This is the record of our second night of staring at the fourth piece of Wish You Were Here by Enigma Emporium. My puzzling companion and I burned our brains out last night, trying to figure out the connection between some stamps made out of book covers (we had one answer but we didn't trust it), and figuring out where we were going wrong with what LOOKED like a straightforward enough book cipher (apparently also called an Arnold cipher). But, being stubborn, we came back at it for a second night.
Spoilers ahead - caveat lector.
A recap. Last night, we started the fourth postcard of Wish You Were Here, which is related to books. The front of the card is eight quotes from different books, the back of the card has a code from ISBN on the left, three stamps from bookcovers, and a series of what look to be book ciphers in the address bar. We were able to identify the books from the quotes, and read the ISBN code, which told us that their name (presumably of the cult) was The Ourobouros. And then we hit a wall.
On the book titles, a normal book cipher would be chapter-sentence-word or chapter-paragraph word. Finding those, in the order of the quotes on the first page, did not yield a message, even when we double checked our counting with the help of a book cipher decoder at Boxentriq (which turns out ot have its own puzzle games, so I'll add those to the list. Towards the end of the evening we realized we had made a mistake on the last book on the quotes, that it was Tolstoy's War and Peace, not Bethink Yourselves. Still, one word difference (either "about" or "prince") doesn't help that we were feeling hopelessly stuck.
The stamps, while we identified the books from which they came, didn't seem to have a link, unless you wanted to only read the first words, which would be 'Protect My Mother,' but it didn't have the same feel as other solved puzzles so we discarded it. That the images chosen were all alternate covers also didn't seem to be relevant. They took place in different locations. The books in the stamps are as follows:
We took another good whack at them tonight - different publishers, different years, different genres. Nothing obvious in the ISBN. Protagonists: Mitch Rapp, Mike Hammer, and Jay Justus. We gave up, and looked at the hint page. The hint seemed to suggest that actually, our first, discarded solution, Protect My Mother, was in fact correct. We still don't think it feels right. So far our pen pal has been more... something. He's stolen gold bars, great works of art, and assassinated rogue agents. Now he's asking us to protect his mother? Or he's doing it to protect his mother, because they also have his wife? Hmf. For some mastermind, criminal-of-all-arts, he does seem to be misplacing family members while gallivanting around the globe. And where is he even going!? We returned to the book titles...
So, we now have a location. Istanbul (not Constantinople). We don't have a crime, and that doesn't solve my problems with not being able to count appropriately in the book cipher. Seriously though, very glad my friend's eyes work better than mine.
Still, the final cipher needs addressing. We had tried every version of direct pairing. In a last gasp attempt before seeking another clue, my very patient puzzling partner let me try arranging them in time order. We tried both Chapter-sentence-word and Chapter-Paragraph-Word.
We gave up, and looked for the last hint. And I started cursing again. The FONT was the bloody key. I started yelling. MF. I may need a new keyboard I'm typing angry.
Wow, I feel like an idiot. We were WAY over-thinking that. By a lot. But also not ranking very high on our perception, not noticing the different fonts.
So, our penpal this time, is or was in Istanbul, working for a cult calling itself The Ourobouros, carrying military intelligence intercepted from a former general, either to protect his mother, or asking us to do so. Ta da.
Honestly, though, I found this particular card the least entertaining, as it relied less on ciphers, and more on perception. I felt mostly irritated by this, rather than challenged and engaged. All the other cards have been great, though. I'm hoping this is just a one-off for myself, or for Enigma Emporium. Still, I'm greatly looking forward to tomorrow night's card, and the next series hopefully winding their way through the world to me even now.
Spoilers ahead - caveat lector.
A recap. Last night, we started the fourth postcard of Wish You Were Here, which is related to books. The front of the card is eight quotes from different books, the back of the card has a code from ISBN on the left, three stamps from bookcovers, and a series of what look to be book ciphers in the address bar. We were able to identify the books from the quotes, and read the ISBN code, which told us that their name (presumably of the cult) was The Ourobouros. And then we hit a wall.
On the book titles, a normal book cipher would be chapter-sentence-word or chapter-paragraph word. Finding those, in the order of the quotes on the first page, did not yield a message, even when we double checked our counting with the help of a book cipher decoder at Boxentriq (which turns out ot have its own puzzle games, so I'll add those to the list. Towards the end of the evening we realized we had made a mistake on the last book on the quotes, that it was Tolstoy's War and Peace, not Bethink Yourselves. Still, one word difference (either "about" or "prince") doesn't help that we were feeling hopelessly stuck.
- "In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate." - Isaac Asimov, Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain (1987).
- "The greatest victory is that which requires no battle." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
- "You don't run out on people; you run out on yourself." - Truman Capote, Summer Crossing
- "Where there is no imagination there is no horror." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet
- "I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else." - Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
- "Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so." - Bertrand Russell, The ABC of Relativity
- "They use everything about the hog except the squeal." - Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
- "The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." - Leo Tolstoy,War And Peace
The stamps, while we identified the books from which they came, didn't seem to have a link, unless you wanted to only read the first words, which would be 'Protect My Mother,' but it didn't have the same feel as other solved puzzles so we discarded it. That the images chosen were all alternate covers also didn't seem to be relevant. They took place in different locations. The books in the stamps are as follows:
- Protect &/And Defend by Vince Flynn (2007)
- My Gun is Quick by Mickey Spillane (1950)
- Mother Land by Paul Theroux (2017)
We took another good whack at them tonight - different publishers, different years, different genres. Nothing obvious in the ISBN. Protagonists: Mitch Rapp, Mike Hammer, and Jay Justus. We gave up, and looked at the hint page. The hint seemed to suggest that actually, our first, discarded solution, Protect My Mother, was in fact correct. We still don't think it feels right. So far our pen pal has been more... something. He's stolen gold bars, great works of art, and assassinated rogue agents. Now he's asking us to protect his mother? Or he's doing it to protect his mother, because they also have his wife? Hmf. For some mastermind, criminal-of-all-arts, he does seem to be misplacing family members while gallivanting around the globe. And where is he even going!? We returned to the book titles...
And then my wonderful wonderful friend went back and looked at last night's scribblings, and realized what we missed. And showed me. And then I had to apologize for the volume of my howl. Seriously. F***. See what we missed last night? Do you know how much this drove me NUTS for the past 24+ hours?!! We apparently love rabbit holes because we dive straight into them.
- Isaac Asimov, Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain (1987)
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War (5th C BCE)
- Truman Capote, Summer Crossing (2005)
- (Sir) Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet (1887)
- Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. (2013)
- Bertrand Russell, The ABC of Relativity (1925)
- Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1905)
- Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (1865)
So, we now have a location. Istanbul (not Constantinople). We don't have a crime, and that doesn't solve my problems with not being able to count appropriately in the book cipher. Seriously though, very glad my friend's eyes work better than mine.
Still, the final cipher needs addressing. We had tried every version of direct pairing. In a last gasp attempt before seeking another clue, my very patient puzzling partner let me try arranging them in time order. We tried both Chapter-sentence-word and Chapter-Paragraph-Word.
We gave up, and looked for the last hint. And I started cursing again. The FONT was the bloody key. I started yelling. MF. I may need a new keyboard I'm typing angry.
Wow, I feel like an idiot. We were WAY over-thinking that. By a lot. But also not ranking very high on our perception, not noticing the different fonts.
So, our penpal this time, is or was in Istanbul, working for a cult calling itself The Ourobouros, carrying military intelligence intercepted from a former general, either to protect his mother, or asking us to do so. Ta da.
Honestly, though, I found this particular card the least entertaining, as it relied less on ciphers, and more on perception. I felt mostly irritated by this, rather than challenged and engaged. All the other cards have been great, though. I'm hoping this is just a one-off for myself, or for Enigma Emporium. Still, I'm greatly looking forward to tomorrow night's card, and the next series hopefully winding their way through the world to me even now.
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