Logain's THP #7

[Logain]

mith's got that one now.

[Alter Ego]

Recap. To aviod looking at the previous page.

Unsolved :
Tales From the Crypt XXII
2. Small reach around after shot (6)

Original words followed by elements (Elementary my dear ...) and remaining words (not used yet)

quote:

---

COBALT BA COLT
SNORES SN ORES
SAVAGE AG SAVE
SCREEN CR SEEN
RECLUSE CL REUSE
MONITOR NI MOTOR
DEFENSE FE DENSE
CARPOOL PO CAROL
HORNIST RN HOIST
PELICAN LI PECAN
SAUTEED AU STEED
CURSIVE SI CURVE
CALCULUS CU CALLUS
HERALDED AL HERDED
CEREBRAL BR CEREAL
LOCATION CA LOTION
CHIMERA RA CHIME
ACTIVATE AT ACTIVE
FINALLY NA FILLY
?
FOREMOST MO FOREST
PRECOCIOUS CO PRECIOUS

---

Messages obtained so far :

quote:

---

I T S N O T T H A T E A S Y M R H O L M E S
B U T U R C L O S E R N C L O S E R A G O N

---

which leads to (after shift work) :

quote:

---

A D D A L L E V E N A N S M I N U S O D D S

---

Final Analysis
1. 8,18,20,5
2. 1,22,4,15
3. 21,22
4. 2,3,2,3
5. 6,13,12
6. 7,19
7. 1,3,16,19
8. 17,11
9. 9,18
10. 21,14,19
11. 20,14,10
12. 8,11,16

That does it. My comments in the next post.

[This message has been edited by Alter Ego (edited 01-22-2002 05:59 PM).]

[Alter Ego]

For the cryptic : the messages indicate the presence of an 'E' and an 'H'. I'm putting my money on the reading implying a synonym for small with an anagram of 'REACH' and a shot(?) thrown in. Pity I suck at cryptics though.

An additional comment. Logain said the change from LOCUTION to LOCATION (and CU to CA) would affect the next stage. This means there's more to do either with the element symbols OR the root word (COBALT, SNORES etc.) itself (beacuse LOTION remains unchanged). Anyway. Still no idea what add all evens means.

[This message has been edited by Alter Ego (edited 01-22-2002 06:04 PM).]

[Logain]

I just realized I can make use of these great new invisible tags and give a "swipe if wanted" hint for the last cryptic

Alter Ego was very close on his observations. He was just off by a small amount...or "small size", if you will, on how the built part of the cryptic was used

[dirus2]

Just an idea.

ADD ALL EVEN ?Atomic NumberS? MINUS ODDS

Seems to me like the atomic number of each element in the list could be 'added'. We would need the answer to the final cryptic, of course.

[Marvin]

All the numbers in Final Analysis are between 1 and 22. Maybe you get one letter per original answer and take the letters as numbered in Final Analysis to get 12 new words that give you the solution? If that's the case, you could probably figure it out without the last cryptic.

[Alter Ego]

Would I be discouraged from asking for a hint at this stage? I really want to know how this ends...

[Logain]

Well I didn't give another hint yet because it seems like a couple people already have good ideas...but I'm not sure anyone is following through with working them out.

For the cryptic...here's another invis hint

the synonym part uses two of the words

[Lucky Wizard]

Hmmm... "chaser" as the answer to the last cryptic? Just a guess.

If it's the answer, then the split is SE/CHAR. We do know it's a six-letter word with H as the second letter, and with an E, which when combined with the preceding letter, forms a chemical symbol, so that a real word is formed if the symbol is removed.

Here are the possible symbols, and what the sums from ADDALLEVENANSMINUSODDS would be if ANS is taken to mean "atomic numbers":

code:

---

He	174


Be	176


Ne	182


Fe	198


Ge 	204


Se	206


Xe	226


Ce	230


Re	97

---

But what would the sum mean? No clue.

[Logain]

Hmmmm....I'm not sure where Lucky Wizard got his numbers from...or why there are only 9 of them and there is a list of elements next to them? I may be biased because I wrote the puzzle, but I thought this would've been easier

The entire list of words is used in the last 12 section stage.

[Lucky Wizard]

As per dirus2's suggestion, I looked up the atomic numbers for all the elements in the list in Alter Ego's post. Then I added the even atomic numbers up, and subtracted the odd ones from that. (I left out the one for the second cryptic clue, because I wasn't sure if I was right.) That gave the number 172 for the 21 (out of 22) that I added. After that, I looked up the nine elements with 2-letter symbols ending in "e" (because I knew the last one had to be one of those nine). For the eight that had even atomic numbers, I added the atomic numbers to 172. For rhenium, which of those nine was the only one with an odd atomic number, I subtracted its atomic number from 172. Then I posted the nine possible sums. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[test78]

Great Puzzle Logain!!
I really enjoyed it...and great job to everybody!!!
The teamwork was greatly necessary to sort all of the twists and turns...
I guess all the SHerlock Holmes fans should have known beforehand that the evil Moriarty was behind all of this

[Logain]

Good job test78 on the final answer, and everyone else who contributed...especially Tahnan who got through most of the initial stages.

I'll see if anyone else can get it before spoiling anything about the whole puzzle yet.

I wonder if anyone actually looked up the word agon in the dictionary to see what it even meant

[dirus2]

Got it.

Nice one Logain. I guess the last step is pretty easy if you think in a straigtforward manner. The twists and turns before then threw me off I guess.

Very nice though. And great fun.

Funnily, I was thinking of guessing Prof. Moriarty when you posted the THP. Glad I didn't.

[Logain]

OK, spoiler since it's been finished. So only scroll down if you want to see the puzzle and all of its answers.

First 3 sections are synonyms. There were two connections between the words. 1) all answers are 4 letter words. 2) the answers spell out two new words depending on the section name.

Book Ends II

code:

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1. swear          – cuss


2. augury         – omen


3. clown          – bozo


4. great distance - afar


5. calcium        – lime


6. throw          – toss

---

Breaking Even IV

code:

---

1. questions     – asks


2. advanced math – calc


3. on top        – over


4. wizard        – mage


5. monster       – ogre


6. fluorescent   – neon

---

Centerfield Play VI

code:

---

1. military               - army


2. slave                  – peon


3. blemishes              – acne


4. slide                  – slip


5. obligation             – duty


6. -therm, -baric, -lated – isos


7. submarine              – hero

---

4th section consisted of 6 words. 2 words were overlapped (every other letter) per line, going from forward-forward, forward-backward, backward-forward.

A Mix Of Ingredients XII
dceafrepnosoel = defense, carpool
hnoarcniilsetp = hornist, pelican
dceuertsuiavse = sauteed, cursive

The 5th section are synonym substitution that sound out new words when put together

Speech Therapy XVIII
1. a cattle murder we (8) = cow kill us = calculus
2. she aged deceased (8) = her old dead = heralded
3. knight after D fight (8) = sir e brawl = cerebral
4. down solution avoid (8) = low key shun = location
5. X myself cheer (7) = chi me rah = chimera
6. perform 4 2x4 (8) = act iv eight = activate

5th section are cryptic clues

Tales From the Crypt XXII
1. False start plainly ended in corruption at conclusion. (7) = finally
false start = f, plainly ended in corruption = lainly anagrammed, conclusion = synonym
2. Small reach around after shot (6) = chaser
small = s (as in size, large = l, medium = m), reach around = anagram reach with s, after shot = synonym
3. First? Add three, and the largest of many. (8) = foremost
first = synonym, ? = double use of first, add three = four (homonym), largest of many = most
4. Gifted wild coparcener lost near discarded odd pirogues. (10) = precocious
gifted = synonym, wild coparcener lost near = anagram "coparcener-near", discarded odd pirogues = ious

This gives a 22 word list in order...

1. cobalt
2. snores
3. savage
4. screen
5. recluse
6. monitor
7. defense
8. carpool
9. hornist
10. pelican
11. sauteed
12. cursive
13. calculus
14. heralded
15. cerebral
16. location
17. chimera
18. activate
19. finally
20. chaser
21. foremost
22. precocious

Using the first set of numbers on the word list, you spell out the following:

(6:6 – 16:4)
(22:1 – 13:1)
(19:4 – 20:1)
(21:2 – 18:5 – 7:7 – 4:7 – 2:4 – 3:4)
(12:2 – 8:1 – 9:7 – 5:2 – 15:4 – 1:4)
(14:7 – 17:2 – 10:8 – 11:3)

"It's not that easy Mr. Holmes"

From here, if you study the list (and keep in mind the subtle hint from the puzzle title), each word has an element that can be removed to form a new word.

1. colt BA
2. ores SN
3. save AG
4. seen CR
5. reuse CL
6. motor NI
7. dense FE
8. carol PO
9. hoist RN
10. pecan LI
11. steed AU
12. curve SI
13. callus CU
14. herded AL
15. cereal BR
16. lotion CA
17. chime RA
18. active AT
19. finally NA
20. char SE
21. forest MO
22. precious CO

Using the second set of numbers on the list of elemental abbreviations gives a new message

(1-1, 16-1)
(20-2, 5-2)
(6-1, 12-1)
(10-2, 15-2, 22-2, 7-1, 4-2, 9-1)
(2-2, 14-2, 18-2, 13-1, 11-1, 3-2)
(19-2, 17-2, 8-2, 21-2)

BUTURCLOSERNCLOSERAGON

"But you are closer and closer agon!"

Now implement the shift work section to move the letters of the alphabet from the previous message

Joys of Shift Work
1. -1
2. +9
3. +10
4. +6
5. -6
6. +9
7. -7
8. +7
9. -14
10. +9
11. +9
12. 0
13. -10
14. +1
15. -6
16. -5
17. -10
18. +1
19. +14
20. -3
21. -11
22. +5

ADDALLEVENANSMINUSODDS

"Add all even ANs, minus odds"

Now for the final answer!, *whew* this took a while just to compile the solution. Take the number in each entry for final analysis and replace it with the atomic number for each element referenced in the list of 22 elements above. Add together all the positive atomic numbers and subtract all the odd ones.

Final Analysis
1. 8,18,20,5 = 16
2. 1,22,4,15 = 18
3. 21,22 = 15
4. 2,3,2,3 = 6
5. 6,13,12 = 13
6. 7,19 = 15
7. 1,3,16,19 = 18
8. 17,11 = 9
9. 9,18 = 1
10. 21,14,19 = 18
11. 20,14,10 = 20
12. 8,11,16 = 25

Replacing the number value with its corresponding alphabet value spells out the name or our culprit.

Prof.Moriarty

[Logain]

[James Bond like ending]But Logain will return soon in "Logain's THP #8 - The Sum Of All Years[/James Bond like ending]

[This message has been edited by Logain (edited 01-29-2002 01:59 PM).]

[Logain]

I'm starting to work on the THP listed above and just realized I never got much overall feedback from this one. After looking over the full solution I posted above, any comments, suggestions on future THPs. I'm always trying to improve on them and make them more challenging without making them impossible. Plus with the last few I've been increasing the number of stages...trying to give more time and puzzle length to have multiple people contribute, but hopefully that doesn't make them too long that interest is lost.

With the exception of THP#2 , I hope I've been consistent on trying to keep up the quality and improving on certain areas throughout.

All flames, criticism and praise welcome. *goes back to work on THP#8 and a couple other things that I hope to present in the near future*