The Sunday Puzzle series was started by Julie Waters on October 28, 2007. Here's a link to the first one. In the December 30, 2007 diary Julie posted a JulieCrostic, and they've been a Sunday Puzzle mainstay every since..
Julie died in April. In her honor, Sunday Puzzle and Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up have been featuring the Julie Waters memorial puzzle challenge -- a series of puzzles Julie herself created!
There are 3 phases to the challenge, and we have completed two of them.
Yes: Phase II is finished! Now we need to figure out how to get into Phase III...
The graduation exercise from Phase II looks like it will give us quite a mental workout this morning. This one may take quite a bit of combined brainpower! So please, come on down below the nurple and help crack this puzzle.
And just in case we get stuck for a while, I've provided a new JulieCrostic folks can solve while waiting for inspiration to strike on how to crack the puzzle Julie left for us. Julie's challenge, the JulieCrostic, and a bonus puzzle featuring Bully Cyborg, are all waiting for you right below the nurple...
IMPORTANT UPDATE: We managed to crack the Ethiopia Owing Taoist lock and are now into Phase III. I have added the first 9 Phase III puzzles to the diary (and will also post them in comments), to make them convenient for people to find and enjoy. You'll find them at the bottom of the diary, following the crypto-gremlin.
Last night I posted the final logic puzzle from Phase II over in Sunday Puzzle Warm-Up. If you like logic puzzles, it's waiting there all set to be played with.
Once you solve it, you can test your answer here, on Julie's Songweaver site. When you get the answer right, you'll be taken to a screen which says:
Congratulations! There will be more logic puzzles in Phase III.
(RJ YTXST LY ASL LY FDUWS LDTSS, TSUTTUJAS MYVT GYXS PYTXW ITYB FDUWS LPY)
That's an extremely easy code to crack, so I'm going to go ahead and tell you what it says. (But just in case some of you would like to decode it yourselves, I'll print it upside down and backwards.)
.oʍʇ ǝsɐɥd ɯoɹɟ spɹoʍ ǝpoɔ ɹnoʎ ǝƃuɐɹɹɐǝɹ 'ǝǝɹɥʇ ǝsɐɥd oʇ ʇǝƃ oʇ ɹǝpɹo uI
In the course of phase two, Julie left several messages for us at the bottom of various puzzles. Some of the messages were clues to the second puzzle in the logic track; we've used those.
But there were three messages providing us with special words, and now looks like when we need them.
From the final screen in the crossword track:
One of the words to solve the final problem is ETHIOPIA
From
the final screen of the trivia track:
One of the words to solve the final phase II problem is "OWING"
And from
the last screen in the cryptogram track:
One of the words to solve the final phase II problem is "TAOIST"
In addition, there were three other messages which we haven't used yet:
From the next-to-last screen in the math track:
(Y=I)
From the
final screen in the math track:
(F=E)
And from the final screen of the music track:
(E=S)
Now, if you clicked the link I provided above to the final screen of the logic puzzle track, you may have noticed something odd. In between the line congratulating us for finishing phase II and giving the code message on how to reach phase III there's the usual box to click which says
yes, this is the answer! But there's no box on the page in which to enter an answer!
Huh? What are we supposed to do?
[Well, the answer to that question is easy. In fact, I've already provided the answer. It's a cute little additional puzzle Julie has posed for us, so I'll let y'all ponder on that while while wrestling with the larger puzzle Julie posed in the coded message.]
Okay, so that's the main puzzle we need to solve today, in order to move onto the third and final phase of the challenge.
It can be solved. There are two people (Jamie Drier and Michael Hochster) who solved it on May 30, 2003 and signed Julie's Hall of Geekiness to mark the occasion. They're the only ones to make it that far (until now). Hopefully we can crack the puzzle this morning. But if our brains get tired wrestling with it, we can always take a break to work on a nice relaxing JulieCrostic...
1. xxx
2. arthur, lester, and sometimes harvey
3. kind of inferno
4. grants
5. lay doll
6. wails
7. show respect
8. lodging places
9. defeat
10. found many places in vegas
11. scarfs
12. most relaxed
13. plateau
14. large quantities
15. constructs
16. james philip jose
17. fuzz
18. came upon by chance
19. they do not start, and have a vain end, according to one religion
20. orly's followers buy this in bulk lots
21. i have a secret!
22. meat holders
23. halves
24. guns
25. black sun
26. express
27. caffeinated drinks
28. surprise
29. make a drink
30. food fish
31. nothing
32. the equivalent of tweeted...
33. devoid of content
Ju dyar pdros gym kylr fuoy Oykrbtrcs, gym pyo’lg hmnvr br eszr ldr lrrosvrcs pdy tmiiurny hyor vsg tyg, tmlr csldrcs eszr ldr asnmily pdy wucrnr ldymzsonzs
kywy aryair.
* Bully Cyborg (kus Song Tycypuleg)
For those of you who haven't seen this kind of cryptogram before, here's a full explanation of how these work:
Crypto-Gremlins are a new kind of cryptogram -- ones which can't be solved by online programs alone. That's because before encoding a passage, I alter the text so that every word begins with a consonant or consonant sound and every word ends with a vowel or vowel sound.
Take, for instance, the sentence The cats are attending university to learn ballet.
1. The and to begin with consonants and ends with a vowels, so they're fine and would be left alone: THE, TO.
2. Cats and learn begin with a consonants, so that's okay, but they also end in consonants, which is not okay; therefore I will add a vowel of my choice (either A, E, I, O, U or Y) to the end of each: CATSE, LEARNO.
3. Are ends with a vowel, so I don't need to adjust that; but it also begins with a vowel, so that does need adjusting: QARE.
4. Attending begins with a vowel and ends with a consonant, so it needs adjustment at both ends. I'll change it to something like KATTENDINGE.
5. Ballet looks like it would need adjustment but it doesn't; the word ends with a vowel sound, so it gets left alone. BALLET.
6. Similarly, university looks like it would need adjusting but it doesn't; the u at the beginning has a consonant sound so it's left alone. UNIVERSITY.
Now the sentence reads The catse qare kattendinge university to learno ballet, and that's what I'll encrypt: Uif dbutf rbsf lbuufoejohf vojwfstjuz up mfbsop cbmmfu.
If a word is capitalized in the source material, I capitalize the first letter of its encrypted form.
If a word is hyphenated, I treat each of its parts as a separate word.
I try to keep the word encryption consistent; if I change CAT to CATO once in a quotation, I try to change CAT to CATO every time it appears in that quotation.
I will generally use all 6 of the standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U, and Y) at least once at the end of a word, to make the puzzles easier to solve. So you will generally be able to recognize right from the start which letters in the puzzle are vowels and which are consonants.
The bolded words at the top of each Crypto-Gremlin are the quotation to be deciphered; the unbolded words at the bottom give the source of the quotation.
That's basically it. It may sound complicated, but Crypto-Gremlins are actually fairly easy to solve once you get the hang of them.
PS: I recommend going to the American Cryptogram Association site and using the handy tool you'll find there to aid in trying out letter substitutions.
Have fun, and I hope to see you in comments /
...............................................................................................
JULIEjulieJULIEjulieJULIEjulieJULIEjulieJULIEjulieJULIEjulieJULIEjulieJULIEjulieJULIEjulieJULIE
EILUJeilujEILUJeilujEILUJeilujEILUJeilujEILUJeilujEILUJeilujEILUJeilujEILUJeilujEILUJeilujEILUJ
Phase III, puzzle # 1:
Who is the source for the the following quote, once translated from a cryptogram?
YCH J EAAZ NLAVAZM CM MYA GLACMJIZ, J QIORH YCDA WJDAZ VIKA OVATOR YJZMV TIL MYA EAMMAL ILHALJZW IT MYA OZJDALVA.
(The mail carrier and the poet both hate baking)
Phase III, puzzle # 2:
Who is the source for the the following cryptogram?
W UEZZWIK JICIEHT UI, EXX RYUIC KY.
(Allah does not write poetry)
Phase III, puzzle # 3:
In these cryptograms, all the vowels were replaced with a "" symbol before converting them. Who is the author of all three quotes?
*JA*J VC* C*U I*M USM*NNX*B V*SC F*I*MSA TJ*VU C*V *YSM*W*XA *YF*JU*I S *U S O* F*M.
HWO*V *L E*U L*V*UG*EJ UG*U *EKD*OK N*E D J*R*E; HW*O*V *L L*V*UG*EJ ZZY U*S* EO ZZY W L HW* L UG*K I*EU U D*.
WL J*I*X X * EVL XN*JU *VQD LN E C C*M, X*K V X*M*Q L D*XJ*M*V LN*L LN* CA*E L* RN*JN T** N*M* HA*DE*D AA*EQJ, A*QE R*LN *M*VTB*DT *AX, N*X Q*L HA*DE*D AA*EQJ L* T*. WL J*I*X *X * EVL XN*JU L X** E*VT J*H*V U*AA*QE *CC LN WQD*QX *QD, *ALNEN T* V V*L*QE C*V E*VT JH*V, LN*L LN WQD*QX *V T**.
(Neither the mail carrier nor the ad exec is from Florida and they both hate skydiving)
Phase III, puzzle # 4:
155 174 193 212 231 250 269 288 1 20 39 58 77 96 115 134 153
173 192 211 230 249 268 287 17 19 38 57 76 95 114 133 152 154
191 210 229 248 267 286 16 18 37 56 75 94 113 132 151 170 172
209 228 247 266 285 15 34 36 55 74 93 112 131 150 169 171 190
227 246 265 284 14 33 35 54 73 92 111 130 149 168 187 189 208
245 264 283 13 32 51 53 72 91 110 129 148 167 186 188 207 226
263 282 12 31 50 52 71 90 109 128 147 166 185 204 206 225 244
281 11 30 49 68 70 89 108 127 146 165 184 203 205 224 243 262
10 29 48 67 69 88 107 126 145 164 183 202 221 223 242 261 280
28 47 66 85 87 ??? 125 144 163 182 201 220 222 241 260 279 9
46 65 84 86 105 124 143 162 181 200 219 238 240 259 278 8 27
64 83 102 104 123 142 161 180 199 218 237 239 258 277 7 26 45
82 101 103 122 141 160 179 198 217 236 255 257 276 6 25 44 63
100 119 121 140 159 178 197 216 235 254 256 275 5 24 43 62 81
118 120 139 158 177 196 215 234 253 272 274 4 23 42 61 80 99
136 138 157 176 195 214 233 252 271 273 3 22 41 60 79 98 117
137 156 175 194 213 232 251 270 289 2 21 40 59 78 97 116 135
What number goes in the place of the ???
(Neither Jesus nor Cthulu is from Florida)
Phase III, puzzle # 5:
The tootsie hem ilk screwed up a similar movie.
(The carpenter is not from California)
Phase III, puzzle # 6:
FTIBB WZBHTXKVZHB
HXFI, UTVZMQ QRTZ, HTXKGVH, UDXNVDQRTZ, HTRKFRZV, FITWHRZV BIYIGQRZV.
What is the above a list of? [
(The mail carrier is not from California. Neither is Ganesh.)
Phase III, puzzle # 7:
OPKKJ MPKWVF GLZPVY
CVWLFI, USV CFLEU QIDV, USV QFPZIUV KPCV LC YSVFKLNB SLKGVY, PFGI KI WLANV, USV IQIFUGVEU, USV YVZVE JVIF PUNS, YIOFPEI, YAEYVU OLAKVZIFW, USV GIHLF IEW USV GPELF
What is the above a list of?
(Allah hates pro-wrestling, baking and skydiving)
Phase III, puzzle # 8:
To get past this question you need to solve the puzzle in under 250 moves.
(The carpenter hates skydiving)
[Took me a long while to figure out how this worked; I kept trying to grab a square with the mouse and slide them, which didn't work at all. But once I realized you click on a square and it trades places with that piece over to the side, I was able to solve it in reasonable time. It took me 54 moves; y'all can probably do better.]
Phase III, puzzle # 9:
Answer with the first letters of 26 different words. Each word should begin with a different letter of the alphabet. To answer the question, write the 26 letters in the appropriate order, with no breaks in-between.
Which president of the United States had a middle name of "Knox?" 1,2,3 Who is the Aztec goddess of beauty? 4 What musical modes, in relation to a major scale, involve (in order) a lowered 7th, 6th & 3rd; a raised 4th; a lowered 7th & 3rd? 5,6,7 Who did the soundtrack for Clockwork Orange? 8,9 Who wrote "Turk ve Tatar Tarihi?" 10,11,12 Who was British Prime minister when a US President resigned? 13,14 Who resigned? 15,16,17 Who directed a movie starred two Kevins, a Gabriel, a Chazz and a Steve? 18,19 Who told us that "life is like a box of chocolates?" 20,21 What's the name of another Aztec God? 22 What's another term for a payment voucher? 23,24,25 Who was the king of the pond? 26
(The ad exec and the politician both hate the race track)
Phase III, puzzle # 10
This is a graph of the function shown. Rounded to two decimal places and multiplied by 100, what is the size of the area shaded in orange (from x=0 to x=1.6)?
(Neither Ganesh nor Jesus is from Arizona)