PXC: Silver Puzzle Cards-New

[Water Set] Silver #256 - Billion To One

SpartanCavie@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 18:21:51 +0000

Wave 4 Silver

Cara
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[Puzzle] Silver #238 Riemann

OfNoConsequence@forums.unfiction.com — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:39:46 +0000

[PUZZLE] #251 - Silver - The Thirteenth Labour - READ POST#1

badbarry@forums.unfiction.com — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:30:50 +0000

The 13th Labour is a silver card. It's tough, but I think it's very straightforward. However, as a result of it's complexity in simplicity I think it needs two discrete discussions. Please read below to see which discussion your comments fit into. Lets have a look at it:

1/ The Title - The Thirtheenth Labour

I think this is a double edged reference. There are 12 hidden key challenges issued by the nice folks at RSA. This would represent a 13th reference. However, it's also cunningly aimed at the ultimate challenge of Hercules in greek myth. This could be a clue to the key. Please discuss that in the OTHER 13th labour post.

2/ KURT

He created it, the devious little bugger.

3/ 64/12/8

This is VERY standard notation for the encryption used. It means that when it's being processed, 64 bits of the text are processed at a time. They are processed 12 times and that the key used to process them is 8 bytes (64 bits) long. This makes it almost certain that it's RC5-64 encryption.

4/ The Hex

This is 176 bytes of data. You type this into your computer and you get the file that's attached. I've done my best to make sure that it's valid and accurate, but could someone else check it? I'm assuming that this is the encrypted data.

5/ Five Cows.

These cows are used heavily by the bovine obsessed people at www.distributed.net I think this may have been a clue to finding RC5, the RSA challenges, the meaning of the rest etc. It's hard to say how difficult it would have been without that. However, for a number of reasons, this could also be as double edged as the title. It could be a clue to the key. If you think this, please hop along to the other post and help with the "key guessing" efforts.

6/ Other bits

I think the card reference, the shaded text etc are completely meta. I don't think they're to do with solving this card.

7/ The SMS Clue

Kurt simply says "rccrypt".

As mentioned elsewhere, hop along to http://www.ricksoft.co.uk/downloads/rccrypt/rccrypt.htm and get yourself the latest copy. It compiles very easily on unix variants, not tried it in windows.

To test a key (in my opinion) type:

rccrypt -d -r 12 -i 13th.hex -o 13th.txt -k 00000000DEADBEEF

That's enough for the introduction. Can we please keep discussion in this thread to the topic of RC5, technical aspects of keys, possible backdoor attacks on the encryption etc..

And remember there are no stupid questions, just stupid people that ask them. But what's wrong with being stupid, I've managed to survive so far. You're all welcome here with open arms, so long as we can keep on topic.

[Puzzle] #243 Silver - Shuffled Part 2 (Read 1st Post!)

FranG@forums.unfiction.com — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 16:07:00 +0000

The previous thread relating to this card ( http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11528 ) reached absurd proportions (43 pages!)

Because of this, I worked through all the 43 pages of the thread and put them into the Wiki. This information can now be found here: http://perplexcitywiki.com/wiki/Shuffled

I have put this page together for several reasons. One was to collect information into a single place, but another was because I grew tired of posts that started 'New here, haven't read the thread but what about '. I believe that if you're going to complain, you should be prepared to do something about it, so I have.

Please before posting any 'new' ideas, read this page. http://perplexcitywiki.com/wiki/Shuffled

If you have something new to add, please update the wiki page. If you don't have an account drop me a line and I'll update it for you.

Edit: Fixed Wiki links. -Brian

#225 - Silver - [IVY SET] - Broadside

Maurize@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:55:42 +0000

Guest Puzzle Architect: Magaret Maitland

Back of card: Quadrant Wheel Pitches (Whatever they are used for)

[PUZZLE] #251 - Silver - The Thirteenth Labour

Mikeyj@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:31:49 +0000

This is all pretty much code..
Also nice to note that there is a grey J with a Heart symbol in the lower left (Jack of Hearts). Hopefully this will coincide with that other silver. Also 5 cows heads at the bottom.

(Signed Kurt)

[Puzzle] - #240 - Silver - [Circles Set] - Elucidate

Soulsproxy@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:23:31 +0000

I just got one of the first sets of cards to be sold in Sydney - they came in yesterday, get 'em while they're hot!

I'll post a scan when I go to work tomorrow. All that is on the card is a grayscale picture that looks to me like an electron density map of some molecule or other. This might not come out too well on a 60 dpi scan though :-)

The only text on the card says:

GUEST PUZZLE ARCHITECT
{Adrian Hon}

EDIT:
Based on the fact the Adrian was a scientist, this might be:

1) 2D NMR scan of a protein (NOSEY or similar)

2) 2D electron density map

3) Ramachandran plot

4) Neuronal activity map in response to some stimulus

or possibly:

5) Topographical map of an area of Mars (given Adrian's other interest)

[S2] [Dice set] #232 Gel Together

Joe_D@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:58:58 +0000

One from Kurt.

Front:

Background is an image of leaves with some birds / animals: looks like a giraffe, a penguin, a rabbit, a heron or some other wading bird, a wolf and an elephant.

Then, in a grid with some empty spaces:

BR | ALF | BMZ
1MZ | 3MT | V35
2AP | 25T | DSC
2HP | 1AC | SRB
| ZH3 |
GU5 | MTG | 3MA
16A | | 3MC
| AAD | ASI
MTD | CLB | MEV
NGO | 623 | ABI
| 678 | 1P3
1AL | | TOC
AAR | IOD |
6CL | 144 |
ABH | |

Back:

A letter typed on a torn-off piece of paper with the city skyline as its footer.

From the correspondence of Gwynneth Hughes, Councillor, sealed under the 150-year-rule until 203AC

Goodwin -

I must impress upon you the urgency of bringing the Academy more firmly under our control. They go about, those people, like black beetles with their overcoats and stooped frames, thinking themselves lords of all they survey. I tell you they are no better than any book-scribbler at whom we poked fun when we were children! We are still rebuilding, still learning to feed and house ourselves as we did easily a scant half-century ago. I will not allow the public monies to be diverted into their useless exercises of attempting to split monads into particles, or whatever fool nonsense now possesses them.

I tell you, Goodwin, it is not mere prejudice that lends me this opinion. I was present when one of that monstrous regiment of scholars murdered a child. I did not witness the murder, of course, but I am sure that it occurred. I was a mere child myself, in the Academy on a schoolboy outing. One of the Academicians promised to show my play-fellow some "magic", but I, hiding behind a door for fear of him, heard him beckon to one of his colleagues and say that he had found the ideal "subject" for their tests, for they needed a child and they had found an orphan one. That child disappeared and was never found, Goodwin, obscured as surely as if in a blizzard of snow. That is what their scholarly pursuits amount to.

Ah, but you will say it is but one of my fancies. I tell you that it is not. In either case, it is for you to tell the Academy no! They cannot have their money!

Yrs affect,
Gwynneth.

[Hex Set] Silver #235 - Circuitous

kalisco@forums.unfiction.com — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:49:43 +0000

Wave 4 Silver

Cara
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[Flame set] #229 Ball Night

pineapplejelly@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:35:03 +0000

I don't have a scan of this yet, but it is a text-based puzzle.

The same night the Receda Cube was stolen, the annual Academy Ball was held. During the ball, each of the five events occurred in a different place, featured its own speaker, took a different amount of time, and was sponsored by a different Senior Fellow. Can you decipher everything that happened that night, and in which order?

1. The art and social sciences senior fellows sponsored the last two events.
2. Sente gave the welcoming words personally in Carrick Hall.
3. The fireworks were not the third event.
4. Prof. Wildwood did not sponsor the event where Sente spoke.
5. The first event was longer than the second.
6. Prof. Adamek left during the event in the Noi Ballroom.
7. The fireworks took a quarter of the time as the event where Camryn Scott spoke.
8. The second event was in Kermeen Hall.
9. Aiko Entrescore was careful to thank Prof. Ekeba when she spoke.
10. The outdoor event was the shortest.
11. The event in the Museum took three times as long as the shortest event, and twice as long as the second-shortest.
12. The senior fellow of cryptography was jealous that the second event took ten minutes less than Sedgewick's did.
13. Anna Heath gave a quick few words for the 20-minute event, then hurried home before the dancing.
14. Robert Zhi-Hui arrived to speak at the awards too late for cocktails, but did stay for the art exhibit.

The card is signed Sente. There are some large letter bits but I can't see a playing card symbol.

[S2] #234 Happy New Year

DarkHuman@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:53:52 +0000

Excuse me if i'm being a dumbarse here (it wouldn't be the first time). I've just briefly seen this card in a pub but have been following perplex city avidly and everywhere i look i can find no record of it like it doesn't actually exist yet or hasn't been released

It had a very colourful background (possibly fireworks from the title) and had a streak of what looked like bright light running down the centre!!

I'm very interested to know if this has been released anywhere yet and if so how can i get my mits on one. I wish i'd stared harder now but i was peering over the shoulder of a young lady with a low cut top on and you can get in trouble for that kinda thing round here............

[S2] [Cards set] #228- Neography

Eugenes Lair@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 10:26:03 +0000

So you'll see why I said I couldn't transcribe the card...(but I will type up the back)

Text on back (curly print I put in italics) (the image is a door with what may be a number near the top but I'll need a magnifying glass to check):

The lift shaft is a little different
to what you remember. It seems to be darker
and smaller than before. The shaft is lit every five metres
with white lights that alternate from left to right.
Every ten metres there's a doorway and a ledge, and
every fifty metres is a sign on the opposite wall with
a crest.

Climbing down the shaft, you pause at a crest. It
looks familiar - it has a geometric shape in the centre,
with names surrounding it and a motto above.
Sometimes the shape is different, sometimes the
names are swapped around or changed, sometimes
the motto is altered. It's possible that crests are
repeated - there must only be a limited number of
possibilities and combinations, you think - but you
haven't seen it happen yet.

Approaching a door, you spot a smear of blood
against a ladder rung. You're not sure whose it is - it
might be yours.

You step onto the ledge and open the door.

This puts me in mind of that SciFi channel movie about a cube, except with an elevator shaft playing the role of the cube.

[S2] [Cards set] #225 Kidnapped

Scott@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:01:56 +0000

This might be a difficult one to see and transcribe.

Front:

As a night of violent storms shook the land, the Oni stole into the Emperor's palace and kidnapped his daughter, the princess. Awakened by her screams, the Emperor sealed the palace but it was too late: the Oni and the princess had gone.

That very night he dispatched a secret message to the men of the land, offering the princess's hand in marriage to the hero who rescued her.

What is the name of the Princess?

Back:

"You can't come through" says another man, blocking the doorway. You try to squeeze through anyway- doesn't he understand you have to keep on moving?

"I said you can't come through!" he repeats, worriedly. "You're not supposed to be here, it's dangerous. You'll have to go back the way you came."

You turn around, and without warning charge into him, knocking him over. The room- more like a corridor- is almost a mile long, with strange objects and sculptures of people you almost recognise. There's not enough time to look at them carefully, since the man will be up and running after you soon.

You weave your way through, keeping up a steady pace, and after a few minutes make it to the end and open the door.

Edit - topic for consistency - MikeyJ

[S2] [OXO set] #235 How I Wonder

pish@forums.unfiction.com — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:22:29 +0000

[Pixel Set] Silver #252 - C. 237.85, F. 460.13,

Catherine@forums.unfiction.com — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:47:05 +0000

Wave 4 Silver

Sorry, it isn't a very good scan, if anyone can lighten the image as there is what looks like a map in the background.

And you can't read the bits of type or numbers all over it. Sorry. :oops:

Guest puzzle architect : Ehsan Al-Kooheji

Cara
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