I hope I'm not the only one temporarily panicking everytime I see the red upvote on a good answer

you arent :)

i'd much prefer a blue

it also bugs me that the active state is an overlay on top of the entire thing rather than leaving the arrow/outline the same color

goddammit, a new @HughMeyers puzzle

as soon as I saw it I got excited

I always do

and then I get sad

I doubt I'll make any progress at all but just reading it and then reading the solution whenever someone posts it will be a truly spiritual experience

It's tagged with "word sequence", which leads me to believe it's a five-word phrase that maybe started as a four-word phrase, with the second word "doubled" at the front, i.e., A B C D -> B A B C D

Then again, the next bit (about modes of transportation) makes me think that's not the case at all. Sigh

God dammit, Hugh

oh good, more people joining the room to watch me flailing at a hugh meyers puzzle

waking up in a different state leads me to chemistry

Yeah, I thought about that, too

Chemical symbols?

that's what I was thinking too

states made me think of quantum physics lel

@ffao Yeah, that's rather irritating as it's terrible UX.

I actually like the red upvote, it seems really 'kiddy' and cute

yeah, I like the red

I am also fine with the red

I understand the complaint, though

what I'm not fine with is the off-center-looking logo

So I was like, "why is this protected? it doesn't seem problematic" puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/30525/what-place-is-this

and then I remembered I probably don't have enough rep to see deleted posts anymore

:/

added a hint to my puzzle ... there are now 6 clues in there, and only one was addressed ;)

@q_a there were three deleted posts

right - I just don't have the ability to see them anymore, heh

here are the texts:

I've got a lead saying the location is somewhere in South Sudan. One of the creators of this riddle recently checked in to Juba on Facebook, the capital of this country, as both a joke and a lead. The city is known for its problems with prostitution (Strumpets). Maybe the words themselves represent the place?

I've noticed more clues than one, Matt, but they don't help me because I can't figure out anything about the 2nd part.

wait, just noticed they were all converted to comments

wow.

never mind, no need to copy paste

that's... remarkably close to the answer

(I'm positive the recent answer is correct)

the second part is the poem?

yes, the part you have marked with a "2" :P

there is a clue addressing that

but it's not in the email

shrug k

there is a reason I didn't add the riddle tag

Yes, I understand that the poem is a cipher, but - as I said - that hasn't helped me figure it out.

:/

what have you tried?

There's not really anything to go on to start with. I've looked into acrostics and anagrams, so far, but the sentences are too long to reasonably do any anagram lookups and if there's another subdivision, it seems arbitrary

Originally started with synonym and antonym lookups, but there's too many possibilities

yeah ... the puzzle itself was fun to make, and I think it's pretty creative, but I'm just not good at letting you guys know where to start

I understand that part

One thing, though - is the puzzle unsolveable with only the email? If so, it seems odd that your character would be expected to be able to solve it.

Or are the clues hidden in the description not needed, outside of being hints?

lol

?

everything you need is in the original email

clues outside are just some clues

Okay, good - I don't see that you did anything wrong, then - I'm just missing information that I need.

wait. the 'may the fourth...' question's accepted answer is the Heaven one?

...... Yeah o.O

Because apparently heaven has members who can go to prison for 10 years

I elected not to comment on it

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, apparently they only allow Catholics in, now. Lol

why is st peter (or whoever) making star wars jokes in heaven

well

Why not? =D

they only let catholics who are up to date on the latest version of the liturgy

there are 5 clues outside the email (and not including the hint email). what do you think they are?

sounds like something the catholics would do

am catholic, can confirm

that puzzle makes no sense on any level

I think that twisted is one. I don't know, beyond that, right now.

catholic heaven is also the only heaven with a prison

It seems like Carmen's supposed to be a clue, but I don't see how.

carceral catholicism

Hah, you're saying he was sent (from heaven) to purgatory for 10 years? haha

:P

yeah literally nothing about it adds up

carmen is a hint, but she won't help you, yet

It was originally a puzzle where the answer was church and the OP modified it to fit heaven - but improperly.

Oh well

The anagrams of DCIPHERTEXT haven't helped me any, yet. Possibly something to do with a third, but it's been going nowhere.

The only anagrams involving that are Except Third and Expect Third

every third letter is simply

praaosae
naqcygga
ccngfrga

which seems as arbitrary as q r v p t e j r n f t for now

qrptjrnf if you take all except every 3rd letter

nothing useful there, either, though

That can desubstitute into about 3000 possible words

qrv.. does seem arbitrary

but it isn't

that matches what the other answer got

naturally :)

what does?

(which you may be referencing, but I can't tell from what you've said)

the q r v ... string

I only see the one answer

Yeah, the cipher from the star wars language

well, not cipher, per se

But you get the point

right

I didn't know if you were just quoting that answer or if you had arrived at those letters in some other way

it was ambiguous from what you said

Ahh

in any case, I'm not nearly clever enough to try this one, so, uh, enjoy

I know so little about Star Wars lore, that I've never even heard the word Aurebesh before

honestly, I didn't know Aurebesh, either

neither had I (I don't dislike star wars but I never got into it like a lot of people did)

but I wanted a step related to star wars because may 4th

"Today of all days ..."

I like that it follows the earth idiom of naming your alphabet [first letter][second letter]

Qek Resh Peth Trill Jenth Resh Nern Forn would be the long form

Though I don't see anything useful from it, either

trill

[one hundred emoji]

assuming that the letters were right

okay, verified them

36 desubstitutions on qrvptejrnft

including MEATSHIELDS and MONKEYHOUSE

or HARVESTABLE or EIGHTYFIRST

even PASTRYMAKER

ironically, another is DISCERNABLE

DOWNSTROKES is one, which could (but probably doesn't) coincide with the new hint

wait, what?

I hate saying this, but: "wait, what?", what?

oooh, I read "desubstitutions" as "distributions"

ahh

still, substituting won't get you very far

there's clearly a relationship between qrvptejrnft and DCIPHERTEXT

I just haven't seen anything

Tried vigenere soon after the puzzle was added

right

and what was the result?

that's what I tried too

I don't remember - complete gibberish - no less than qrvptejrnft

nothing useful

And attempting vigenere on the poem with the Common Language phrase gives

wh ulanfwnbl, kwdzua'j qrvycn hzuyvjyn xerhvsu ijtduq atlyo txaxlbwnyn oloszyswl mvwib.

one thing left to try..

Rot13 either direction, on the solution of the DCIPHERTEXT - > Common String gives nothing, and neither does Rot13 on a reverse Vigenere

(brb)

hmm

fyi, there's a clue that will get you moving in the right direction, but it may not seem like it

yogurt and coffee

(back)

No further ideas, sry.

what's ironic, KK, is that you've matched the relevant clue yourself

same as I did

matched?

not verbatim, but the concept

Ah

Sadly, I've looked at so many things, and none of them went anywhere that even hinted at going further, so I'm in the same place I was before I started.

well, I guess the closest you've come is "every 3rd letter"

but doing that, you've got too many letters

Well the actual anagram is Except Third

But getting all but the thirds didn't go anywhere except removing my only vowel

oh, I see

I did a really bad job of making the intermediate steps rewarding

218 desubstitutions on qrptjrft

One potentially useful, but tons of other possibilities

where did that string come from?

it looks like it's missing a couple of letters

it's missing every 3rd letter

Just to see it in case it helps....but I don't think it does

Clearly the anagram of BACKTALK isn't helping.

someone already pointed out that the length of DCIPHERTEXT matches the length of the QRV... string

and that there are the same number of words in the poem that follows

brb ... :P

I'd suggest taking the third letter of each word if one of them wasn't only two letters long.

Yeah, had the same thought

But I think when he said: "not verbatim, but the concept"

He may have been implying that a letter pick, of some kind, is what we need, but not every 3rd

I just can't find a way to get any numbers that could be used to pick letters from the words

vigenere or substitution is bringing up tons of letter 'N's

And there's simply not a 14th letter in any word

"I just can't find a way to get any numbers that could be used to pick letters from the words"

my patronage, anyone's hearse
conceals quickly raging roars
concerning suffering boars

-.-"

fyi, you have the hints you need to get the right letters

I believe in you KK ;)

LoL, that may be your failing. :P

omg, these last 4 lines all have the same clue

4 lines of what

chat

ah

all 4 lines include acronyms :P

YES

... yes they do

...lol, but it doesn't help! :P

but it does

all four lines of what? don't say "chat", I can read that part

4 consecutive messages

OK nevermind I'm completely lost apparently.

what's an acronym?

I just don't see anything with four lines anywhere

big shrug

It was referring to the four lines of chat before and including it.

or

lol

@Zandar I'm still lost

They all had acronyms in them.

He's referring to "fyi", "KK", "LoL", and "omg", but I'm not seeing how acronyms are a hint

I assume we're supposed to just take the first letter of each word in the poem.

Yeah, I looked at that a while ago

Thus getting three 11-letter "words" which we combine somehow.

only gives one vowel, though

mpahcqrrcsb

Giving us "fidlcyrbtun".

oh for crying out loud

?

I was just using all three words in two consecutive Vigenere encryptions.

close, Zandar

(Is it bad that I refuse to refresh this page, so I can stay with the old theme?)

I want to bounty this one but I keep just completely wasting my bounties puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/31188/…

pretty sure your friend is at a bar

lol

but it seems like the puzzle is supposed to be giving me a city

it is a city

I've got it. He's in ecvirosalns

.... lol

(No, that wasn't random - just another dead end)

pity

Taking those acronymic letters, Zandar, and then vigenering with BOTH DCIPHERTEXT and QRVPTEJRNFT went nowhere.

(As I invent two separate words, for that sentence)

Neither did using QRVPTEJRNFT on DCIPHERTEXT and using MPAHCQRRCSB on the result

Still trying to figure out how to "upend" an unknown point of knowledge.

what does a cipher usually do?

It generally replaces letters.

But "upend" doesn't really ally itself to that concept any, other than reversing it - which is not reversing it at all.

take known, legible plain text, and (often) a known, legible key, and generate some nonsensical ciphertext

And that only works regarding substitution ciphers.

what you have is cipher text that you can read and keys that you can't, and plain text(S) that you can't read ... yet

god, I had an idea about the ecvirosalns but it didn't pan out

I've tried several reverse vigeneres, but they haven't gone anywhere.

this is where another clue comes in

It's San Diego, isn't it

(ftr I am watching the progress here and trying a few things here and there)

Using QRVPTEJRNFT as a plaintext solution on DCIPHERTEXT to get the key doesn't work, either

And to what you said, Matt...

You simply describe encoding, then decoding.

take known text, use key and generate -> encoding

take cipher, find key and get plain -> decoding

but you're actually decoding

boom! upended

...?

Sorry, I didn't see that go anywhere of consequence.

... DCIPHERTEXT is the ciphered text

So you're saying the hint is simply telling us we have to decode the cipher?

Right

Maybe it's just odd to me.

there is no other cipher text

That seems obvious, though

We're trying to find the key

It feels a bit like someone searching for a light switch, in the dark, and being told that the solution to their problem is to turn on the switch.

=D

but you're holding flashlights

2 of them

OK now our metaphor has turned keys into flashlights

What I mean is that you've given us a cipher told us to find the key - which is a normal decode - then told us to upend that thought.

Which implies that you're asking us to encode.

you have the cipher and keys, and you will be decoding

but the process will take readable text and create non-readable text

so it will look like encoding

Ah

what happens when you use the keys?

So basically...what I keep trying :( lol

Absolutely nothing

what did we decide the keys even were?

are you sure it's nothing?

The decoded Common Language string, and the acronymic first-letters of the poem, q_a

NLNAOAICRSA -> BWNTMKRLPAZ

remind me - what does "common language" refer to?

If it's not nothing, then I don't know what is

um...whatever that language is....sec

Aurebesh - written form of the SW "Common Language", apparently

the symbols.

AH, ok - I thought that's what you meant, I just didn't know that's what it's called

Yeah, annoying to try and spell Aurebesh, lol

hereafter, the symbols

if this is a circuit, you've only tried wiring it in series

what about parallel?

not possible using vigenere, and not sure what other method to try.

it is possible with vigenere

Using a 12+ character key on an 11 character phrase gives nothing useful

Nothing more than the original 11 character portion gives

you have an 11 character cipher text and 2 11 character keys

right

you've done the keys one after the other

MPAHCQRRCSB QRVPTEJRNFT

sorry just had to put that where I can see it

thx

but you have not tried applying both to the cipher, one by one

I have, but it didn't give anything - several times

NLNAOAICRSA
RNIIFOACCFS

"I hope it's not impossible for you to put together!"

Yeah, I got the sequence clue

Okay, then.

you are so close

Yeah, San Francisco is in here, partially - just trying to confirm where

damn - tool overloaded.

oh...

okay

(Removed S-A-N-F-R-A-N-C-I-S-C-O from the letters and was left with California)

well i guess that works

Now to figure out how to begin to describe this =D

eyyyy

I'm sorry that was so painful

I will try to not make things so convoluted in the future, haha

What was the clue indicating an acronym?

"I need this ASAP"

Uh...that one's a bit too vague. LoL

I know

I've seen the error of my ways

in my mind, a creative concept (the parallel vigenere), but poorly executed

To be fair, looking at the first letter is something that we should all be used to, because of Hugh.

I like how y'all beat yourselves up for making ambitious puzzles that aren't perfect

So I just put it in the solution without a clue.

Honestly, though the puzzle is a good idea

It's just simply that it's hard to find the leap to get to what we need to do.

That's the hardest part of any puzzle creation, though - trying to figure out how the reader is going to make that logic leap when they don't know what you know.

And - quite frankly - sometimes it's just danged near impossible to get right.

So I don't hold anything against you, personally.

I actually feel bad when I intentionally cause that to happen.

yeah to be clear: there are bad puzzles on this website that require massive logical leaps just to get started. you guys did not make them

Like putting multiple clues into one cipher.

Like a certain catacombs may have done...

I'm still thinking of the other 5 puzzles for the catacombs to try and finish that story.

One of the ones I've been wanting to do may be part of it if I can just figure out how to get the artwork done.

Oh also - I really like the parallel vigenere (or the vigenere sequence, as it were)

An interesting idea. - though it's hard to run anagram solvers on a 22 character phrase.

....

Sigh @ forgetting to upvote puzzles.

if you recall, I asked in this chat about vigenere collisions

True, but even now I don't know what you mean by that.

(Though I can guess, through implication)

two separate phrases with two different keys leading to the same cipher text

but, in this case, it required that I make the keys the full length

Perhaps - but consider that NLNAOAICRSA and RNIIFOACCFS are not phrases =D

Yeah, that would have been REALLY tricky to create, otherwise.

(And harder to solve)

sorry, not the above sequences, but the other two (starting with qr and mp)

well I could have made those legible

Hmm

but I wanted more steps

Right

Though, thinking about it...

Had they been legible, they would have been great red herrings. LoL

I don't think it would have lessened the steps, any

Oh, you're referring to the end-solutions.

Yeah - I meant to say the keys, not the solutions.

I have aspirations of those monolithic, days-long puzzles, with several steps

I think it would have been near impossible to do

Hah, me, too

I constantly refer to Alconja's now 166+ voted puzzle.

Alconja's puzzles are always good

Need to become a criminal mastermind so I have more time for puzzle creation.

holy hell, I see the puzzle to which you are referring

being good at photoshop would certainly help

omg

the theme was in the 1st step, crossword clue, "prolonged, unc-"

hehe

Yeah

I love the ad for NOTHEX

and the fact that there's exactly one X in both the cipher text and plain text

For my puzzle, photoshop won't work this time

What i want to do, it can't handle.

(Or if it can, I can't figure out how, nor find any information to do so)

Possibly TMI at this point - but because it doesn't support UV mapping

seriously my mind is blown

Yeah, that was a great puzzle

I still want to know what the intended answer to this is: puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/28125/preposition-hayday

edits to Hugh's puzzle, just now, for clarification

oh wow, I was right about the hugh meyers puzzle

I wonder if the OP is coming back on that puzzle you linked

probably not