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Game 1: Puzzle #8
By admin | December 7, 2007
Game 1: Puzzle #8 discussion
Topics: Game 1 |
« Game 1: Puzzle #9 | Main | Game 1: Puzzle #7 »
By admin | December 7, 2007
Game 1: Puzzle #8 discussion
Topics: Game 1 |
December 27th, 2007 at 6:52 am
nuts, no one else here.
Well, time to sharpen the pencil and do a little crossword.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Wow, a force to be reckoned with. You did all the puzzles in 2 days? Impressive.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Hey there zeroskillz. And then there were two.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:17 am
LOL, well it’s a heck of a lot easier with everyone’s comments…
Seven was just one of the ones that made immediate sense to me. Had a nagging suspicion…well I don’t want to give it away.
Excellent frnkly! I’m working on the puzzle… don’t know if the answers will lead anywhere, but good to know there’s someone to bounce ideas off of.
BTW, thanks for the puzzles Cowpattybill! I’m having a blast.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:34 am
So frnkly
Finding any, errr, mistakes? ?
December 27th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Yes, just came across it. Might be a clue, but I think, like the past several puzzles, there is more to this than just what is in front of us.
I’m currently pondering the unlabled depression on the left and the apparent answer that doesn’t seem to fit, in either title or verse.
December 27th, 2007 at 8:27 am
‘Zero down’ so to speak?
the verse fit fine for me…
and yes, I’ve got all the answers, but no doubt it’s not that simple…
I’d guess the puzzles subtitle is maybe a hint…
December 27th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Whoops, I think the mistake was mine.. Reread 4 down…
December 27th, 2007 at 8:36 am
I found zero down now too. It depends on the translation I guess.
I also just caught the other error. It was us. I read the wrong number too.
Sorry for doubting you Cowpattybill.
December 27th, 2007 at 9:21 am
If you read the clue mentioned, and replace the correct answer with one off, you’ll see what we meant. Funny that we both made the same mistake though.
December 27th, 2007 at 9:41 am
and shouldn’t that verse be 4 down?
December 27th, 2007 at 11:00 am
hmmmm…
an oddly numbered crossword…
no form to enter a password, so maybe there’s an addy in this somewhere…
December 27th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Yes it is oddly numbered. And it is interesting what number is missing and the position it’s clue is in (zero down).
I’m a little interested in the name of the bitmap used. It has a %20 before the dot which represents a space in html. Seems odd, but not sure if it is meaningful.
After doing these puzzles for a couple weeks I’m now suspicious of everything. Jeez…
December 27th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Zero Down Should be “Amen”, but it could matter which version.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Shortest verse in most English translations.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Might need help with 8A, 10A, and 1D.
Also not sure of 2A.
The flu is starting to take its toll.
December 27th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Easy enough to get all of the words, but that gets me only so far. Gulrad, the flu might help you with 2A. 8A would be ambiguous without the grid, because a lot of lowers smell like rotting meat, it’s a great way to attract flies for pollination. As for 10A, communication satellites are in orbits like that.
But now what? Hmmm…
December 27th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
I’ve still got nothing. Hope you feel better Gulrad…
December 27th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Thanks both zeroskills and jjcote.
2A is good so is 10A.
Hope you don’t get this flu, it comes on in what seems like a matter of minutes.
December 27th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
I notice the name of the .bmp is crossword%20
December 27th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
The numbers are certainly not like other crosswords.
December 27th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Possibly our most significant observations after solving the crossword without leading us to the answer so far:
-no #9 clue (especially since the next puzzle is #9)
-3a and 3d both have _______
-the DOWN clue without a number (aka: zero down)
-71st and 171st, superific and it felt good(similar wording)
-no obvious place to insert answer
-no obvious link out/address clue
December 27th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I’ve tried puting the first letters of the answers in order as if the puzzle was numbered the standard way.
Unless it’s in code it doesn’t work.
Also, have tried the same sort of trick as in #7 without succes, although I havn’t tried all the ways yet.
December 27th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Maybe what we are calling “Zero” is in fact “Nine”
If so, would be a clue to lead us to puzzle #9?
December 27th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
So how does Lazarus lead to puzzle #9?
December 27th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
UncleBen,
Sorry, not getting the ref.
December 27th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Jesus wept in John 11:35 when he found out Lazarus had died. If the mysterious clue is in fact 9down, then maybe it has to do with the context of why Jesus was weeping.
I’m still not convinced we know where to go after solving the crossword…
December 27th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
As in #7 we may need an intuitive leap.
I still havn’t found a clue for #7 that would directly relate to solving it. Maybe the very vague Border/Rim.
Reminds me of using the idea of Six degrees of separation. I could relate any of the clues to any answer if I look hard enough, as you may have noticed.
December 27th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Here’s as much as I’ve got…
Jesus wept has 9 letters.
the number 9 is missing.
DeVigny is close to de Vigenere (Vigenere Cypher)
There are 9 letters starting the 10 words
I’m probably overcomplicating it…
Still nothing though
December 27th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
A few random observations:
Putting the answers in order of the number in some fashion seems unlikely, since there are two clues that are #3.
Since there’s no box to enter a passcode, it seems likely that we’re somehow going to wind up with another URL to go to.
The required letters to spell cluechaser.net are present in the puzzle, but not tenanimalsislamina.net.
The unnumbered clue is the only one that’s two words.
There are a couple of otherwise unfamiliar words in the puzzle (3A, 8A).
December 27th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
jjcote,
The #3s do, of course, start wuth the same letter.
December 27th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
There are 70 letters total.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I’m wondering if the answers have any application to solving the “actual” puzzle.
The only place to find all of the symbols needed for an address is in the questions.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
zeroskills may be on to something in post #40:
The 4th clue has a 4 letter answer,
The 5th 5,
The 6th 6,
The 7th 7,
The 8th 8,
If we take the unmarked as the 9th 9.
It doesn’t seem to work for 1, 2, 3, and 10.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
yeah, noticed that but still nowhere on this…
tried making something of the numbered letter in each word as e well…
This ones got me hammered
December 27th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Cowpattybill says all of the clues are here.
We have to find the method to extract them.
I always look for the anomalies first.
The numbering method is the biggest, i.e. missing 9 and non-numbered clue.
Next is the matching of the clue number with the number of letters in the word.
Down are all odd, unless the non-numbered clue is zero.
“I solved it and it felt good” may be a clue, may be an anagram.
“Superific” is not a word.
The numbers “71″ and “171″.
December 27th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Yup, there are the numbers… 4, 23, 83, 71, 171.
I was hoping there was an IP address with ‘zero periods’ in there
The word periods bothers me because the s on the end seems superfluous
The puzzle is 14 wide by 12 high which happens to equal 26
December 27th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
I’ll add it’s also not a (active) phone number, though that would have been interesting.
December 28th, 2007 at 5:27 am
All letters are represented except F, K and X.
December 28th, 2007 at 7:21 am
I’m thinking it’s just got to be simpler than I’m making it…
December 28th, 2007 at 8:09 am
So…facetious…?
fa·ce·tious–adjective 1. not meant to be taken seriously or literally: a facetious remark.
2. amusing; humorous.
3. lacking serious intent; concerned with something nonessential, amusing, or frivolous: a facetious person.
I would say the title and subheading are facetious. I have also been considering whether the “crossword” puzzle is facetious and not the actual puzzle #8.
Which makes me look to the clues below.
December 28th, 2007 at 8:59 am
I thought the same thing as UncleBen. However, that would mean that we were told we had solved puzzle 7 when we actually hadn’t, and we were just sent here as part of Cowpattybills evil plan.
Now that’s just mean.
December 28th, 2007 at 9:06 am
I think we got the right answer and were in fact redirected to puzzle #8.
I think you and I were thinking the same thing but in different ways: the crossword puzzle is not puzzle #8. If a person starts with that thought then the logical next step is that puzzle #8 is actually the list of clues below the red fish crossword.
December 28th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Maybe…
December 28th, 2007 at 9:36 am
I agree with the answers to the crossword being a red fish.
I don’t see a way that they would provide an address, with the exception of an encryption related to the numbers or an anagram.
The former has to few letters to solve and the latter to many. As far as I’m concerned.
My hunch is that an address is hidden in the clues, much like the one on the myspace profile.
December 28th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Any nine letter words that have all the vowels?
Every 9th word?
Every 9th letter?
(as per the #4 and #5 Clues)
If the clues were labled in the standard maner:
2 = 1
5 = 2
3 = 3
Blank = 4
6 = 5
1 = 6
7 = 7
4 = 8
10 = 9
8 = 10
December 28th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Cowpattybill,
I would change evil to diabolical.
If not that, than just very clever.
And obscure.
Is there a word for cleverley-obscure?
December 29th, 2007 at 6:35 am
Sounds like Gulrad may have it. Meanwhile, I was thinking that the answers to the puzzle would be meaningful, not in themselves, but that letters would somehow be extracted from the completed puzzle.
December 29th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Yup, I’ve tried a bunch of different letter extractions, there’s just to many possibilities. I’m missing the key, so to speak.The part that hints at what is important.
December 29th, 2007 at 7:06 am
Or I’m way off
December 29th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Isn’t facetious a word for cleverly-obscure?
December 29th, 2007 at 9:35 am
I keep going back to the “zero” clue. Not the actual text, but the number: 11:35.
Also, it seems like there are shapes associated with at least some of the answers. (Circles, star, equals…)
December 29th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Why is this puzzle in this format? A 24-bit color BMP for a B&W image, with anti-aliasing for the boldface letters. This is a very inefficient way to store this picture, there’s no apparent reason why it should be 1.3 Mb, and we’ve seen other images that were different (GIFs, for example). Is there some reason why a BMP is being used here?
December 29th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
I’m thinking it’s got to be in the numbers…
anybody?
December 29th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
I think I may be on to something: 7d and 1d each have two answers that fit, and leave the same letters in interlocking squares. I’m checking any of the others for the same quality now — I dunno if it means anything — but it sure seems important…
December 29th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Bingo — 2a has the same quality, two valid answers with the second letter H. Moreover, each of the double answers has at least one that starts with the letter P.
I still don’t know what it means, but I’m certain now that other answers in the puzzle — if not all of them — also have double entries. I can’t see how the quote could be attributed to two different Alfreds, however.
December 29th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Then again, I may be off. One of my answers for 2a wasn’t correct.
December 30th, 2007 at 2:26 am
Havn’t solved it yet, I had to take a break to recover from the flu.
I had a stray thought about the name and type of the image, the %20 thing and that it is a .bmp.
So I increased the size 500% using paint.
The only thing I noticed is that there are 2 very faint dots in front of the clue “Shortest verse in the Bible”.
December 30th, 2007 at 6:08 am
Ah bugger…I was really hoping someone could throw me a bone. Are you feeling better Gulrad??
I split the channels (RGB) and didn’t see anything there. Just those two faint dots in front of #9.
I wonder if frnkly got it…
So I went to see National Treasure last night… I’m feeling inspired
December 30th, 2007 at 6:19 am
And the two faint dots line up nicely with the bottom of the #2, which would have been the number there if the puzzle were numbered correctly, so it’s clear the numbers were re-arranged..
Clue 8, ‘Genus of’ is misaligned across the bottom with ‘plant…’
The clue lines do not line up across the Puzzle. And some numbers do not line up with their clues. The leading is inconsistent as well, which all indicates the clues/numbers were moved around after the puzzle was generated..
So I’m back to the numbers…
December 30th, 2007 at 6:21 am
No, I haven’t figured it out either. I’m finding a lot of weird things out of the net though as I look for the answer. Such as: http://www.llew.net/
Anyway, I actually have to work today. Don’t tell anyone I was here.
December 30th, 2007 at 6:46 am
December 30th, 2007 at 8:44 am
7d and 1d each have more than one possible answer? I just got = and .
December 30th, 2007 at 8:48 am
If the faint dots are the remnant of another number that has been erased, it probably wasn’t a 9. On the other hand, I don’t have any bright ideas about what other number it could have been instead.
December 30th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Maybe there is some math to find?
The length of a sidereal day?
The numbers of the bible verse?
Sluggishness = Entropy?
Havoc = Chaos Theory?
zeroskillz,
Yes, I am. Present puzzle excluded.
December 30th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
glad to hear it, but I’m right there with you. ‘Course the Skins won and made the playoffs, so all’s good.
December 30th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Maybe it’s the websites we visit when looking for the answers?
#4 was odd.
shh.
December 30th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
7d definitely has two answers, but I think I might have gotten a little over-excited when I thought I spotted a pattern. 1d has two answers only if the ‘mathematical symbol’ is plural as well as the ’sweeteners’, and my first answer for #2 turned out to be wrong when I looked up the appropriate term.
So yeah, basically I got nothing.
December 30th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
huh?
December 30th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
#10a = ~24 hours
#8a = ~1 day of stink
“zero”d = Jesus found that Lazarus was in the tomb for four days.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:11 am
Sorry all, I was out of town.
Nice work so far.
It looked for awhile like you all were heading in the right direction. I love the kinds of things you have theorized and examined. Give me hopes for puzzle 9.
There were a couple posts back in the 50’s above that were in the right direction.
December 31st, 2007 at 8:31 am
I should probably add that this puzzle is not as deep as you might think. I wish I was smart enough to make it that deep, and I plan to for Game 2 but I didn’t have the time, money, resources, energy to do it. Plus I really have to see how successful this game is to determine if it’s worth doing another one. So far it seems to be going pretty good.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:53 am
Maybe there is an IP address in the clues?
December 31st, 2007 at 9:56 am
I keep hearing the dad from the first National Treasure…”Just another clue…” and no, that doesn’t mean anything. I haven’t got it yet.
December 31st, 2007 at 10:15 am
I’m hoping that the sub title has something to do with the answer…
December 31st, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I apologize in advance if the solution does not lie in crossword clues…
At this point I’m not sure about the type of puzzle that this is. Is it a logic puzzle or a kind of word puzzle/cipher? How would you hide an address in there?
I’ve tried a variety of “word game” strategies but have found nothing.
December 31st, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I’m not sure if it has a name. Hmm, small hint…what can I say to give you a small nudge. How ’bout:
There was (or maybe still is), a character on Sesame Street that would be able to assist you in this puzzle.
December 31st, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Would that be “The Count”?
December 31st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Maybe. Maybe not. There are a number of characters on Sesame Street.
December 31st, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Lets see:
Snuffleupagus
Big Bird
Oscar the Grouch
Burt
Ernie
Grover
The Count
Kirmit (Old)
Elmo
December 31st, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Oh,
Cookie Monster
December 31st, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Well it’s definitely not the aliens…
Our money is on the Count or the Cookie Monster. Nobody else makes sense. It would be either the number of the day or the letter of the day.
December 31st, 2007 at 2:29 pm
As no letter of the day stands out…
We think the number of the day is 9.
Hopefully haven’t been derailed by a tangent/red fish.
December 31st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Focusing on any particular number would be unwise. Chocula anyone?
December 31st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
1 Puzzle Clue! Ah Ah Ah
December 31st, 2007 at 5:05 pm
There was also a typewriter character.
December 31st, 2007 at 5:39 pm
OK
4,5,6,7,8 and maybe 9 all have answers that have the same number of letters as as the clue number.
Have we overlooked something there?
December 31st, 2007 at 6:49 pm
ehvocesato
Chase to Evo?
December 31st, 2007 at 6:53 pm
O Veto Chase?
December 31st, 2007 at 6:57 pm
choose a vet
chose a vote
so vetos ache
December 31st, 2007 at 6:57 pm
(oops, not that last one)
December 31st, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I think I follow your extraction, Gulrad, and amusingly, the same logic applied to the string 4 23 83 71 171 comes to OH DAD SEES E, but…I don’t actually think that helps…
December 31st, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Na, just following one of many permutations…
December 31st, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Here’s another one I think is a wild goose: ClueChaser Superific Puzzle / I solved it and it felt good = (10, or 4 6) 9 6 / 1 6 2 3 2 4 4
Swap in the initial letters of the puzzle entries and that comes to G (J?) C / E C P D P Z Z — which is tantalizing only because it contains most of the word ‘puzzle’.
But I’m grasping at really teeny straws here.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:33 pm
The problem with EHVOCESATO is that maybe it should be EHAOCESATO, and the T is suspect in any case — why wouldn’t it be numbered?
I also saw HVEOA_EAOCS or LODPG_METTC as possibilities, but they don’t seem very useful.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:37 pm
I wonder if the NSA might be interested in this one for encrypting vital information.
Maybe, like the Poe classic, the best way to hide something is in plain sight.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:43 pm
LODPG_METTC could also begin LO.PN, if punctuation counts.
I have the sinking feeling that the secret to this puzzle is going to make me feel *really* stupid when it hits me.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Cowpattybill,
I am, almost, the last remaining bit of a tree that has been logged.
December 31st, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Man I thought I had it with earnstar.com…
for a moment…
December 31st, 2007 at 8:41 pm
or even better:
http://justpee.ws/
and that’s actually a site…
December 31st, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Happy new year from Texas.
January 1st, 2008 at 6:46 am
[quote]I have the sinking feeling that the secret to this puzzle is going to make me feel *really* stupid when it hits me.[/quote]
I hope that happens to me…
as it is, these strings of letters I’m getting just make to many workable solutions as anagrams. It’s got to be simpler than that
January 1st, 2008 at 11:50 am
I tried something I had done before and it does give a possable answer though I havn’t figured out how to use it.
I simply count over the number of letters in the clue using the number of the clue.
I get:
mloett.cpn
If the blank is supposed to be 9 then add a v for:
mloett.cpvn
I don’t think we should use the blank.
mloett.cpn makes:
lettpn.com
or
mlotcp.net
The front part being anagram form.
lettpn
and
mlotcp
January 1st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Now your cooking with gas.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I even tried that earlier and missed the answer.
So that is why zero down (9) has no number.
Your just evil Cowpattybill. Fun, mind numbing evil.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Got it.
Forgot the spaces.
January 1st, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Ugh. OK, I’m with you.
January 1st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
whaat? did that too, still haven’t got it…
January 1st, 2008 at 4:04 pm
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhghhhhhhhhhyhh
got me good with this one bill;l
on to 9
January 1st, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Gah! I think several of us walked right past the answer a few posts back.
Well, I solved it, and it felt…something…
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
Happy New Year!
So very close… Followed Gulrad’s revisions to what I had previously been trying…
Could someone toss a hint without spoiling it?
January 2nd, 2008 at 9:08 am
Never mind, got it!
January 6th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I assume that “Gulrad’s revisions” correspond to having “forgot the spaces.” How I envy you all, having made the gestalt switch to finding the solution!
January 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Never mind, got it. Not so much of a gestalt switch as I thought.