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[Meak]

the ads didn't have the symbols in, well, not all the symbols anyway.

there were a couple with just words in a spiral, and then those pictures by olaf veltman which don't seem to help.

as far as the order of the symbols goes, the best guess is probably the one that keeps repeating itself, the one one HWAU and in friends reunited.

as far as numbers go, butterfly 17 didn't come from an in-game site... and no-one is none the wiser about the others.

the whole thing finished with a whimper, or more of a silence... and the most frustrating thing is that we have to wait about 6 weeks to find out if indeed anyone actually won it anyway.
there probably wasn't an answer...

[GuyP]

Don't be so defeatist meak! Go on, £10,946!!! You need it in your life, baby! I know I do. I think donnie is referring to the Olaf photos, which seem to sort of include all the symbols.

The thing is there's so many little variables that even though I feel close to the solution it's still so far away? For instance, I can only see one snake and one crow, and it seems like each symbol should have a different number. Or should I include the apples as "snakes" ('cos of the Eve reference?) I can't see any dogs at all, really - do I count the dagger as a "shuck" because it's "protective"? Are the telegraph poles tridents?

And I've barely scraped the surface there. Of course each of these questions is multiplicative, as for each option you need to try every other option. It rapidly snowballs to hundreds if not thousands of possible combinations even after you've really narrowed it down. We still don't know if the most valuable tile goes at the center (smallest tile) or is the biggest tile!

I looked at the ads but I still can't quite get to grips with ordering the symbols, I thought it might be to do with distance of the symbol from the beer in the picture but that doesn't work because some symbols appear in more than one advert. I thought it might be to do with the amount of beer in each advert, but of course there's only three adverts and two of them have the same amount of beer. Might be something to do with combining the "text advert" with the "Olaf" advert to produce a clue? Like the text points at something?

But gah, So Close, And Yet So Far!

[GuyP]

Aaaaand that's it: In a complete about-face, I give up. For now, at least.

There's a total lack of context to this puzzle, and it's constructed in such a way that even once you start to make sense of the possible logic behind it, there's too many grey areas to limit your options to a tolerable number of combinations.

To be honest, I think the puzzle remains unsolved, and so it shall remain until the end of its days. While I'm sure that there is a correct answer, and indeed a real prize, any attempt I could make at a valid solution now would look very similar to brute-forcing.

Nonetheless, I'll keep my eyes peeled on the websites and on these boards for any new development. If anyone is still wrestling with this, then the very best of luck to you. Can I have 50p of the prize? Thanks.

OUT: Symbol Puzzles
IN: Sunbathing!
OUT: £10,946
IN: ...oh, crap.

I'll probably be sucked back in before the witching hour...

[Bidvision]

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Guy.

There's just nothing that narrows it down enough to be considered a real clue. All that business with the second version of The Cache and the changed dates might be something, fibonnaci might be something, the weather map might be something. And so on....

I just want to know what the answer and the ending was now. I'm sure we'll all kick ourselves if and when we find out.

[Meak]

it'd be "hilarious" if the answer was indeed staring us in the face, and all we had to do was click on the tiniest, weeniest little pixel to reveal the answer...

actually, no it wouldn't.

[Wishi-san]

Although it's probably a lost cause now, I don't see how expense could be anything to do with it! Does it cost more to get a raven than a butterfly? It seems a very stupid link to me.

[donnied]

OK Wishisan... i'm pressing on - its almost over (when does the day end technically?)... and either way I want to share. The winner (if anyone) can share with me.

counting the signs... based on olaf-veltman.com

Raven - 1 (in the hornchurch ad)
Trident - 1 (in the hornchurch ad)
Snake - not sure but at least 1 (in the hornchurch ad)
Flame or Fire - 9 (3 in airport and 6 in sable shuck)
Butterfly - 17
Dog - 1 or 3 (in sable its Cerberus on the door!)

OK... now I assume everyone agrees that you can turn the symbols and it should make a spiral like on the 8th day of the week thingy ... that references Marlowe...

Next the order of signs. I'm still thinking.. anyone want to confirm the number of snakes or dogs?

[GuyP]

Eh, well the number of dogs is just open to interpretation: there is only the one sign (the logomark on the door) but with three heads. Myself, I'll count it as one dog, I think. And I'll be darned if I can see any more snakes!

That said trying different combinations with these numbers isn't too much hassle if we get the right symbol order, but it's pointless plugging them in while we're still trying to come up with a good theory for the position of each symbol. Not convinced right now the clues to this are in the print ad, I feel like it might be something more vague and basic, trying to think how you could connect each sign to Stella even in a really superficial way... like word length or something sneaky like that...

(and yes, i've come crawling back, i know!)

[donnied]

OK... i'm thinking there are two snakes now but yeah GuyP is right about the missing elements - thats needs cracking first... 'number' is the value and assuming that 'most precious to least precious' is more about 'order' I would bargain that the most precious would be closed to the most 'reassuringly expensive' item in the game... the star in the middle of the grid. Star = Book of Star = stella = stella artois = book of Stella ...?

any thoughts?

no idea how to order them yet

[Wishi-san]

Yeah, I think quite a few of us had that figured out already, plus stella equals star in Latin which is a bit of a hint.

I've tried some different orders based on preciousness and Stella but no luck!

[GuyP]

Yeah, much as it makes equal sense for the biggest tile to be the most valuable, I think at this point it's become clear that the game revolves around the SA ego-complex and hence the tiles increase in value as they get closer to the central star. Looks like we've pretty much cracked the numbers - just the order to go!

Tried using the Marlowe Digital site for inspiration, but seems like I'm barking up the wrong tree there... right, time for a rejuvinating cigarette and then back to it. Mmm... beer, devilishness, and deathsticks.

[GuyP]

And yeah, using the chronological appearance of the symbols in the Marlowe portfolio with the numbers discussed above doesn't work.

DIE, PUZZLE, DIE!

[donnied]

I'm randomly googling now ... but am on the following thread of thought and might be lost in a second...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&biw=962&q=order+number+picture+puzzle&meta=

I know there has been plenty of maths on this forum so far but looking at how order and number might relate to Stella Artois

Tell me I'm as crazy as GuyP

[GuyP]

You wish you could be as kerrrazy as me, donnied. Trust me.

Interesting angle with the maths, there. As it seems easier to work out the numbers first, maybe we can work out the order and position of the symbols using the numbers... plus a little something extra?

[ryandrew]

If this puzzle honestly required us to comprehend advanced maths which is from the minds of madmen, then frankly i dont care for the solution. Stoopid Stella.
Coming soon, "Help me find Jack Daniels"-one puzzler driven mental by an ARG switches from stella to whiskey. Can you help his sister who may or may not be the Devil find where he stashed the booze?