Descent of the Durtle into eGoooott - NOW AT B8!

Yeah… I have no answer for that. The cipher is frustrating. It has been impervious to all attacks so far.

Yesterday, I attempted to merge the wikis of this thread and the spoiler thread, but this thread’s wiki post is just under the 64k size limit. I didn’t want to delete old stuff without first asking people what they’d like to do with it, so I aborted.

But if someone wants to take on the challenge of house-cleaning the current wiki, we could follow up with a merge.

Turn @cybershark’s post underneath into a wiki also, then dump all the stuff from the first three puzzles into there?

Also, reckon you can just delete all the random theories on the meanings of the original five kanji too, like that big table of attributes. Hah, which includes the stroke counts.

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I don’t know if cybershark has wiki ability (doesn’t it require Regular status?). If not, we could post the prior puzzles here at the bottom, and just link them from the wiki up top. That has the added bonus of reaching the next 500 posts faster :grin:

2 Likes

What we probably should do is wait until just after Koichi pops back in again, then leave this thread as an archive and start a new one with a summary of what’s gone before, a link to the old thread, and a new wiki.

(“linked list” model, for you CS types :wink: )

5 Likes
B2 notes archive

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Hey! Don’t scare me like that.
I’ve got 91 things to worry about,
and you’re just another one.
Not to mention, I’ve got a new boss…
She’s changing everything around,
and I don’t like her at all.
Speaking of mean things worth worrying about,
here is your clue for the password to B3.

ac b7 b4
9b b5 a0
b0 b1 a1

If you can figure out what these nine pairs have in common
you may be able to descend to continue your descent.

Solution (spoiler)
  • Add 1 to 91 since there is one more problem
  • Prefix each pair by 92

    92ac 92b7 92b4
    929b 92b5 92a0
    92b0 92b1 92a1

  • Lookup the kanjis using Shift JIS

    町 長 超
    兆 跳 帳
    腸 蝶 庁

  • All these kanjis have チョウ as their on’yomi.
  • Wanikani uses “Mrs. Chou” as the mnemonic for チョウ
  • “Mrs. Chou” is the password
Technical explanations of the solution

See Post 2884 by @Belthazar

  • Computers use bits (0 and 1) to represent anything.
  • Multiple bits together form a number in binary (base 2).
  • Hexadecimal (base 16) is used to represent binary numbers in a more concise way.
  • To represent text, computers use numbers and an encoding for the mapping between numbers and characters:
    • ASCII is a very old charset, but only covers english letters (and punctuation, and special characters)
    • Nowadays Unicode is used to cover basically everything, which is very convenient
    • Before Unicode, Shift JIS was used in Japan to represent the japanese language (katakana, hiragana, kanji, punctuation)
  • The 9 pairs of characters are all valid hexadecimal numbers, which led to conversions using several charsets until the good answer using Shift JIS

Concept ideas

List of ideas

They’re hex codes

  • For colors
  • For ascii characters
  • For unicode characters
  • For Shift JIS characters (but one invalid value; also made no sense)
  • Compared bit patterns (even ones, odd ones, etc) (no luck)

They’re hex codes that need to be changed to:

  • decimal (not seeing a pattern there)
  • octal (there either)
  • binary (same)

They’re unicode hex codes part of set 91 (credit to @Oyashiro) :

  • combine 91 with each of the pairs in the B2 clue to get:
    %91ac %91b7 %91b4
    %919b %91b5 %91a0
    %91b0 %91b1 %91a1

  • These Unicode values then convert to the following chars (not all are Japanese):
    醬醷醴
    醛醵醠
    醰醱醡

  • Alternately, trying the above with 92 instead of 91:
    銬銷銴
    銛銵銠
    銰銱銡

They’re related to HHG (based on previous hints)
They’re related to WaniKani somehow (pages, kanji, radicals, TOS, etc.)
They’re related to Japan (highway numbers, train stops, )
They’re related to Portland (where Tofugu is) (unlikely)
Related to butts (re: the first two passwords)
Related to Christmas
Grid coordinates for something (but ac and 9b don’t follow pattern)
Any of those things, but there’s some manipulation first (reversed, shifted, etc) (based on the ‘changing things around’ text)
Something related to the 91 in the text (which was 99 problems in the famous song)
Physical shape (a, b, 9, 4 sort of) look like the same thing rotated/flipped)
They could be part of an url?(The page url for b2 starts with “b4” which is in the square)

“Help” from Koichi - responses to questons
(all included in case he said something significant nobody noticed)

List of responses

Also, CyrusS knows something.

Passwords tried (some)

List of passwords

hex
number
numbers
letter
letters
hexadecimal
hexadecimal number
a
g
9
shape
All variations of 42 and 42+
Tis-100
Box
Durtle
Password
Pass to b3
Code to b3
B2
Square
Nothing
Key to b3
Level
Floor
Storey
colors
radicals
unicode
Symbol
Symbols
White
Black
Space
API
Public Api
RSAencryption
Kristen
Kanae
Every number from 0 to 101
155
notes
musical notes
character
Ipv6
paper size
japanese paper size
ascii
ascii extended characters
Hint to b3
Hint
Descend
Descent
Descending
Pass
Encryption
Matrix
Math
stellar sequence
stars
star sequence
Christmas
Christmas hint
Christmas riddle
magenta
green
cmyk
durtle color
durtle green
durtle shell
green shade
hex colors
colors
hexadecimal colors
durty butthole
sake
sake radical
osake
nihonshu
alcohol
alcohol radical
gold
gold radical
metal
metal radical
booze
beer
nothing
satan
shiritori
level61
level 61
next level
paradise
paradiso

bitch (hey, worth a try)

kin
king
shu
kane
okane
sake
a2a4a5a6a7
shell colors
shell color
alphanumeric pairs
turtle shell colors
durtle butt
kanji
musical notes
intervals

Contributions from individual members (to easily see all thing proposed by one person)

@HealyHQ

All theories combined in this post

@greywillfade
  • Post 504 - Whether the hex codes (horizontal, greens and greys) were associated with the colours in a common durtle badge.
  • Post 751 - Tenuous link between terminology in reviews and the grid (Answered Correctly/ac, b4/burned 4, a1/apprentice 1). Doesn’t fully fit the pattern.
  • Post 1147 - Swapping the numbers for their l337 speak equivalent.
  • Post 1219 - Trying 42 in front of the grid elements to see if there are common radicals with the unicode (e.g. U+42ac). Trying the grid elements in reverse to do this.
@Belthazar
  • In UTF-8 encoding, these hex numbers are all “continuation bytes”.
  • In Shift-JIS it’s basically nonsense: ャキエ峽?ーア。
  • They’re all hexadecimal numbers.
  • They’re all hexadecimal numbers that contain either an A or a B.
  • More of a magic square than a sudoku. It’s not a magic square, though.
  • The existence of AC throws the spanner in any grid-reference-based theory.
  • (In answer to a question) The font is called Arvo, part of the Google font family.
  • (In answer to “is there a pear kanji?”) It’s 梨. Taught at level 44.
@cybershark
  • Post 140 - Converting to decimal and ASCII
@JavaSparrow
  • Post 24 - Passwords are case-sensitive, likely lowercase.
  • Post 72 - Bolded outliers ac and 9b, does table sequence matter?
  • Post 95 - 92 cipher/wire signal, other possibilities: chess? battleship? coordinates?
  • Post 109 - Factors and divisors of 91 and 92.
  • Post 148 - Converting to color hexes (rows)
  • Post 162 - Converting to color hexes (columns)
  • Post 205 - Since butts were involved for b1 and b2, could they also be involved in b3?
  • Post 246 - Unicode with 92 prefix (see post 235 by @Oyashiro)
  • Post 270 - Could the values be bit addresses? Google book for reference.
  • Post 295 - Recap of many theories: sudoku, poetry rules, date conversion, bit addresses, color hexes, troll answers, page source code, looking at durtle black market and harbinger badge for clues.
  • Post 440 - The values are the password but scrambled, possibly 9-character or 18-character result.
  • Post 1746 - Could 91 be considered a tenth pair? Could Koichi’s clues be referencing time, timezone, time travel, travel, or Japan?
  • Post 1750 - Bit address diagram for reference.
  • Post 2128 - Could regular durtle’s disciplinary post in fact be a hint? Witchcraft = hexes, stop with the hexes? (Hexes maybe aren’t involved in solution.)
@RysingDragon
  • Post 185 - Finding a search page
@Krispy
  • Post 204 - Conversion to numbers and reversed
  • Post 251 - Bolding interesting bits in the text before the hint
  • Post 253 / 259 - Using the kanjis for new, boss, etc
  • Post 795 - Pairs might be references to reviews items
@ctmf
  • Post 210 - Substracting 8 from everything
  • Post 226 - Keys on a Qwerty keyboard
  • Post 477 - There is no duplicate (like aa or 11) in the pairs
  • Post 907 - Using Jisho on kanjis obtained by unicode with 91 prefix (see post 235 by Oyashiro)
  • Post 911 - Conversion to decimal to lookup kangxi radicals
  • Post 932 - Plotting the decimal values
@TheMusicalNinja
  • Post 219 - Members of Tofugu
@rumade
  • Post 232 - Making each pair into words
@Oyashiro
  • Post 235 - Unicode with 91 prefix
  • Post 480 - Indexing posts in the content overhaul thread
@Kyasurin
  • Post 277 - IATA codes
@Kumirei
  • Post 286 - Closest answer yet
@banira
  • Post 321 - Conversion to binary
@Naphthalene
  • Post 334 - Discussion about badges added manually
@Masayoshiro
  • Post 378 - Indexing the text before the hint using the pairs
  • Post 924 - Base 13 is a H2G2 reference
@emucat
  • Post 381 - Indexing the text before the hint using the pairs (see post 378 by @Masayoshiro)
  • Post 824 - A kanji/radical of the level 16 modified by the content overhaul
@Toyger
  • Post 401 - Koichi’s poll
@Darcinon
  • Post 473 - Indexing the text before the hint using the pairs
  • Post 890 - Conversions to base 13
@DontWorryAboutIt
  • Post 507 - Stroke counts in the kanji found by the Unicode method, then converting to ascii (decimal, hex, base64)
  • Post 1105 - Assuming the 9 pairs translate directly into the password after alterations are made, and that “91” and “she’s changing everything around” are both hints, and are the only hints, there are a few possibilities:
    1. 91 is supposed to be used as some type of key to transform the pairs, which are shuffled either before or after the transformation
    2. 91 is a clue on how to shuffle the pairs, which then results in something easily translatable into the password (i.e. standard hex)
    3. The pairs correspond somehow to letters in a body of text, to which 91 is a reference, which are then shuffled to make the password
  • Post 2197 - A Vigenere cipher using key NINETYONE was used on the pairs with multiple variations on the method, not resulting in anything substantial
@Tyger
  • Post 508 - Using the mean of the values, the mean of each value, and converting to hexadecimal
@saruko
  • Post 930 - using the base 13 values of the pairs, taking the corresponding letter from the text above the box
  • Post 940 - let each letter and number stand for one radical, to build the 9 pairs into 9 kanji
  • Post 2089 - something to do with a towel? (HG2G reference)
  • Post 2091 - using a=1, b=2, c=3, convert the nine pairs to two digit numbers and find the mean value
@Lear
  • Post 1121 - Convert clue to kanjis, trying to make any sense out of a sentence
  • Post 1159 - Could we have a “seven deadly sins” theme?
@jsroberts92
  • Post 518 - References to B2 and HGG in the lobby text
  • Post 788 - 箱 is a level 16 kanji, 16 upside down is 91
  • Post 818 - Use Kristen as a cipher key
@seanblue
  • Post 519 - Base 60 and 91
  • Post 798 - Pairs are references to kanjis (AC is 172. So level 17, kanji #2)
@Kutsushokunin
  • Post 889 - Idea of using base 13
  • Post 897 - Base 13 conversion indexing a pokemon (and so on)
@cgsmith2
  • Post 891 - Size of sheets (like A4, A5)
@Glias

Post 1242

  • “make like your review pile”
  • Kristen and 92 are not clues
  • if there is swapping, it is within the pair and not among pairs
  • “mean” is probably not significant
  • descending…
@KingJMS1
  • Post 923 - General consideration about the number 9 and treating each character of the pair separately
@Saruko
  • Post 930 - Assigning a number to each character in the text preceding the box, then taking the nine characters that correspond to those base 13 numbers inside the box
@hachiken
  • Post 938 - Subtracting 42 from everything
@konekush
  • Post 939 - Mentioning musical notation
B1 notes archive

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Whoa, where did you come from?
You want to descend further into Durtle Heaven?
Alright, I’m supposed to hand you one of these
pieces of, uh, scripture.

shqrywqjehi uqj rkjji

Good luck with that, then.

Solution
  • The text is encrypted using a caesar cipher

  • Reversing the encryption yields “crabigators eat butts”

Lobby archive

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Oh hello. Welcome to Durtle Heaven™.
It truly is a Crabsmas miracle you came here today.
You wish to descend into Durtle Heaven?
That’s fine with me.
I’m a pretty apathetic durtle.
But, deeper durtles won’t be so easy.
They will surely test you with their difficult jiddles.
I’ve never gone deeper than B2,
so my only advice is this:
If you run into any trouble,
make like your Review pile and don’t panic.
That is the most important thing.

Well, in you go.
The password to get to B1 is quite easy.
It, uh, rhymes with “ass-word.”

Solution

Literally “password”

Access archive

Look closely at the image for the badge “Ghost of Crabsmas Durtle.”

Solution
Other archive

An unknown, brand-new user by the name of @a-regular-durtle created the following thread that seems related to this overall puzzle (you can purchase a durtle badge for $1):
https://community.wanikani.com/t/come-one-come-all-to-durtle-heaven/34319

Wouldn’t all these be better up top? They will get lost in the comments otherwise.

1 Like

Not ready to let Romanji go yet. Just thinking out loud, feel free to ignore:

  1. Still weird that Dead Keys led to Hepburn and then it circled back to the Rome/Roman/Hepburn Koichi dialog you had

  2. The dead keys ^ (macron) and ~ (circumflex)

e.g. Tōkyō, Ōsaka, sensē, onēsan, onīsan, okāsan, yūbe

e.g. Tôkyô, Ôsaka, sensê, onêsan, onîsan, okâsan, yûbe

We have dead key “~”, perhaps this is our start. I’m also attach to 20, as this has been a connect with the dead level difference and the divisible by 80. For example, same order just start with ~, grouped by 20: (sorry, no idea what I’m doing with this but it seems to symmetric…the dead references are endless)

~IL7KB1FG+AAABQD010L

76223CEGD72FI5DPBOJJ

MO+B51BIQPGS206HD00L

B269GD02315CPQAWDF0B

We also have doubling which is also present 4 times: e.g. Tookyoo, Oosaka, sensee, oneesan, oniisan, okaasan, yuube

  1. Romanji just sucks…it’s painful to read, I would say no one here likes it or rather “no place for disciples of the Crabigator”

  2. Spaces are necessary in Romanji

  3. I admit, this is a stretch so bear with me on this one"chop, chop" or a close resemblance to chōonpu or the long vowel sound sign ”ー” for katakana double sounds.

I’m wondering if it means that the key words aren’t English, but romaji spellings of Japanese.

2 Likes

Here, have another post.
I wish I could contribute something to the solution, but I’m completely stumped. I do agree that clues seem to point to romaji, but where and how it will be used - no idea.

I like @rfindley’s idea of examining the raw data a bit. I’m going to cast aside any pre-existing theories for now and just try to take as much raw information out of the cipher as I can and put what I find out here for examination.

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They’re linked from the top. (Because the wiki reached the 64k limit)

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@a-regular-durtle @koichi,

The combined number of posts from the two threads is 5122. Does that count for 5000?

(Fwiw, we’re attempting to reunite into one thread again)

7 Likes

The Great Schism has been healed.

Or at least, we’ve decided having two Popes is too much bother. :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Likes

If a Durtle is a dead Turtle, then wouldn’t a Turtle that “starts with death” be a Durtle?

So, book cipher ‘Turtle’ could be Durtle, I suppose. :thinking::crazy_face:

* Deep thoughts by sleep-deprived people

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Has anyone tried taking the kana from Minna no Nihongo (book cipher), and substituting the first letter of the equivalent romaji?

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Sadly I can‘t create a wiki. I‘m not a regular :confused:

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More random musing - There’s a G in every line, and each line only has 1 (I think, I might be blind). And the G key on the kana keyboard maps to き (key).

1 Like