More comments with suggestions: Keep up the good work!
Justin said...Hi, new visitor here.
a few interesting things i noticed about the code:
The numbers on the left page are all less than 26 (24 actually, but when they're under 26, the code might correspond to an alphabet)
The last line on the right page has all 2's, 7's and 1's (none of the other lines have so many repeats of digits)
The number of digits in each line are:
6, 6, 8, 6 (left page)
6, 6, 7, 7 (right page)
The rhythm almost seems like a poem...
Matt said...This blog has been great for helping me through the main puzzle, but this Lotto ticket is really bugging me. A couple of things I've noticed while trying to figure out the INDEXED LISTS clue:
The JJA logos are spread throughout the magazine in some odd places. There are 20 in total: the cover, and pages 3, 6, 10, 14, 17, 34, 45, 46, 48, 55, 79, 81, 82, 87, 93, 103, 108, 117, and 123. Not sure what we can do with this list, but some of these numbers appear in the "Lottogram".
Looking at indexes literally, I checked out the table of contents - there are exactly 42 numbers listed on pages 3-4, which is the same as the Mega Number on the ticket. Does 42 mean anything, or is it just a nod to Hitchhiker's Guide?
Justin said...In Lost, 4, 8 , 15, 16, 23, and 42 are "special" numbers. One of the characters wins the lotto with the numbers but it brings him bad luck. The numbers also appear hidden throughout the series. One other thing to note is that they add up to 108. That number has appeared in the series as well.
However, I'm not sure that the code will require knowledge of the significance of the numbers in the series. but hey, more knowledge is better than less :)
Anonymous said...(@Kevin S.: I find it hard to think that Wired would restrict possible contenders to only those who know Lost, etc. Not to mention it seems that JJ's philosophy on mystery is that everyone should engage... I could be wrong, though; it's just me following my gut.)
Taking and running with Matt's idea, I played with the idea of a Beale Cipher (http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/codes/beale.php), but no luck yet. Anyone else try something like this?
I'm trying to keep my thinking simple. Most of the other codes were.
That number 117 is going to be the death of me. Must... not... sleep...
matto
9 comments:
Unrelated to the Lost numbers, but I did have a thought regarding the music page and the transaddition/subtraction clue:
The lightly printed text on the bottom of that page reads "The fate of the hidden track remains unclear". The letters of one of the tracks in the design are clear in the middle - the REFAMISISOLA track of he violet sedan chairs. This track is the solfege syllables (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solfege) but missing the 'T' which is replaced with an 'S' in SI. "Fate" breaks down into 'FA' and 'TE' which led me to try and anagram the track subtracting those two sounds ("remain unclear"). However, I tried a bunch of permutations and couldn't find anything (including adding "DO" which is the missing sound).
Any other thoughts along this line of reasoning? (I'm down to this and the indexed list clue...)
Don't forget there is no guarantee that each line corresponds to a word... each line could be a single letter, or it could be a sentence that's just broken up randomly across those lines (like the sentence formed from the 15 hidden words was).
I think that Aaron would be a good guess, if we make the assumption that it might relate to Lost... but I'm also of the opinion that most of the other clues were all contained within the issue without needing pop culture knowledge (though searching provided words on Wiki were necessary numerous times)... so if it IS related to Lost (which IS a distinct possibility... being at the end of a JJ Abrahms article, with the Lost ticket at the top, maybe it's not related to the meta-puzzle and is there for Lost fans, leading into another ARG like the lost experience)...
Just some random thoughts... but should definitely think of ways to convert each LINE of numbers to a single character to see if it is really just an 8 character word and not 8 words
Another thing I have found is that there seem to be 26 different numbers, meaning if it were to be a cryptogram it would use all 26 letters of the alphabet.
I looked at the Lost numbers refrence and tried to apply the Valenzetti equation to them from Lost and compare to the datastream on the end of the world and got nothing.
At least we are starting to figure this out.
I've been watching this blog. Great stuff. A couple of thoughts. I take it that this blog has not solved the meta-puzzle which definitely leads to a URL.
The 3-part ultra puzzle mentioned on pg 129 is the three fake ads below the "wired puzzles" listing. 15 clues apparently, 15 words listed in the article on pg. 129.
Firstly, using acrostic, mezostic, and tellistic, find the first, middle and last letters of the 15 words in the order they appear in the article. This should give 3 - 15 letter strands.
Next XCISOR ad - how to slice that text. My guess is it's Hurley's six numbers from the lotto ticket, but only a guess. 45 letters, 6 numbers the highest being 42. Could work. It's an indexed list.
That should yield a six letter word or anagram. Then Meta Global Tech "since 1983". The internet started in 1983. Those six letters are a URL that points to the site where the solution of the meta puzzle should lie.
That being said whatever the answers to the music page and lotto page are they should be one or two words each that appear on page 129. Such as "unearth" or "filling up." And they must have an odd number of letters as all the previous words have, otherwise they will have no middle letter corresponding to mezostic.
These are all educated guesses but seem to add up. I do believe the music page is the transaddition, on greenmana, or violet sedan chair, refamisisolla. But i haven't gotten anything that works yet.
Also I don't think the lotto page requires any knowledge of lost. It's a puzzle involving the numbers, just a hard one. Can't figure it out yet. But I think knowing the answer should have an odd number of letters should rule out a few possibilities. The number 26 seems too coincidental in it's appearances there.
Anyway, my thoughts at this point.
I doubt this will help, but if I let the numbers wrap around (AKA, "a" could be "1" or "27")
I get:
page 1:
Q A V P H F
T K R R J N
G G E R V G E F
X O L M A H
page 2:
D H R C N O
B E F K J M
D L F S B V E
B A M B Q A Q
amerikajin, the meta-puzzle was actually already solved here and the answers were deleted to avoid spoiling the game for others. You're on the right track, just don't give too much away here :)
and azmos, it actually says "refamisisolla" you forgot the last "L". The solfege actually has the sound "Si" in the ascending chromatic scale. but what's interesting to me is that "Re Fa Mi Si Sol La" are not in the same order as they are in the scale. The current American notes that correspond to the given solfege syllables are "DFEBGA". Not sure what this means (dont know much about music) or where it will lead us, but that's as far as i got with it.
Hi all. I'm so late! I just opened my issue today.
I have a correction to something "Matt" mentioned... I believe there are 21 occurrences of the JJLogo. His list doesn't include the one on page 67. :)
ALSO, i don't know if there's a discussion about this somewhere else, but on page 46, the opposite of the Kindle, there's a code in the "HOW WE RATE" section. If you pull out the letters in bold they spell out:
TVBRANDSHIFTSPAYTWOSTEPS
which could be:
TV BRAND SHIFTS PAY TWO STEPS
Or maybe all of the letters are scrambled or something?
Wonderful blog! And Wonderful Issue!
OH! and what's with all the snooze references and other nonsense on page 134?!
The snooze times can be solved by using one of the methods listed on page 129
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