[RECAP][PUZZLE] STEPS 1 - 6

[tiltingwindward]

Having just read through 5 threads and about 500 pages of speculation, I think we need to take a step back and try to understand what we have and how we got here.

WARNING: This is a very long post, because I have put everything in it.

NOTES: Many, many thanks to everyone who kept updating the summary posts at the beginning of puzzle threads. Without you, I would have thrown myself off a bridge before I got through Step 1. I have stolen liberally from your posts to help the recap along. Also, I have not credited everyone for their individual discoveries because it would have expanded a post already ridiculous in its length. Finally, in many circumstances where a clue or hint was encoded multiple times, I have omitted some of the steps of the decoding process to shorten this post. I tried to lay out all the steps in Step 1 so that you can see how it was done in the later steps.

On Dec. 9, Tachyon alerted us to a busy week ahead:

To my "Brother" :
Tonight and tomorrow, things shall come into focus.

- - -

Step 1: The UPC Puzzle
The next day, she updated her profile with this. Keep in mind what she says about following the steps:

One step at a time, before the next. I wouldn't want to confuse you. Figure out what you need and we'll go from there.

Step 1: Always be prepared.

MTogMzAzOTM1MzAzNDMxMzEzMzMxMz MzMTMwDQoyOiAzMzMyMzEzMjMxMzIz MjM5MzEzNTMyMzANCjM6IDM5MzczNj M3MzkzMTM2MzMzOTM2MzgzNw0KNDog MzMzOTMyMzAzNDMxMzEzMzMxMzMzMT MwDQo1OiAzODMyMzQzNTM4MzQzMzM0 MzAzNDM5MzcNCjY6IDM4MzUzMzMwMz AzMDMzMzQzNTM0MzIzMA0KNzogMzYz MjM2MzUzMTMzMzIzOTMxMzUzMjMwDQ o4OiAzNTMyMzMzMjMzMzEzMTM5MzMz NTM4MzANCjk6IDM2MzIzMTM1MzYzMz MyMzkzMTM1MzIzMA0KQTogMzQzMjM2 MzUzMDM3MzYzMTM2MzczMjMwDQpCOi AzMzMyMzYzMjM4MzIzMjM5MzMzNTM4 MzANCkM6IDMxMzIzNTMzMzgzNzM0Mz AzMDM0MzQzMA0KRDogMzgzNDM3MzUz NjM4MzYzMTM2MzczMjMwDQpFOiAzNT M3MzUzNjMyMzAzNjM5MzMzMzM0MzAN CkY6IDMxMzczMjM4MzMzMDM2MzkzMz MzMzQzMA==

This is Base 64 and translates to:

1: 303935303431313331333130
2: 333231323132323931353230
3: 393736373931363339363837
4: 333932303431313331333130
5: 383234353834333430343937
6: 383533303030333435343230
7: 363236353133323931353230
8: 353233323331313933353830
9: 363231353633323931353230
A: 343236353037363136373230
B: 333236323832323933353830
C: 313235333837343030343430
D: 383437353638363136373230
E: 353735363230363933333430
F: 313732383330363933333430

This was recognized as hex, and when it was decoded, it took out the columns that consisted just of the number 3 to give us this:

1: 095041131310
2: 321212291520
3: 976791639687
4: 392041131310
5: 824584340497
6: 853000345420
7: 626513291520
8: 523231193580
9: 621563291520
A: 426507616720
B: 326282293580
C: 125387400440
D: 847568616720
E: 575620693340
F: 172830693340

These were identified as UPCs (Universal Product Codes) and a little research turned up the movies they belonged to:

1: 013131140590 Heathers (Special Edition) (1989)
2: 025192212123 Back to the Future- Trilogy, Widescreen (1985) 2 (1989) 3 (1990)
3: 786936197679 Swingers (Special Edition) (1996)
4: 013131140293 Hiding Out (1987)
5: 794043485428 House Party (1990)
6: 024543000358 Fight Club: 2 Disc Special Edition (1999)
7: 025192315626 Breakfast Club (1985)
8: 085391132325 Risky Business (1983)
9: 025192365126 Three O'Clock High (1987)
A: 027616705624 WarGames (1983)
B: 085392282623 Gremlins (Special Edition) (1984)
C: 044004783521 The Game (1997)
D: 027616865748 Sure Thing (Special Edition) (1985)
E: 043396026575 Just One of the Guys (1985)
F: 043396038271 Cruel Intentions (1999)

Keep the numbers and letters in front of the movie names in mind. There are a lot of numbers and letters in this puzzle, and they’re all important.

- - -

Step 2: The Movie Puzzle
Once we’d gotten this far, Tach added a list of movie situations to her profile (the list is decoded from Base 64 to hex to text, but I’m omitting the code here to cut down on the length), with this note:

Step 2:
Finding the Order is simple. As long as you watch each one closely (and can spare the hours, of course). With any luck you'll work past any 'identity' issues to make the necessary connections as well.
See below for details.

What we had to do was watch the movies we had found in Step 1 in order to match them with the situations Tachyon described in the update above. There were no guides as to which movies went with which situations. After putting in many hours, we identified them as follows:

l: Those damn cults.
E: 043396026575 Just One of the Guys (1985)

m: Two words. Dick Gregory
5: 794043485428 House Party (1990)

n: He is such a badass. His voice naturally has that sonic echo underneath it when he yells. It just takes a lot out of him.
7: 025192315626 Breakfast Club (1985)

o: Probably grounded? She looks so young for her age.
F: 043396038271 Cruel Intentions (1999)

p: This is late night decision making at its worst.
3: 786936197679 Swingers (Special Edition) (1996)

q: No better way to start the day than gossiping about new students.
9: 025192365126 Three O'Clock High (1987)

r: Shortly after the final shotgun.
D: 027616865748 Sure Thing (Special Edition) (1985)

s: Just after dawn, but before I'm lying.
1: 013131140590 Heathers (Special Edition) (1989)

t: LD188A
6: 024543000358 Fight Club: 2 Disc Special Edition (1999)

u: Going through changes, lots of changes.
B: 085392282623 Gremlins (Special Edition) (1984)

v: ‘Eddie’ gets the girl (eventually).
4: 013131140293 Hiding Out (1987)

w: He knows too? Just don't tell anyone. And don’t cause disruptions in biology, no matter how slow the class may seem.
8: 085391132325 Risky Business (1983)

x: The county recorder has no listing for Consumer Recreation Service or any derivation thereof.
C: 044004783521 The Game (1997)

y: Talk about creating trends in geek culture. Not only the obvious, but also the geek rage manifestation of punching doors.
A: 027616705624 WarGames (1983)

z: This last minute strategy makes sense as a failsafe, but why wouldn’t you give yourself an even better window to work within?
2: 025192212123 Back to the Future- Trilogy

At this point, we had matched all the movies with the situations, but we didn’t know what we were looking for in those particular scenes. A Dec. 11 Tach profile update helped us out:

If you've got the time, then you're much closer to putting a good face on it.

This told us to look at clocks, and sure enough, we found one in every scene. Looking at the times we found, we saw that if we “spared the hours” and put the movies in a certain order, the minutes would increase by increments of 4. Here is what that looks like:

:04 10:04 The Game C
:08 2:08 Fight Club 6
:12 5:12 Hiding Out 4
:16 2:16 Cruel Intentions F
:20 12:20 Gremlins B
:24 1:24 Back to the Future 2
:28 3:28 Risky Business 8
:32 2:32 Swingers 3
:36 3:36 Houseparty 5
:40 Sure Thing (Specific time unknown) D
:44 7:44 Breakfast Club 7
:48 11:48 Wargames A
:52 7:52 3o’ clock high 9
:56 9:56 Heathers 1
:60 :60 Just One of the Guys E

This led us to the combination:

C64FB2835D7A91E

This is what you get if you take the original numbers and letters from the Step 1 list of movies in the order determined by the times on the clocks.

Tach updated her profile with a clue on how to proceed. It decoded from Base 64, ASC II, and hex to read:

Under Favorite Books:
Match the quote/scene/sequence (in lowercase) to the movie (in UPPERCASE). Watch and compare the lowercase scene in each UPPERCASE movie to find a pattern that will determine how you handle the UPPERCASE letters/numbers.

This clue told us that what we wanted to do was link Step 1 and Step 2, which meant that we needed to use not only the uppercase letter/number from the Step 1 movie list, but also the lowercase letter from the Step 2 list of situations. This gives us:

Cx6t4vFoBu2z8w3p5mDr7nAy9q1sEl

At this point, it was suggested that this might be a ring cipher, which contains letters placed in concentric rings. Coded letters correspond to letters in the same physical location on either the inner or outer rings. This is where the idea that we were building a decoder ring began.

Keep those letters/numbers in mind—they’re still important…

Later that day, Tach updated her profile with this, letting us know that a drop was in the works:

To my "Brother" :
I know there's a lot going on right now, important work towards a greater reward.
If you can ask a friend or two to help, it makes sense to multitask at this point. I know you're overwhelmed, but I have faith in you.
So even though you're not finished with the step you've been working on, perhaps you'll be much closer to having it completed by the time your friend(s) return from running an errand for you.
Aren't you glad that you taught me the value of teamwork?

The drop happened. For more about it, go here:
http://lonelygirl15.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3946

- - -

Step 3: The Tinyurl Puzzle
On Dec. 13, Tachyon was on to the next step:

"I'm sure you've got your friends working on what was recovered. But it's one of those xx/xy things that some people are good at, and other people just can't wrap their head around it.

However, multitasking is necessary!

So with step 2 completed, set those results aside for the moment while we move on to Step 3: Don't worry, there are just a few tiny details below...
MTogNzk3OTYyNmI3ODZlDQoyOiA3OT MzNzg2MTY0NzQNCjM6IDc5MzYzODdh NmY3Ng0KNDogNzkzNjcxNzg3NTcwDQ o1OiA3OTMzNzg2YzZlMzgNCjY6IDc5 MzU2YTM0Njc2Mg0KNzogNzM2NDdhNm QzNw0KODogNzkzMzM2NjczNTM5DQo5 OiA3OTM3NmE2MjMyNjcNCkE6IDc5Mz I3MDM3NjMzOQ0KQjogNzkzNDM1NmI3 NDc0DQpDOiA3NTc1NzQzNDcyDQpEOi A3OTM0MzI2ODZjNjINCkU6IDc5Nzk3 Mzc2NjU2NA0KRjogNzY2ZjZkNzk2MQ 0K

This decoded via Base 64 and hex, and finally it gave us a list:

1 : yybkxn
2 : y3xadt
3 : y68zov
4 : y6qxup
5 : y3xln8
6 : y5j4gb
7 : sdzm7
8 : y36g59
9 : y7jb2g
a : y2p7c9
b : y45ktt
c : uut4r
d : y42hlb
e : yysved
f : vomya

From previous OpA/Tach puzzles, we recognized these as the necessary parts of tinyurl.com links:

http://tinyurl.com/yybkxn
http://tinyurl.com/y3xadt
http://tinyurl.com/y68zov
http://tinyurl.com/y6qxup
http://tinyurl.com/y3xln8
http://tinyurl.com/y5j4gb
http://tinyurl.com/sdzm7
http://tinyurl.com/y36g59
http://tinyurl.com/y7jb2g
http://tinyurl.com/y2p7c9
http://tinyurl.com/y45ktt
http://tinyurl.com/uut4r
http://tinyurl.com/y42hlb
http://tinyurl.com/yysved
http://tinyurl.com/vomya

These turned out to be episodes from the radio show Loveline, most of which were quite long, and quite explicit. Tachyon moved us forward

Download those and come up with a strategy to divide them. Step 4 is forthcoming.

- - -

Step 4: The Loveline Puzzle
Shortly thereafter, another profile update:

Step 4:
Finding the Order is simple. As long as you *listen* to each one closely (and can spare the hours, of course). With any luck you'll work past any 'identity' issues to make the necessary connections this time as well.
See below for additional instructions.

These are the instructions (decoded from Base 64):

l: Those damn cults! I don't think the Order's engine is “driven by the same motor” though. Just to be sure, I’ll check it out at a later point.

m: Oh, so you're not tilting at windmills? It must be after that’s clarified, and fresh ideas are brainstormed…follow along…the right time is clear when a break is finally needed due to the lack of even being able to finish a sentence.

n: I never have those kind of talks have with my "Brother" either. And while my profession is different, I keep swearing that I'm going to quit my job in six months as well; that’s the point I’m getting at.

o: Try not to get sidetracked by any talk of waffle—um, actually never mind that. Once one moves past suggestions of singing showtunes, and reaches the point of pondering the barometer vs. yardstick, you’ll know you’re in the right moment if the breaking point is near.

p: Take it from me: You try to bust an international jewel thief AS an international jewel thief, you don't stand a chance. You gotta look back though, to the point of asking, how can you NOT believe it?

q: Sounds like a great party game, especially since I'm not ticklish. Good as you, indeed.

r: Hearing it described this way, at least it's obvious at this point that I've got other options if this gig doesn't work out. I'm well suited for it, but not so sure I'd dig the dress code.

s: And I thought my childhood was messed up! After you've heard the details, you’ll know you are at the right spot when one ponders what pain is. It’s before one could assume she may have locked her keys in...well, nevermind.

t: After you take a minute or so to recover from the shock (and realize that this isn't bogus), recognize the point that is quite profound, because this simple logic is accurate more often than not. Actions are defining. Action means everything.

u: After you knock on the door, all that matters is that the *notion* to follow it was a strong one. You really can’t miss it, trust me.

v: After you close your eyes to visualize, you must recognize that once you reach the point where you can do it while being chased by a neighbor's dog, you really are that good!

w: It's shortly before they numb you up to make you not feel things--The point where we can explain our rebellion, due largely to being raised by a religious family.

x: That description sounds kind of like my "Brother" LOL. That's the point I am getting at. Oh, and regarding their theory, it's true that we always know on some level! But if you run into the movie being projected on the perineum, you’ve gone too far!

y: The street lights are on, it's time for the oldest son to bring his bicycle in.

z: Forget everything that leads up to wondering where you are, the point of this minute is to prepare yourself for what follows. After that, we can all be enlightened by one man's inquiries toward the "fountain" of knowledge. And should you ever need an attorney...

We’d seen this kind of puzzle before, and got to work downloading the Loveline episodes and listening to them to match them up with situations, just as we had done with the movies in Step 2. We also matched them up with the time that the situation occurred in the clip. The results (first column is Loveline episode number/letter, second is situation letter, and last is the time the situation occurred):

f - t - 0:34:36
4 - v - 0:38:30
7 - p - 0:42:31
9 - q - 0:46:40
3 - l - 0:50:40
b - w - 0:54:16
8 - u - 0:58:48
c - r - 1:02:00
2 - x - 1:06:02
d - o - 1:10:16
6 - n - 1:14:00
1 - z - 1:18:00
a - s - 1:22:17
5 - y - 1:26:32
e - m - 1:30:09

When put together the same way we had done with the movie clips, we got this:

Cr2xDo6n1zAs5yEmFt4v7p9q3lBw8u

With these, we began putting together a decoder ring:

- - -

Step 5: The Tiny Project Puzzle
On Dec. 14, Tachyon’s profile changed to read this:

To my "Brother" :

Step 5: A tiny project.

MzczMTMzMzYzNjYxMzczMzMzMzgzNz M5

This decoded via Base 64 and hex to read:

q6js8y

which is a tinyurl:
http://tinyurl.com/y8sj6q
which took us to:
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p148 ... sons/x.jpg

About an hour later, Tachyon added this to her profile:

[ a tiny hint: jx62t ]

which took us to:
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p148 ... ons/xx.jpg

The second photo was eventually identified as the handle of a pair of scissors, and a very small ruler was discovered along the top of the picture. Language lessons is a photobucket account name.

- - -

Step 6: The Small Test Puzzle

A new YT profile update on Dec. 14 read:

To my "Brother" :

Hope you're figuring it all out. I am en route to my next location. So in the meantime...

Step 6: A small test.

(see below)

Under Favorite Music was the usual code, which decoded via Base 64->hex->ASCII to:

I/II [E] 0/0
X: 6B36676B38B2B2E03EE03AE033
Y: A respectable score (or the room where the players dwell)

The Y: part of the message was interpreted as follows:
A respectable score was a reference to Tach's bowling score from the "Knock 'Em Down" video=112. Putting this together we get "Room 112 where the players dwell," which is a line from a Puff Daddy song, "Only You."

After examining the message further, the most popular theory was that the X: line was a message decoded, and that the other lines were instructions on how to decode it using the decoder rings we were all building in our basements.

We got another hint from Tachyon's YT profile:

[ a small hint: X decoded by Y = Z ]

After much time and effort, some dedicated and brilliant people put the following solution together.

The correct decoder rings used only the uppercase letter sets from the Movie and Loveline puzzles.
The outer ring of the decoder was this set:

C64FB2835D7A91E

The inner ring was this set:

C2D61A5EF4793B8

Using the [E] and 112 hints, we found this pattern. For the first two characters, we matched the outer ring E with the inner ring 1. For the third character, we matched the outer ring E with the inner ring 2. By repeating this 1-1-2 pattern throughout the puzzle, we found this (decoded from hex):

TESTING 1 2 3

Note: Because the decoder ring only works for 1-F and not 0, to get this solution you have to leave 0 (zeroes) as 0 when it appears. The pattern matches as follows:

6B36676B38B2B2E03EE03AE033
112112112112112 112 112 11

This is the end, for now. I will update more as soon as I know (and understand) more. As always, if I've made a mistake or forgotten something, let me know and I'll fix it.

[Scalare]

You must have read my mind, tiltingwindward!! This was exactly what I was looking for..

Thanks to all who contributed to it!

[kellylen]

Thank you soooooooo much for this

it makes it all a LOT easier to read

[Ziola]

I can't come play for a few days and look what happens!! Great job!

[Killthesmiley]

wow tiltingwindward!!! this is absolutely perfect!! I needed to catch up on whats been going on this week. I've been completely lost. Thanks bunches.

[tiltingwindward]

This has been the most confusing set of puzzles for me since everything started, and I really didn't understand what was going on until I made this post. I'm glad I could help you guys out too.

[shifty]

Thank you tilt!<3

Added it to the LGPedia:
Step By Step Puzzle (Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine)

[tigerlilylynn]

On the puzzle thread the first pic was found to be a brad.

Also, might I suggest Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine as the snarky subheading on the aphidpedia?

[Kasdeja]

On the puzzle thread the first pic was found to be a brad.

Also, might I suggest Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine as the snarky subheading on the aphidpedia?

Thank God someone finally said something about the decoder ring...it's been bugging me and I didn't want to be the one to say it.

[shifty]

Also, might I suggest Be Sure to Drink Your Ovaltine as the snarky subheading on the aphidpedia?

Changed :]

[Watch Keeper]

That subheading is referring to "the Christmas Story" where ralphie FINALLY gets his decoder ring from Ovaltine.

The secret code was "Drink your ovaltine"

He was a bit irritated.

[wishfulthinker68]

It was finals week for me and I couldn't keep up. You have no idea how perfect this post was.

[tigerlilylynn]

ATTN: THE SMALL RING WAS WRONG
THE NEW SMALL RING IS NOW INCLUDED

Decoder ring:





Print 'em (put them in paint to double check size)

Get out scissors and cut them out, stick a brad thru them.

Spin to your heart's content ^_^

[brandoblues]

nice work

[quizzoc]

Under Favorite Books:
Match the quote/scene/sequence (in lowercase) to the movie (in UPPERCASE). Watch and compare the lowercase scene in each UPPERCASE movie to find a pattern that will determine how you handle the UPPERCASE letters/numbers.


This clue told us that what we wanted to do was link Step 1 and Step 2, which meant that we needed to use not only the uppercase letter/number from the Step 1 movie list, but also the lowercase letter from the Step 2 list of situations. This gives us:

Cx6t4vFoBu2z8w3p5mDr7nAy9q1sEl

I personally disagree with this assesment. I believe that Tach's clue is telling us NOT to use the l-z letters for our decoder ring. We compared the lower case letters (which were the scenes/parts of the movies and lovelines - and their corresponding times). From this comparison (time, earliest to latest w/sparing hours), we are able to figure out how to "HANDLE" the uppercase letters. We are using the clues to ORDER the UPPERCASE letters. That is what I have gotten from Tach's clue.

So, I believe the correct order should be:

Movies: C64FB2835D7A91E
Loveline: C2D61A5EF4793B8

This IMO makes a lot more sense for the decoder ring, because the answer is now hexable, since we are using only 0-9, and A-F.