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Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 3:49 pm
by Alvibu67
Off the couch!
Thanks, Alan!
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 11:24 pm
by Anita
Off the couch! Thank you!
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 1:47 am
by LindaPRmaven
You missed me in the Tuesday a.m. list of solvers.
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 1:15 pm
by ajk
LindaPRmaven wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 1:47 am
You missed me in the Tuesday a.m. list of solvers.
Oops, sorry. Fixed!
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 3:53 pm
by Annabelle
Just snuggling up on the couch now with a sharp pencil and a cup of coffee...
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 5:32 pm
by ajk
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 8:38 pm
by Guffman
Always late to the party, but at the party nonetheless.
Didn't need the nudges, either. Nicely done, Mr. K.
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2024 8:54 am
by Annabelle
Off the couch after solving with my morning coffee! Enjoyed the meta device
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 3:13 pm
by ajk
Last few solvers before the reveal:
Guffman
Annabelle
Naptown Kid
Re: "Cryptography" by ajk
Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 3:35 pm
by ajk
The meta answer is
CRACK.
As I mentioned in the intro, I don't really remember where the idea for this one came from--which probably means it came from a frustrated attempt to solve another puzzle this way.
Anyway, we have five rather goofy long across entries:
16A Malfoy's evasive maneuver? = DRACODEKE
20A Demon delighting in climate destruction? = ECODEVIL
37A Sticker for a Mexican Patsy Cline fan? = LOCODECAL
59A Mexican-themed cruise ship area? = TACODECK
63A Polo's poor grades? = MARCODEES
Given the title (and/or the image from The Adventure of the Dancing Men on Crosshare), we should be thinking about ciphers and codes. And low and behold, we can 'decode' each of these entries by literally removing the letters C-O-D-E to generate new words, as shown below.
Ok, we have five new words, time to play find the Schrödinger clues that might clue them. The first letters of those five alternate entries, when arranged in grid order, spell our answer: CRACK.
As for that nasty
herring that Wendy spotted, the original grid contained REHEM, clued as "Alter, as a dress perhaps." Unbeknownst to me, that could also clue TACK, which would be problematic (especially as the TACK alternate is already the hard one to spot)! Fortunately the offending entry could be removed without completely reworking everything.
Hope everyone enjoyed, and thanks as always for the kind comments.