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[massive]

Pondering about the number pairs has me wondering if the numbers (the solutions) are actually the puzzle answer, which then had me wondering if this is another throwback to CTW1. Was there something in the original that referenced the six fingers?

[curiouswife]

I wasn't in on the first CTW, but a quick look through the archive picks up on the point that the 'Guides' including Digitalis at Ash Grove Park, had six fingers or variable numbers of fingers.
Can someone remember the details - save us searching any more?!

[StarkRavingMad]

This is making me think of the damn greywethers login puzzle, which I don't think we actually ever solved...or maybe we solved in the post-game minigame. Anyone remember how that went? All I have saved is some of the clues from the guides:

[MageSteff]

[Ehsan]

Just repeating what has been said and summarizing my own thoughts:

What bothers me about this one is that the first logical conclusion to reach a solution (using pairs) doesn't give valid results. The number of groups just doesn't create equal pairs without a leftover:

7 (+
7 (-
13 )
10 (
6 +)
5 -)

Pairing seems to be the logical thing to do, because there are 24 left vs 24 right brackets. Another thing to support logical pairs is that there are 24 lines on the paper. I don't think it's just a coincidence, so there should be 24 pairs.

But there are 23 unsigned vs 25 signed brackets, so it's impossible to pair them without creating illogical operations.

This can easily be fixed by removing one sign and adding it to an unsigned word, but there are 575 combinations for doing so.

So unless there is a mistake in this puzzle, I don't know what to do with it. If anyone can come up with different ways for pairing that would help. If not, then the solution might be something completely different, and not using operators or brackets in the traditional sense.

Examples of other ways of solving: Using the numbers to lead to the next word based on the number of letters in that word, and the position based on the location in the paper because of the red separator (+ is the right side and - is the left side)

[Kender]

Embedding pairs in pairs can solve the discrepancy between signed and unsigned brackets I think.

"only he said your scattered mind looks well"
"(4+ 2) (3 +1) (6- (1 +1) -3)"
Uses 5 signed and 3 unsigned brackets, leaving 20/20 for the rest.

To make things harder we can also consider multiplication like (3 (2 +1) -1)

[konamouse]

Ooooh, you may be on to something!!!

Do these words fit into anything we've seen around Klepsydra or what the Nurse wrote on the 307 pages, or what we're seeing in Mythosphere? That might help us put them together.

[promethean]

[drizjr]

Dale's meeting The Wish

[Rogi Ocnorb]

My take on "automatic writing" is that it isn't a reference to Dale's hand automatically generating the document, but more that there is an automated methodology in it's construction. Thus there is likely an automated method for solving it. One of the theories we've discussed is a grid system of some sort that would place the words in position based on the values associated with them. Given the small range of numbers we have for the axes, I don't think placement on a single large grid is a possibility. The alternative would be layers or otherwise dimensioning the data into more than 2 dimensions, If we take a cube for example, we could be talking about positioning the words spatially, withing the cube or positioning them on the six faces of the cube. Cubic form comes to my mind for two reasons.
1) There are six types of brackets: Opening and closing, each with positive, negative and unsigned integers

2) The inclusion a pic of Digitalis' hand. It could be a clue as well as a hint as to what is in the text

That said... I can't find a way to place the words on a cube that "works"

Example: (8 words on each cube face)
Words with "(#+" go in upper left
Words with "+#)" go in upper right
Words with "(+" go in middle left
Words with "-)" go in middle right
Words with "(#-" go in lower left
Words with "-#)" go in lower right
It's obvious there aren't either 6(corners) or 12(middles) of each, so I'm wondering if the position on the page or the integer value can be factored into it.

Another couple of things I noticed that I don't think have been mentioned yet are:

The orientation of eight of the words being different. They are written at an angle:
one +1)
to 2)
he -3)
six (5-
lad (4+
other 5)
not 2)
for 7)
Could be nothing, or it could be intentional, or it could be that they were written in a separate session, possibly related to a certain "step" in a process.

The position of the integer in relation to it's word varies in certain instances, but It doesn't seem to be part of the solve method. More just like they had to be moved due to a dropping type letter or other reasons.
"scattered" and "only" are sort of "odd ducks" though.

[drizjr]

While reading Dale's journal dated June 1st, these words popped up at me... "he has six fingers on one hand", as a possible string of words that appear in this puzzle, but with a change of tense.
"he had six fingers on one hand".
Maybe the next line would be, "on the other only five."

It's not very helpful, just thought I'd mention it.

[Sylvia]

I've been working on this and have a possible beginning to a solve. The part that has problems is the second and last sentences.

The words "only (4+" and "looks +1)" in the second sentence and "choose (1+" and "quickly"+1)" in the last don't seem to fit right.

Maybe one of you can see what needs to be done.

There are 4 sentences with 12 words per sentence.

scattered on one hand he had six fingers, on the other five
(6- (2 +1) (4- 2) (3 (5- 4) +2) (6- 5) 5)
with a grin he said, it only looks real to someone alive
(1+ 1) (3 -3) (3 (3- (4+ +1) -2) 2) (3- (4
well not for you anyway, mind your careful of what you say
-3) 2) 1) (3+ 5) (1 +1) (4+ (2 -1) (3+ 1)
look son no time to think, choose quickly lad, make yours now
(4 (2+ 2) (3 -2) (1 (1+ +1) (4+ 1) (3- 1)


Words with two meanings:
he, he
2), -3)
on, on
(2, +2)
to, to
2), -2)
you, you
(3+, +2)

son, lad these are interchangeable.
(2+, (4+

[pagrashtak]

Nice, you got a lot closer to coherent sentences than I ever did. Of course, my degree is in mathematics, so I probably spend too much time worrying about the numbers instead of the words. This does give me hope for making an actual poem. The double sign problems you have can be gotten rid of with easy switches - try "looks real only" instead of "only looks real" and "quickly choose" instead of "choose quickly". Of course, this underlies a problem; there are many switches possible like this that do not change the meaning of the sentences, so we need to find something that tells us when we have the right order.

I really like the fact that the first two sentences rhyme. You can make the last two rhyme also by, say, switching "anyway" and "now". The third sentence is using "your" where a "you're" belongs, so that part will need some more experimentation also.

Random thoughts that may or may not be useful:
The puzzle is written on a Gregg ruled pad, commonly used in stenography. Is this a hint to make us think of "steganography"? Is there a second layer here to help us order the words correctly?

I'm interested in the idea of the 24 lines. Notice that even though some words are written at an angle, no words really cross over the lines; it is very easy to tell what line each word belongs too. The earlier poster that brought this to my attention had a couple of errors, though. The number of words per line I read is
1 4 1 3 3 1 2 2 1 4 2 0 4 1 3 1 3 2 2 2 3 1 1 1
Furthermore, there is a blank 25th line at the bottom. If we include this, we have 25 lines that yield 24 differences:
-3 3 -2 0 2 -1 0 1 -3 2 2 -4 3 -2 2 -2 1 0 0 -1 2 0 0 1
or, if you want to read it as change needed instead of difference read:
3 -3 2 0 -2 1 0 -1 3 -2 -2 4 -3 2 -2 2 -1 0 0 1 -2 0 0 -1

[Sylvia]

Giving it another shot. Math still doesn't work though.

scattered on one hand
six fingers he had
on the other five

with a grin said he
it looks real only
to someone alive

look of you son
your mind not well
choose quickly lad

careful what you say
no time for to think
anyway make yours

now

[Citizen Kane]

Just looking at Sylvia's attempt gave me a few ideas.