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 Forum index » Diversions » Perplex City Puzzle Cards » PXC: Silver Puzzle Cards
#234 Mosaically Challenged (Hex)
Moderators: AnthraX101, bagsbee, BrianEnigma, cassandra, Giskard, lhall, Mikeyj, myf, poozle, RobMagus, xnbomb
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lpobjoy
Boot

Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 12
JayJay wrote:
On the word idea....

I looked up obfuscare on google since I had no idea what it means.

The following is what I found
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

# This verb doesn't have a specific meaning related to computing, though it does seem to apply to a lot of computer jargon. It means "to deliberately make something unclear or difficult to understand, by making use of unfamiliar terminology". Which is precisely the reason why we have a Glossary on our web site.
www.saol.com/glossary.asp

# make obscure or unclear
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

# Obfuscated code is source code that is (perhaps intentionally) very hard to read and understand. Some languages are more prone to obfuscation than others. C, C++ and Perl are most often cited as easily obfuscatable languages. Macro preprocessors are often used to create hard to read code by masking the standard language syntax and grammar from the main body of code. The term shrouded code has also been used.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obfuscate

So I think that this word alone is a computer related obscureing hint related to the picture/message we might have to reveal.


Right I think looking and reading the wiki about obfuscare code. This is an avenue that need lots of investigation. Will have to wait till tomorrow gettin tired!


sorry, are you looking for Obfuscate or Obfuscare??

Obfuscate would be the better one i think,
obfuscate

v.t. make dark or obscure; confuse. obfuscatory, a. obfuscation, n.

PostPosted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 6:27 am
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donxkey
Kl00


Joined: 09 Apr 2006
Posts: 42

 		obfuscate is the word on the card

also I went over GasparLewis' recreation of the card and tweeked it so it should be acurate with the diff shades etc, some are so similar grr. I may have made mistakes

If it was possible to recrate the numbered tiles on a bigger scale would it be okay to post them here or would that not be allowed?

also when i look at it sideways it looks like it says jojr heh
challengedmosaic.png
 Description   
 Filesize   5.69KB
 Viewed   2133 Time(s)

challengedmosaic.png

PostPosted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 6:42 am
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c1023
Boot

Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 58
Location: Hampshire, UK
donxkey wrote:
If it was possible to recrate the numbered tiles on a bigger scale would it be okay to post them here or would that not be allowed?

Mind Candy's scanning guidelines seem to have disappeared from their site, but from what I understand the only restriction is posting scans of the cards above 60dpi. The actual puzzles can be transcribed, or redrawn.

So, as long as you use your own pixels, and not their pixels it should be OK Confused

PostPosted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:53 am
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donxkey
Kl00


Joined: 09 Apr 2006
Posts: 42

 		Ok well I'm going to have a go at doing it, I tried it out last night and managed to reproduce the one for #1 so I should be able to do the rest. Its tough to to distinguish between colours it is hard enough in the big mosaic!

I don't know if it will help at all.

PostPosted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 6:48 am
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JayJay
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Joined: 07 Dec 2005
Posts: 76
Location: Deepest Darkest East Sussexshire

 		Hey I am working on the reproductions from the latest image. (I have the card ) But would like someone to confirm accuracy when I post my images so we can get (at least) the pattarns correct on the tiles.

Colours may need tweaking later... but this can be done very easily
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:02 pm
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donxkey
Kl00


Joined: 09 Apr 2006
Posts: 42

 		JayJay, I have the card too and I would be happy to give you my input

This is what I got for no.1
mosaic no.png
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 Filesize   2.15KB
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mosaic no.png

PostPosted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 6:26 pm
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JayJay
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Joined: 07 Dec 2005
Posts: 76
Location: Deepest Darkest East Sussexshire

 		Thats great Donxkey

I am finding this whole recreation of the tiles is giving me a headache cos it sure dam takes its time! Getting the colour right is such a pain but I guess you no this already! I think I'll act as a check to get the patterns right if thats ok with you. But for the hell of it this is how far I got!
tiles 1 to 9.png
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 Filesize   143.88KB
 Viewed   243 Time(s)

tiles 1 to 9.png
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 7:12 pm
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baf
Boot

Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 46

 		OK. I've made some progress on figuring out this card, but I'm stuck now, and I don't think I'll be able to make any more progress without help. So, massive spoilers ahead.

The grid of colored squares is a:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

computer program written in Piet, a color-based esoteric programming language. (It's a little like Befunge, which you may remember from the Recon file.) A Piet specification can be found at http://www.dangermouse.net/esoteric/piet.html.

This is not a guess. It runs far too smoothly for coincidence. The program visits every single colored segment, neatly avoiding all of the black parts and the numbers.


That should be enough to get you started.

Some more observations:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

Running the program produces no output, but it puts on the stack the ASCII values for the string "SUMMYREDS". Sum my reds? There are 19 red squares, 13 dark red, and 17 light red (or pink). The total is 49. Or maybe it just means the medium reds, 19. Neither of these is accepted as the solution to the card.

Now, the main grid is 12x17. The smaller grids around the numbers are 12x9. So if you put together two of the small grids, one upside-down and with their top rows overlapping, the result would be the same size as the main grid, and fit inside the same frame of words. Looking at a high-detail scan, it seems to me that all of the numbers have a light cyan square in the top left and a dark cyan in the top right, except for 9, which has them reversed. Thus, only 9 meshes with other numbers. This supports the theory that either 4-9 or 1-9 is the magic combination.

Unfortunately, neither of these combinations seems to do anything meaningful when run as Piet programs.


PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:12 am
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donxkey
Kl00


Joined: 09 Apr 2006
Posts: 42

 		going to spoiler as it is related to spoilered info above

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
The link given did not work for me, i dont know why as it is the same URL as the site im viewing. The way i got to it was going here : http://www.dangermouse.net/ then clicking esoteric programming languages and then of course Piet.


this does seem like the right track

PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:17 am
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oliverkeers13
Entrenched


Joined: 23 May 2005
Posts: 917
Location: London, UK

 		referring to the above:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
There are (In my mind) a couple of possibilities as to what "Sum My Reds" means. Firstly, it could be counting the number of red squares.
Secondly, it could be to take the pantone value of each of the colours, and add together the Magenta and Cyan colour values. (Pantone is a commonly used publishing system describing the densities of different colours (CMYK) in a given colour) The problem with this is that the pantone catalogues with the colours in cost hundreds of pounds.
Thirdly, it could be related to the small number. We start with the big one, get the message from that, then do 1, then 2, ...., then 9, possibly giving us a sum or a number.
Lastly (and this is a bit unlikely) the words around the edge could refer to reds. The only one I could see of any relevance is "blood" but that might just be me.
I can't run the program, but it definitely looks right!

Yay, big red box!
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:57 am
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JayJay
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Joined: 07 Dec 2005
Posts: 76
Location: Deepest Darkest East Sussexshire

 		Doh

Right I thought I was on the right kind of track earlier(Programming languages) but just got sidetracked. Right I guess this is the way to proceed. Thank goodness no more blinding headaches!

I think I just need an extra hour in the day...!
_________________
My life its a series of compromises....anyway!
Have a habit of pointing out the obvious!

http://perplexcitytrades.com/JayJay

PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:00 am
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JayJay
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Joined: 07 Dec 2005
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Location: Deepest Darkest East Sussexshire

 		First solve attempt based on
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Light, Dark
1 7,4
2 0,7
3 11,0
4 0,4
5 7,3
6 0,5
7 0,7
8 8,0
9 0,7
Big 19,13
Total light = 52 (33+19), dark = 50 (37+13) Grand total "102"
Failed Incorrect answer
Edit: "52" failed too


I reckon theres a bit more to this card theses words (see black boarder) must have some kind of significance.
_________________
My life its a series of compromises....anyway!
Have a habit of pointing out the obvious!

http://perplexcitytrades.com/JayJay

PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:31 am
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doublecross
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 588
Location: London, UK

 		Good work, baf! It looks as though there are a couple more steps using the number you have found to select some words round the edge which will be the answer to be entered.



Spoiler (Rollover to View):
It is surprising that you can't run the little number boxes as programs as this seems to be the implication - run 1-9 or 4-9 and get some words. Does it work if 9 is at the top?

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xx

PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:08 am
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solitair
Boot

Joined: 15 Aug 2005
Posts: 28
Location: Rushden, UK

 		baf,

Would it be possible for you to upload the image files you're using as your source please? That way we can have a play with any random ideas that might come to mind. Plus we don't have to bug you or transcribe things to the correct colours etc.

Thanks.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:42 am
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Stratman
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Joined: 03 Feb 2006
Posts: 81
Location: Kettering UK

 		Piet was certainly an inspired find - this is on the right track now. Well done baf!
Could you (baf) or someone else just run through the first few steps of Piet on the card to show just how it works? I have studied the execution instructions on the website and just can't seem to quite grasp what you have to do. (sorry if I am being dumb!).
I understand a codel is one pixel, a block is a collection of like-coloured adjacent codels. I can see the dp direction (r,d,l,u) but do not grasp how the cc direction (l,r) comes into it.
I realise baf has done this to come up with the phrase 'sum my reds' - I would just like to see how it was arrived at.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:33 am
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