Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Off-Day Grand Slam Puzzle #7: Solution

In there somewhere is the Bear...can you see him?

The Shroud of Turin: Negative on right has been contrast enhanced.

The answer to yesterday's puzzle is Trondheim.

In Hint #9, the puzzle was broken down into 3 steps:

  1. Figure out what the paths are. Jasmine literally provides clues to figure this out. The paths are the conversation bubbles. Jasmine clues us into this with various clues which must be taken very literally:
    • "We must watch what we say"
    • "The possible paths are being created as we speak"
    • "Listen, and down the right paths we will be led" - although also a clue towards the conversation bubbles, I de-emphasized this line as I was afraid it would imply that the music was relevant.
  2. Pick the correct paths (Jasmine tells you where this info comes from). Jasmine tells the Cub that his father (the Bear) will tell him which are the correct paths. At the very end of the video, the Bear appears in the sky and speaks the words "I Will Wait" (which, incidentally, is a loose translation of the song's title, performed by, as Mr F noted, one of the PCS Series' favorite Belgian singers, Axelle Red). So the 9 letters in the Bear's words tell the Cub which of the paths - i.e., conversation bubbles - are the correct ones. They are the 9 bubbles that begin with the letters I, W, I, L, L, W, A, I and T.
  3. Figure out what to with the correct paths (again, listen to Jasmine). Jasmine says "After we've picked the correct paths, we must follow them to the end." Thus, the last letter in the 9 relevant bubbles must be determined, as follows:
    • "Is there an end to our quest?"
    • "We need to have faith."
    • "I sometimes wonder if we are on the right track...should I?"
    • "Listen, and down the right paths we will be led."
    • "Last time I saw you was over a year ago. What if our journey takes another year? Or two? Or ten?"
    • "We must watch what we say to one another."
    • "After we've picked the correct paths, we must follow them to the end, and the answer will be there."
    • "I don't know where in Norway to go. Bergen? Trondheim? Stavanger? Oslo?"
    • "The possible paths - correct and incorrect - are being created as we speak. We just need to properly pick them."
    So, if the paths are "followed to the end", the resulting letters are T, H, I, D, N, R, E, O, and M. Rearranged, they spell "Trondheim."

It was an especially difficult puzzle...so extra congratulations to Mr C, Jason, and UBragg!

So that wraps up the first half of PCS Season III. Ranking and prizes to be announced soon, and next puzzle 7am, Monday, July 12!

47 comments:

MR.F said...

Ah. All good I guess.

Steve K said...

I had parts of it figured out, but they weren't enough to solve the puzzle, so I didn't know I had parts of it figured out...

berkowit28 said...

Similar. I was looking at the last letter of every bubble, but they didn't seem to spell anything. I didn't know what to make of the Bear's eloquent statement.

Nostradamus said...

I got stuck on the stars/physical locations of the text bubbles for quite a long time. I ended up really over-thinking it, as always.

Nostradamus said...

I think I'm going to do a few modifications to the 7/1 puzzle. I think it might be a little hard to do back-to-back with this one.

On the other hand, I can never tell if they're too hard or not.

QuadSevens said...

Well fuck me in the armpit! I had listed out the last letter from every convo bubble and even found "Trondheim" yesterday before going insane. I just couldn't figure out the full reasoning behind finding the answer.

I figured that the last letters were part of it because of Jasmine's line about "following it to the end", but I was completely stumped about how The Bear fit into it.

Kyle Baker said...

Bears humping, bears humping, bears humping...

Josh S. said...

I never saw the Bear.

Matt said...

I wrote every bubble on a post-it and tried to physically position each bubble in relation to all the others to find the path....should have taken a picture!

Josh S. said...

Can someone post a screencap of the Bear? Because, seriously, not seeing him.

rbnlaw said...

Answer sent! I think I got it this time.


On another note, Josh: he shows up directly above their tent during the last 10 seconds (or so) of the video. Right after the sky goes darker (and the bears start humping).

Steve Sax said...

I did not try the puzzle.

But I have to admit, I missed the bear. Thanks for pointing it out.

Kyle Baker said...

I was never able to see the bear, either. I slowly went thru it frame by frame and did faintly see the invisible bear's word bubble. But never the bear. I'd better call Dr. Ojos soon.

Eric Karros said...

Yeah...when I created the video in powerpoint, the Bear and his Bubble was subtle, but still fairly clear.

But when I viewed the uploaded YouTube version, the bubble was (faintly) visible but the Bear himself just barely barely perceptible.

So let's blame YouTube, and by extension, UBragg.

Eric Karros said...

Ok...image of what many claim is the Bear has been posted. You decide.

Josh S. said...

"Ha ha ha ha. You dumb bastard. It's not a schooner... it's a sailboat."

MR.F said...

Video compression'll do that.

MR.F said...

On my work computer, I couldn't tell it was a bear. On my calibrated monitor at home, it was clear as day.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I was not close.

MR.F said...

If your monitor is crushing blacks (ie, dark colors are displayed as black), that'd probably make the bear harder to see.

MR.F said...

I still say the Cub should ditch Jasmine. Cryptic clues that she wants to honeymoon in Trondheim? Maybe their connection isn't as strong as she thought. Matilda FTW!!!

Dusto_Magnifico said...

fna! I wikipediad each city thinking they were all related to the 4 years (1,2,10,100; 100 being the answer since the bear will wait that long) thinking that there was something about a bear or a cub or at least jazmine... all i could find was a yoga instructor and the sons of norway group. go figure... imagine the length each of those led me away from the puzzle! maddening.

Nostradamus said...

@krusty

Not to be confused with Dr. Osos.

Nostradamus said...

OK, the red-scare Plaschke has to go before it brings it's bad Boston juju to today's game thread.

MR.F said...

That was Plaschke?

Nostradamus said...

@MR. F

Yeah, I 'shopped him onto McCarthy in protest of one of his witch-hunts. I guess it wasn't exactly lucky.

MR.F said...

Ah. The avatar pictures are so slow. I can't see all the details.

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

RT @dylanohernandez: Dodgers have signed the 2nd- and 7th-round picks. 4 of top 5 picks signed. Unsigned pick is 1st rounder Zach Lee.

MR.F said...

And of course by slow, I mean small.

MR.F said...

And of course by slow, I mean small.

Kyle Baker said...

I still can't see that pornbear on my laptop. I seriously need to calibrate the screen. If I only knew how.

Kyle Baker said...

New email from Dodgers:

"LESS THAN 10 DAYS LEFT TO 'VOTE CLUTCH'"

Oh no they didn't! Rawitch, you're fired! Should be:

"FEWER THAN 10 DAYS LEFT TO 'VOTE CLUTCH'

This is the end as we know it.

Nostradamus said...

I feel fine...

Josh S. said...

If they want us to "Vote Clutch," why are they showing pictures of Ethier and Kemp?

OH SNAP! NO HE DIDN'T!

(Says the guy who will immediately type "DRE DAY!" and "BISON!" when they start hitting again.)

Josh S. said...

Krusty gon' kick himself when he rereads that post.

Josh S. said...

His post, I mean.

Steve Sax said...

@Krusty 1:16p: Thanks for the grammar police, we're all over that shit tomorrow

Steve Sax said...

Vin says the dodgers are 25-18 when wide eyes plays

Steve Sax said...

Come on Dre!

Steve Sax said...

Boom Dre!!!

Steve Sax said...

Let's go Manny!

Steve Sax said...

It's up to you FJL!

Steve Sax said...

FJL gets the second RBI of the night!

Steve Sax said...

GAARP; ?

Steve Sax said...

This will not end well...

Steve Sax said...

What a surprise. GAARP K

Steve Sax said...

I have no idea why I've been posting in the wrong thread

I picked the wrong time to stop sniffing glue