Silarn d'Zashyn
(?)Community Member
Offline
- Posted: Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:08:11 +0000
[edit]The Solver For the First Pass on Gamma Is Now Known
Let me make this clear from the get-go.
This is not another thread for you to come find the solutions on.
This is specifically to list the comprehensive processes behind discovering the solutions on each page and attributing the original discoverers, when known.
I also wish to discuss other types of encryption that may be used in potential future puzzles.
---
Page 1
urmothership
Original Finder(s): The folks in The Believers thread, apparently.
How do I get it?
On the first page, enter any incorrect answer into the box and submit it.
You will recieve an error message: "ERROR 19829245 : Access denied."
This number is actually the number of a forum topic.
19829245]http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19829245
In the first post by UFO 12 is a garbled line - hezbgurefuvc
This is a ROT-13 encryption.
The easiest method of solving this encryption is to line up the alphabet thus:
ABCDEFGHIJKLM
NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Now, simply switch the letters with the letter above/below it on this grid.
You should get 'urmothership'.
Page 2
1. foo
2. bar
3. baz
4. quux
Original Finder(s):
m_13 was the first to post about the classified puzzle.
Arkeron first who posted the solved puzzle within it.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18753841&page=1849
indisposed first posted the correct order.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18753841&page=1850
How do I get it?
This one was fairly simple. At the bottom corner of the large green triangle is a little image of puzzle pieces. On the 29th, a new 'classified' puzzle was added.
Solving this puzzle revealed the words foo, bar, baz, and quux. These are meta-syntactic variables, and they are commonly ordered as they are in the solution of this puzzle.
Page 3
1. http://avatar.gaiaonline.com/gaia/members/ava/04/7f/289bf9fc4f7f04.png
2. RedBino
3. Lotus Elise
4. Blue
5. Creep
Original Finder(s):
Freya Valkov was the first to post the alt-text I_Am_The_Eggplant.
indisposed found I_Am_The_Eggplant's profile.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18753841&page=1852
InuYoshi_Demon first proposed that 2-5 were the favorites in Eggplant's profile.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20046387&page=28
Cirosan posted the first password, to my best knowledge.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19919211&page=205
How do I get it?
This one is a little more involved. On page 3 (gamma) is an image of a broken image (lol). This image has the alt-text 'I_Am_The_Eggplant'.
I_Am_The_Eggplant is a user, and his profile contains four 'favorites'. These happen to be codes 2-5.
The first pass is cued by the fact that they show a broken image. It was intended to tell us to fix the broken image.
So, you take the URL to I_Am_The_Eggplant's avatar image, and that ended up being the first pass.
Page 4
1. there is no cow level
2. zurg1234
3. delta
Original Finder(s):
Someone in Theory19 pointed out the text in the source on page 4. I do not know if this is the first post or not.
Yours Truly (Silarn d'Zashyn) cracked the playfair cipher in the source code.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=6881509&page=5
Acrid Avid Jam Shred was the first to unstego the image in I_Am_The_Eggplant's signature.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20514175&page=1
diverguy was the first to identify the words 'there is no cow level'.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20514175
.Thatched. was the first to unravel the MD5 Hash and find zurg1234.
As far as I know, Glithe was the first to identify MD5 hashes.
delta was one of the options for the third password that a whole bunch of people guessed - I can say no clear 'first' on this one.
How do I get it?
pass 1-
Hidden in the source of page 4 (delta) is this ciphertext:
MF GH CL SB PC PV QH SU FP NZ LY
This turned out to be what is called a Playfair Cipher. It is a complicated one, and I don't really want to explain it.
http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/codes/playfair.php
At the encryption/decryption box, enter 'zurg' as the keyword and select 'replace j with i'.
It ends up as
fazleinfodownloadshtmx
You add an x if it is dangling, so that leaves 'fazleinfodownloadshtm'.
This is a url - http://www.fazle.info/downloads.htm
This page contains a steganography program.
Download, extract, and use this program to 'unstego' the image in I_Am_The_Eggplant's signature.
This will provide you a text file - zurg.txt.
Within this text file is the URL http://graphics.gaiaonline.com/images/event/zurg2006/puzzle/moo.mp3
This is a sound file, obviously, and faintly heard in a slowed-down voice are the words 'there is no cow level'.
pass 2-
This is an MD5 hash. We discovered these all over the puzzle much earlier, and eventually discovered it to be the hash for zurg1234.
There are hints - [a-z0-9]{8} means 'eight characters long, lower-case letters and numbers'.
pass 3-
On each page in the lower left corner was a small, lower-case Greek letter. They were alpha, beta, and gamma. The next letter in the sequence is delta.
Let me make this clear from the get-go.
This is not another thread for you to come find the solutions on.
This is specifically to list the comprehensive processes behind discovering the solutions on each page and attributing the original discoverers, when known.
I also wish to discuss other types of encryption that may be used in potential future puzzles.
---
Page 1
urmothership
Original Finder(s): The folks in The Believers thread, apparently.
How do I get it?
On the first page, enter any incorrect answer into the box and submit it.
You will recieve an error message: "ERROR 19829245 : Access denied."
This number is actually the number of a forum topic.
19829245]http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19829245
In the first post by UFO 12 is a garbled line - hezbgurefuvc
This is a ROT-13 encryption.
The easiest method of solving this encryption is to line up the alphabet thus:
ABCDEFGHIJKLM
NOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Now, simply switch the letters with the letter above/below it on this grid.
You should get 'urmothership'.
Page 2
1. foo
2. bar
3. baz
4. quux
Original Finder(s):
m_13 was the first to post about the classified puzzle.
Arkeron first who posted the solved puzzle within it.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18753841&page=1849
indisposed first posted the correct order.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18753841&page=1850
How do I get it?
This one was fairly simple. At the bottom corner of the large green triangle is a little image of puzzle pieces. On the 29th, a new 'classified' puzzle was added.
Solving this puzzle revealed the words foo, bar, baz, and quux. These are meta-syntactic variables, and they are commonly ordered as they are in the solution of this puzzle.
Page 3
1. http://avatar.gaiaonline.com/gaia/members/ava/04/7f/289bf9fc4f7f04.png
2. RedBino
3. Lotus Elise
4. Blue
5. Creep
Original Finder(s):
Freya Valkov was the first to post the alt-text I_Am_The_Eggplant.
indisposed found I_Am_The_Eggplant's profile.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18753841&page=1852
InuYoshi_Demon first proposed that 2-5 were the favorites in Eggplant's profile.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20046387&page=28
Cirosan posted the first password, to my best knowledge.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19919211&page=205
How do I get it?
This one is a little more involved. On page 3 (gamma) is an image of a broken image (lol). This image has the alt-text 'I_Am_The_Eggplant'.
I_Am_The_Eggplant is a user, and his profile contains four 'favorites'. These happen to be codes 2-5.
The first pass is cued by the fact that they show a broken image. It was intended to tell us to fix the broken image.
So, you take the URL to I_Am_The_Eggplant's avatar image, and that ended up being the first pass.
Page 4
1. there is no cow level
2. zurg1234
3. delta
Original Finder(s):
Someone in Theory19 pointed out the text in the source on page 4. I do not know if this is the first post or not.
Yours Truly (Silarn d'Zashyn) cracked the playfair cipher in the source code.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=6881509&page=5
Acrid Avid Jam Shred was the first to unstego the image in I_Am_The_Eggplant's signature.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20514175&page=1
diverguy was the first to identify the words 'there is no cow level'.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20514175
.Thatched. was the first to unravel the MD5 Hash and find zurg1234.
As far as I know, Glithe was the first to identify MD5 hashes.
delta was one of the options for the third password that a whole bunch of people guessed - I can say no clear 'first' on this one.
How do I get it?
pass 1-
Hidden in the source of page 4 (delta) is this ciphertext:
MF GH CL SB PC PV QH SU FP NZ LY
This turned out to be what is called a Playfair Cipher. It is a complicated one, and I don't really want to explain it.
http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/codes/playfair.php
At the encryption/decryption box, enter 'zurg' as the keyword and select 'replace j with i'.
It ends up as
fazleinfodownloadshtmx
You add an x if it is dangling, so that leaves 'fazleinfodownloadshtm'.
This is a url - http://www.fazle.info/downloads.htm
This page contains a steganography program.
Download, extract, and use this program to 'unstego' the image in I_Am_The_Eggplant's signature.
This will provide you a text file - zurg.txt.
Within this text file is the URL http://graphics.gaiaonline.com/images/event/zurg2006/puzzle/moo.mp3
This is a sound file, obviously, and faintly heard in a slowed-down voice are the words 'there is no cow level'.
pass 2-
This is an MD5 hash. We discovered these all over the puzzle much earlier, and eventually discovered it to be the hash for zurg1234.
There are hints - [a-z0-9]{8} means 'eight characters long, lower-case letters and numbers'.
pass 3-
On each page in the lower left corner was a small, lower-case Greek letter. They were alpha, beta, and gamma. The next letter in the sequence is delta.
