I didn’t know there was so much fire in Durtle Heaven…wait, are we in the right place? 
We’re not deep enough if we can still see the sky
The actual hint on the page did in no way whatsoever actually use the word shift(the hint phrased it as “changing things around”), that was from a hint koichi gave much later. In other words, it’s probably also worth considering things that may relate to similar words to the one actually used, and not just the exact words used.
Peanut Butter and Durtle Sandwich
I’m interested in the fact that most of these kanji seem to have gone through various mutations over time… I wonder if looking at the etymology is a good idea? Convert it into its root or something?
There was a website I found earlier called genetic kanji or something that did something like that
That’s probably true of all kanji, though.
My apologies, I misremembered, it was a synonym then, change - shift.
The past few days have been all such a blur
Tru dat 
Not saying it’s anything unique, but just the hint focuses in time and different forms a lot
Data dump from WWWJDIC: (I don’t know how recent the data is, esp. frequency)
| Attribute | 六 | 乙 | 泣 | 競 | 薬 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JIS code (JIS X 0208) | 4F3B | 3235 | 3563 | 3625 | 4C74 |
| Kuten code | 47-27 | 18-21 | 21-67 | 22-5 | 44-84 |
| Shift-JIS code | 985a | 89b3 | 8b83 | 8ba3 | 96f2 |
| Unicode | 516d | 4e59 | 6ce3 | 7af6 | 85ac |
| Bushu (radical no.) | 8 | 5 | 85 | 117 | 140 |
| Traditional radical | 12 | ||||
| Grade | 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Stroke Count | 4 | 1 | 8 | 20 | 16 |
| Frequency ranking | 93 | 1841 | 1380 | 610 | 702 |
| JLPT Level | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Classic Nelson | 283 | 260 | 2532 | 3364 | 4074 |
| New Nelson | 371 | 56 | 3104 | 4244 | 5224 |
| Halpern NJECD Index | 1965 | 3339 | 338 | 1847 | 2375 |
| Halpern Kodansha Kanji Dictionary Index | 2461 | 4145 | 396 | 2322 | 3011 |
| Halpern KLD Index | 1244 | 2104 | 253 | 1200 | 1539 |
| Halpern KLD (2nd edition) Index | 1710 | 2849 | 300 | 1639 | 2100 |
| Heisig index | 6 | 71 | 432 | 434 | 1736 |
| Heisig index (6th Ed.) | 6 | 75 | 463 | 465 | 1873 |
| Gakken index | 20 | 1713 | 1192 | 609 | 541 |
| O’Neill (Japanese Names) index | 61 | 2 | 590 | 2927 | 2568 |
| O’Neill’s Essential Kanji Index | 8 | 1339 | 1049 | 464 | 323 |
| Morohashi index | 1453 | 161 | 17309 | 25831 | 32188PX |
| Morohashi vol.page | 2.0045 | 1.0354 | 6.1064 | 8.728 | 9.0964 |
| Henshall index | 76 | 1041 | 838 | 463 | 398 |
| Spahn & Hadamitzky’s Kana & Kanji index | 8 | 983 | 1236 | 852 | 359 |
| Spahn & Hadamitzky’s Kana & Kanji (2011 ed.) index | 8 | 1017 | 1300 | 871 | 360 |
| R&W Japanese 1st ed. (Sakade) Index | 6 | 379 | 521 | ||
| Japanese Kanji Flashcards, Series 1 (White Rabbit Press) | 19 | 1030 | 678 | 789 | 247 |
| R&W Japanese 3rd ed. (Henshall) Index | 6 | 479 | 487 | 420 | |
| Tuttle kanji card | 24 | 1007 | 500 | 640 | 439 |
| Crowley Index | 124 | ||||
| Kanji in Context Index | 6 | 1908 | 252 | 1020 | 315 |
| Japanese For Busy People Index | 1.A | 2.6 | |||
| Kodansha Compact Kanji Guide Index | 153 | 25 | 1171 | 1463 | 672 |
| Maniette’s “Les Kanjis dans la tête” Index | 6 | 71 | 439 | 441 | 1752 |
| SKIP code | 2/2/02 | 4/1/01 | 1/3/05 | 1/10/10 | 2/3/13 |
| Spahn & Hadamitzky’s Kanji Dictionary descriptor | 2j2.2 | 0a1.5 | 3a5.1 | 5b15.1 | 3k13.15 |
| Four Corner code | 80 | 1771 | 3011.8 | 21.6 | 4490.4 |
| De Roo code | 461 | 3556 | 373 | 457 | 1964 |
| Pinyin reading(s) | liu4 lu4 | yi3 | qi4 | jing4 | yao4 |
| Korean reading(s) | ryug | eul | eub | gyeong | yag |
| ON reading(s) | ロク リク | オツ イツ | キュウ | キョウ ケイ | ヤク |
| KUN reading(s) | む む.つ むっ.つ むい | おと- きのと | な.く | きそ.う せ.る くら.べる | くすり |
| Nanori reading(s) | く むつ ろっ ろつ | かい わたなべ | み | ||
| English meanings | six | the latter; duplicate; strange; witty; fishhook radical (no. 5) | cry; weep; moan | emulate; compete with; bid; sell at auction; bout; contest; race | medicine; chemical; enamel; gunpowder; benefit |
| Mis-classification code | SP4-2-1 | PP2-10-10 | |||
| Cross-reference code | J0693B |
What’s with the Unicode for 乙? That’s a big number. 
Bookmarked, thanks
Excel artifact. It turned 4e59 into 4x1059. Fixed. Good eye.
Had a feeling it was going to be something like that.
That JLPT level looks suspiciously like the old levels. 六 should be level 5 now, I’m pretty sure.
I’m going to put that table in the wiki so we can add on lines with any other comparable attributes (WK level, etc)
Yeah, using the source used for WK Stats, I’m getting:
六 N5
乙 N1
泣 N1 (higher than I would have thought)
競 N2
薬 N3
I don’t really think it’s relevant, though.
If you did want WaniKani levels:
六 2
乙 57
泣 15
競 11
薬 17
The one that immediately stands out to me at this moment in time is the Classic Nelson, New Nelson index.
The only reasoning for this is because the hint mentions Caesar, another famous figure (it didn’t have to mention the previous puzzles or the previous solutions) and something being dated, since there’s a new one;
Oh. Hello there.
So, you figured out that simple Caeser Cipher?
I suppose Rome wasn’t built in a day, ha ha.
And the Shift JIS riddle?
Talk about dated!
However, I don’t know nearly enough about Nelson to confirm this. Can anyone else a bit more knowledgeable find any links in the clues?
Edit, also just noticing, the hint uses A LOT of famous sayings. Rome built in a day, talk about dated… I definitely think Yojijukugo is part of the solution
Maybe any wordplay solution depends on first ordering them ascending/descending by some attribute.
A lot of the WWWJDIC stuff is index numbers in a certain textbook. While a super-famous old one that’s become a de facto standard might be relevant, I’m not thinking we need information about ex. Japanese for Busy People.
I’m going to bed now, good luck guys I shan’t be on too much tomorrow as I’m back in work.
Fun fact: This thread is the only result in all Google for “六乙泣競薬”.