Scavenger Hunt II

[monster]

http://forums.animesuki.com/search.php?query=time

[Prince Kuku]

I'm not good in making or solving a riddle, but let me try .

[NightWish]

@monstert: very close, but no. On par with rrw's and CrowKenobi's best answers; but still not quite correct. Between the three of you there is a solution, it just needs to match up with one more line of the riddle.

Essentially at this point you've solved the "meaning" of the riddle, it is the technicalities of the answer that seem to elude everyone. I'm not sure if this makes it a good riddle or a bad one. I think the latter because the difficulty of the riddle should not rely too heavily on the obscurity of the answer.

Originally the riddle was just the unmodified Bilbo riddle, with a search results URL as the answer (the search term in question was "time"). It is a nice idea but not readily solvable. As I've stated such a URL is inadmissible (chances are the specific URL doesn't work anymore).

It was a nice idea and a good example to show how the riddles should work because alone it didn't: it requires a feat of guess work to know that the answer was a search results page. The text I added was intended to demonstrate how you can describe a very specific part of the forum cryptically and thus make the riddle work. I made it harder by changing the answer slightly to demonstrate the problem with certain URLs.

If no one gets it by tomorrow I'll put you all out of your misery...

[monster]

http://forums.animesuki.com/search.p...ax=0&userid=0&

[NightWish]

@monstert: You're so close it would be bordering on pedantic to say no now, but for completeness I'm going to.

Your answer is all but perfect and hopefully demonstrates why certain URLs, although part of the forum, are best avoided. Specifically, anything that is dynamic or merely functional in nature. So, a note to riddle submitters: The riddles should point to something meaningful, not simply a function of the forum.

Can you explain the riddle to everyone else?

[night_sentinel]

ummm... sounds fun ^^ my two cents

http://forums.animesuki.com/search.p...rchid=11078265 could it this?

or to be more specific this?
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=64557 ( Rewrite, next key game? )

Well, it's the first url is what you get after you search with keyword = time and well tag=key.

But, the second url is the thread Rewrite, next key game. Its the first thing you get from searching Time and tag= key. And well its made by Key. And its a game found in the game section so " signposted by a game" ^^ Beside Rewrite is technically the same as time as the answer to the riddle. It can slay kings, bring mountain down ... etc ( as long as the writer wants of course ^^)

And well rewriting is longer than you think if you think about it in literature. Sometimes you take double the time double-checking your original and adding and subtracting something. And when you play a visual novel even if it says 5 hrs or something its usually double that or even triple to get all the branches... And its noticed by few since its in the game section where many don't go...

Sigh,,, oh well ...

[monster]

Originally Posted by NightWish

Can you explain the riddle to everyone else?

Do you mean explain what I thought the riddle to be or how I came up with my (wrong) answer?

[RRW]

Originally Posted by NightWish

@monstert: You're so close it would be bordering on pedantic to say no now, but for completeness I'm going to.

Your answer is all but perfect and hopefully demonstrates why certain URLs, although part of the forum, are best avoided. Specifically, anything that is dynamic or merely functional in nature. So, a note to riddle submitters: The riddles should point to something meaningful, not simply a function of the forum.

Can you explain the riddle to everyone else?

i see, i understand the mean of the riddle (but cannot explain)

yeah that one bit complicated.

so what is the prefect answer

[Chiisai Kuma]

i'll cheak this out. i just hope a riddle is in the bleach amv thread *spends most of my time there*

[NightWish]

How you came to your answer. In all important ways it is the correct answer, it is just not exactly the answer I had listed. The difference is which box you put the search term in:

http://forums.animesuki.com/search.php?exactname=1&starteronly=0&tag=time&forumchoice[]=0&prefixchoice[]=&childforums=1&titleonly=0&showposts=&searchdate= 0&beforeafter=after&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=desc ending&replyless=0&replylimit=0&searchthreadid=0&s aveprefs=1&quicksearch=0&searchtype=1&nocache=0&aj ax=0&userid=0&

Hidious isn't it.

[night_sentinel]

Oh... such a very long UrL ...

....
...
...
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I can't understand ...
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urrrgg....
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...
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I suck at riddles ...
....
...
I fail at life ^^ Anyway... can you pls. explain with sugar on top ^^

[monster]

Originally Posted by NightWish

How you came to your answer. In all important ways it is the correct answer, it is just not exactly the answer I had listed. The difference is which box you put the search term in:

http://forums.animesuki.com/search.php?exactname=1&starteronly=0&tag=time&forumchoice[]=0&prefixchoice[]=&childforums=1&titleonly=0&showposts=&searchdate= 0&beforeafter=after&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=desc ending&replyless=0&replylimit=0&searchthreadid=0&s aveprefs=1&quicksearch=0&searchtype=1&nocache=0&aj ax=0&userid=0&

Hidious isn't it.

Ah, I see now.

Well, I just did a search for time based on your hints and the other people's guesses. And then there's the line from the riddle about being above the answers. So I looked for a link that's above the search results containing the word time and still points to the forum. And I found that the word "Search:" is a link that fits the criteria.

EDIT: Yeah, your picture is a better explanation.

[Rennir]

Wow...that was hard But we still solved it, no (or got very, very close)? But will you tell us how close we are during the actual competition? Or will it just be yes/no?

[JRendell]

Simple, yet long-winded.

A good exercise before the game begins though; I now know what to expect.

[RRW]

let see if this connected with the riddle

Transient, noticed by few, (it is hardly noticeable by most of us)
Above the answers I perch. (above the search answer)
Travel there by sentinel, (dont know about this)
To find me you must search. (pretty self explanatory)

Longer than you might think, (thats is along url)
Free me with a name. (bellow this dont know)
Hobbitsis knows the password,
Signposted by a game:

This key all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

[NightWish]

Okay, for the worked solution:

Spoiler for Worked Solution:

Transient, noticed by few, --Only visible after searching (on a page that doesn't exist forever); very few people know the link is there because it doesn't look like a link.
Above the answers I perch. --Link itself is above the results (answers to your query) See the picture in previous post.
Travel there by sentinel, --This as bit of word play; don't know if people got it by trial and error or knowing the meaning: tag is another name for sentinel in software terminology; the answer should be found using a tag.
To find me you must search. --you can't find the page with the link without actually performing a search

Longer than you might think, --the url is massive, this makes it distinct from the other suggested solutions
Free me with a name. --this is a bit of a fudge; basically what do you need to search for to get (free) the answer.
Hobbitsis knows the password, --Bilbo (a Hobbit) knows the "key"(word) to use; the riddle below is presented by Gollum. If you've watched the film you know how he pronounces Hobbits.
Signposted by a game: --Now for the Hobbit riddle itself...

This key all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.--...as we know the answer to this is time.

Originally Posted by Rennir

...will you tell us how close we are during the actual competition? Or will it just be yes/no?

Initially it will just be yes/no. If the "no" goes on for too long, hints will be given. Possibly by the riddle's author themselves (seeing as they can't take part in trying to solve it) and by giving help they're only making it less likely they'll get the point for beating everyone with a hard riddle (that way I can't be accused of making someone lose by making their riddle too easy).

[RRW]

Originally Posted by NightWish

Okay, for the worked solution:

Spoiler for Worked Solution:

Transient, noticed by few, --Only visible after searching (on a page that doesn't exist forever); very few people know the link is there because it doesn't look like a link.
Above the answers I perch. --Link itself is above the results (answers to your query) See the picture in previous post.
Travel there by sentinel, --This as bit of word play; don't know if people got it by trial and error or knowing the meaning: tag is another name for sentinel in software terminology; the answer should be found using a tag.
To find me you must search. --you can't find the page with the link without actually performing a search

Longer than you might think, --the url is massive, this makes it distinct from the other suggested solutions
Free me with a name. --this is a bit of a fudge; basically what do you need to search for to get (free) the answer.
Hobbitsis knows the password, --Bilbo (a Hobbit) knows the "key"(word) to use; the riddle below is presented by Gollum. If you've watched the film you know how he pronounces Hobbits.
Signposted by a game: --Now for the Hobbit riddle itself...

This key all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.--...as we know the answer to this is time.

i think is better to make anime referenced instead of movie. consider we are in anime forum.

anyway seem nice riddle there

[NightWish]

@rrw: indeed; riddle authors might want to keep that in mind.

Point of note: When submitting riddles I would like a similar worked solution to show the author knows how they expect someone to solve their riddle and so I have something to compare answers against and adjudicate with.

[RRW]

how about if we do this weakly first before we do big tournament.
just to make people practice.
it also to make forum lively.

preference on weekend so we can get as many people participating. also i think it's better to have 2 in a day with different timming so that we can get anybody form different time zone to participate in the "quiz"

[Hooves]

Oh.. I was late for the start of this but this scavenger hunt really does spice up the forums members