I’m not sure I should post this, and I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t bother reading it.

We didn’t get remotely close to this puzzle until the 2nd hint (48 hours later). Jonathan worked on finishing it given the key thing we were missing (I was pretty frustrated by this point.)  Unfortunately we wound up with a missing letter in our extraction of the final step, and we couldn’t get the final answer.

None of that two-days-later work was logged, but you can follow the first 2h40m of our “solving”, where we got nowhere. For a long time. The puzzle is here.

Log:

0:00:00

Opening puzzle

0:01:08

Looks like this will not be an exciting blog. Just me staring at this sheet of paper.  [Wow, I had this puzzle nailed after 68 seconds.]

0:01:40

Let’s take stock: 16 white ovals, 4 black ones.

0:01:59

Arrows in the following directions: R,L,U,D, and [ULDR],[ULDR] in every combination. I think.

0:04:04

I’m going to tally up each arrow’s count. It lets me play with the data without thinking too hard.

0:08:06

J has already entered into A-Z form… I’ll use that instead.

0:08:45

J: abcdefcgheibefajkbljhlmnojkjdggpqefrkjbcefrjmkjesmnac

diefbakjbmcjijrjbefoeetmaktjibgpeirfrdkcejiuqkefaagtebtojh

jpjfelmpevarmiefjklcpbefbjtnhciikgejbhwhmopenjiejpojjjdeot

jahefiatocrchcdjkefomcmeearjotqocrtjkeffmimbmoepqbtefjka

0:10:03

So, 21 different symbols, plus ovals.

0:10:27

Why 2 consecutive whites, if they’re blanks?

0:11:53

J: They don’t really work as spaces anyway because we have 3 of the same symbol in a row on the far right of the row 5 from the bottom.

0:12:31

J: I’m just not sure why they needed the eggs if it’s just a straight cryptogram. Maybe it’s some kind of logic puzzle.

0:12:40

I wonder if the column with all the UUs is a coincidence.

0:15:33

Dinosaur directions are opposite arrow directions… switching to using dinosaur directions.   [I kept being confused about whether a given thing was a footprint down or arrow up. Of  course, it didn’t matter, really.]

0:16:42

The same pairs are sometimes horiz paired (4,4) and vertically (8,13)

0:20:34

There are only 7 horiz-aligned pairs… only combinations are LU, UL, UU, LL

0:21:27

If it’s crypto (square type per letter), it could just mean the horiz alignment is the end of the alphabet. Or it could have to do with the logic, if it’s a walking around puzzle of some sort.

0:23:39

If you combine walking&crypto, the way to read each square would change as you walked the path.  [One of the many interesting puzzle mechanisms I thought of while solving this puzzle. The actual method is not so interesting.]

0:24:41

J: why dinosaurs?

0:24:44

why ovals? the white ones could be eggs, but why black?

0:25:07

J: could it be masyu  [Masyu felt really right. It wasn’t right.]

0:26:50

It could… underspecified though… do the feet restrict the lines?

0:28:00

Top right corner. dinosaur comes in from left, goes down. matches footprints.

0:28:51

Oh, but nowhere else on that row would it work right.

0:30:18

Sure looks like masyu.

0:31:53

We didn’t start til 4:45pm, so, with less than 2 hours til we lose a point, we’re sticking with Masyu all the way.

0:34:35

J: All 3 squares next to the aligned whites have DD (dino). they only way they could do the same thing is if they go straight on.

0:35:03

So DD either means “continue straight” or “east and west”

0:36:13

J: Since there’s a DD in column 15, above the white, we’ll assume it means “continue straight”

0:36:47

J: So, the square below the line, LL, means turn, either right or left.

0:37:35

Top right square is also forced. It’s DR, and it seems to mean turn also.

0:38:15

Both top whites have DDs next to them.

0:38:35

So, UU is a must turn.

0:39:04

J: how will we extract? (I have no idea)

0:39:22

J: maybe there are two masyu paths, and the single prints correspond to when only when hits that square.

0:41:00

The black in row 2 means RR is a straight on. But there’s a RR next to one of the 3 whites that all need to turn on the right side. So that system can’t work.

0:44:41

Unless DD means “head left. That might work.

0:44:48

J: That must be what it means. So we know which way the path is going for the white on the far right.

0:45:54

J: I think it’s two paths. A right footprint means “down” A down footprint means “left” The upper right corner works that way if one path is heading in each direction.

0:50:50

Since we have U, UU, and UoverU squares… we need a reason for that diversion.

0:52:19

J: U means that only one of the two paths will hit that square.

0:52:30

But we know 15,13 has both paths (if there are two paths)

0:54:26

J: Assuming it’s masyu, the crypto means they’ve been encoded…

0:55:17

maybe you read them off the path as letters once we have the path. or the path surrounds the ones you read off.

0:56:12

J: They have to help us solve the masyu somehow.

0:56:55

maybe the ones on the path point the way, and the ones off the path are letters

0:57:01

So, we just focus on the masyu for now.

0:59:27

maybe there are arrows that represent black or white… or I guess they could encode other rulesets… that’s kind of what we’ve been doing, but not exactly

0:59:50

The single arrows seem like a likely candidate.

1:01:14

both U and R would have to be white…

1:02:49

I’d guess either UR are white and DL are black, or all 4 are white.

1:04:45

Well, L can’t be black if U&R are white.

1:07:07

Let’s see if all 4 directions are white..

1:07:53

Never mind. U can’t be white. the U at 15,13 being white would break that corner.

1:08:40

So, U is neither white nor black. So much for that theory.

1:12:11

We have 3 sets of forced arrow-arrow connects, 1,15-2,15 3,9-4,9 and 15,14-15,15-14,15… what can we learn from them?

1:14:06

Presumably, whatever rules disambiguate the grid, apply for those 4 connections.

1:17:20

Hmm. every white has an UoverU to the left or above it.

1:18:39

Maybe it does mean “continue straight”

1:21:49

Extrapolating from the 2 squares we know: 2 of the same arrow means straight, and 2 different arrows means turn.

1:23:10

Nope, bottom right breaks with that rule.

1:25:27

J: Let’s ignore that they are combined… there are only 4 footprints, ULDR.

1:30:31

J: I’m thinking the single print squares are actual directions.

1:31:46

2,15 and 15,13… one of those breaks that rule, whether we use arrows or dino. Darn, I liked that idea.

1:34:35

If dino DoverD means “go straight”, it nicely forces the bottom right.

1:37:58

They could even be whites. Not sure yet.

1:40:31

Nope, they can’t be whites. Time to print my 3rd copy of this sheet.

1:41:49

They can’t be mandatory hits, but they can be straight through if hit

1:47:28

We’re 25 minutes away from the deadline. No way we’ll figure out the system, and extraction by then. Taking a break from this puzzle.

1:47:28

Ok, it’s 2:15am Friday. We got a hint for this puzzle. “These footprints come from a TERRIBLE PLACE. And they hide many TERRIBLE BEASTS.”   [This hint does us no good. None of the first hints did, I don’t think. They were all too vague.]

1:48:04

And we’re brainstorming.

1:48:26

15x15… looks like masyu… could it be another logic puzzle?

1:50:43

Another logic puzzle that uses arrows is http://mathgrant.blogspot.com/2008/07/rules-straight-and-arrow.html

1:52:28

We don’t think it’s likely, since it’s totally unclued.

1:57:23

J: Missing vertical combos: L over U, U over R, L over L. (and only one D over L)

1:57:38

Only horiz combos: LU(4) UL UU LL

2:01:46

arrow, [ULDR] over arrow, [L by arrow], [U by arrow] gives 28 combos… so LL would be S, LU would be T, maybe.

2:02:24

Like a pigpen cipher. sorta.

2:03:44

Reminds me of dancing men cipher… which two stacked feet sort of are analogous to

2:11:23

Actually trying dancing men. One good thing is that S fits best for the letter before the whites.

2:15:38

J: it’s not hitori

2:17:46

J: We’re trying to solve the wrong thing. We already know we suck at figuring out the cryptogram footprints. We need to figure out the hint that was released.

2:22:36

There is a cryptosaurus… doesn’t seem important.

2:26:04

What is the “terrible place” in the clue? We have no idea.

2:28:29

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/australia.html makes Australia sound terrible. Looking for spots for koalas

2:39:41

Ran letter frequency. Twice as many (29) of DD and U, vs any other feets (14 for RR is next, then 3 at 13)

And that’s where it ends.  Either the aha on this puzzle is too hard or we were too dumb. Searching for things like “dinosaur cipher” doesn’t turn it up. I don’t know. Frustrating to struggle so long so pointlessly. Also frustrating to get 0 points instead of 3 at the end. Oh well. That’s part of these hunts, I guess.