Post by freshness on Apr 26, 2016 11:21:43 GMT -5
A new message from the Curator came in just about an hour ago entitled "Wherein 5 days remain to subscribe!" The spoiler below discusses some of my thoughts about the email, so be careful with clicking if you'd like to discover stuff for yourself.
Anyone have any ideas? Also, is this too much detail for a post? I don't want to break the laws of etiquette here.
There are quite a few clickable links in the email.
"with its focus on PARANOIA" links to a video ().
"subscribe to Curios and Conundrums" and "subscribe now!" links to the Curios and Conundrums page which also has the same video posted.
"The Mysterious Package Company" just leads to the MPC homepage.
I included the video below, but it's "spoiler"ed in case anyone wants to follow the links for themselves.
Speaking of spoilers, there are a few things I noticed in the video. There's a lot in the following spoiler, some of which may be relevant and some of which surely will not be, but if you want to comb through the video yourself, do NOT click the spoiler button. If I have included entirely too much here, please let me know and I will be happy to remove this information. I don't want to give things away and spoil the fun for puzzlers.
I hope everyone finds a whole bunch of stuff I missed!
"with its focus on PARANOIA" links to a video ().
"subscribe to Curios and Conundrums" and "subscribe now!" links to the Curios and Conundrums page which also has the same video posted.
"The Mysterious Package Company" just leads to the MPC homepage.
I included the video below, but it's "spoiler"ed in case anyone wants to follow the links for themselves.
Speaking of spoilers, there are a few things I noticed in the video. There's a lot in the following spoiler, some of which may be relevant and some of which surely will not be, but if you want to comb through the video yourself, do NOT click the spoiler button. If I have included entirely too much here, please let me know and I will be happy to remove this information. I don't want to give things away and spoil the fun for puzzlers.
At around 0:04, you see a stack of papers entitled Cumhuriyet. Cumhuriyet is the oldest daily broadsheet newspaper in Turkey.
At 0:10, 0:12, 0:30 and 1:13, the newspaper shown in "Cook's Pacific Consort" from Volume 2.
At 0:15, as the girl turns around, the back of the paper reads THEY HAVE YOU NOW.
At 0:21, the clocks on the wall all show different times. I think they read 6:10, 2:35, 7:15 and 6:10. If the hands of the clock represent semaphore, the clocks spell "ELME" (that may not really be relevant though).
At 0:33, the Wayword Wanderings article from the current issue is shown.
At 0:37, the Perplexle from the current issue is shown. The fingers on the paper cover some of the letters.
At 0:39, an ad for Zanthor is shown. It is not from the current issue, but I do not remember off hand which, if any, issue it came from. This is followed by quite a few curios, almost all of which I cannot identify.
At 0:58, the newspaper reads "SECRETS ARE REVEALED! THE TREASURE IS HIDDEN IN (morse code dots and dashes). The morse code translates to "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Underneath the front page, the words "Niagara Falls is in constant motion" can be seen. This is present right along the horizontal fold on the very front page of the current issue, so either the morse code page is an overlay, or it is a modified printing of our current issue.
At 0:59-1:00, if you freeze the video, the "U" in "TREASURE" is highlighted very briefly.
At 1:01, a scrap of paper reading "WNAR RLER" falls on the table. Using the Vigenere cipher with "PARANOIA" (which is mentioned in the email and on their Facebook page - which also has postings containing the video) as the key, the message translates to "MOSS FANS". Doesn't ring a bell. More believably, rot-13'ing "WNAR RLER" gives you "JANE EYRE" (credit to MrKairo )
From 1:03-1:12, there is distorted audio that sounds like speech that has been slowed down, but I don't know what it says.
At 1:13, the puzzlers are working on a word search that appears to also be from Cook's Pacific Consort, but it's difficult to see the title at the top of the page.
At 0:10, 0:12, 0:30 and 1:13, the newspaper shown in "Cook's Pacific Consort" from Volume 2.
At 0:15, as the girl turns around, the back of the paper reads THEY HAVE YOU NOW.
At 0:21, the clocks on the wall all show different times. I think they read 6:10, 2:35, 7:15 and 6:10. If the hands of the clock represent semaphore, the clocks spell "ELME" (that may not really be relevant though).
At 0:33, the Wayword Wanderings article from the current issue is shown.
At 0:37, the Perplexle from the current issue is shown. The fingers on the paper cover some of the letters.
At 0:39, an ad for Zanthor is shown. It is not from the current issue, but I do not remember off hand which, if any, issue it came from. This is followed by quite a few curios, almost all of which I cannot identify.
At 0:58, the newspaper reads "SECRETS ARE REVEALED! THE TREASURE IS HIDDEN IN (morse code dots and dashes). The morse code translates to "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Underneath the front page, the words "Niagara Falls is in constant motion" can be seen. This is present right along the horizontal fold on the very front page of the current issue, so either the morse code page is an overlay, or it is a modified printing of our current issue.
At 0:59-1:00, if you freeze the video, the "U" in "TREASURE" is highlighted very briefly.
At 1:01, a scrap of paper reading "WNAR RLER" falls on the table. Using the Vigenere cipher with "PARANOIA" (which is mentioned in the email and on their Facebook page - which also has postings containing the video) as the key, the message translates to "MOSS FANS". Doesn't ring a bell. More believably, rot-13'ing "WNAR RLER" gives you "JANE EYRE" (credit to MrKairo )
From 1:03-1:12, there is distorted audio that sounds like speech that has been slowed down, but I don't know what it says.
At 1:13, the puzzlers are working on a word search that appears to also be from Cook's Pacific Consort, but it's difficult to see the title at the top of the page.
I hope everyone finds a whole bunch of stuff I missed!
Anyone have any ideas? Also, is this too much detail for a post? I don't want to break the laws of etiquette here.