Facility J [Drop Contents] - "Dei Sub Numine Viget"

janesalteredstates · Post by **janesalteredstates** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:15 pm

I was thinking about this too. He chose a chemistry book and the letters were not a coincidence. Maybe he was trying to make the puzzle more difficult? He did say he was testing us.

Luminous · Post by **Luminous** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:52 pm

deagol wrote:
ignatzmouse wrote:So in retrospect this puzzle had a simple solution, I think the thing that bogged us down was the sidetrack into chemistry. I was sooo sure that IKYOIYK was Iodine_Potassium_etc and that ITIYETI was a good half-way solution.

Turns out that Walter just grabbed any old reference card with "8" on it, and the fact that I,K,O,Y are elements is pure coincidence (about a 1-in-12 coincidence). If Walter had grabbed pretty much any other card, I bet we'd have had this solution days ago.

Anyhow, we have the answer now, hooray! Hooray for Jane!
Actually, he couldn't have avoided I, K, O, Y, given that he used octal ascii codes to make DNA, to make aminoacids.

Since t=20 can't be used as a base in the DNA sequence, and a=1 is required as a starting base in every triplet in order to form a valid 3-digit octal ascii code, these are the 9 remaining combinations available:
Code: Select all
aaa aca aga = 111 131 171 = I Y y
aac acc agc = 113 133 173 = K [ {
aag acg agg = 117 137 177 = O _ DEL
So, turns out the only letters available for his coding system were I, K, O, Y, and y, and their respective aminoacids, K N K T R. If he didn't want to use that lowercase y that leaves only three aminoacids: lysine, asparagine, and threonine. The available letters from those are: aeghilnoprsty.

Limiting the shifts to +/- 8 or 16, and even excluding any wrapping (-):
Code: Select all
 +0:aeghilnoprsty
 +8:imopqtvwxz---
+16:quwxy--------
 -8:----adfghjklq
-16:---------bcdi
Which shows how Walter did have every letter to chose from for his message, even after all those constraints, so he didn't really need that +24 shift, nor wrapping around z or a!

Great analysis Deagol! Thanks for posting this. And I must be learning something because I'm actually starting to understand what you're saying

ignatzmouse · Post by **ignatzmouse** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:19 pm

First up, I should say that on re-reading my post I realized I didn't say that it really was quite an impressive piece of puzzle design. In particular, the idea of restricting the shifts to be multiples of 8 was kule, and the fact he got them to alternate +/- was icing on the cake.

deagol wrote: Actually, he couldn't have avoided I, K, O, Y, given that he used octal ascii codes to make DNA, to make aminoacids.

Yup. It's not anything of Walter's doing that these 4 letters all happen to form element names, it's just an unfortunate coincidence that lead us down a garden path. Or, as jane said, he could be toying with us, bwah hah hah hah hah.

deagol wrote: Which shows how Walter did have every letter to chose from for his message, even after all those constraints, so he didn't really need that +24 shift, nor wrapping around z or a!

Ah, but that would have messed up his pretty pattern of ascending shifts with alternating +/-. With those additional restrictions, it's pretty amazing he managed to encrypt anything at all!

deagol · Post by **deagol** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:26 pm

Red herrings are the puzzle maker's best friends.

ignatzmouse · Post by **ignatzmouse** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:41 pm

deagol wrote:Red herrings are the puzzle maker's best friends.

Herring Are Forever.
Shine On You Crazy Herring.
Walter In The Sky With Herring.
...

janesalteredstates · Post by **janesalteredstates** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:51 pm

deagol wrote:Red herrings are the puzzle maker's best friends.

Haha way to sum up what I said in a more clever and shorter way. Deagol is still king.

janesalteredstates · Post by **janesalteredstates** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:25 am

Luminous · Post by **Luminous** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:30 am

So we're helping him with 'THE DIRTY WORK"??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so wth does THAT mean!

Luminous · Post by **Luminous** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:33 am

I'm a little PO'd with Walter, so I just sent him a message. We'll see what he has to say about this:

LuminousEmail wrote: What do you mean we've been destroying the cure - doing your dirty work for you?!

I'm not here to do anyone's "Dirty Work". I thought we were doing a good deed for an old man in need.

Adjust your bifocals you old fart. You're going to have to provide more information than that if you want our help!

TOSG - Ready with your strategy! We may need to move into action!

trainer101 · Post by **trainer101** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:58 am

Luminous wrote:I'm a little PO'd with Walter, so I just sent him a message. We'll see what he has to say about this:

LuminousEmail wrote: What do you mean we've been destroying the cure - doing your dirty work for you?!

I'm not here to do anyone's "Dirty Work". I thought we were doing a good deed for an old man in need.

Adjust your bifocals you old fart. You're going to have to provide more information than that if you want our help!
TOSG - Ready with your strategy! We may need to move into action!

We're gonna have a pissed off old man with the means to destroy civilization as we know it on our hands. Oh boy...

ShardinsKitten · Post by **ShardinsKitten** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:58 am

*does a lil happy dance* YAY we were right!

ooo So Walter is evil!!!! and a liar. not good for an old man.

and to Lum, nice email, I like it!!

Good job everyone again for figuring this out!!

janesalteredstates · Post by **janesalteredstates** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:10 am

hahahaha Lum you rock. So, The Order is outsourcing?

ShardinsKitten · Post by **ShardinsKitten** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:01 am

see what we do is, keep the new viles he sends us and not open them right... and then we take the old ones we have re lable them and pretend they are the new ones. YEA! lol

Luminous · Post by **Luminous** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:09 am

ShardinsKitten wrote:see what we do is, keep the new viles he sends us and not open them right... and then we take the old ones we have re lable them and pretend they are the new ones. YEA! lol

You are one smart Kitten! Take that Walter!

chershaytoute · Post by **chershaytoute** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:25 am

Oh, I really like where you guys are heading just now. <nodding carefully> Might be a good idea to sit on those until you have an extremely good idea of just what that stuff does... Luminous, good email. I do not like the way the old man answered Jane!

<slinks back into corner, doing nothing> <rueful grin>