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Re: Page 98

Posted: Fri May 03, 2019 2:42 am
by Tallis
This puzzle is really challenging, and is basically a letter/word substitution exercise. It is helpful and fun (but not necessary) to use a household object to solve this. Below are some graded hints leading to the solution, which is ultimately a common 5-letter word. It assumes you know key 81. If you don’t know it, then don’t continue. . .
Spoiler!
Putting the letters of 'water' into the spaces above it gives the letters W (with a 1 under it), A (alone), T (with a 2), E (alone), and R (with a 3). You will ultimately be switching out the W, T, and R and leaving the A and E as they are (cuz' the A and E have no numbers).
Spoiler!
Notice how the 3 angled lines that lead from the numbers above to various letters on the sides are 'submerged' in a faded outline of a glass? If you like, get a clear glass and fill it with water and hold the book behind the glass so the angled lines can be seen through the glass of water. Because water refracts (bends) light, the lines appear as a mirror image (i.e. go the other way) and point to new letters.
Spoiler!
Whereas the line went from the 3 to the T before, now the same line goes from the 1 to the H. Replace the W (with the 1 below it) in 'WATER' with an H. Do the same for 2 and 3, replacing the T and R in WATER with other letters that the refracted lines point to.

And the solution is below. DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE ANSWER!!
Spoiler!
Replacing the W, T, and R with an H, Z, and L changes 'WATER' to "HAZEL"-- which is the answer

Re: Page 98

Posted: Mon Apr 03, 2023 7:22 am
by Gary
The previous contributor is generous in describing this as "challenging". It is just "wrong". The puzzles in this book are becoming progressively worse and indefensible. The realisation that water in a glass causes left to right (and right to left) refraction of the pointers/routes, might be considered obscurely "challenging". However, the numbers sitting above the glass do not swap positions, and even if you hold the glass so high as to cause them to swap positions, they are still the same numbers but written backwards. Based on the previous page (puzzle 98) where part of the formula is back to front, I can only conclude the authors have lost all perspective.