April 2023 - Codes

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Location

  1. Zippy is looking for three 5-digit numbers related to three US addresses. Can you think of what number codes that might be? The name “Zippy” is a hint!
  2. Search for the zip codes for Altamaha Steak & Seafood, Towpath Pizza and Johnson Cafe & Pizzeria, and write the codes in order in the boxes below the text.
  3. The zip codes, accurate as of April 2023, are: 31545 (Altamaha Steak & Seafood in Jesup, GA), 13080 (Towpath Pizza in Jordan, NY) and 50514 (Armstrong, Iowa).
  4. Notice the bolded letters above the two blocks of text. And the number of sides on the forms to enter the zip codes. Do they remind you of any number-to-letter codes?
  5. The gaps between the blocks for the zip codes will help you turn the numbers into letters.
  6. The first zip code translates into CODE (3, 15, 4, 5) in decimal.
  7. The last two zip codes translate to SHEET (13, 08, 05, 05, 14) in hexadecimal.
  8. CODE SHEET.

The Path

  1. Can you think of a code that is used by people with visual impairments?
  2. In place of the raised bumps, use lightly shaded circles to spell out BRAILLE in braille on the grid from left-to-right, top-to-bottom.
  3. Read the last paragraph of text. Do the letters you highlighted in the grid spell out any helpful instructions about which letters in the puzzle to avoid?
  4. The highlighted letters, left-to-right and top-to-bottom, tell you to “USE 7 DIAGONAL MOVES.”. Make your way through the maze while skipping these letters.
  5. Do you notice that the tree (upper right corner) is blocked off, but that all the other letters are touching one another – either by an edge or a corner.?
  6. Start at the first letter below the tree and move like a king in chess clockwise, making sure to hit every letter you can except for the 17 hills. You should be able to hit every letter in the puzzle.
  7. THE WORLD AT ONES FINGERTIPS

Who Knew?

  1. Can you think of a code that is used to signal letters across long distances?
  2. Do you notice how each of the two “turnstile circles” have lines drawn with the same horizontal, vertical and diagonal orientations as the lines in semaphore symbols?
  3. Is it possible for the turns you take at each turnstile circle to follow semaphore letters? As you proceed along the route, you will want to keep track of the letters you pass.
  4. Your intermediate step before you get your final answer is 5 words, 40 letters long. You won’t cross the same path twice. You’ll know you’re on the right path if you end at the arrow on the right of the page.
  5. You should have traced out SUPERIMPOSED ACRONYM FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT. What could that be?
  6. The acronym for “nuclear disarmament” is ND. What if you wrote those two letters in semaphore on top of each other inside a circle?
  7. Do these two superimposed semaphore letters look familiar, like something from the 60s? Does it remind you of something at the top left of the page?
  8. PEACE SIGN

Laser Maze

  1. Can you think of a base three number code you could use to fill the grid on the right?
  2. Spell out TERNARY in ternary on the grid (from top to bottom, that’s 202, 012, 200, 112, 001, 200, 221).
  3. Fill the mirrors into the panel. If you’re stuck, start by eliminating all the walls that are adjacent to 0s. Mirrors can appear on outer walls of the grid, and can block some squares off from the rest of the grid.
  4. Follow the arrows through the maze in straight lines like a laser. A couple of the laser shots do not hit any mirrors.Those that do, always hit at 45* angles and reflect off at 45* angles, thus making 90* turns. If drawn correctly, the laser paths will always pass through the dots that are at the midpoints of each line segment. Keep track of the letters you started at and hit, as well as how many squares you pass through as you go.
  5. Do the letters you didn’t start at or hit spell out any instructions if you read clockwise?
  6. You should have 14 letters. The remaining letters spell out “ARRANGE BY HOW LONG EACH 1 TAKES.” Arrange the hit letters by the number of squares you passed through. For example, the shot from A to T cuts across 1 corner (the shortest route), and the shot from I to M cuts across 3 corners.
  7. A TIME TO REFLECT

A Transformative Experience

  1. Can you think of a code associated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization? What’s the acronym for the organization?
  2. Write out NATO using the NATO alphabet in the first line of the grid. That’s NOVEMBER, ALFA, TANGO, OSCAR.
  3. Transform the words using the instructions on the left. There are multiple answers for some of the instructions, but the connector lines between some of the squares indicate repeating letters, which should narrow it down.
  4. Stuck? Try working backwards. The final four words are BRASH, BEVY, BIG, BRAWL.
  5. The intermediate words are NOVEMBER, NOVEMBER, JUNE, JUNK, TRASH, BRASH // ALFA, ALPHA, TAU, TAX, LEVY, BEVY // TANGO, TANGO, SWING, SWINE, PIG, BIG // OSCAR, OSCAR, GROVER, GROVEL, CRAWL, BRAWL.
  6. Highlight the letters appearing in boxes with numbers in them. The numbers all have a + or a - next to them. What could this be instructing you to do with the letters?
  7. Shift letters forward or backward according to the numbers in the boxes. This will spell out KUDOS THE ANSWER IS CODE FOR B. What is the NATO code for B?
  8. BRAVO

Meta

  1. Fill your answers in the number grid in the squares at the top of the page. You can figure out the order of the puzzles based on how many fingers are held up on the hands in the top left corners of each puzzle.
  2. Each grey box in the puzzle needs to be filled with at least one coded letter. You’ll find the letters by taking the row number, followed by the column number, in each box. (For example, 1-23 is P and 1-24 is S.)
  3. To figure out what code you’ll need for this puzzle, read the text again. What code comes to mind when you hear the words “messy” and “restrain any squeals”?
  4. Write the pigpen form of each letter in the grey boxes. If there are multiple letters in a box, write the pigpen of all letters in there. Rotate the sheet so that the number in the grey box is always upright when you write in the letter in pigpen.
  5. Take a look at the forms in front of you. What pictures are formed in the puzzle by the pigpen letters? Do you see a cat, and an eye, for example?
  6. The pictures show a COD (type of fish), IF (logical statement), I (homophone of ‘eye’), CAT (animal with whiskers and pointy ears), and ION (a charged particle).
  7. CODIFICATION

Bonus: Out with the old…

  1. Are there any codes we haven’t used in the set this month? You’ll need two of them for this puzzle.
  2. Can you think of a code that can be used with a telegraph?
  3. Write out the letters FIVXKHLJQSUYGMA in morse code. This gives ..-. .. ...- -..- -.- .... .-. ..--- --.- ... ..- -.-- --. -- .-
  4. Can you think of another code that resembles circles and lines (or maybe upright dashes)? Something that can be communicated as “bits” and represents “yeses” and “nos”?
  5. Change the morse code to binary. This results in 00100 00001 10011 01000 00100 01111 10100 00011 01111 01101
  6. Translate the binary code into letters to get your final answer.
  7. The answer is DASH DOT COM, which isn’t a real morse code fan site, but perhaps it should be!