Thursday, June 23, 2011

Off-Day Puzzle #5: A Bunch of Letters

"What's in a name?" someone once asked,
Depends on if the name is masked;
For if you forget how I'm so clever,
This cryptogram will take you for-ever:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

N I U U
E I K B
E I J S
W I M D
T N R R
E P Y O
B H R W
N H O E
I S W S
E N H E
S P H H
O Q X T
H O L E
T P I R
T N H O
O P Y N
N N M G
T R I I

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hint #1 (8:30am PT): By 'name', I mean 'title', which contains a hint.

Hint #2 (9:58am PT): Cryptogram part of the puzzle reads left to right.

Hint #3 (10:00am PT): You must make two alterations to the grid of letters before trying to solve it as a cryptogram.

Hint #4 (11:25am PT): To be more specific about Hint #3 - step 1 is to add some letters, and step 2 is to remove others. Only then can you solve the cryptogram...

Hint #5 (11:39am PT): Last word of cryptogram is "Dodgers".

Hint #6 (1:25pm PT): Of the 72 letters in the grid, half are part of the cryptogram. The other half are part of a separate, non-cryptogram message.

Note #1 (12:37pm PT): Hmmm...I was just notified that in Firefox, a helpful part might not be visible (underlining in the gaps). Use Chrome or IE if possible. In the meanwhile I'll see if I can fix. UPDATE (12:40pm PT): Problem fixed.

Puzzle Rules: The solution to the puzzle is a fairly-recent Dodger. Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:

  • Email us the first and last name of the players, along with your reasoning. Submitted answers without the reasoning, or those submitted with the incorrect reasoning, will count for participation only, even if the answer itself is correct. And please include your screen name somewhere in the email; and
  • Post a comment simply saying you have emailed your solution attempt. We may not be able to reply to your original email promptly, so please be patient and check back on the comment thread for the latest news; we may confirm correct answers there.

You have until midnight PT tonight to submit your answer. Answer will be posted tomorrow morning. Good luck!

Not familiar with SoSG's off-day puzzle competition? Read up here. And join the fun!

38 comments:

QuadSevens said...

AN SW
ER SE
NT !N
OT RE
AL LY
:(

Eric Karros said...

Should I add a hint?

QuadSevens said...

Hints are always welcome. Anybody else working on this one?

Eric Karros said...

Looks like its you and me, Quad.

Hint posted.

Loney Fan said...

UN FO
RT UN
AT EL
YI AM
WO RK
IN GB
UT NO
TG ET
TI NG
AN YW
HE RE

Loney Fan said...

I feel like EK is Lucy, I'm Charlie Brown, and the hints are the football. I get so excited that I am going to have complete understanding of the puzzle and I run to the post to read the hint.

Josh S. said...

Gettin' nowhere fast.

Steve Dittmore said...

I'm getting closely (amazingly), I think... EK - emailed a clarification question. Thanks...

Eric Karros said...

Ok a few more hints posted

Eric Karros said...

Plus made slight change to format of the letter grid which may or may not help (the letters themselves didn't change).

Jason said...

Question sent.

Steve Dittmore said...

I'm an hour into this and think that I'm so close... Or, maybe not.

Josh S. said...

Man, nothing's clicking.

If anything, I'll be one of those late solvers after Hint #10 has outlined everything.

Eric Karros said...

email replies sent and another hint posted...

Todd Etter said...

Answer submitted... (hoping!)

Eric Karros said...

BCCSweet you are 90% of the way there, but still not quite...

Steve K said...

I'll be there with Josh... C'mon Hint 10!!!

Eric Karros said...

Congratulations BCCSweet! You are first:

1. BCCSweet

I also added another hint.

Steve Dittmore said...

How can the last word be Dodgers... there are three Ns in a row.

*cries*
*pounds shoe on desk like Kruschev*
*searches for vodka like Kruschev*

QuadSevens said...

Answer sent! For reals!

Josh S. said...

Last word of cryptogram is "Dodgers".

Cool! Now, what are the other words in the cryptogram?

Loney Fan said...

Step 2 sucks

Eric Karros said...

Quad is in!

1. BCCSweet
2. QuadSevens

Nostradamus said...

Answer sent.

Eric Karros said...

One more hint posted...

Eric Karros said...

Mr C in:

1. BCCSweet
2. QuadSevens
3. Mr C

Jason said...

Answer sent.

spank said...

Lunch order sent.

Eric Karros said...

Jason is correct! Meanwhile, Spank lunches...

1. BCCSweet
2. QuadSevens
3. Mr C
4. Jason

ubragg said...

Finally got a spare moment today to take a look... it sure does help a lot to have all those hints to start with... :)

Answer sent!

Congrats to BCCSweet on the win!

Loney Fan said...

I hate UBragg. White flag sent.

Josh S. said...

Well, I'm an idiot.

Eric Karros said...

UBragg in!:

1. BCCSweet
2. QuadSevens
3. Mr C
4. Jason
5. Ubragg

Neeebs (The Original) said...

I clearly see Neeebs in the puzzle.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I do not like these puzzles.

Kyle Baker said...

I found a word.

(cries)

ubragg said...

Loney Fan, can I win back your favor by pointing you to a very useful cryptogram solver site? If so, here you go: http://www.blisstonia.com/software/WebDecrypto/

Of course, you still have to figure out what to put in there...

Steve K said...

Doubt you're still up, but I sent in a question...