Aay 11: Cdvant Ealendar Dvent

[Kathis]

Today's puzzle might be a bit of a challenge, so put on your thinking caps! Hidden in plain sight, the code you're searching for is nestled within both the story and the title—in that order. But what could it mean? Look closely, shift your perspective, and see if you can crack the code. Here is the story.

 

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The Christmas Gathering

 

It was Christmas Eve, and Anna was busy decorating her house. Her brother, Tom, brought over a box of ornaments. "Where should I hang this star, Anna?" he asked.

"Put it on top of the tree, Tom!" she replied cheerfully.

Soon, their cousins Lily and Ben arrived. Lily carried a tray of cookies, while Ben held a wrapped present. "Merry Christmas, everyone!" they both said in unison.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Sarah, their neighbor, had come by to drop off a basket of fruit. "Thank you, Sarah! Merry Christmas!" said Anna.

A little later, their grandparents, Grace and Henry, joined them. Grace handed out cards, and Henry told jokes that made everyone laugh.

As the evening went on, more guests arrived. Jack and Ella, their childhood friends, brought a snow globe. Max, Sophie, and their dog Buddy arrived with a bag of candy canes. "Look at Buddy's sweater!" laughed Lily.

Finally, it was time to open presents. Tom handed out gifts from under the tree. Anna opened hers first—it was a beautiful scarf. Ben got a new set of paints, and Lily unwrapped a cozy blanket.

The night ended with everyone singing Christmas carols together. "Silent Night," began Grace, and the rest joined in. The house was filled with laughter, love, and joy.

And as the clock struck midnight, Anna said, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

 

----

 

That's the story, and that's the puzzle! However, due to limitations with the reward code, there's an additional step to follow.

 

Break the code into 2-letter pairs, then find the letter that falls between them alphabetically. If the two letters are equidistant (a tie), use the letter closer to the first of the pair. Here's how it works:

 

For example, with "A" and "Z":

- A = 1, Z = 26.

- Add the positions: 1 + 26 = 27.

- Divide by 2: 27 ÷ 2 = 13.5.

- Since there's a tie, round *down* because "A" is closer to the beginning of the alphabet. Had it been "Z" and "A" you would have rounded up.

- The result is "M" (position 13 in the alphabet). Follow this process for each pair to decode the final reward key.

 

Good luck everyone. I am curious to see how many of you get it, and how quick our puzzle enthusiastic get it. 

*edit* due to some... error correction to be made here. 

• Your total should be odd, take the last letter that will have no pair and toss it.  
• The reward string can only handle 25 characters. So just put in the first 25
• The code should end up with 27 characters. You can use this for 'fact checking'

 

[tachy]

Maybe the code is in italics, but I am blind, and there are no misspellings unlike the topic. 

So, I assume that capital letters are the keys.

 

For each letter in "text", count the number of capitals: 54

Add the title: 3 + 54 = 57

 

Looks like it's odd and somebody's gonna be forever alone.. and there are no sneaky hyphens.

Anyway, we might need to shift them by -1  because of the topic and hint "shift your perspective", 

So, slice the first letter away and add it to the back of the capitals list

 

Pair it like this> CE AH TW, resulting in a loner I, instead of CE EA AH HT, because the second way should exceed the maximum code length even though the reward page doesn't seem to cut you off. 

 

Do the math thing: 

For each xy pair in capitals list, 

z = (x + y) / 2

if z is whole, add z to the code list,

else, if x > y round z down and add z to the code list

else, round z up add z to the code list

 

And we get the code.. 

Spoiler

DDUERPGGFSPBDHEHPGGMAPKKKGKE is obviously wrong ;(

 

Maybe add your lone self to it.. 

Spoiler

DDUERPGGFSPBDHEHPGGMAPKKKGKEI is obviously wrong too ;`( 

 

I have no more time to play today, good luck 🥺

 

 

 

[Kathis]

See this is why you guys should post here, Tachy's comment on the letter count, seemed off so I had to recount. Turns out I missed several capitals, how did this happen? Not 100% certain, but it was probably due to the cats wanting my attention, notepad++ auto 'correcting', people wanting my attention while I was making the puzzle.

 

So now we have an issue, because the reward string only allows a 25 character limit and it would seem that I am a bit... too many. Even without the header we would be at 26 characters... (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

 

...Though even with the correct string being added, (if it would allow me.) Tachy's code would still be wrong...  

Take your string, and put in the first 25 characters. I am also going to increase the amount due to this being scuffed. *glares at my place not having yule decorations up yet, and it's been me having to do all the juggling *sigh*  

What do we do with the odd letter that has no pair?  Toss it. When I originally made the puzzle my count was even. Now it's not. Scuff says I... SCUFF! Any who thank you for bringing this to my attention. Sorry again for the inconveniences.  Hopefully this is still is now solvable *siiiiigggghhhh*

[tachy]

2 hours ago, Kathis said:

Even without the title we would be at 26 characters...

With new clues, it is implied that capitals are related to the code.

The text should contain 52 capitals, and adding title TCG makes that list size 55, such that 54 / 2 = 27. 

Title is assumed to be required and within 50 characters, otherwise, the edit would have said to scrap it... or not?

 

But there are 54 capitals in the text, so 2 shouldn't be there. It could be a letter that appears only twice, or something related to the topic "Aay 11: Cvant Ealendar Dvent". 

1) the order is different from other days: Day X: ABC vs ABC: Day X

2) It seems that the first letter has been move to the left, or a transformation like Vigenère

3) Cvant vs Cdvent (Advent)

 

Anyway, I hope Vigenère is not needed.

Possible solutions: 

Swapping sentences between their commas and shifting their first letters 🤡🤡🤡

Shifting the first letters of the entire text to the left like the topic did (Wt was Ehristmas Ave, and Wnna...) 🤡🤡 the title is unlikely to be used in this case 

Maybe the shift is the to the right.

None of which answers the 52 capitals limit. 

 

So, just generate strings of 25 random letters, you only need less than 26^25 strings, taking out the obvious like AAAAAAAA..A   🤡🤡🤡 🤡🤡🤡🤡

 

 

[PwnySlaystation]

Probably should lay out the thought process with the potential shifting as well.  Although we are hung up on the use of words.  Probably something we will smack ourselves for later but here it is.

 

Aay 11: Cvant Ealendar Dvent

 

If this is to mean Day 11: Advent Calendar Event then we don't know what letter was shifted to lowercase a 

 

If its meant to be Day 11: Event Calendar Event then we can extract some shift key like a Vigenère but the lowercase letter still seems out of place.

 

D shifted left 3 

E shifted left 2

e shifted left 4

C shifted right 2

E shifted left 2

 

Giving us our potential shift values.   All theory right now based on the wording in the post 

Quote

shift your perspective

 

 

 

[Kathis]

you both are over thinking, It's far simpler than that.

You both asked me at some point if the title of the thread was intentionally misspelled. It is. What is the easiest way to restore it back to normal?  Although looking at the pervious I had followed a different pattern... Advent Calendar : Day X  but ya, had to add an extra word to give you guys a leg up. 

Also I had just realized that I had misspelled Advent...in a way that is not helpful.... in anyway.... (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ Dumb brain thought you guys were pointing out the wrong first letters.

adds a third item to the reward string.
 

[PwnySlaystation]

Solved. 

 

@tachy

 

There is a difference between the Title of the post, and the Heading of the story.  Hopefully that helps.   Dont forget the shift!

 

Anybody else who needs help I'm going to force them to communicate here with us.

[The Chief]

*cracks Knuckles* 

Gonna solve this quick with all the help you guys have offered.

[The Chief]

Sneaky Post Title Kathis, very sneaky. 😁

[tachy]

I can't 🥹

 

Solved with help. Good job!

Edited December 13, 2024 by tachy