Cycle of Learning - The Enigma Emporium Season Two - Veritas - Card One

 My partner and I are back at it after a break - delving into the second set of cards in The Enigma Emporium's second season - The Cycle of Learning. We started with Trial By Cipher, and are now working our way through Veritas, which features an X-files-esque cover photo of some guys in a moodily-lit field. Not that this is the only order - the EE website has the four sets of puzzles 'linked' but not in any particular order. In we go.

The front of our first card features a space rocket lift off against a background of stars, some lines which I presume will be constellations/words on the back, song lyrics from Frank Turner's "Silent Key," and the words Island Maze Tsunami Parliament, with an arrow pointing to 'maze'. 

On the reverse, deep purple pretty, there are two sides. On the left, an encrypted message overlaying a series of circles/orbits with dark print denoting some of Jupiter's moons. Down the center there is a website pointing us to a page at our friends The Infiniti Institute that doesn't, at least at first attempt, appear to exist. On the right hand side, we have: a picture of Galileo, discoverer of the first 4 of Jupiter's at least 79 moons; a stamp with a little spy icon 'cancelled' with a stamp requesting a password; and a series of numbers in X.Y format. First thought, MoonofJupiter.Letternumber

I abandon my partner on that and go work on the cipher. I can solve the first few lines easily, as a logic puzzle then realize that the different orbits are different ciphers. As I'm talking, my partner realizes they're not cryptograms per se but Caesar ciphers, based on the order in which they were named. 

• (Callisto: +4): I have learned much in my years undercover. Hopefully what I am now bringing the Institute will 
• (Callisto + Sinope: 4+9=13) serve the gre
• (Sinope:+9) at understanding  
• (Elara + Sinope: 7+9): for which we
• (Sinope: +9) stri
• (Sinope+Europe: 9+2=11) ve
• (Europa:2) seven
• (Elara + Sinope: 7+9): years at NASA
• (Sinope+Europa: 9+2=11): and eight
• (Europa: 2) more at
• (Elara + Sinope: 7+9): my present i
• Sinope+Europe: 9+2=11): nfiltratio
• (Europa:2) n have
• (Sinope:+9): shown me many
• (Sinope+Europa: 9+2=11): secrets
• (Europa:2) Of those,
• (Sinope:+9): I am writing to
• (Sinope+Europa: 9+2=11): prese
• (Europa:2):nt to you
• (Sinope:+9): the greatest

I have learned much in my years undercover. Hopefully what I am now bringing the Institute will serve the great understanding for which we strive. Seven years at NASA and eight more at my present infiltration have shown me many secrets. Of those, I am writing to present to you the greatest. 

Space spies? I feel like I've seen that movie, but I'll totally watch it again :) Gives us an idea, though, for the coordinates. There've only been 5 space shuttles (Enterprise apparently never flew outside earth atmosphere), and none of the second coordinate goes above 5. So, Letternumber.SpaceShuttle? Would be in keeping with the Challenger quote on the front. In order, they were Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

That gives us:

• 1.4 - 1.Atlantis: A
• 6.3 - 6.Discovery:V
• 1.2 - 1.Challenger:C
• 2.4 - 2.Atlantis: T
• 4.5 - 4.Endeavour: A
• 3.1 - 3.Columbia: L
• 7.4 - 7.Atlantis: I
• 8.1 - 8.Columbia: A
• 8.1 - 8.Columbia: A
• 7.4 - 7.Atlantis: I
• 2.2 - 2.Challenger: H
• 5.3 - 5.Discovery: O

And that makes no sense to us, either. Bah, humbug. Maybe it's the quote on the front? Word.Line? Not making any more sense....

• 1.4 - Were
• 6.3 - I
• 1.2 - Led
• 2.4 - Down
• 4.5 - ???

Letter.Line? Not any better. I still think the arrow pointing to the Maze must have something to do with it. 

• 1.4 - W
• 6.3 - A
• 1.2 - L
• 2.4 - E
• 4.5 - N
• 3.1 - E
• 7.4 - W
• 8.1 - N
• 8.1 - N

Does the song have anything to do with it? Line.Word?

• 1.4 - Of
• 6.3 - I'm
• 1.2 - The
• 2.4 - As

We give up, and go look for a clue. It turns out that the gentleman isn't Galileo, but Claudius Ptolemy. He came up with the geocentric universe, at which point maybe these are in the order he thought the "planets," including the sun and moon, orbited the earth? Earth (center), Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Eureka! Transmission

• 1.4 - T
• 6.3 - R
• 1.2 - A
• 2.4 - N
• 4.5 - S
• 3.1 - M
• 7.4 - I
• 8.1 - S
• 8.1 - S
• 7.4 - I
• 2.2 - O
• 5.3 - N

Not sure what that gets us, as the institute doesn't have a /transmission. The full message would be 'ask me about the transmission'. Does he have his own institute page? No, apparently not. 

We go back for another hint. The arrow wasn't just pointing at 'Maze'. *sigh* We find the website. 

We get a name using the 'constellations', following another website hint. This card is really requiring a lot hints, and would potentially require us to either write on or cut up the card, neither of which we want to do. Wire? String? My digital image software skills are lacking, so we go with the full hint. We put the full name into the website, and get an email address. Presumably to ask about the transmission? We, of course, do so, presuming as well that it has to do with the search for extra terrestrial life that his bio mentions. 

We get an email response, and other website, which requires another password. Meanwhile, apparently the transmission in question is something that conspiracy theorists said was sent by Neil Armstrong himself having seen aliens on the moon. Still, not the password. And then we do a google image search - it's Chrome's "Incognito Mode" icon. FFS. The result is apparently the aforementioned missing tape. Hmf.

I'm afraid this wasn't a particularly auspicious start to the second set of Enigma Emporium's Cycle of Learning - Veritas. While it goes well into the theme of the card and the X-files vibe, the puzzles themselves require more online sleuthing and digital manipulation than solving. My favorite part was honestly solving the cryptogram before realizing it was a Caesar cipher. I had fun, because hanging out with my puzzling partner doing puzzles is fun no matter what, but it didn't feel as satisfying as some of the other puzzles. I hope the rest of the set have more ciphers and less Google Image search. 

Cryptex Hunt 2021 - Puzzle #2 - Welcome to the Jungle

My puzzling partner was really cruel, and made me wait to do the next puzzle until after work. I may have gotten a bit over my skiis and had most of the first one done before he could log in... patience isn't my strong suit... ever... So, while I (im)patiently wait for my last call, technically on leave following a dentist's appointment that left a quarter of my face numb, I'll fill in a bit about the Cryptex Hunt. This puzzle hunt was started, I believe in 2018, by a maker of lovely handmade cryptex - those beautiful works of art where you have letters around the outside that you must align to form a word of a certain length. If you've watched the (terrible, miscast) movie the DaVinci Code, you've seen one:

The puzzle hunt has had different themes over the years - last year was a YA novel that smacked of D&D and RPG games. A lot of fun, though life got in the way before we could complete it, and here it is already the 19th and we're just starting this one. 2021's theme is old school text adventures - commands like up/down/left/right/n/s/e/w get, use, etc. So far, no grus. The final puzzle (#14) has already been solved by 193 teams, at least per the leaderboard file, which hasn't been updated in about 2 weeks. The first finish was on March 6th. Still, it's fun and keeps us from going nuts, right? 

The theme for the second puzzle is 'Welcome to the Jungle'.

Ok, this one was a bit of a doozie, not so much for the puzzle but for the game that got you to the puzzle. The game itself deliberately gets you lost, so I cannot provide a map. As with #1, you have to complete the game twice. Both rounds you have to gather goods and put them in their proper locations. Pick up dots, egg, thread, and eventually a machete, as well as a boomerang. The first three go on pedestals which you will find while being lost - the guide Olivia's exhortion to not get lost is a red herring. Once you have placed the first three on the pedestals, pick up the journal at the dingo, go back to the vines, and pull, tug, and yank according to the colors in the journal. That will get you a toy to distract the dingo. Go to the (dry) fountain, pick up the machete, put the machete in the stone, and go back to the fountain to drink. That is round 1. 

Round 2, do everything up to putting the sword in the stone. Then, throw the boomerang until it's a stick. Examine the stick to see the order of the clues you'll need, then reexamine, with your improved sight, the four objects: egg, Dots, thread, and sword. The insights reveal clues to answers which, in order, will spell out the Cryptex Hunt's solution for puzzle two. 

The Russian jeweler is Faberge, the creme de menthes made by the same people as Dots are Andes, Dupont's first synthetic fiber was Nylon, and Arthur's Queen was Guinevere. Together, that spells FANG, the solution to puzzle #2. 

Cryptex Hunt 2021 - Cryptex Hunt Puzzle #1 - International Cryptex Day

 Far behind the times, thanks to, well, everything, my partner and I are curious to try this year's Cryptex Hunt. On a lunchbreak I get us set up to compete under the name Secret Squirrels - referring to our D&D characters of a rogue and a blue flying cleric, respectively. Puzzles 11 and 12 have already been released, so we have quite a bit of catching up to do. I'm setting these to be published on April 1, after the puzzle hunt is over, to make it fair for others catching up as well. 

I have a brief delay before my next call so dive in after sending the links to register to my partner. The first puzzle is an old text based adventure game. Must not get eaten by a gru! 

You start in a room with a rather obnoxious tutorial, which I chose not to deactivate just in case. Find a card, get told that you're going to need to open the microwave downstairs, which is locked. Easy peasy. First, go check out the bathroom. That soap feels pretty heavy... can't break it, but soap dissolves in water, right? Drop it in the apparently VERY CLEAN water, to reveal a key to the southern room, theoretically. However, you've become a germaphobe and can't just reach into the clean water to grab the key. Of course. 

Wander downstairs, pick a magnet off the fridge in the kitchen, and some twine from under the sink. Use them together to make a magnetic fishing tool to get the key out of the toilet. Step one complete. Open the door, and you find a remote without batteries, and a working phone (unlike the one in the hallway). Grab the remote and head downstairs. 

Have a look at the magnet and the hallway phone. It's not the same alphanumeric set up that you're looking for, but as the magnet image shows, it's got your password. Writing it all out, you have a few options. It's not POLICE or SOLACE, but SPLICE. Using that password, we get the message to Call Jess. 

Can't call anyone from the phone downstairs, so back upstairs to call Jess. Thankfully apparently you know her number by heart. She's a bit scattered but eventually tells you to tune the TV to Channel 34. Back downstairs you go. Getting your 10,000 steps in!

Look at your living room couch. It's a mess, and full of useful goodies, like that obnoxious noisy toy. If you open it, it has batteries which you can use to power the remote you picked up from upstairs. Turning to the appropriate channel gets you the image of someone typing in a code on the microwave. Head to the kitchen again, type in the code, and presto! 

You get a very cool little ticket to an escape room, with its own coded message. Use the message on the cryptex, which in turn gets you a flyer for a repair shop. What to do now? Much useless 'fixing' of pieces ensues, before a clue makes me realize that the first words when sounded out make a word: ARRAY. No clue what to do with that. It doesn't make any sense.... until I remember we need to actually input an answer for cryptex hunt itself. 

So, the answer to puzzle one is: ARRAY