[RockOnFlutterBy]

Code name?

[BrianEnigma]

I see your banana and raise you a barrel of monkeys.


Today, I tweaked the Card Catalog to display the card letters in playing-card-order instead of numeric order, giving a slightly better view of the message:

http://perplexcitycardcatalog.com/letters.html

Unfortunately, there are a few issues. First, I do not have complete "enhanced partial letter" scans/photoshops for all of the cards. Second, when people have submitted those photoshopped cards to enhance the letters, they don't always see the big picture, so there are some very visible errors in interpreting the letter shapes when you place the cards next to one another.

Obvious data errors (missing cards, missing "enhanced" scans) are shown by outlining the card in red dashes. Interpretation errors are subjective and are not specifically shown any differently.

[duckiemonster]

Banana.

[Ashin]

http://tisue.net/pcp/

hmmmm..... Combed Thunderclap? Syzygy?

[Milkman]

Combed Thunderclap

[echidna]

Dranioth wrote:

Well, There actually is a word that is spelt ETH. [i]edh also eth ( P ) Pronunciation Key (th) n.

Yes but that's spelt E-T-H whereas what I said was that there are no words spelt E-[space]-T-H.

[Dranioth]

echidna wrote:

GasparLewis wrote: that doesn't necessarily mean "thunder" is the word all the same. That might still give us: E_TH UNDER C____... The "help me combed thunder..." segment just flips tense in the sentence; it may fit, but it doesn't make any sense. That's why I'm thinking other combinations. But there aren't any words that are spelt e_th so that makes even less sense. Having studied the cards I'm inclined to agree with Ollie that it's most likely a D.

Well, There actually is a word that is spelt ETH.

edh also eth ( P ) Pronunciation Key (th)
n.
A letter () appearing in Old English, Old Saxon, Old Norse, and modern Icelandic to represent an interdental fricative.
The symbol () in the International Phonetic Alphabet representing the voiced interdental fricative, as in the or either
"I stole the cube, help me comb "Either" Under C___"? I suppose that could make sense, as in "Look either Under C-something." As opposed to another place that we would look.

Of course, Going into Old English and Saxson for an answer is REALLY reaching.

[echidna]

GasparLewis wrote:

that doesn't necessarily mean "thunder" is the word all the same. That might still give us: E_TH UNDER C____... The "help me combed thunder..." segment just flips tense in the sentence; it may fit, but it doesn't make any sense. That's why I'm thinking other combinations.

But there aren't any words that are spelt e_th so that makes even less sense. Having studied the cards I'm inclined to agree with Ollie that it's most likely a D.

When I first posted that it looked like comb__ thunderclap I thought I was reading it wrong but having read the Borges story it makes sense now.

Jorge Luis Borges wrote:

'the Library includes all verbal structures, all variations permitted by the twenty-five orthographical symbols, but not a single example of absolute nonsense. It is useless to observe that the best volume of the many hexagons under my administration is entitled The Combed Thunderclap and another The Plaster Cramp and another Axaxaxas mlö. These phrases, at first glance incoherent, can no doubt be justified in a cryptographical or allegorical manner.' (my bold)

Given the nature of Borges work - fantastical, philosophical, labyrinthine (no pun intended) - it would be rather apt for a cipher to have been constructed from his writings. Given that this might be a major clue to the whereabouts of the Cube (and the £100,000) I don't think it would be as straightforward as 'it's under wherever' (I also don't think Clapham district council would be very happy if we started started digging up their Common )

[oliverkeers13]

yes, but there isn't enough room between the E and the TH for two letters, so it can't be earth. I seem to recall someone stating that there could be letters missing. This is a ridiculous idea, why would you write a message with letters missing? (and don't say encryption, as they're a clever bunch and it'd be much more secure than that). Now because of the nature of Muscae Volitantes, I can't make out the letter on it properly, and because there are no letters printed on 007 (woo) I can't tell what the letter it. I do know that the letter's bottom right curves upwards like the bottom right of a capital D or O (from 419 Scam), and that the top right curves (at least partially) down and to the right, like a D or an O. There doesn't appear to be a crosspiece making a G, the letter doesn't bend inwards making a B, it COULD be a C, but the top of the 419 letter extends off the card, so it's unlikely, It isn't a Q as there isn't a diagonal downstroke, it probably isn't an S as there's no diagonal visible on 419, and it exits to the top of the card, it isn't a U as there's a curve in Muscae.
It isn't anything like an A or an R, I can confirm that it is neither of these two letters.

[GasparLewis]

I see:

I stole the cube. Help me comb E(ar)th under c...

Everyone sees "thunder" and just all jump off the same bridge.
Silly rabbits.

EDIT: Ollie has a point; there's no way it's "Earth under..." like I said.

But, that doesn't necessarily mean "thunder" is the word all the same.
That might still give us:

E_TH UNDER C____...

The "help me combed thunder..." segment just flips tense in the sentence; it may fit, but it doesn't make any sense. That's why I'm thinking other combinations.

[Dranioth]

.X_x. wrote:

"I STOLE THE CUBE HELP ME" -Combed Thunderclap It might be a code name, It may imply that the message is encoded and what we THINK we are reading isnt right. It may be an anagram. Or it might be more complicated. Like a word substitution. Or a acutal encryption of some kind.

Going on the "It might be an Anagram" Track, I threw "I STOLE THE CUBE HELP ME" Into an Anagram Creator, and, well, See for yourself.

WARNING: This will hurt.

That leading nowhere fast, I put in Combed Thunderclap.

And you thought the last one hurt.

What's interesting is that When you scroll down there's 200 or so Entries that begin with A CUBE.

For Example: A CUBE PC HDL DR MONTE
Or A CUBE PC NERD HDL TOM

Personally, I hope it's not an anagram. That page makes my eyes hurt.

[Curlytek]

When I first looked at this, I thought "comb earth under clap". With a few letters intentionally left out to make it a bit more difficult to decipher.

[.X_x.]

One last though, The only thing that really stood out about the babel story was the numbers.

He describes the sides of the room(6), 4 with shelves, two for hallways, the shelves(5 per side), the books on each shelf(35) and the pages on each book(410). 40 lines per page, each line about 80 letters. seems very specific. Perhaps this will play a part.
4 x 5 x 35 x 410 x 40 x 80... 918,400,000 letters per Hexagon.

also the letters in each book and on the bindings is limited to 22 letters, space, comma and period.

Might be important for a meta puzzle at some point. assuming this is the direction they want us to go.

[.X_x.]

I read the Tower of Babel link. They werent full of random charaters exactly
, he mentions that the books contain no instances of complete nonsense.

The books represent everything. Which sits conveniently everywhere. The Library. Just like each atom is like the one next to it. the same components make up each book.

When he mentions "The Combed Thunderclap" he puts forth that it could be understood, if you could figure out the language, the cryptology, etc. Implying that each book could be in code or another language. But more so, that it could be describing the book itself, and nothing else.

The ending conclusion of this was that the library was useless. It may have the potential of all the knowledge known or will be known. But its so vast and repeated in so many inconsistant ways that the information itself was unaccessable. One could read books forever and still never learn anything significant.

Its an odd parody of life. To be born only a few feet from where you die. With all the knowledge to ever exist at your fingertips and still unable to ever really know the fundamental truth about life. Or even really bring out of it any more than was there to begin with.


As to what the "The Combed Thunderclap" means.

"I STOLE THE CUBE HELP ME" -Combed Thunderclap

It might be a code name, It may imply that the message is encoded and what we THINK we are reading isnt right. It may be an anagram.
Or it might be more complicated. Like a word substitution. Or a acutal
encryption of some kind.

[cassandra]

heh, perhaps PXC is Tlon(-esque).

Now my head hurts.