Bitcoin Crossword

[handsome_latino]

Hi everyone, my third fourth Bitcoin project this year is a crossword puzzle:

bitcoin-crossword.com

If you solve it, the words will decrypt a message which contains a 0.01 BTC or One Million Sats Bounty that you can sweep. Code is open source and the encrypted message is open to the public.

Took me a few months to finalize and I decided to launch it today, Pizza Day, in honor of the legendary Laszlo Hanyecz who bought large pizzas and enjoyed them with no regrets.

Feel free to discuss potential solutions. I will be releasing a few clues if the puzzle remains unsolved.

Enjoy your pizza!

[1715186018]

1715186018

[1715186018]

1715186018

[1715186018]

1715186018

[1715186018]

1715186018

[Xal0lex]

What language is the crossword puzzle in? English?

[Mbitr]

Great idea 
Just had a quick go - no win for me
Good luck all

[LoyceMobile]

If you solve it, the words will decrypt a message which contains a 0.01 BTC or One Million Sats Bounty that you can sweep. Code is open source and the encrypted message is open to the public.

Does it show the decrypted solution automatically once the correct words are entered? If so: that's genius!
Or do you need the cypher from github?

I've never solved a crossword puzzle without clues before. I'm collecting words:
btc
bit
key
sat
fee
are
use
due
ode
awe
sign
hash
txid
pizza
block
chain
spend
after
often
offer
satoshi
andreas
address
confirm
private

[handsome_latino]

What language is the crossword puzzle in? English?

English, yes.

Does it show the decrypted solution automatically once the correct words are entered? If so: that's genius!

Yes, automatically, since only the right key would produce a valid message. It even throws confetti at you

[Xal0lex]

Any hints? 

[handsome_latino]

Any hints?  

First hint

Edit: It's night time here, I'm off to bed. Good luck. More clues to come when I wake up.

[LoyceMobile]

First hint

Going with the BIP-39 theory, I get:

Code:

age
eye
fee
ice
one
toe
use

I like fee most
That brings me to:

Code:

offer
often

I like offer most:

Code:

amateur
another
brother
chapter
cluster
deliver
despair
empower
hamster
lobster
monitor
monster
neither
nuclear
october
outdoor
panther
pioneer
popular
prosper
quarter
regular
scatter
seminar
similar
slender
soldier
sponsor
thunder
toddler
trigger
uncover
warrior
weather
whisper

Too many permutations for confetti!

[dkbit98]

Took me a few months to finalize and I decided to launch it today, Pizza Day, in honor of the legendary Laszlo Hanyecz who bought large pizzas and enjoyed them with no regrets.

It looks very good and I appreciate your made it with open source code, but some more hints and help would be greatly appreciated.
Should we consider this crossword has anything related with Pizza Day and Laszlo Hanyecz?

I would suggest if you can make website with dark theme switch similar like on your other website btc2fiat.me

[handsome_latino]

UPDATE #1:

I have added a few clues on the crossword page (refresh to see them) -- will add more if needed!

Also, someone has generously added a small tip on top of the total reward.  

It looks very good and I appreciate your made it with open source code, but some more hints and help would be greatly appreciated.
Should we consider this crossword has anything related with Pizza Day and Laszlo Hanyecz?

I would suggest if you can make website with dark theme switch similar like on your other website btc2fiat.me

Initially I got lazy to program dark mode, but definitely it was needed. It's done  let me know what you think!

Going with the BIP-39 theory, I get:
...
Too many permutations for confetti!

From the new clues added to the crossword:

No knowledge about the BIP-39 wordlist is needed or was used as a reference for this crossword.

[LoyceMobile]

Thanks for the hints, that makes me think BAILOUT. Which leads me to ADAPT or ADOPT and something like DUE (DIE isn't friendly enough), but the context for DUE doesn't make sense.

[iceland2k14]

How coin ensures ? are

Search is on.....

[o_e_l_e_o]

I just won.

Here's proof (signed using Electrum):

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
o_e_l_e_o solved the puzzle!
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
bc1qe926cfhzyh438fyvn9snyrcrsfujp6ur3zcrrn
HzgQNIxDWZyDHnzMLB5ImhAeFxaVweRCA0i6EmU5k9NuQ7ENA1YLC1uJh6Y720ZE5JU7A0RuH1dlqI5 d7DrqGrQ=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

I'll wait until the transaction confirms before I reveal the answer. Tried various combinations of Satoshi, Bitcoin, January (genesis block) as the seven letter word to no success. Ended up clicking on OP's other site - https://handsomelatino.com - read the little blurb he wrote about himself at the top, which gave me a clue. Specifically this phrase: "savings had effectively become an increasing liability."

Great puzzle, great fun, and thanks for the bitcoin!

Edit: The answer is "Banks are not your friends".

[LoyceMobile]

Congrats!
I can now confirm the solution and announcing the winner works on Tor browser too.

[dkbit98]

Initially I got lazy to program dark mode, but definitely it was needed. It's done   let me know what you think!

This looks much better, my eyes said thank you.
I guess you will need to create new crossword and make it a bit more harder next time.
Can you confirm o_e_l_e_o won reward, and make change on website?

I just won.

Oh that was super quick, and I have no idea how you did it so fast
Congrats on winning nice amount of Bitcoin... and maybe you should post some screenshot.

[handsome_latino]

I just won.

I'll wait until the transaction confirms before I reveal the answer. Tried various combinations of Satoshi, Bitcoin, January (genesis block) as the seven letter word to no success. Ended up clicking on OP's other site - https://handsomelatino.com - read the little blurb he wrote about himself at the top, which gave me a clue. Specifically this phrase: "savings had effectively become an increasing liability."

Great puzzle, great fun, and thanks for the bitcoin!

Edit: The answer is "Banks are not your friends".

Congratulations! Wow, that was fast, 20 hours since published. It feels bittersweet that the hard work of so many evenings is gone, but as my wife said, better than people had interest than if no one cared and it faded away on the internet.

I'm also curious as to what was the clue or first word that you found out! Impressive work, and well, I'm happy you're probably the first person to ever read my bio!

I guess you will need to create new crossword and make it a bit more harder next time.
Can you confirm o_e_l_e_o won reward, and make change on website?

OP signed a message which you can verify. I've added since that it's been solved by o_e_l_e_o -- but only if you enter the words

I was not planning on releasing any clues, but decided to do so because I think it would have been way too hard and no one would have cared. Unless it's the year 2030 and 1 million sats becomes $50,000 or something crazy; by that time someone would have brute forced it (someone on reddit already tried all 33 million combinations of BIP-39 words yesterday).

Not to worry -- my fifth project and its reward are already on the works. Will need to find a special date in June / July related to Bitcoin or the financial world, so I'm open to suggestions.

Finally, there was a hidden hint on the project's icon (favicon.svg), which I was hoping someone would find.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I'm also curious as to what was the clue or first word that you found out! Impressive work, and well, I'm happy you're probably the first person to ever read my bio!

I tried a variety of seven letter words first as I mentioned above, as I figured that would have the least number of possibilities. Managed to fit in another couple of words, but nothing that made sense as a "simple sentence". Then I read your bio, and figured that actually we are very similar and you hold in high regard many of the same things I do - I am hugely outspoken on these forums in terms of protecting your privacy and not trusting third parties. So then I went back to the clues, and with Genesis Block in bold I decided to start trying different words from the message within. I tried "bailout" first, but again, couldn't find anything that made sense. So then I tried "banks", which made the next word obviously "are". From there various attempts at "banks are ... enemies", before landing on the right answer.

Probably helped that it is an exact phrase I've used myself several times before:

My underlying point is the government is not your friend.

Exchanges are not your friend

And then the text which pops up when it was solved, again, I've spoken about many of those exact things on this forum before:
Federal Reserve reserve requirement being dropped from 10% to 0%: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5243789.msg54312381#msg54312381
Canadian censorship: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5387401.0
Privacy is a fundamental human right: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5349899.msg57557108#msg57557108

So it seems we both think very similarly about the world in general. Perhaps that why I was successful in solving it.

Will need to find a special date in June / July related to Bitcoin or the financial world, so I'm open to suggestions.

How about the anniversary of this tweet: https://nitter.net/rockerest/status/91885405368098816
Or maybe the anniversary of the first bitcoin faucet: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=183.0

[OgNasty]

Very cool project.  I enjoyed doing it and found the site to be responsive and easy to use.  Thanks for building this.  I'll have to check back occasionally and see if I can get them all right in the future.  It's great to see that people are still building cool things related to Bitcoin and this one even has a blockchain element with the prize.  I can appreciate your effort here and hope that you'll keep the cool projects coming in the future.

[Welsh]

Late to the party, but I quite like these little games as a educational resource. Also, the website was very slick, not too over complicated. As for the night time mode implemented, I see no issues with it, and works as long slick as the normal mode. I kind of wish we saw more work like this done, even if it didn't include a reward, obviously I know that's a motivating factor, especially for newbies.

Or maybe the anniversary of the first bitcoin faucet: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=183.0

Would be quite fitting if there's another reward being offered.

[nullama]

Absolutely fantastic job handsome_latino  and o_e_l_e_o!

I recommend everyone to go and solve the puzzle(banks are not your friends), and read the message, it's actually quite an important and deep message that a lot of people don't realize. And well, the execution of the confetti was flawless as well  

So glad to be part of a community with people so talented.

[handsome_latino]

Happy to hear the feedback you guys had and even happier to hear that the UI was sleek -- my job as a software developer focuses on UI/UX, so it was an interesting experiment.

If you guys wanna stick, I will be posting a few ideas about my next riddle here, so I can also get some feedback. I have two prototypes with Bitcoin done, but the next one might be based on the Lightning Network, so that I can distribute more rewards to more players. Make sure to have your Lightning powered wallets ready to receive sats.

I tried a variety of seven letter words first as I mentioned above, as I figured that would have the least number of possibilities. Managed to fit in another couple of words, but nothing that made sense as a "simple sentence". Then I read your bio, and figured that actually we are very similar and you hold in high regard many of the same things I do - I am hugely outspoken on these forums in terms of protecting your privacy and not trusting third parties. So then I went back to the clues, and with Genesis Block in bold I decided to start trying different words from the message within. I tried "bailout" first, but again, couldn't find anything that made sense. So then I tried "banks", which made the next word obviously "are". From there various attempts at "banks are ... enemies", before landing on the right answer.

....

How about the anniversary of this tweet: https://nitter.net/rockerest/status/91885405368098816
Or maybe the anniversary of the first bitcoin faucet: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=183.0

I just spent the last few days reading many of your posts and replies. Very interesting and impressive to see, the more I read the happier I was that you took the bounty!

Those two dates sound great, let me see if I can make it on time. BTW do you know those dates off the top of your head? I was thinking of a small project to make a "Bitcoin calendar" where people can see when was the time different events happened. I've seen timelines with years and all but the dates would be cool. Kind of like calendars with the name of saints but instead with bitcoin events, if you're interested let me know. No bounty on this one probably, just a cool project to support historical pieces of information.

[Welsh]

UI/UX is always either underdone or overdone, rarely do you see it just right. However, I do think this was just right. I liked the message behind the project, as well as how minimalist it was done, but also some special effects with the confetti.

Always worth giving credit when its been done right, as its often not as I said.

I was thinking of a small project to make a "Bitcoin calendar" where people can see when was the time different events happened. I've seen timelines with years and all but the dates would be cool. Kind of like calendars with the name of saints but instead with bitcoin events, if you're interested let me know.

I actually started a Bitcoin timeline project a few years ago. It was basically a sort of 3D timeline, where you would progress through time at least that was the illusion. However, I thought it might have not gained enough traction to put in all the research. I considered going about it by auto generating the content via Wikipedia, and various other sources, and obviously accredited, but that didn't take my fancy.

Ultimately, I stopped due to the project probably not being appealing enough to justify the effort. Not sure if that's something along the lines you were considering. When you start looking at Bitcoin from the very start to now, a lot has happened. Though, I guess a lot of that can be pruned to be specifically about Bitcoin development rather than drama's around it.

Anyway, if its more like a traditional calendar rather than a timeline looking back at history, I think that's a decent idea. Again, not sure how much use it would have in the grand scheme of things, but probably a fun little project without too much effort.  

Those two dates sound great, let me see if I can make it on time. BTW do you know those dates off the top of your head?

I imagine a lot of users here know the date or at least are familiar with that announcement thread about the faucet. Although, I wouldn't have recalled that tweet if I'm honest.

[o_e_l_e_o]

If you guys wanna stick, I will be posting a few ideas about my next riddle here, so I can also get some feedback.

Happy to provide some feedback. I'll also deliberately not attempt to solve the next one (or at least that's what I'll claim when I get stuck on it ) so someone else can win.

BTW do you know those dates off the top of your head? I was thinking of a small project to make a "Bitcoin calendar" where people can see when was the time different events happened.

Those two I did happen to know off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are many other important dates I don't know. The only other notable June/July date which occurs immediately is the second halving, which was in July 2016. I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there which collect historical dates or create a bitcoin timeline which you could pull data from.

[dkbit98]

If you guys wanna stick, I will be posting a few ideas about my next riddle here, so I can also get some feedback. I have two prototypes with Bitcoin done, but the next one might be based on the Lightning Network, so that I can distribute more rewards to more players. Make sure to have your Lightning powered wallets ready to receive sats.

It's a great idea adding Lightning Network, this can save on fees and somehow increase privacy if done correctly.
You should make next puzzle slightly harder this time, or o_e_l_e_o is going to get his wallet full of coins, make it a bit more challenging but not super hard

I was thinking of a small project to make a "Bitcoin calendar" where people can see when was the time different events happened. I've seen timelines with years and all but the dates would be cool. Kind of like calendars with the name of saints but instead with bitcoin events, if you're interested let me know. No bounty on this one probably, just a cool project to support historical pieces of information.

I think I saw something similar created before, in different form of infographics and images.
Problem with Bitcoin calendar is that it needs to have regular updates to be up to date, and most of those projects are few years old.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Here's a feedback: Make the next game available using a countdown. I figured out there's a bitcoin crossword a little late, and couldn't find the time. It'll be interesting to have some Lightning invoice exchanging this time. 

[handsome_latino]

Here's a feedback: Make the next game available using a countdown. I figured out there's a bitcoin crossword a little late, and couldn't find the time. It'll be interesting to have some Lightning invoice exchanging this time. 

Yeah, the countdown idea would be good. But I don't have a big channel to let people know that the challenge is starting. Maybe a simple optin form on my website? I could also post the announcement of when the riddle starts on the new post I guess. Like a few days before and then a T minus 24h announcement.

I could also put a counter of when my next riddle is going online now, on say handsomelatino.com/#next-riddle, but that would require people checking in often.

Problem with this is that Reddit users are gonna flame me, but I can always just post when it starts on reddit and give you guys a small heads up. People here can vouch that I am legit and not some random scammer

Happy to provide some feedback. I'll also deliberately not attempt to solve the next one (or at least that's what I'll claim when I get stuck on it ) so someone else can win.

Those two I did happen to know off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are many other important dates I don't know. The only other notable June/July date which occurs immediately is the second halving, which was in July 2016. I'm sure there are plenty of resources out there which collect historical dates or create a bitcoin timeline which you could pull data from.

Sure, I might PM you when the date is closer.

The calendar won't be a big project or anything, just something simple for people to have a reference to, regarding to Bitcoin itself, not to the political or market value where there is plenty of info.

BTW unrelated, I've seen some posts that contain images, is it enough to use the img shortcode? Testing...

https://bitcoin-crossword.com/crossword.png

[LoyceMobile]

BTW unrelated, I've seen some posts that contain images, is it enough to use the img shortcode? Testing...

The img code is correct, but you need to be Jr. Member (11 more posts) before your images show up.

[o_e_l_e_o]

But I don't have a big channel to let people know that the challenge is starting.

Here, Reddit, Twitter, other social media.

Problem with this is that Reddit users are gonna flame me, but I can always just post when it starts on reddit and give you guys a small heads up. People here can vouch that I am legit and not some random scammer

I hate Reddit for this exact "mob rule" mentality that it has. But if you link to your old puzzle and this thread, then that should convince anyone that you are for real, having already given away 0.01 BTC. (Thanks again! )

Sure, I might PM you when the date is closer.

Sure thing, but as I say, I am far from a fount of knowledge on such things. A public thread asking the whole community for important dates would definitely provide you with a lot more material.

[LoyceMobile]

I was thinking of a small project to make a "Bitcoin calendar" where people can see when was the time different events happened. I've seen timelines with years and all but the dates would be cool. Kind of like calendars with the name of saints but instead with bitcoin events, if you're interested let me know. No bounty on this one probably, just a cool project to support historical pieces of information.

It's incomplete, but this should get you started: Bitcoin history, a fact for each day!

[Welsh]

Here's a feedback: Make the next game available using a countdown. I figured out there's a bitcoin crossword a little late, and couldn't find the time. It'll be interesting to have some Lightning invoice exchanging this time.  

Yeah, I realised it only after completing it that it was already completed. Although, I still had fun doing it.

Yeah, the countdown idea would be good. But I don't have a big channel to let people know that the challenge is starting. Maybe a simple optin form on my website? I could also post the announcement of when the riddle starts on the new post I guess. Like a few days before and then a T minus 24h announcement.

I could also put a counter of when my next riddle is going online now, on say handsomelatino.com/#next-riddle, but that would require people checking in often.

Problem with this is that Reddit users are gonna flame me, but I can always just post when it starts on reddit and give you guys a small heads up. People here can vouch that I am legit and not some random scammer

Depends where you want to go with the project, but you don't necessarily need a big channel. Here would be beneficial to us obviously, and makes it a little bit more fair for everyone involved as at least then we can potentially start all at the same time.

As for Reddit users normally demonstrate herd mentality, so depending on the first couple of reactions is usually how everyone sees it. Basically, why I don't use it. I find users are misusing the upvote/downvoting system a lot too. So, they're voting for things they like which isn't exactly how it's suppose to be used. Anyway, another topic for another day.

[dkbit98]

Problem with this is that Reddit users are gonna flame me, but I can always just post when it starts on reddit and give you guys a small heads up. People here can vouch that I am legit and not some random scammer

You can always make a post about that on twitter, after that post that link in bitcointalk forum, and then post this links on reddit.
This way should create much less chance of reddit mods deleting your post, but you need to be smart with titles also.
You won't have any problem in bitcointalk forum for sure

BTW unrelated, I've seen some posts that contain images, is it enough to use the img shortcode? Testing...

You need to be just a bit more active in forum (you already have enough merits) to rank up and unlock option for posting images in forum.
There is always alternative options with small symbolic contribution for copper membership that unlocks it even if you are a newbie account:

You can buy it here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=credit;promote

[handsome_latino]

About the images, got it. I'm not too fond of forums / social media but I do enjoy the conversation here.

It seems Coinkite beat me to the calendar, this is exactly what I had in mind, only much nicer that I would probably be able to achieve:

https://bitcoin.holiday/

I'll be a bit busy in the next coming months, but I think I will stick to riddles / challenges. Originally I thought to make it a 0.01 BTC per month thing, but I'm in a tricky spot with work right now. A few sponsors saw the riddle and got interested in the idea, so that's kind of cool

It's incomplete, but this should get you started: Bitcoin history, a fact for each day!

This thread is pretty cool though. Lots of information out there.

I hate Reddit for this exact "mob rule" mentality that it has. But if you link to your old puzzle and this thread, then that should convince anyone that you are for real, having already given away 0.01 BTC. (Thanks again! )

Indeed, I'm not a big fan of social media, but if the riddle is well done I think it will generate traction, in the end if things are done well I think reddit is king, unfortunately no post will live more than a few days so I think I should just post the riddle when it's ready. As opposed to here, where I can warm everyone to be ready.

I was mostly afraid my first riddle would get me banned from most places as I could just be one more guy trying to trick people, so I didn't use any clickbaity titles or anything. Got less traffic but at least no bans.

[Welsh]

Originally I thought to make it a 0.01 BTC per month thing, but I'm in a tricky spot with work right now. A few sponsors saw the riddle and got interested in the idea, so that's kind of cool

You might not get as much interest, but don't put yourself out of pocket. Riddles without a reward will still be appreciated, especially with the sort of teaching approach you took with finding the correct answer.

I was mostly afraid my first riddle would get me banned from most places as I could just be one more guy trying to trick people, so I didn't use any clickbaity titles or anything. Got less traffic but at least no bans.

Now that you've at least proven that the riddles were legitimate, you could contact the moderators of wherever you think might get you banned, and send them this way. That might make it less likely that you get banned, especially if they give you their permission to post. I'm sure they would appreciate it. Otherwise, don't worry about it their loss.

[arabspaceship123]

It's inspiring when people bring their own stamp to spread bitcoin news. The crossword website's refreshing. When I completed the crossword the graphics and message were nice surprise  

If you're making these for fun you've got to lower the winnable amount and increase the number of new puzzles so people play when you've updated crosswords on the website.

Hi everyone, my third fourth Bitcoin project this year is a crossword puzzle:

bitcoin-crossword.com

If you solve it, the words will decrypt a message which contains a 0.01 BTC or One Million Sats Bounty that you can sweep. Code is open source and the encrypted message is open to the public.

Took me a few months to finalize and I decided to launch it today, Pizza Day, in honor of the legendary Laszlo Hanyecz who bought large pizzas and enjoyed them with no regrets.

Feel free to discuss potential solutions. I will be releasing a few clues if the puzzle remains unsolved.

Enjoy your pizza!

[Welsh]

handsome_latino, would you by chance be tracking how many users visited during the puzzle, and immediately after, say two days later? I'm wondering if this would be viable as a educational bit, and just something done for monetary reward. I do understand that the monetary reward would generate most of the traffic, but I think we might be underestimating something simple like this that could potentially change a lot of people's perspectives on Bitcoin, as well as encourage existing users to learn new stuff about Bitcoin.

Something that the Bitcoin community lacks I think, putting challenges in front of users, that actually teach them useful skills.

[NotATether]

Just stumbled upon this Bitcoin crossword puzzle and it sounds like a fun challenge. I'm always up for solving brain teasers, especially when there's a chance to win some BTC! Looking forward to discussing potential solutions with you all.  Oh, by the way, I recently came across an article about crossword solvers that really helped me sharpen my skills, and it also gave me some insights into crypto-related crosswords. It's worth checking out if you're into both puzzles and crypto knowledge.

This challenge has already been solved. Are you a bot?