Tricky Puzzles - Topic 3

[Jutomi]

I've got to stop posting such difficult puzzles that nobody can solve...

Unfortunately, this last one I made is somewhat difficult, as well; but, it's based off of something I am actually making on Earth!
It's an alphabet, and a language completely filled with vowels in addition to "l" and "x", which, for latin's transcription, would be "l" and "g", respectfully.

This is also probably the absolute wonkiest and kookiest alphabet I've ever made.

Not only is it pronounced with almost entirely vowels, but its writing is even stranger!

Every "symbol" is put onto a ring, each ring may come in a different shape depending on its pronounciation(can't spell that) per word.

Now you may be wondering...
how do you put them into word?

A "ring" is any parallel shape, and there is no obvious begining.
This is where you come in.
There is a set place for each "first letter", and a secondary set place where the "first letter" can be traced to.

My question is, where would these two points, on each ring, be?
And how would each word be written from there?

[Jutomi]

Quadrupal post, again, because I seem to do that a lot on this topic...

but...

here are some hints for my ABCDecoding puzzle.
Note that these are all hints.

There are no fractions/decimals, and one number is negative.

One of the numbers is "3".

One of the missing letters is "A".

I hope this helps, a bit.

[Jutomi]

I know this is my first quintuple post, and I know that's bad on the forums, but I did just want to share my answers to my previous two puzzles, in case this topic gets burried.

The first question I'd like to answer is my ABCDecoding puzzle.

A+B=C
C-(AxB)=D
AxA=B-D
|D+D|=C+A
B+(AxC)=DxD
|(DxA)+C|=B+B
(BxB)+(AxA)=DxD
(Ax(C-D))-(BxB)-D=|((D^A)-D)/(AxB)+(DxA)|
(AxBxA)+(BxD)=(B^A)-(CxB)+(DxA)
|(CxDxC)+(C^A)-(A^B)|+(CxB)=(?x?)-?

The question is...
What letters are ?, ?, and ?
They MUST be either A, B, C, or D.

The answer:

C,C,B.

The letters represented:

3, 4, 7, -5.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3+4=7
7-(3x4)=-5
3x3=4-[-5]
|[-5]+[-5]|=7+3
4+(3x7)=[-5]x[-5]
|(-5x3)+7|=4+4
(4x4)+(3x3)=[-5]x[-5]
(3x(7-[-5]))-(4x4)-[-5]=|(([-5]^3)-[-5])/(3x4)+([-5]x3)|
(3x4x3)+(4x[-5])=(4^3)-(7x4)+([-5]xA) [A should have been B, sorry. ]
|(7x[-5]x7)+(7^3)-(3^4)|+(7x4)=(CxC)-B

So sorry if you got the the second-to-last question.
Please, post so if you got stuck there.

The other puzzle I wanted to solve was the Oxie writing system.

Every "symbol" is put onto a ring, each ring may come in a different shape depending on its pronounciation(can't spell that) per word.

Now you may be wondering...
how do you put them into word?

A "ring" is any parallel shape, and there is no obvious begining.
This is where you come in.
There is a set place for each "first letter", and a secondary set place where the "first letter" can be traced to.

My question is, where would these two points, on each ring, be?
And how would each word be written from there?

I understand that this may have been a bit confusing to understand, so here's my answer.
The answer:

Every word, being written from down-up, then left-right, is forged by any arm extending from a ring for anywhere from 1-8 arms.
The general point 1 of starting the word is the southernmost edge.
Since not all words start there, point 2 of starting the word is any place clockwise from the bottom where the first arm is.
From here, each word is written clockwise, until it returns to the bottom.
Though the closest to the bottom is a 45 degree angle right from it,
the general concept is it continues until the very bottom.

How this puzzle could be solved was:

Finding any connection between a Latin letter and an arm around the ring.
There are two "ux", in the same word, which helps dramatically in figuring this out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Though everything but l and g are vowels, h and x are in here.
See, the circle symbolizes unrounded vowels, while the square symbolizes rounded.
In English, the y doesn't exist, the a, e, and i are unrounded, and the o and u are rounded. To modify the rounding of vowel harmony per word, "x" is followed by the letter that's said differently than in English.
The "h" symbolizes a diphthong, for the u in "cut". "oh" was the rounded varient of this to avoid tripple-letters per sound.

If you still wish to try solving these, having not read them, you could still try...
though, honestly, I think this topic's gone out of fad.

[yot yot5]

Whoa, it’s been a long time!

I found this puzzle recently and thought it was fantastic, so I decided to share it with you guys. It isn’t too difficult compared to the others I uploaded onto this topic, but it should still keep you busy for a while.

* * * * *


You are a construction worker, and you have just finished building a power cable underneath a major city. This cable connects two neighbourhoods 10km away from each other (assume the cable is 10km long too). This power cable consists of 120 wires. Each of these wires ends in a bendable metal tip, which can be wrapped around a power source (or another wire) to form a connection.

However, a few hours after the cable was fitted, your boss noticed something very wrong: none of the wires were labelled! You are given the thoroughly tedious job of labelling the ends of each wire. All you have to accomplish this task is a pencil, a power source, and a lightbulb. The only way you can find out where each wire ends is by connecting the end of one (or more) wires to your power source, walking 10km to the other neighbourhood, and connecting your lightbulb to every possible output until you discover the one with power.

You may label the wires however you wish. However, you must finish with 120 “pairs” of labels – each pair designating the ends of a single wire.

Any time you spend experimenting with wires may be ignored. The only time you need to worry about is the 10km journey between the cable’s ends. (For example, a method in which you walk 20km but only check one wire is worse than a method in which you walk 10km but check a million wires.)

Assume that you do not need a loop for current to flow. For example, if you join your power source up to one wire and the lightbulb up to the other end, the lightbulb will switch on. However, the current will only flow if the distance of wire between the power source and the lightbulb is less than or equal to 20km.

1: First, try and find the best solution for this 120 wire-problem.

2: Can you find a general solution, enabling you to answer this question for ANY number of wires?

3: Now try the problem again, but with slightly different rules: remove the 20km restriction on how far current can travel, but enforce a rule which states you can only tie two wires together at each "connection". Can you find a new method which allows you to solve the puzzle for any number of wires?

[Jutomi]

What...

Well, I have to admit, I'm stumped even figuring the question out - albeit I did get up ~3 hours early.

Glad to see this topic up again though.

[yot yot5]

What...

Well, I have to admit, I'm stumped even figuring the question out - albeit I did get up ~3 hours early.

Would an example solution help? (Pictures below!)

1: Imagine there were only four wires. You could begin by connecting three wires together, forming a "node". Label the left over wire "A".

2: You could then walk to the other end of the cable and connect one of the wires to your power source. Then use your lightbulb to test every other wire and see if it has power. If it has power, then the wire with the power source is obviously not A. Repeat this process, connecting your power source to every wire until you find one which doesn't appear to have a power output. This is this wire which isn't connected to any others; wire A.

3: You could then tie two wires together and connect them both to the power source. Label the left over wire "B", then walk 10km back to the end of the cable you started at. Using the lightbulb, find the wire without power. This is wire B, so label it so.

Using similar tactics, you need to find a way to label 120 wires. You can do it much quicker than it seems at first glance!

[Jutomi]

Uh..

wouldn't there just be 240 labels?

i.e. something like this?

AA1 ------------ AA2
AB1 ------------ AB2
AC1 ------------ AC2
AD1 ------------ AD2
AE1 ------------ AE2
AF1 ------------ AF2
AG1 ------------ AG2
AH1 ------------ AH2
AI1 ------------ AI2
AJ1 ------------ AJ2
AK1 ------------ AK2
AL1 ------------ AL2
...
BA1 ------------ BA2
Etc.
Or do you mean for efficiency sake?

I'm going to presume the latter.

You could probably do this by tying every node except one together at a power source, walking to the other side, and writing the one without power down.
Or just plug your power in, walk 20 km, and stick the bulb in on the other side.
But that'd be walking 20 km for 1 wire.
So, it'd basically be 240 km(260k if you count the way back with the power source).

A more efficient way of doing it is tying Any two nodes together on one side, making 60 pairs. You could plug your power source into one end of the other side, and use the lightbulb to find each binary.
Then once you find the pairs, you'd label them, tie them together, and walk to the other side and to the same thing.

I'm not sure if this is the most efficient, but it's what I've got.

This would also be a general solution as you could use it to find pretty much any number of pairs with a mere 20km walk(40k if you want to get back)

As for the third thing, my concept's the best I got for it, so I don't have a new solution for it.

[yot yot5]

Uh..

wouldn't there just be 240 labels?

i.e. something like this?

AA1 ------------ AA2
AB1 ------------ AB2
AC1 ------------ AC2
AD1 ------------ AD2
AE1 ------------ AE2
AF1 ------------ AF2
AG1 ------------ AG2
AH1 ------------ AH2
AI1 ------------ AI2
AJ1 ------------ AJ2
AK1 ------------ AK2
AL1 ------------ AL2
...
BA1 ------------ BA2
Etc.

I was thinking something more along the lines of:

1 --- 1
2 --- 2
3 --- 3
4 --- 4
5 --- 5
(etc.)

But it doesn't matter. As long as you can immediately tell which wire leads where, you can use any combination of letters and symbols you like.

You could probably do this by tying every node except one together at a power source, walking to the other side, and writing the one without power down.
Or just plug your power in, walk 20 km, and stick the bulb in on the other side.
But that'd be walking 20 km for 1 wire.
So, it'd basically be 240 km(260k if you count the way back with the power source).

You don't need to finish on the same side as the power source, so that would be 240km.

A more efficient way of doing it is tying Any two nodes together on one side, making 60 pairs. You could plug your power source into one end of the other side, and use the lightbulb to find each binary.
Then once you find the pairs, you'd label them, tie them together, and walk to the other side and to the same thing.

The problem with this method is distinguishing between the different pairs. For instance, imagine you do what you suggest and make 60 pairs labelled in the form 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, all the way up to 60A, 60B. When you walk 10km to the other side and connect the power source to a wire, you will be able to find where the power comes out. But how can you know whether this path is 1, 2, 3, 4, or 60? Or how can you tell which wire is the A and which wire is the B?

You're definitely getting the hang of the strategy, but think carefully about how you could be sure which wire is which.

But I will give you a tip: both of these problems can be solved in only 20km (that is, one journey there and one journey back).

[Jutomi]

Ah...

yeah, I might need some time on this one.

[yot yot5]

Ah...

yeah, I might need some time on this one.

Take all the time you need. If you need another hint, just say so!

[boh123321]

oh god this is insane

[yot yot5]

Nobody seems to have made much progress on these things, so here are a few hints:

Think about the number 120. Does it belong to any particular group of numbers? (Perhaps the same group 45, 66, and 91 belong to?) You will need to use this special property of 120 to answer the question.

At one point in this solution, the electric current will be flowing up or down every single wire in the cable.

[Jutomi]

Oh.. so...
something about 8x15?

Erh - maybe I'll figure it out when my mind's not so boggley.

[yot yot5]

something about 8x15?

Er, no.

The number 120 is a triangle number. This will be important in the first solution!

[loofisawesome]

Here's an easy one:

A Wonderlander steps on a magic charger. He goes to several places at once, BUT HE DID NOT USE BLINK. How was this possible?

[Jutomi]

I'd say he walked, but...
he may have led a
walled-in chomper onto a
command which activated
a bunch of blink spells.

Thus, he didn't use blink.

Or, the wonderlander's not the he.

[garirry]

He used pop to activate a gate which frees a monster which activates multiple blink spells consecutively.

[loofisawesome]

Nope. He did not use magic and no spell balls were activated.

Hint: Wonderlanders can be forum members.

If you are still stumped, here's the answer:

He loaded different save files.

[yot yot5]

Here are the solutions to the wire-tying problems. I don't have a full solution to problem 2, sorry!

Choose one wire and label it A. Choose another two wires, tie them together, and label them both B. Choose another three wires, tie them together, and label them C. Repeat until you tie fifteen wires together and label them all O.

Now walk 10km to the other end of the cable. By connecting the power source to a wire, you can count how many “outputs” it has (use the lighbulb) and deduce which group it belongs to. Label each wire with its required letter. You will have one A, two Bs, three Cs, all the way up to fifteen Os. Throughout this process, make sure you KEEP these labels!

Next, you take one wire from each group (you will have fifteen wires), tie these wires into a single group, and label them all 1. Take one wire from each leftover group (you will have fourteen wires), tie these wires into a single group, and label them all 2. Repeat this process until you have fifteen groups, each labelled 1 to 15. Every wire will now have a unique label composed of both a letter and a number (A1, B1, B2, C1, C2, C3, D1, D2, D3, D4, E1, E2, (...), O12, O13, O14, O15).

Now walk 10km to the other end of the cable. Untie all your original groups so that there are 120 bare ends. Using the same tactic as earlier, you can use the power source and lightbulb to count how many outputs each wire has and label them with their required number. Each wire will now have a unique label composed of both a letter and a number, and this label will be the same as the one on the wire’s other end!

If there are only one or two wires, then you can solve it by walking only 10km.

If you have a triangular number of wires (3, 6, 10, 15, (…), 210, etc.) then you can solve it by walking only 20km.

I haven't been able to find a general solution for any other numbers... does anyone have any ideas?

First, tie all the wires into pairs (you may have one left over). Label each pair of wires so that you know which wire was paired with which. If there was a leftover wire, you should also label this one so that you know it didn’t have a pair.

Now walk 10km to the other end of the cable. Randomly select any wire and connect the power source to it, then label it 1. Connect the lightbulb to every other wire until you find wire 1’s pair. (There’s a possibility wire 1 is the non-paired one, in which case you cross out the label and choose another wire to label 1.) Once you have found wire 1’s pair, label it 2. Next, connect wire 2 to another random wire and label it 3. Connect the lightbulb to every other wire until you find wire 3’s pair. (If there is no pair, cross out the label and choose another wire to label 3.)

Repeat this process until you have a long chain passing through every wire. It starts at the power source and enters wire 1. It comes out wire 2 and in wire 3, out wire 4 and in wire 5, etc. If there was a non-paired wire leftover, leave it alone.

Now walk 10km back to the end of the cable where you started, leaving the power source behind. Untie every single pair of wires, but make sure you keep all those labels you marked on at the start. Now connect the lightbulb to every wire until you find one which makes it light up. This is wire 1. Using the labels, find this wire’s pair. This is wire 2. Connect the end of wire 1 to wire 2. Connect the lightbulb to every other wire until you find one which makes it light up. This is wire 3. Using the labels, find this wire’s pair. This is wire 4. Connect the end of wire 3 to wire 4. Repeat this process until you have labelled every wire. If there were an odd number of wires, you will need to label the leftover wire with the largest number.

This method will work for ANY number of wires.

[Jutomi]

Just...

incredible.

[Muzozavr]

Here's a puzzle I came up with recently, but it's fairly tough -- it involves a big intuition leap, some nerd-ish trivia knowledge and even then, if you don't know a particular game, solving the puzzle is less fun because the significance of the solution phrase is lost to you.

For all Sonic the Hedgehog fans out there...

There is something significant about this collection of screenshots. To be significant, the screenshots have to be in this exact order. They do not have to be these exact screenshots (I was too lazy to get my own), but they do need to have certain properties and they MUST be in the correct order. The repeating screenshots don't have to completely repeat, either (again, I was too lazy to look for other suitable shots) but a certain property MUST repeat in order for this puzzle to work.

What is the significance of this screenshot collection?

(beware: includes not just the Genesis classics, but a few 8-bit Sonic games and also Sonic CD)

[garirry]

I see the water labyrinth zone. Sonic is almost touching the spikes. I see GameGear games. That's a total of three bad things. A triangle has three sides. Illumi...*shot and killed*

Just kidding I don't see anything particular in those pictures. Sorry if that joke was offensive.

[Wonderman109]

I'll bring D_CODE over from Epigam. It's more like badly made puzzles than a game anyway. Epigamers, don't answer the first one or I'll do to you what BWF does to people when they wet his hair.

Everyone has one chance to tell me what they think this is/represents. The right person wins...pride. Or they can make the next round instead of me if they want to.

ROUND 1

Two picks:

0_____0

or


GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG

[Muzozavr]

I see the water labyrinth zone. Sonic is almost touching the spikes. I see GameGear games. That's a total of three bad things. A triangle has three sides. Illumi...*shot and killed*

Just kidding I don't see anything particular in those pictures. Sorry if that joke was offensive.

SONIC 3 CONFIRMED

The Game Gear Sonic games aren't that bad, for one. Though Sonic 2 for the Game Gear had, in the words of ACESpark, "obnoxious level design that's out to get you", but others were actually OK.

To be more specific: I used these screenshots to encode something that Sonic fans will recognize. Think of this as of a peculiar visual cipher. It's a great example of making things overly complicated by simple modification -- it would've been incredibly obvious in text.

[Qloof234]

You say "knowing" particular games makes it more significant - Do you mean just knowing about them, or having played them? At a glance, I can tell which game each level's from (though the name of at least one of them escapes me now), though I haven't played all of them (specifically the GG/SMS ones).

[Muzozavr]

Knowing about the games is enough, but you have to know something that's more specific than just the existence and names of these games. Playing isn't mandatory, but it helps.

In case of games some may not have played (like the Game Gear games), I have even left "clues" by choosing images with a particular... "property". You have to be creative to find these clues, though. Playing helps, but isn't mandatory. (specifically because I was kind enough to leave clues )

Granted, these clues exist even in some of the more "normal" screenshots, but mostly because I was too lazy to find other shots. Anyway, there aren't enough "clues" to make it entirely obvious and trivia-based puzzles do need clues, so that's OK.

The encoded phrase is related to something unique to Sonic 3 and Knuckles (together or separate), so if you've played it, the phrase will bring more memories than if you haven't. It's just a bit more fun and rewarding to solve the puzzle if you have played S3K, but you can still solve it even if you haven't played S3K.

[Qloof234]

I was sitting here trying to think of what could possibly apply to both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles separately, when suddenly, it clicked.

I'd just like to say... I love you.

[loofisawesome]

I got this from a book:

"First think of a person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies?
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
during the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature will you be unwilling to kiss?"

[peegman]

I got this from a book:

"First think of a person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies?
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
during the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature will you be unwilling to kiss?"

I've heard this before, so I won't say it

But, to anyone reading, keep thinking

[myuacc1studios]

I got this from a book:

"First think of a person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies?
Next, tell me what's always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?
And finally give me the sound often heard
during the search for a hard-to-find word.
Now string them together, and answer me this,
Which creature will you be unwilling to kiss?"

The answer's spider.

"First think of a person who lives in disguise,
Who deals in secrets and tells naught but lies.

That's a spy.

Next, tell me what’s always the last thing to mend,
The middle of middle and end of the end?

the letter d.

And finally give me the sound often heard
During the search of a hard to find word

the sound's er

Now string them together and answer me this,
Which creature would you be unwilling to kiss?"

Spider!

Also, it's from Harry Potter, book 4.