Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:26 am
Alright, so here is the deal with this puzzle.
The filenames each contained 2 characters: either a letter or a number. Regardless of what they were, all letters and numbers were to be seperated and put into a pile.
Think of it as this, we have wooden blocks with either a letter or a number on them. The filenames are two blocks put together next to each other. So they aren't necessarily attached to each other in the manner in which they appear in the filenames. (The "Horrid Flatmates" video had the filename 6d. This didn't mean we take it as "6d" but rather seperate them into "6" and "d" and put them in the pile)
Once we have all the blocks in the pile, there should be 24 of them. 12 filenames, both with 2 blocks each. 12*2 = 24. The blocks with a letter on them are marked with an 'y' while the blocks with a number on them are marked with an 'X'. We now have everything set up to start building the answer.
Looking at the first sequence in the top row and bottom row, we see that we will need an X block followed by a y block, since it says "Xy". We also can tell from the bottom row that when we convert the two blocks into hex, it must result in a capital letter.
At the very beginning, our block piles look like this
For the sake of time, I will assume that we pick all of the right choices. Keep in mind that when actually trying to solve this, you will have to make many choices if you end up being wrong, until you get the answer.
So we must choose an X and a y. We choose 4 from the X pile, and choose c from the y pile.
Now that we've taken blocks out of the piles, they no longer have that block in them.
Now we put the blocks together like the text file shows, Xy, X = 4 and y = c. This gives us 4C. Do a normal hex->ascii and that ends up being the letter 'L'. We see that this is a capital letter so it fits the character mask in the bottom line of the text file.
Then for each of the other characters, we do the same.
Key parts about this are the reducing piles of blocks. When you use a block from a pile, it is no longer there, and cannot be used again. It's also important to remember that the numbers and letters as they appear in the filenames is completely meaningless, as they are meant to be seperated and treated as two seperate blocks.
The reason why some people guessed the answer towards the beginning was because the way the characters were paired up for the filenames coincidentally were the same as they needed to be paired up to solve the puzzle. I think this was an oversight by Tachyon, as it gave us quite a few letters even though we were going about it in completely incorrect ways.
The filenames each contained 2 characters: either a letter or a number. Regardless of what they were, all letters and numbers were to be seperated and put into a pile.
Think of it as this, we have wooden blocks with either a letter or a number on them. The filenames are two blocks put together next to each other. So they aren't necessarily attached to each other in the manner in which they appear in the filenames. (The "Horrid Flatmates" video had the filename 6d. This didn't mean we take it as "6d" but rather seperate them into "6" and "d" and put them in the pile)
Once we have all the blocks in the pile, there should be 24 of them. 12 filenames, both with 2 blocks each. 12*2 = 24. The blocks with a letter on them are marked with an 'y' while the blocks with a number on them are marked with an 'X'. We now have everything set up to start building the answer.
Code: Select all
Xy Xy Xy Xy 20 XX XX Xy XX Xy XX XX XX 3f
-----------------------------------------
Yyyy Yyyyyyyy?At the very beginning, our block piles look like this
Code: Select all
X Pile:
1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9Code: Select all
y Pile:
b, c, c, d, f, fSo we must choose an X and a y. We choose 4 from the X pile, and choose c from the y pile.
Now that we've taken blocks out of the piles, they no longer have that block in them.
Code: Select all
X Pile:
1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 9Code: Select all
y Pile:
b, c, d, f, fThen for each of the other characters, we do the same.
Key parts about this are the reducing piles of blocks. When you use a block from a pile, it is no longer there, and cannot be used again. It's also important to remember that the numbers and letters as they appear in the filenames is completely meaningless, as they are meant to be seperated and treated as two seperate blocks.
The reason why some people guessed the answer towards the beginning was because the way the characters were paired up for the filenames coincidentally were the same as they needed to be paired up to solve the puzzle. I think this was an oversight by Tachyon, as it gave us quite a few letters even though we were going about it in completely incorrect ways.
(Also helped explain the long things acid and I have written recently. Hence sphinx thanking them.)
but if sumthin else's been confirmed, then 'kay.
!