The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google |
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For general information on the contest and an analysis of the first six challenges including commentary on the puzzles and some of the solutions, go to our previous page on Google's Da Vinci Code Quest.
Below, I will describe below some of my thoughts as I solve more of the puzzles.
Today's puzzle was very similar to the one from day 1. It was slightly more challenging in that there were 5 different objects to place into a 5-by-5 grid. As before, some objects were pre-placed.
I was able to complete the puzzle in about 4 minutes.
My question after completing the puzzle was "How many lightyears in 4,877 parsecs?".
Lightyears and parsecs are both units of distance like inches or meters. Except these units are very large! They are commonly used in astronomy.
In the Google search box, enter "4877 parsecs". Google will do the conversion to a more standard unit and yields:
Again, in the Google search box, enter "1 lightyear". Now we see that
Now that both quantities are in the same units, simply divide one by the other to get the answer:
For an even simpler way to get the answer, just type the question as is into a Google search box. The answer is
Other puzzle solvers have reported the following questions and answers:
This puzzle was very similar to the one from day 2. Again, only slightly more challenging as it had more debris to clear.
My time for the puzzle was about a minute and a half.
On clearing the debris, I was presented with the following question: "The 'B' sibling in ISBN 0300018312 is?".
To find the answer for this question, go to your favorite online book store and search for "ISBN 0300018312". Or since Google is all knowing, enter "isbn 0300018312" into the Google search box.
In either case you should find that this ISBN refers to a book with the title "Interaction of the 'sibling' Byzantine and Western cultures in the Middle Ages and Italian Renaissance (330-1600)" by Deno John Geanakoplos.
The "B" sibling is Byzantine.
Other puzzle solvers have reported the following questions and answers:
Based on the responses to my blog entry, it looks like the questions are becoming more varied. This will make it harder for people to simply go to a page such as this to get the answers. What will become increasing important is to learn the process to solve a puzzle or the process to find the answer to a question.
The order has been changed a little from the first six challenges. I had been expecting this to be an observation challenge.
This challenge was very similar to the one from day 4. Six pieces of art had to be placed on the wall. A seventh piece was already on the wall.
It took me just over a minute to do the puzzle part of this challenge. As I said on day 4, the secret is to place the largest pieces first.
Today's question was "What month was Victor Hugo's death?". A simple Google search yielded the answer of May.
Other puzzle solvers have reported the following questions and answers:
I don't know about the rest of you, but I've found these observation challenges to be the most difficult.
There are three questions to be answered based on watching a video about Silas. The hint for finding the video is to use the four terms in bold as the search terms in Google Video: persistence, dedication, ideal and service.
Question 1: A seemingly important stone object is extracted from the ground by Silas. What is its shape?
I thought for sure it was a hexagon. I can't tell you how many times I watched the video. I then tried heptagon for a seven sided figure. Neither worked. Turns out the answer was 'octagon'.
Question 2: An interesting viewpoint is the vantage point from which we last see Silas. What is the last thing we see him touch? Answer: holy water.
Question 3: During the action in the video, we see many things shattered and destroyed, but what is it that will ultimately be broken? Answer: silence.
Wow, that one was easier than the previous chess challenge! I knew two of the answers without doing any research.
My first question was "A word that can be read the same backwards or forwards is called ...". The choices were (1) An ambigram, (2) An acronym, (3) A palindrome, or (4) An ideogram. The answer was (3).
My second question was "Jacques Sauniere's body was found in which part of the Louvre?". The choices were (1) The Richelieu Wing, (2) The Sully Wing, (3) The Denon Wing, or (4) The Toulleries. The answer was (3).
My third question was "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog is an example of ...". The choices were (1) The Polybius square, (2) The NATO phonetic alphabet, (3) An acrostic, or (4) A pangram. The answer was (4).
Today's puzzle was very similar to day 6. Again we had to put together a 16-piece (4 by 4) jigsaw puzzle of an aerial photo of a city.
I had an interesting event happen on completing the jigsaw puzzle. As I was thinking about what city it might be, my Google Email Notifier sprang to life. Someone had just entered the name of the city on my blog! It was obvious from the pop-up that the answer was "Rome".
Next we were told "Now, find the PALAZZO DI VENEZIA by clicking on a Greek Cross hidden in the city.". My first thought was to look for a pattern of buildings or city streets that looked like a Greek cross. That didn't work.
I Googled Palazzo di Venezia to see what I could learn about it. Interesting, but I still couldn't find the cross.
I went back to Google Maps and searched for Palazzo Venezia, Rome, Italy. After comparing that image with the image from the challenge, I found the Greek cross. It was on the challenge image just to the left of where the red marker was on the Google Map image.
Many thanks to those who have contributed through the blog and via email!
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Updated on October 12, 2007 |
Displayed on November 20, 2008
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