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Author Topic: [OVER] Riddles - Second edition - Solve them and harvest the loot!  (Read 11633 times)
Voodah
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December 05, 2013, 10:44:17 PM
 #81

Nice work Kouye, you really kicked it up a notch on this one !

Regarding constructive feedback, I've got two or three observations on where to improve:

+ Too much reliance on knowing lots of forum usernames. Our brain works kinda funny and sometimes, you need to already know the answer to your current problem and just let you brain dig and work out the connections for the answers to surface to consciousness. This process is short-circuited when you're looking for something you never even heard before in your life, and your brain starts to wander and make false positive connections with stuff you are familiar with. In a sense, this is handicap for newer users, who are working with limited knowledge.

+ The "mates" thing basically allowed brute-forcing or similar techniques. Not much more to add here. It wouldn't have been cracked yet if the usernames were not scrambled and that hint given away.

+ Some clues too ambiguous (this one might just be my impression based on where my guesswork took me). For example:

The poem:
"If you strictly focus on the key" meant keeping only 3rd char from each line and discard spaces, you get: "eritwa"

At first I had focused even more strictly, so I applied 3 from general to specific:

I went to the 3rd search result on Google, which was this: http://www.shmoop.com/there-is-no-frigate-like-a-book/stanza-1-summary.html

If you go there, you'll see that the poem is actually broken in its verses and you even have the title "Lines 3 and 4", so naturally, I went for verse 3. This was a coincidental misled.

In verse 3, the 3rd word looked nice and capitalized: Coursers

Now Coursers did not sound to me like any username, but then I see:

"(*)This guy holds the next key. And key has a tail!(**)"

And as you might know, a "courser" is a horse, and they have tails !
and even then:

"(**)For a tail-less confirmation, see riddle #2"

and riddle #2 had the thing about The Three Horsemen, so I naturally took the Horsemen as the tail-less confirmation !

Hahaha, this was such a coincidental mindfuck. Or was it?

Something similar happened with #4 and the timestamp I had to grab.

Also last thing i just remembered is I kept second-guessing myself with the fact that Google gives different results for everyone, and if that was or not taken into account during riddle creation.

But all in all, it was great fun, so grats and thanks for your time and effort (and btc for the winner Cheesy)!



Kouye (OP)
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December 05, 2013, 11:04:18 PM
 #82

Thanks for this great feedback.

I actually tried all google search on the french and murrikan results. Maybe I should have been more thorough, that's an excellent point.

The usernames was first to give an edge to people hanging around. Second time was supposed to be a tribute to btc devs.
Next one won't have any username in solutions (or will it?  Grin)

I'm really sorry about the false lead you followed on the poem one. Altough the fact Coursers didn't have to go through a shaker to come up, should probably have left you with some unsatisfaction feeling.

The fact that Inn name was related to it was an absolute coincidence, too. Embarrassed

Anyway, feedback like yours will help me crafting better riddles, and I thank you again for that.

[OVER] RIDDLES 2nd edition --- this was claimed. Look out for 3rd edition!
I won't ever ask for a loan nor offer any escrow service. If I do, please consider my account as hacked.
Voodah
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December 05, 2013, 11:08:59 PM
 #83

Thanks for this great feedback.

I actually tried all google search on the french and murrikan results. Maybe I should have been more thorough, that's an excellent point.

The usernames was first to give an edge to people hanging around. Second time was supposed to be a tribute to btc devs.
Next one won't have any username in solutions (or will it?  Grin)

I'm really sorry about the false lead you followed on the poem one. Altough the fact Coursers didn't have to go through a shaker to come up, should probably have left you with some unsatisfaction feeling.

The fact that Inn name was related to it was an absolute coincidence, too. Embarrassed

Anyway, feedback like yours will help me crafting better riddles, and I thank you again for that.

I find amazing coincidences well.... amazing !!

So it was kind of funny and joyful finding that I got some crazy alternate universe (mis)leads there.
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December 05, 2013, 11:42:01 PM
 #84

While I haven't actually cracked any of these riddles, and probally never will (riddles are not my gift), I do get the feeling that I might be a solution.

Not feeling it, do you know something we don't ?  Cool

For the record, I thought the last one was a reference to late at night, and that the answer would be my username.  That's why I thought I might be in there somewhere.

Obviously, I was wrong.

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."

- Carroll Quigley, CFR member, mentor to Bill Clinton, from 'Tragedy And Hope'
Kouye (OP)
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December 06, 2013, 12:05:29 AM
 #85

For the record, I thought the last one was a reference to late at night, and that the answer would be my username.  That's why I thought I might be in there somewhere.

Obviously, I was wrong.

We have a limited number of words at hand, and this kind of confusion will always happen.
Sorry, but you really need to follow the instructions, even if intuition can (and will) help, sometimes.

[OVER] RIDDLES 2nd edition --- this was claimed. Look out for 3rd edition!
I won't ever ask for a loan nor offer any escrow service. If I do, please consider my account as hacked.
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December 22, 2013, 02:16:04 PM
 #86

This is just ridiculous.  I don't know where to start.  Does one have to be a programmer to understand these riddles?

No, but it helps.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10468112/The-internet-mystery-that-has-the-world-baffled.html
Looking forward to Jan 4th?

My proclivities draw me to solve puzzles and mysteries, but my sense of dire urgency keeps me focused on the ones that have a concrete impact.  There is no shortage of those, and while it would be a delight to meet others of similar mind that, and personal satisfaction of curiosity is a purely selfish motive for me when important work is also calling.

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Kouye (OP)
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December 22, 2013, 02:31:34 PM
 #87

My proclivities draw me to solve puzzles and mysteries, but my sense of dire urgency keeps me focused on the ones that have a concrete impact.  There is no shortage of those, and while it would be a delight to meet others of similar mind that, and personal satisfaction of curiosity is a purely selfish motive for me when important work is also calling.

Consider those just as a training (& entertaining, hopefully) session before more serious enigmas. Grin
Next set should be out within a week, stay tuned!

[OVER] RIDDLES 2nd edition --- this was claimed. Look out for 3rd edition!
I won't ever ask for a loan nor offer any escrow service. If I do, please consider my account as hacked.
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