is the area code for LOS ANGELES.  This represents a caesar shift of +1 from the TIMES SQUARE area code we derived ages ago, which was 212.  This is important because finding LOS ANGELES, the city of angels, was the first step of the final solution for Mysterious Stranger.  In Sandman parlance, this is also the SILVER CITY.
b.  21 3= U C or YOU SEE.
c.  This is leading to NOW YOU SEE ME, a great film about a magic act.  There are big implications to this, and it relates back to aspects of the four grids.  When I realized the added NOW and ME anagrammed to WOMEN, I knew I was onto something.
d.  In short, Grid 1 was derived from IMPLIED WORDS.  Grid 2 is WOMEN.  Grid 3 is HIGHER = HIRE.  'Hire women' = ERA.  I'm still contemplating this last part.  Removing the letters ERA from Grid 4 leaves us with CUP and NOD.  Puts me in mind of the Holy Grail.

Lots happening with all of this, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the journey,

Doc

[Doc]

Good evening on a spectacularly beautiful March evening from Louisiana!

Confucius or Confusion?

I haven't been posting much because I kinda hit a wall.  I'm at the level of having those four amazing 3 x 3 grids of letters, the bottom of the box with its map and passwords, and a possible 'star trek' utilizing the planets.  I'm aware I haven't used the reward card either.  I really don't know the objective of this, but it's starting to look like a phone number.

The three horizontal lines of the connected 3 x 3 grid of letters create puzzles.  I've realized the order the lines were 2 - 1 - 3, but now I realize why.

1.  ITS HER and an anagram of COUPLE.  One of its meanings is a 'female' that's 'two'.  It's a reference to the planet VENUS.  Its symbol is a circle with a '+' under it--the same as an OPERATOR KEY on a telephone.
2.  NOT SHE REX: T-REX, a 'DINOSAUR'.  NOT ORA:  remove the letters ORA from DINOSAUR:  ID SUN.  One of its iterations is MORNING STAR.  A 'STAR' KEY.
3.  KEY EWE SIC END:  Homophones.  KEY = Spanish QUE = translates to THAT.  EWE = YOU.  SIC = SEEK.  END.  THAT YOU SEEK THE END.  Notice that 'End' itself in the puzzle is its plain English.  For this sequence of the current telephone keys to be current, this should represent a NUMBER key.  The homophone for The END is 'THE N KEY'.  

This takes us all the way back to the beginning where we found SECRET PHONE N on the cover of the box.

In this fashion, the sequence of keys on our telephone keypad are star key, operator key, number key and that orders our lines as 2-1-3.  And that turns out to be the area code of downtown Los Angeles.  This is significant to me because the initial step of the solution to Mr. Johnson's previous hunt was CHERUBIM METROPOLIS derived from a phone number.  In other words, this might be playing a similar role of beginning a sort of final solution.

Which brings me to phone numbers.

I did some research and found that a telephone numbers consists of four parts:
1.  Exit code
2.  Area code
3.  Exchange code
4.  Line number

I feel something is going on with 'first = last' here, because the 'line numbers' form an 'area code'.

From a long time ago, we played around with the symbols on the cover of the box and eventually wound up with TIMES SQUARE whose area code happens to be 2-1-2, the boiling point of water.  Since no further numbers really presented themselves, I had assumed the 'secret phone N' was a 'secret phone number' where 'number' meant 'act'.  It was all a big magic act and nothing more.  I haven't really thought about finding an actual telephone number until now.

Times square area code = 212
Los Angeles are code = 213

As one can see this is a shift of '+1'.

My stupid self didn't realize this is an 'exit code' of a telephone number.  It's the exit code for the United States.

And we have an 'east'--Times Square--212
And a 'west'--Los Angeles--213

If this is really a '+1' this might be one that's a plus--all four directions.

For fun, I plugged my area code as 'south'--318

Which leaves an area code for 'north'.  The secret phone N?  For this to be valid, the final area code has to represent 'north'.

Adding the three together yielded '743' which happens to be 'NORTH Carolina'.  And I can break Carolina down into CAROL IN A or CAROL IN ONE.  This Christmas Carol I can see being relevant here is 'The First Noel' which yields a code for an area I'm very familiar with.

If all this isn't just will o' wisps, I'm thinking the subsequent six passwords/map rooms and possibly somehow planets might be yielding telephone digits.

The easiest one I know to demonstrate this is Room 2:  'Look inside the bottom of the card holder'.  The original password was RUIDOSO, a seven lettter word.  I'm thinking with Mr. Johnson's incredible puzzle creations, we will need to derive a new 7-letter word that fits the clues.  Let's break this down:  RUIDOSO is a word nobody ever heard of anywhere--it's not an anagram, and it's not a homophone.  Turns out it's a VILLAGE IN NEW MEXICO.  The letters of NEW MEXICO turn into something easily recognizable:

1.  NEW is a partial set of four directions.  It's missing S, so one might say this is NO S or NOS--an abbreviations for NUMBERS
2.  MEXICO breaks down into three parts
a.  ME = I
b.  XI = roman numeral 11
c.  CO = company.  From our pop culture, we know THREE'S Company.

NUMBERS I, II, III.  This is a description of CARD 24 or X.

1.  'Look inside the bottom of the card holder'.  This is a riddle that supplies us with a new 7-letter word that goes together with our New Mexico derivation.  What's inside the bottom of the card holder?  A 'STICKER'.
STICKER is the correct answer.  The definition of 'sticker' that we need to complete this is THORN.  One can see the anagram of NORTH hiding here.

The final puzzle consists of NUMBERS I, II, III and NORTH.  

I think it's the '2' key on a telephone keypad.  That would make the second digit of the exchange code to be a '2' if we're actually looking for a real phone number.

So far, I think the first new password is ANIMAL, the second new password is STICKER, and the third new password is FAMILY.

To answer the original question, the scales are tilted heavily towards 'confusion'.  LOL.

Doc

PS--I hope I have the mental fortitude to complete this.  With the possible exception of the four gospels of the New Testament, this might be the Greatest Story Ever Told. 

[Doc]

A beautiful spring afternoon from the Palazzo in Las Vegas, NV!

The Dad-blasted Passcodes

I’ve been trying to make sense of the list of passcodes at the end.  Their strangeness was one of the original ways I realized there was more to the game.  From what I can tell, each passcode leads to an anagram and a homophone.  I’m trying to keep it to a bare minimum before I go wandering into the weeds.

1.  BANANA
a.  The anagram is BAN AN A.  It’s a word puzzle for something
b.  The homophone stems from the fact a ‘banana’ is ‘Yellow’ or ‘Y’.  Y = WHY

2.  RUIDOSO is a ‘Village in New Mexico’
a.  NEW MEXICO anagram is NEW ME XI CO.  As explained in the previous post, this is NOS I, II, III.
b.  The anagram is from ‘village in new Mexico’:  ‘In’ = ‘N’.

3.  Tancho
a.  Anagram is A NOTCH
b.  Homophone stems from the fact that ‘tancho’ is a type of KOI fish.  KOI = COY

4.  Gemini
a.  Anagram comes from the fact that ‘Gemini’ = TWINS.  T WINS.  The lower case ‘t’ is the one I think is needed.
b.  Homophone:  GEM IN EYE

5.  Mesmerist. Working on it. 

6.  WINSLOW
a.  Anagram WIN SLOW.  
b.  Homophone TORTOISE = TORT US.  Turns into TUTORS and TROUTS

I don’t know what these are supposed to lead to.  I can’t figure out the common denominator, but I’m trying to not to force an answer.  Then there’s the conundrum of the fill-in-the-blanks to contend with—I think there’s new words we’re going to derive for each passcode.

Fighting the good fight,

Doc

[Doc]

Good evening from the fabulous Las Vegas strip!

I’m much more comfortable with these final set of passcodes leading to individual telephone keys. I was making some of this harder than needed.

I think I finally figured out ‘GEMINI’ and I was happy to see it called into use the strange handwritten ‘USA’ photo from the game.

These new puzzles require a homophone, anagram and filling in the blanks with a new word.

GEMINI = GEM IN EYE. It’s a riddle for any IDOL.
The zodiac symbol for Gemini is a Roman numeral II—can be described as ‘I’s.’

Putting these two together: IDOL + I’s is a homophone for IDOLIZE. It’s a riddle for REVERE which is the new word that fills in the blanks for room 4.

If REVERE’s one, it’s possibly talking about Paul Revere, a ‘revolutionary’, one who makes revolutions or circles.
The REVERSE one is the important one here.

If one recalls, the clue from room 4 leads to the U=A key. The ‘reverse one’ is the U S A photo that shows the ‘S’ as the ‘reverse’ one.

This ‘S’ is the key. It’s ‘south’ on a telephone keypad and contains the letters T, U, and V.

Each letter is independently derived as a ‘win’.

1. The Gemini represent ‘TWINS’. T WINS.
2. The USA clue is a riddle for AMERICA: AM ERICA. ERICA is Latin for ‘HEATHER’ and anagrams to HE EARTH. Helium (He) is number 2 on the periodic table and Earth is the third planet. HE EARTH = 2 3. The number 23 is ‘W’ and is actually the answer to card 21 (the 21st letter of the alphabet is a U’.). U = ‘W’, a ‘win’.
3. V for VICTORY, symbolized by holding up two fingers.

The ‘key’ is south, and T,U, and V are ‘wins’.

I think the telephone key here is 8.

Doc

[andyatxx]

Hello, I'm new here but I thought to share some thoughts I had.

1)
The circled keyword on the back of the box "FLASH" felt like an underutilized clue to me.
The other keywords we used were: "silent", "movie", "famous", and "athlete".

As previously noted in another post, NPH starred in a short skit called "Picture of Love", where he portrays Buster Keaton. It's on YouTube.
There is a single frame flash, as in flash photography, in this film. I paused the video on this frame and it's a very bright white image of the film itself, I think, but I wasn't able to ascertain any additional clues from that.

2)
This was maybe mentioned previously. Sorry if I missed it, but each of the clues appear to be a reference to a part of NPH's life. These are easy to find by googling "NPH xyz" where xyz is the decoded word.
E.g.,
Ruidoso is where he lived, in New Mexico,
Gemini is his zodiac sign, (Fun fact, Neil and I have the same birthday: June 15. Also Courtney Cox and the president of China)
Tancho although it's a type of Koi fish it's more likely a reference to NPH's favorite hair product from Indonesia: Tancho Pique
Mesmerist is a character he has played,
Winslow is his character from Smurfs.

But the one I don't understand is "Banana"...

[divinedomina]

May 2, 2023 12:52:39 GMT -5 andyatxx said:

Hello, I'm new here but I thought to share some thoughts I had.

1)
The circled keyword on the back of the box "FLASH" felt like an underutilized clue to me.
The other keywords we used were: "silent", "movie", "famous", and "athlete".

As previously noted in another post, NPH starred in a short skit called "Picture of Love", where he portrays Buster Keaton. It's on YouTube.
There is a single frame flash, as in flash photography, in this film. I paused the video on this frame and it's a very bright white image of the film itself, I think, but I wasn't able to ascertain any additional clues from that.

2)
This was maybe mentioned previously. Sorry if I missed it, but each of the clues appear to be a reference to a part of NPH's life. These are easy to find by googling "NPH xyz" where xyz is the decoded word.
E.g.,
Ruidoso is where he lived, in New Mexico,
Gemini is his zodiac sign, (Fun fact, Neil and I have the same birthday: June 15. Also Courtney Cox and the president of China)
Tancho although it's a type of Koi fish it's more likely a reference to NPH's favorite hair product from Indonesia: Tancho Pique
Mesmerist is a character he has played,
Winslow is his character from Smurfs.

But the one I don't understand is "Banana"...

I'm also new here... and I'm not good at these things but I'm a Dominatrix and "Banana" is a common safeword. When thinking of Room escape Games or even treasure, there could be a correlation because of a safe? Sorry if this is elementary and way off...

Did anybody think about the original lineup of the cipher? A = D... Is there a possible link to a timeframe, like AD/BC (Now BCE) or have I ruined myself by reading DaVinci Code?

What about the Lucky #s on the fortune? They could be dates? 12/7/80 & 3/29/89?

Who is the 3rd Staff in the chat... JB?

I think you may be onto something, Doc... the notepad is VERY thick. Hope this might help.

[divinedomina]

Oct 17, 2022 19:02:38 GMT -5 cowlazars said:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzs8F_qi2ck

A beginners walkthrough when we played it SPOLIERS tho so watch at your own risk!!

The game was awesome I cant wait for the next one from Mr Harris!!!

Anyone else notice Marten used capital I's in one email and lower case in another, all in the same email thread?