May 2006 - Posts

The Amazing Web Race Leaderboard #122

I finally finished the Amazing Web Race (AWR), and not without my fair share of hints and tips. I didn't make it on my own entirely, but I feel like I struggled enough to justify my placement on the leaderboard. For those of you who haven't quite made it that far, keep working at it and I'll try to help you out where and when I can. Here are the last four screen captures from the AWR, since I provided you with the first six earlier.

Good luck to those of you who have yet to finish and remember if you are really stuck on a question you can always email me at davincicodequest@gmail.com. For the 1 or 2 of you who can't view images on the web, the 10 questions from the first part of the AWR are as follows:

1. Can't talk here. Others will hear us. Listen for the taps. When we get out, meet me in (1,4) (1,5) (3,3) (5,1) (1,5) (4,2). If I can trust you, you will be rewarded.

2. Okay, we can talk now, but we've got to get out of here. Come find me. I'll either be with Angels or Devils, whichever comes first. Bring a map.

3. Since you brought the map, I'll buy you a hot dog and a beer. The street we're on reminds me of his first movie. Let's meet there.

4. Do you have a passport? Drop the new act and go to the CITY.

5. I'm glad you made it here. If you're feeling lucky in this country, you can find some import partners. Meet me at the capital city of the smallest partner.

6. That sushi made me sick. Now I'm in In a solid pain.

7. Be careful in the Amazon. Get out of "Harm's Way" and find out what class the Indianapolis was in.

8. I think we are being followed. Seek the truth and hurry to the capital of the United States.

9. Well done. I am confident I can trust you. Where I am, form follows finance. But once you find the city, you need to find a place to park.

10. Since you're in Chicago, you could have an Italian Beef. But I prefer this kind. Solve the puzzle and then study the 6 digits from top to bottom. I hope you have your cell phone.

(Fill in the puzzle with the numbers 1 through 9, ensuring the same number does not appear more than once in any given row, column, or 3x3 section.)

Translate the city name into German, and then unscramble it. That's your final clue. Put it in the right place and you should be able to picture the last city.

Posted: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 3:15 PM by Google Fact with no comments

Random Blog Topic Generator
This post is fresh off of the random blog topic generator (RBTG). The RBTG generates all sorts of random unrelated topics and compiles them into one blog post. Today's topics are as follows:

First, I said I was going to finish the Eurostar quest, I lied. I actually had every intention of finishing but I got distracted (not hard to do) by the Amazing Web Race (AWR). Sorry guys.

Second, I am now on riddle 10 of the AWR. Something about a phone number, German, and, scramble.

Next, I was reading GoogleBlogoscoped and ran across this post. I spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out why digital TV channels aren't organized by topic. For instance, why is ESPN 2 on channel 51 while ESPN 1 is on channel 39, and what about VH1, MTV, the History channel and the International History channel. Thankfully I don't watch TV very often otherwise that might have bothered me.

For Developers if you haven't looked into Ruby on Rails, you need too. Likewise you should check out jQuery, as it's also a pretty slick javascript library.

For more puzzles, I am thinking about doing the WPC practice test just for the sake of doing it. I may also look into the Windows Live Conspiracy game. Additionaly, I'll continue to solve Wei-Hwa's puzzles as he releases them.

If the RBTG didn't generate a topic you wanted to see, I've been told that seeding the generator in the comments might help.

Posted: Monday, May 29, 2006 9:18 PM by Google Fact with no comments

Finishing What You've Started

There is something to be said about finishing the things you start, you know not quiting in the middle when the hard times come. I've started two things that I plan on finishing. The first is the AWR and the other is the Eurostar quest. I'm running out of time on the latter so my concentration over the next few days will be on completing that quest.

I mentioned yesterday that I would add some pictures since it's been a lot of text only lately. So here is a collection of questions that I have completed from the AWR.

MistressRoninS, don't give up on the AWR, it's a fun quest and I promise the other questions aren't as hard as the first. If you still need the first answer just shoot me an email at davincicodequest@gmail.com (yes I know, I'll make a new one just for GF soon). I want to see your name on that leaderboard!!

I also changed my profile so that you can view the other blogs that I am working on. Currently this is the only blog I have had time to regularly update. As I mentioned previously, I will be working on the Eurostar quest so you may see some updates on that blog over the next couple days. If you have topic ideas / thoughts / suggestions / requests just let me know.

Also, I wanted to thank all of you for participating in the AWR with me. Sometimes it's more fun when things are accomplished collectively, and for me, that seems to be the case with these quests.

Posted: Saturday, May 27, 2006 2:23 AM by Google Fact with no comments

Wei-Hwa's Puzzle Challenges Part 1

The first puzzle challenge was a simple math problem that required the use of fractions. The puzzle is described as follows:

Using the numbers 3, 3, 8, 8 (in any order), make a mathematical expression that equals 24. You can use only addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (and parentheses), but in any order you wish. Note that you have to use all four numbers;


This problem in itself is not a difficult one, but you are required to "see" an idea. The idea you have to grasp is that the solution is 8 * 3 but you are required to use the additional 8 and 3. What you need to figure out is how to reduce the remaining 8 and 3 down to 1. Basically you want to get a fraction in the form of m / (1 / n). You can achieve this as follows.
 Now here are a couple of tougher questions.

First, is this the only solution for 8,8,3,3? I think it is, but I'd like to see a proof.

Second, what set of numbers will this solution apply to? 10,10,3,3? 11,11,3,3? Consider 7,7,3,3

Finally, don't be discouraged if you expected more out of this first puzzle. I highly anticipate Google throwing some resources into this project, but in order to keep people interested they needed to get something together quick, and this was the result. Happy Memorial Day to those of you in the states, be safe and solve swiftly.

Congratulations to a blogging person who was the first to solve this challenge. In the future I hope they release these earlier in the day rather than after 4 P.M? I hope he is going to release one everyday, does anyone know?

If you want to join in on the fun, you can add the puzzle module to your Google PHP from this link.

Posted: Friday, May 26, 2006 11:19 PM by Google Fact with no comments

AWR and Eurostar
The first riddle on the Amazing Web Race has turned out to be the most difficult one thus far, especially without knowing any context. There is an old substitution cipher that uses a similar technique as this question, but I forget what it's called (I remembered it from my cryptography class). Here is what I remember about it, and what should help you with the first question.


A     F     L     Q     V
B     G     M     R     W
C     H     N     S     X
D    I/J    O     T     Y
E     K     P     U     Z


TIP: To submit the answer to the riddle, simply appened it to the end of the original url. As an example, if the answer to the question was Miami, then to check to see if your answer is correct, go to the following url: http://riddle.nirajsanghvi.com/miami/

Oh, and the Eurostar quest. There are only 5 days left. I haven't had the time to update the Eurostar quest like I did with the Google quest. I am thinking that I will try to post tips to help you solve the timed end of stage puzzles in an effort to help you win something. I'm still thinking on that though...

Posted: Thursday, May 25, 2006 2:26 AM by Google Fact with 3 comment(s)

The Amazing Web Race
There are a number of web based quests / riddles / puzzles floating around the Internet. Some of them are better than others. The Amazing Web Race is a new challenge created by a couple of GF readers inspired by this blog and The Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge.

Here is some background information on the quest from the creators:

"In the Amazing Web Race, the user is cast into a original plot trying to keep up with a mysterious character who is leading them around the world. It is loosely based on the tv show Amazing Race, but that is more of an afterthough, and not inherent to the idea. We were inspired to create this race because we enjoyed the nature and thought behind the Google Da Vinci Quest, but were left unsatisfied and unchallenged. It is not the first web riddle, nor will it be the last. But it starts hard and doesn't let up. Only two people have finished the 10 levels that are currently live...but that's not the end."

I am personally going to attempt to complete the first 10 levels. I'll let you know how it goes and if you want to try it with me you can access the Amazing Web Race at http://riddle.nirajsanghvi.com/.

Posted: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 2:29 AM by Google Fact with no comments