BourbonInExile
Assistant
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Posts: 61 
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Post by BourbonInExile on Mar 6, 2016 15:14:41 GMT -5
It was my intention to begin a discussion of some of the puzzles and also share some overall spoiler-y notes on the contents of the bundle. However, being brand new to the board (and MPC in general), I figured I'd start the thread and give mods or other forum users a chance to shut me down before I actually post anything.  Assuming nobody responds telling me to Shut The Heck Up, then I'll try to circle back in the not too distant future and share my feelings about XVII and which puzzle is driving me insane. |
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Post by Todd on Mar 7, 2016 6:58:37 GMT -5
We'd all love to hear your feelings.
I've put in placeholder threads to focus the discussions on specific puzzles. Feel free to discuss them in more appropriate threads if applicable. Or, feel free to discuss other not-so-easily-categorized topics here.
Welcome!
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BourbonInExile
Assistant
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Posts: 61
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Post by BourbonInExile on Mar 7, 2016 10:57:21 GMT -5
First, regarding XVII XVII = 17
Holy cow, it's a faux issue of Seventeen magazine! It even has a Columbia House ad inside the cover. Note that the only page reference on the magazine cover is "WHAT DOES AN EXPOSED EARLOBE SAY ABOUT YOUR BEAU? FIND OUT ON PAGE 6!" and the Joan of Arc interview shows up on page 6 of C&C. That page also contains a typical Seventeen-type "what kind of guy are you dating" quiz. Maybe I need to scan the page again for earlobe references.
Next, regarding the symbols I've found 9 distinct symbols. 7 are attached to puzzles, 1 to the Horoscopes, and 1 to the Map. Not all of the symbols appear on the map, but enough do that I suspect each symbol represents a letter and the various puzzles (and horoscopes) provide a starting point for mapping symbols to letters. Not sure there are enough symbols on the map to do a frequency analysis. Third, regarding the puzzles Word Search: check
Patently Ridiculous: check
Short n' Sweet: not cracked yet
Spot the differences: found 2 of the promised 5
Crossword: check, there were some odd spellings
Minced Words: check
Perplexle: At first, I couldn't see how this could be a puzzle with deeper meaning. I thought perhaps the 2-minute/29-point thing was a hit. It may still be ha hint. But my a-ha moment on this one was when I realized that it, like Patently Ridiculous, was a 5x5 grid. At this point, I wish there was a spoiler tag that could be embedded within a spoiler tag. Suffice to say that Perplexle and Patently Ridiculous are related. I still think Perplexle may have some stand-alone meaning, possibly related to the orientation of the letters. More digging is required.
Also, spotting the 5x5 correlation between Patently Ridiculous and Perplexle makes me wonder if the Crossword and Word Search are related (both 15x15). Then, there are the articles The travel article seems important since it came with related stickers. The article was written by Felicity Katastrofa (good luck + catastrophe). There seem to be two different kinds of articles: actual factual (particle accelerator, etc) and those that relate to well-known fictional characters (Gulliver's Travels in the travel article, vampires of print and screen in Scuttlebut). And then there's the article by the Medium, which is interesting in light of MPC's tagline that the message is in the medium. I'd write more, but the 4 year old wants more apple juice. |
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Post by k80 on Mar 7, 2016 12:16:17 GMT -5
First, regarding XVII XVII = 17
Holy cow, it's a faux issue of Seventeen magazine! It even has a Columbia House ad inside the cover. Note that the only page reference on the magazine cover is "WHAT DOES AN EXPOSED EARLOBE SAY ABOUT YOUR BEAU? FIND OUT ON PAGE 6!" and the Joan of Arc interview shows up on page 6 of C&C. That page also contains a typical Seventeen-type "what kind of guy are you dating" quiz. Maybe I need to scan the page again for earlobe references.
If you scan the offerings of Le Maison de Columbie, you'll find That Richard Astley is Ne va Jamais vous Abandonner... |
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Post by mrpikel on Mar 7, 2016 13:08:40 GMT -5
First, regarding XVII XVII = 17
Holy cow, it's a faux issue of Seventeen magazine! It even has a Columbia House ad inside the cover. Note that the only page reference on the magazine cover is "WHAT DOES AN EXPOSED EARLOBE SAY ABOUT YOUR BEAU? FIND OUT ON PAGE 6!" and the Joan of Arc interview shows up on page 6 of C&C. That page also contains a typical Seventeen-type "what kind of guy are you dating" quiz. Maybe I need to scan the page again for earlobe references.
If you scan the offerings of Le Maison de Columbie, you'll find That Richard Astley is Ne va Jamais vous Abandonner... Love it! |
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Post by k80 on Mar 7, 2016 13:44:41 GMT -5
I laughed so hard my neighbor knocked to check on me.
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Post by The Fixer on Mar 7, 2016 14:32:31 GMT -5
So did I!!! Got some strange looks from co-workers when I lost it in the lunch room!!!
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Post by mandapoae on Mar 7, 2016 16:49:22 GMT -5
There's also a symbol on KICK, the joke SOCIETY FROM THE CATS' POINT OF VIEW. Just thought I'd add.
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BourbonInExile
Assistant
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Posts: 61
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Post by BourbonInExile on Mar 7, 2016 17:01:38 GMT -5
There's also a symbol on KICK, the joke SOCIETY FROM THE CATS' POINT OF VIEW. Just thought I'd add. I thought I had missed one but I had a four year-old tugging on my sleeve so I didn't do a very good job of scanning back through my paper as I was posting. If I recall correctly (trying to remember last night's thoughts while sitting at my desk at work), the symbol on KICK shows up on the map multiple times, always after the same symbol. This made me think perhaps the symbols on the map are a straight substitution and the KICK symbol is part of a common digraph. Specifically, I thought the symbols could be tied to the title of the piece they're associated with and the KICK symbol might be a K, indicating the occurrences on the map might all be part of a "CK" digraph. |
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Post by amber on Mar 7, 2016 21:22:41 GMT -5
The travel article, mentions two books! The last one is Gulliver's Travels with the mention of Lilliput. But just before that, the author mentions a pickle war in which the Lamuellans got upset. That I believe is from The book Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams. In that book Arthur Dent gets stranded on the planet Lamuella, and becomes the planet's sandwich maker. |
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Post by mandapoae on Mar 7, 2016 22:15:22 GMT -5
The Personal Notes reference familiar spirits of the witch (depicted as GH in Bell, Book and Candle) Pyewacket and Jarmara. Still looking... |
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Post by amber on Mar 7, 2016 22:36:13 GMT -5
The Society article mentions two books and two legonds that I was able to recognize or find. Lestat de Lioncourt is from Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Countess Mircalla (Carmilla) Karnstein is from the novel Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan. Melusina is a from European Folklore And the Jersey Devil is an American urban legend. Also, the Ask Auntie Agony The first one about the dead girlfriend, I don't recoignize as a book. However, there is an urban legend about a dead girlfriend posting via facebook? The second letter mentions an old friend recently returned from traveling which is a story by W.W. Jacobs called The Monkey's Paw The Third letter mentiosn being scandalized by indecent acts... is about a book called The Green Carnation by Robert Hichens. Based on the friendship of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas. |
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Post by k80 on Mar 7, 2016 22:51:34 GMT -5
And the Jersey Devil is an American urban legend. As a resident of New Jersey, I object strongly to the term "urban legend." *shiver* |
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Post by mandapoae on Mar 7, 2016 23:19:29 GMT -5
I'm not sure if it's important at all but in Letters to the Editor,
the Editor messed up his response to K.G. saying "as we as we look further".
Everything is suspect to me. |
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Post by russington on Mar 8, 2016 0:48:59 GMT -5
There are many other references in the Maison offerings... I've found Adele, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Drake, Hozier, and One Direction so far.
Many of them are legitimate hymns as well, though. It's an interesting mix!
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