The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google |
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For general information on the contest and an analysis of the first 18 challenges including commentary on the puzzles and some of the solutions, go to our initial page on Google's Da Vinci Code Quest.
We are now down to the last six challenges for the first phase of the contest. The challenges in this section are of the fourth difficulty level.
Below, I will describe below some of my thoughts as I solve more of the puzzles.
The symbol puzzle was similar to the previous ones except there were 6 sets of 6 symbols to place into a 6-by-6 grid. Six symbols were pre-placed. (I've had others write that they had 8 or 11 symbols pre-placed on their puzzle.)
This was definitely more challenging but I still was able to find a systematic method for solving the puzzle. Twice I had to make a guess that ended up in an inconsistent placement of the symbols. Since I had noted the symbol placement at that time, it was easy to recover and try an alternate solution.
The question on finishing the symbol puzzle was "In his Italian Journeys, what emotion does William Dean Howells' first view of the ruins in the Forum bring?".
Time to try another Google service -- Google Book Search. Search for "Italian Journeys". Click on the first result, i.e., Italian Journeys by William Dean Howells - 1867 - 320 pages.
Search within this book for "first view of the ruins in the Forum". That yieled the full sentence: "The first view of the ruins in the Forums brought a keen sense of disappointment.".
The answer was "disappointment".
Other puzzle solvers have reported the following questions and answers:
Today's puzzle was sufficiently difficult that I now understand the instructions! With the previous restoration puzzles, I simply clicked on debris without even thinking about what I was doing.
It took me a couple of tries, but on clearing the art work my question was "Decidedly, the Florentine is prepared for what?".
I searched for the phrase on Google Book Search and found the answer to be "emergencies".
Other puzzle solvers have reported the following questions and answers:
As with the other curator challenges, we were told to "Use your curator's eye to hang the works of art such that the hooks match those on the gallery wall. Not all of the hooks on the gallery wall will necessarily be used. Some art may have already been placed and cannot be moved."
There were three pieces of art already placed on my gallery wall. There were 7 paintings to be hung. As I said after the other curator challenges, one big hint is to place the larger pieces first. There are fewer places where they can be placed.
On solving the puzzle (which I again thought was pretty easy), I was asked the following: "Petrarch sent three presents to the Bishop of Cavaillon. What was the second present?".
As with the previous two challenges, the hint was to use Google Book Search.
I did a search on all books for "three presents Bishop of Cavaillon". The answer was on page 114 of Life of Petrarch by Thomas Campbell and J. G. (Johann Georg) Pfister. About half-way down the page was the line "The second is a flat drake, ...".
Other puzzle solvers have reported the following questions and answers:
The challenge was another three-move-checkmate puzzle controlled by three multiple-choice questions.
Question 1: The leading member of the Priory of Sion is called: (1) Illuminati, (2) The Duegard, (3) The Chief or (4) The Nautonnier. If you were able to find the answer to question 2 from day 5, you should know the answer to this question or at least know that the answer can be found in the Wikipedia article on the Priory of Sion. As currently written, go to the section on "The Da Vinci Code", third paragraph, last line. The answer in Atbash is "Mzfglmmrvi".
Question 2: Which of these men was not rumored to be a Priory of Sion member? (1) Victor Hugo, (2) Nicolas Poussin, (3) Francois Mitterand or (4) Sir Isaac Newton. For this type of question, you want to find where it is rumored that three of these individuals were members of the Priory of Sion. Go back to the Wikipedia article on the Priory of Sion. There we find Sir Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo listed as possible members. For the other two names, I did a normal Google search for "Priory of Sion Mitterand" and "Priory of Sion Poussin". The search including Mitterand yielded that he was rumored to be a member of the Priory of Sion. Therefore, the answer was (2).
Question 3: What is the name of the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility? (1) Isis, (2) Gaia, (3) Nerio or (4) Shiva. The answer was (1).
For the most part, today's challenge was quite predictable. I figured even before starting the puzzle that the answer would be Paris!
The puzzle portion of this challenge was to assemble a 16-piece jigsaw puzzle. As with the others, it was very easy to put together.
The result was an aerial photograph of a city. The clue associated with this puzzle was as follows: "Surely you recognize this city of light. After all, it's home to the most famous painting in the world. What is the name of the city?".
Just as I thought, the answer was "Paris".
The next part of the challenge went as follows: "Correct! There are nine Cinquefoil icons hidden among the streets. Please find them and click on them."
After clicking on all 9 icons, a series of lines were drawn between the icons. The next instructions were as follows: "You have found all nine Cinquefoil icons! The icons reveal a hidden Chalice centering on La Pyramide Inversee. But from above, it looks like something completely different, something related to the number of icons you have discovered on each Geography Challenge: 0, 1, 4, 9, ... what is this classical sequence?".
The answer was "squares".
...
Many thanks to those who have contributed through the blog and via email!
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Updated on October 12, 2007 |
Displayed on January 6, 2009
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