The Puzzling Continues!
Hmmm…. I’ve read quite a bit on how people are working on solving the puzzle, and I’m absolutely in love with all of your answers! But I suppose I should work on trying to help you all reach that final end. So with that in mind, I’m going to break down the puzzle into a few pieces to help you step through it.
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Step one: The dominoes and how they fall –
Your given two possible types which I’ll describe as horizontal {x|y} and vertical {xy} (please note that I’ve just assigned arbitrary symbols to them for description purposes, and do not intend for the normal mathematical operations to apply) The way you solve it is; [ when you have a domino that is horizontal, you add the two numbers together: so 2|4 = 2+4 = 6. With a vertical domino, you treat it as a fraction: so 23 remains two-thirds. ]
Okay so I’m going to give you a partial solution by using the first two as an example: { 2|4 over 0|6 } = [ 2|4 is horizontal, so it is 2 + 4, which = 6; 0|6 is horizontal so it is 0 + 6, which = 6; this means that you end up with 6 over 6 or 6/6, which = 1 ]
Always remember to reduce fractions down. ^.~
Step Two: Solving numbers to letters –
So let’s say you’ve got all the numbers from the dominoes solved. Now what? Well I gave you a cipher yesterday that helped to clue you in on what each number means, but I’m going to take it a bit further today. This is one sneaky trick that Mari pulled. ^^
Let’s say you’ve solved the dominoes as thus: (and let’s be clear, I’m just making these numbers up) 3, 1/5, 2, 6/23, and 8. Well you’ve got some options on how to distribute those numbers to letters. First I want you to consider that none of the numbers are inherently connected, by which I mean if you take 1/5, the 1 and the 5 don’t necessarily have to relate in any way to each other, even though they previously formed a fraction.
So let’s take those same numbers and distribute them differently: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 23.
Okay! But now we only have 6 blanks (for letters) but 7 numbers. Well given that, assume you’ll need to combine two numbers to make one letter, in this case there are only a few possible choices, but for example here’s how it would be done: [ 1 and 2 combine to make 12 which would equal “L.’ But this also means that you can’t combine 2 and 8 to make 28 for “B,” your limit is 26. Just keep in mind that the numbers don’t add, they combine; 3 and 4 is 34, not 7 ]
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Ahhhhhh much better. I’ve got complete confidence that you’ll be solving this one now. It sure was a tough one. Good job sticking with it! I’ll catch ya on the flip-side!
– Novel (definitely not a hint) –
Novel, you are awesome. ~A friend
France, eh? *made of [more] awesome*
Much obliged. ^.~
-Novel-