I wonder if I'm barking up the wrong tree. seems like these tools have to be put in order. I'm probably completely wrong, but I wanted to start on this one


- The safe is named after a Russian fairy tale about a girl named Marusia.  The starting code is the full English title of that fairy tale, ignoring spacing

Is the starting code the12months ? or maybe thefiend

- Split the code into two codes: the first made up of the consonants in order, the second made up of the vowels in order.
  thmnths eo... or ... thfnd eie

- Move the fourth and first letters of one code to the first and third positions of the other, respectively; you will see a mesh form at the beginning of one code.
1. N T hmths neot
2. N T hfd   netie (Could that mesh bet net?)
- In one code, spell out the first letter as its Greek lookalike; in the other code, rewrite the last three letters as a soundalike numeral.
so... Nu or Eta
                                          ... not gonna lie, but my brain just started hurting. I'm hitting the hay

OK, we need to determine the order of the bullet points before we do anything else. I don't have the time to struggle with that problem today, so I'll leave it to someone else's capable hands for the moment. I know from a glance that linguistically speaking there is more than one possible order, which means that some brute-forcing is necessary, unless there is some very subtle hint that I'm missing.

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

Well, I do find it interesting that the first letters of each step are listed alphabetically, grouping steps that start with the same letter.  Is there a point to this, considering that Riddler could have just randomized the steps.  Furthermore, it's interesting that there are so few letter groups, and not a variety:  ACDIMRST.  1A, 4C, 1D, 4I, 1M, 3R, 3S, 2T.

I anagramed those letters and came up with a list of, well, gibberish but maybe there's a viable order with one or two?
Cad Trims
Card Mist
Card Smit
Cads Trim
Scad Trim
Cam Dirts
Mac Dirts
Macs Dirt
Scam Dirt
Cams Dirt
Arc Midst
Car Midst
Carts Mid
Carts Dim
Cart Dims
Dram Tics
Drams Tic
Tad Scrim
Mart Disc
Tram Disc

And suddenly, Malacoda uses brute force.

Assuming the correct starting code is thefiend, this test of brute force is going to start with thfnd | eie. Steps "The safe is named[...]" and  "Split the code into two codes[...]" have already happened. If thefiend is not the correct starting code, I'll try again later.

Possible next step[s]:                                                                         Results in:
- "In one code, spell out the first letter as its Greek lookalike[...]" -> tauhfnd | #? OR th#? | epsilonie  How do you pronounce nonsense syllable fragments anyway?
- "Move the fourth and first letters of one code[...]"                      -> hfd | netie As M_S said, a net could be a mesh
(All the other steps either involve a single code, actual words, numbers , or things that don't make sense.)

Let's assume hfd | netie is right for the time being. If we run into a problem later, well, that's brute forcing for you.

Possible next step[s]:                                                                         Results in:
/*- "In one code, spell out the first letter as its Greek lookalike[...]" -> lamdbafd | ne5 OR etafd | ne5 Depends on if the letters are upper or lowercase. Does the Riddler like physics and math? Because then I'd have an in character reason to prefer lowercase over uppercase. */
ETA: Let's pretend that Java comment conventions make good strikethroughs ok?

- "In one code, spell out the first letter as its Greek lookalike[...]" -> etafd | ne5 OR etafd | ne2 OR etafd | ne9

---
Gah. My brain's getting fried already. I'll come back to this later.

Also, the "Change out Fresno-Yosemite[...]" step may or may not be a reference to those 3 letter airport codes (FAT, LBA, TOE, and OUL). Unless the alternate 4 letter ICAO codes (KFAT, EGNM, DTTZ, EFOU) fit better.

Last edited by Malacoda (08-18-2012 05:21:35 PM)

When I'm saying them out loud, they rhyme. Or, at the very least, they have long i sounds. But I suppose if we're going by same length, first letters, and ignoring accent variations two would also fit. Ten also might if the clue said numbers and not numeral. Also nine, because of long i sounds again but it's about the same as five for me.

I should probably edit my post to reflect the new information.

Last edited by Malacoda (08-18-2012 05:22:30 PM)

Alright, where was I?

- "In one code, spell out the first letter as its Greek lookalike[...]" -> etafd | ne5 OR etafd | ne2 OR etafd | ne9

I'm just annoyed with the last section of that step because sound alike is so vague and I'm horrible at matching sounds to words. For now, I'll use etafd | ne9 and if that's wrong. I'll say it again, I'm brute forcing like a computer try solving a sudoku puzzle just by putting random numbers in the little cells.

Possible next step[s]:                                                                         Results in:
- "Insert GO and AT to form a word."                                          -> etafd | ne9 + goat? toga? /*Touga Kiryuu???*/

This isn't making any sense but looking at my list of steps:

- Anagram both codes[...] -> ne can't be anagram-ed into a word and assuming 9 needs to stay whole, 9 can't be halved
- Caesar shift the resulting code[...] -> code is singular
- Change both Arabic numerals[...] -> requires two numbers
- Change out Fresno-Yosemite[...] -> don't have any of the right letters
- Combine the codes[...] -> we're not done with the two code steps yet
- Delete the longest word[...] -> none of the codes are words yet
- Increase the atomic number[...] -> requires two numbers
- Increase the numeral of the rock band by two -> assumes two numbers because it labels one of them
- Replace the initial four-letter word with a word that can go before it.
- Replace the name of the doctor[...] -> I don't see a name of a doc here yet
- Reverse the order of the four characters -> four characters, what four characters?
- Switch out the longest word[...] -> none of the codes are words yet
- Switch the verb suffixes between the codes[...] -> we don't have any verb suffixes yet

it's the only logical choice. (Plus, Riddley is using italics and odd turns of phrases again.)

I think I'll let someone else deal with the above code for now. I do have some ideas on how some of the steps should be ordered though. It's a bit of thinking out loud though so feel free to ignore it.

- Change both Arabic numerals[...] happens after all the number related steps (Increase the atomic number[...]  Increase the numeral of the rock band by two). Those steps have to happen after  Replace the name of the doctor[...] (this step adds a second number to work with). That step has to happen after  Anagram both codes[...] because that's the last instance of a single number.

- Caesar shift the resulting code[...] may be the last step.

Last edited by Malacoda (08-18-2012 10:55:49 PM)

So that puts us here:

- The safe is named after a Russian fairy tale about a girl named Marusia.  The starting code is the full English 
   title of that fairy tale, in all caps, ignoring spacing.
*THEFIEND

- Split the code into two codes: the first made up of the consonants in order, the second made up of the
  vowels in order.
*THFND//EIE

- Move the fourth and first letters of one code to the first and third positions of the other, respectively; you
   will see a mesh form at the beginning of one code.
*HFD//NETIE

- Insert GO and AT to form a word.
*HFD//NEGOTIATE

- In one code, spell out the first letter as its Greek lookalike; in the other code, rewrite the last three letters
  as a soundalike numeral.
*ETAFD//NEGOTI8 

- Anagram both codes into words; leave the numeral where it is, but halve it.
*FATED//TOEING4

- Delete the longest word, and insert the title of the Katy Perry single it reminds you of before the numeral.
*FATED//FINGERPRINTS4


Steps to Go:

- Caesar shift the resulting code eight backward.
- Change both Arabic numerals to the corresponding Roman numerals.
- Change out Fresno-Yosemite for Leeds-Bradford, and Tozeur-Nefta for Oulu.
- Combine the codes into one by using the letters of the first in the odd positions, in order, and the letters of the second in the even positions, in order.
- Increase the atomic number of the noble gas by 4, and of the metalloid by 24.
- Increase the numeral of the rock band by two.
- Replace the initial four-letter word with a word that can go before it.
- Replace the name of the doctor with its mana cost.
- Reverse the order of the four characters.
- Switch out the longest word for the government agency responsible for preparing it, briefly.
- Switch the verb suffixes between the codes.



EDIT:  Will update this as other provide solutions, this format just makes it easier for me to work with.  So not all of these solutions are mine.

Last edited by OnlyInThisLight (08-20-2012 07:12:10 PM)

Malacoda wrote:

/*Vriska, wrong fandom.*/

I am in love with you.

To be clear, strictly on a pale basis.  But love nonetheless.

Last edited by satyreyes (08-18-2012 11:26:43 PM)

[Malacoda's work is correct up to fated | toeing4].

Oh, birdbrain.  Not that I'm surprised any longer when you and your costumed mentor redefine "batshit insane" -- but this is a little much even for you.  Did you get into his hoard of caffeine pills and cocaine again?  Or did you accidentally take a bath in the stream of consciousness?

As for who has a big brain, I'm not the one who injected an antivenin into his telephone line.  Those things are awfully fragile.  What you should have done is apply the antidote to the end of a dinner fork, unplug your computer, and stick the fork into the electrical socket.  Do a live webcast of it so all of Gotham can see you save the webmasters.  You'd get more pageviews than keyboard cat.

Is the Katy Perry single Fingerprints?

Raw brute force this time, starting from lbaed | ouling4. And, as always, backtracking as needed.

Possible next step[s]:                                                                         Results in:
- "Switch the verb suffixes between the codes[...]"                      -> lbaing | ouled4 /*Ugh. I don't like this one here because right after "Change out Fresno-Yosemite[...]" because when they're right next to each other, they have interchangeable order*/
- "Switch out the longest word[...]"                                             -> lbaed | iata4 /*The IATA isn't government but it did create the various airport codes*/
- "Caesar shift the resulting code[...]"                                         -> dtswv | gmdafy4 /*Oh what a mess */

> lbaing | ouled4

Possible next step[s]:                                                                         Results in:
- "Switch out the longest word[...]"                                             -> iata | ouled4 /*:?*/
- "Caesar shift the resulting code[...]"                                         -> dtsafy | gmdwv4 /* Still a horrid mess*/

> iata | ouled4

Possible next step[s]:                                                                         Results in:
- "Reverse the order of the four characters"                                -> atai | ouled4
- "Caesar shift the resulting code[...]"                                         -> asls | gmdwv4 /*When in doubt, the answer is always caesar shift  your code into a mess*/

I think this particular line of brute forcing is a dead end. So when I'm back on Wednesday, we backtrack (probably to lbaing | ouled4).