Puzzle Hunt topic

chaos_defrost · September 26, 2012, 06:22:57 PM

Hey, just a heads up, if you make an account on the team forums, can you send me a message here so I know who you are, especially if you're using a different name there than you are here? I need to know this so I can assign the appropriate permissions for you to see the boards with the puzzle discussion. Thanks.

Clam · October 08, 2012, 10:12:44 AM

It's all over... but, just as that's finished, http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/sums/puzzlehunt/2012/main.html" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">another near-identical contest is due to start in a week's time. I probably got more into this than I ought to as an "unofficial" helper, so I could join the team proper this time (teams of 5 allowed this time, one more than before). More fun times ahead

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chaos_defrost · October 08, 2012, 09:52:08 PM

Yea, definitely. And once again, if you're interested in helping out, make an account on the puzzle boards (if you haven't already), PM me with the account here and I'll give you access to the boards for everything.

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Clam · October 10, 2012, 07:22:14 AM

Oh, and this should go without saying (and already has since the CISRA comp opened) but Lemmings/Lix stuff (eg. the Reloaded project) is basically on hold until this is over with

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geoo · April 15, 2013, 03:30:06 PM

MUMS puzzle hunt starts on May 13th, so in about a month: http://www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/~mums/puzzlehunt/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/~mums/puzzlehunt/

On an unrelated note, every two weeks during the term there's a trivia quiz taking place here, and this term they included a puzzle each time. Here's the one from two weeks ago, which only one team solved. (And and this one doesn't involve much typing for me.

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />)

Title: National Pride

A drawback prize (5)
Excessively wild Macedonia screwed without love (

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" class="smiley" />
Straight fifty in sound receiver (6)
Stick around marine (6)
Avoidance of stupid visa in a long period of time (7)

Proxima · April 15, 2013, 05:08:15 PM

I'll still be in Japan then, so I'm out

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A drawback prize -- AWARD
Excessively wild Macedonia screwed without love -- MAENADIC
Straight fifty in sound receiver -- LINEAR
Stick around marine -- REMAIN
Avoidance of stupid visa in a long period of time -- EVASION

Clam · April 16, 2013, 06:44:56 AM

All right, I was wondering when this one would happen. Count me in

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This contest allows teams of 10, so pretty much everyone can join "officially" (for what it's worth). Anyone who wants to join in, go to our team forum: http://thesuicidalrodents.proboards.com/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">thesuicidalrodents.proboards.com. See what crazy random discussion we can stoke up before the thing starts

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mobius · April 18, 2013, 09:19:32 PM

I'd sort of like to join but I don't know how much help I'd be considering I really don't understand this:

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=670.msg16497#msg16497">Quote from: Proxima on 2013-04-15 11:08:15

A drawback prize -- AWARD
Excessively wild Macedonia screwed without love -- MAENADIC
Straight fifty in sound receiver -- LINEAR
Stick around marine -- REMAIN
Avoidance of stupid visa in a long period of time -- EVASION

the numbers match how many letters but beyond that I don't get it.

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/huh.gif" alt="???" title="Huh?" class="smiley" />
well, wait, all the letters of the words can be found in the sentences except for L in Linear...

Proxima · April 18, 2013, 09:43:01 PM

They're all standard cryptic clues. One word in the clue is a definition of the answer; the rest points to it cryptically using various conventions. Here are explanations for each clue:

Quote

A drawback prize -- DRAW backwards is WARD, combined with A = AWARD
Excessively wild Macedonia screwed without love -- anagram of Macedonia ("screwed" is a typical anagram indicator) without the O (which looks like a zero, hence "love")
Straight fifty in sound receiver -- fifty is L, in EAR
Stick around marine -- anagram of "marine" ("around" is another anagram indicator)
Avoidance of stupid visa in a long period of time -- anagram of "visa" ("stupid" is yet another anagram indicator) surrounded by the letters of EON (valid American spelling of "aeon")

geoo · May 09, 2013, 07:06:06 PM

Now you just have to piece these clues together to get the solution.

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MUMS puzzle hunt starts soon. Steve: can you set up a category in the forum for this?
Forum is: http://thesuicidalrodents.proboards.com/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://thesuicidalrodents.proboards.com/
If you haven't registered on the forum yet, drop Steve a note so he can give you access to the restricted areas.

So yeah, we can have up to 10 team members. Tell me your (possibly fake) name and e-mail address that I can sign you up with.
I suppose we're "The Suicidal Rodents" again? We can also add a team description this time. Any suggestions?

On an unrelated note, the game Fez has been released for PC a week ago (was released for Xbox a year earlier): http://polytroncorporation.com/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://polytroncorporation.com/
Apart from being a platformer with a somewhat unique 2D/3D mechanic, whose beautiful pixel-art and soundtrack gives it a really strong (most of the time serene) atmosphere, it also involves finding secret and solving puzzles not unlike those at the puzzle hunt (though mostly easier). Things is, for one of the puzzles the solution has been brute-forced, but no-one has figure why the solution is what it is. But more notably, with some spectrum analysis tools, hidden images have been found in the soundtrack http://disasterpeace.com/album/fez" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://disasterpeace.com/album/fez, and no-one has figured out their meaning yet either: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/961239-fez/62594884" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/961239-fez/62594884
Apparently 16 of the 26 tracks contain hidden images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/85a9hmfaiezis28/bSmFn3aZjs#/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">https://www.dropbox.com/sh/85a9hmfaiezis28/bSmFn3aZjs#/ and http://aquapunk.tumblr.com/search/FEZ" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://aquapunk.tumblr.com/search/FEZ
The third post here lists what they are/might be: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/961239-fez/65725274" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/961239-fez/65725274
Either way, it's a really fun game and you should try it.

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Clam · May 23, 2013, 09:05:34 AM

MUMS puzzlehunt is over, we didn't go quite as well as the previous two but still fine.

Now a heads-up for the next one: http://puzzle.cisra.com.au/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">CISRA puzzle competition starts July 22(ish), about a month earlier than last year. Which is great because it means it won't run right in to the next competition like last time

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chaos_defrost · July 22, 2013, 05:03:04 AM

Puzzles have returned

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Teamboards at http://thesuicidalrodents.proboards.com/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://thesuicidalrodents.proboards.com
Contest in Clam's last post

Proxima · July 22, 2013, 09:23:15 AM

It's started already? Damn, I was hoping to enter this time

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ccexplore · July 22, 2013, 08:35:58 PM

Hmm, looks like qwerty is around this time, and just now I checked and all 4 of round 1 puzzles have been solved.

http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/shocked.gif" alt=":o" title="Shocked" class="smiley" /> Maybe just the two of them will be enough.

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chaos_defrost · July 24, 2013, 04:53:20 AM

qwerty seems very interested in this contest, and pretty much obliterated set 1.

geoo also invited a few of his friends as helpers, and one of them is pretty talented herself.

I have great hopes once the puzzles come on a daily basis.

@Proxima: I set the team with the same group as before, so technically you're on the "official" team like last year. Gogogogogogogogo.

Bear in mind that I ~~made a typo~~intentionally ironically spelled our team name as The "Suidical" Rodents when entering answers.

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