Strange email...

Received this today...

"To The NXT Step Team:

Thank you for posting about the Robotics Investigation Force. We thoroughly enjoyed the comments your readers posted, too. As a reward to you and your readers for your kind attention and keen observation skills, we have added some new information. We are not going to simply give it away, mind you. We do hope you understand our asking your readers to please refrain from posting the answer until after August twenty.

Cheers,

Poe
www.rifagent.com"

That's all I received... I replied to the email but got a bounceback... oh, well. I don't like puzzles usually, especially hidden messages and stuff. But I'll ask all of you to honor the request not to share whatever answer he's talking about (or she? Is Poe a typical male or female name?). But please do let me know if you find what h/she is talking about... thanks!

Jim

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have 2 questions.
first: can anyone get onto the site? because when I click on the link to the site, it says its not found.
second: could you give clues onto what to click on or do to find the answer, or would that be wrong?
Anonymous said…
The two I've seen are in the upper right corner of the screen and another one is hid inside the letter p. The site works for me.
Anonymous said…
I've found another code but I don't know how to decode it. It is about half a centimetre left of a centimetre below the top left edge of the rounded rectangle. Here is what it says (trying to maintain the formtatting of it)

S AND NO
AND OFF

IL ROSE
ME ITSY
IL OWNS
EN CROW
ET SLAP
AL ISLE
BO LIES
NS SEEK
TS FAIR
TE EVER
TE HAND
WT AUGY
NS TOSS
EN NODS
MS AKIN
TE OOPS
PS ARTS
IN FLAT
ES NOTE
OR TICK
MO FROM
MP OURS
DS EATS
ID LIST
UP BELT
NS EDIT
MS ARCS
IL VEER

Any ideas?
Scott said…
There is more to that code, make your browser really wide to see it.

YES AND NO
ON AND OFF

FAIL ROSE
TIME ITSY
SOIL OWNS
BEEN CROW
MEET SLAP
VIAL ISLE
AIBO LIES
OWNS SEEK
POTS FAIR
FATE EVER
NOTE HAND
EAWT AUGY
EONS TOSS
SEEN NODS
ELMS AKIN
LATE OOPS
PUPS ARTS
RAIN FLAT
GOES NOTE
DOOR TICK
OSMO FROM
RAMP OURS
ENDS EATS
ARID LIST
SOUP BELT
IONS EDIT
ALMS ARCS
TAIL VEER
Tony Buser said…
YES AND NO, ON AND OFF has something to do with binary?
Brian Peiris said…
Wow, solving that was fun!
As Poe requested, I won't give it away, finding the this one is best done on an individual basis, it's much more rewarding!
Enjoy :)
Anonymous said…
Brian, I certainly agree! That was fun ;)
Drew Stevenson said…
It is early here and my code breaking brain is not yet awake - but some research has produced a little "easter egg" - I doubt it will be helpful but might show some of the breadth of thought these agents put into everything or may just be an interesting chase.
NOTHING should be taken at face value. Explore and experiment with everything to search for hidden meaning - and just pray your not too smart and find meaning that was not intended...

Edgar Allan Poe
The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
Publication: 1841
How would you characterize Dupin?
What does the narrator say about his intellect? Is it purely analytical?
What is his relationship to the narrator? The narrator says: "We existed within ourselves alone." What does he mean?
What is their house like?
How does Poe make this detective story engaging?
Daniel Hoffman suggests that both Dupin and Poe are detectives seeking to break a code--Dupin the clues to a crime, Poe the material details that mask the mystery of the universe: "By analogy with the feat Dupin will later perform at Poe's behest in disentangling the plot of Minister D----, we can infer that if the detective, or to be more generic, the genius, can crack the code of that Author, he has made himself coequal with the perpetrator of the code" (127).
"Both of these stories ["Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "The Gold-Bug"] illustrate how a human approaches a problem and comes to a resolution. He explains in intricate detail how a code was broken in "The Gold-Bug," which parallels another code he spoke of in "The Philosophy of Composition": that of writing a poem. To me, these stories seem to be a metaphor for his own thought processes when approaching the challenge of writing either prose or a poem" (Hundley 9/10/96).
"
Anonymous said…
I got: "Drink more Ovaltine?"

What does that mean? ;)
It means Annie's decoder ring isn't calibrated properly.

Jim :)

(2 points for humorous movie reference)
Anonymous said…
Greetings, NXT Step readers.

My, you are a most persistent group. Already seven of your colleagues have contacted us. We will have to remember to increase puzzle complexity in the future.

Also, please be aware that the R.I.F. seeks agents of all ages.

We have much work to perform.

Agent 13
www.rifagent.com
rb95403 said…
Dear Agent 13:

Puzzle is plenty complex for me. How about a clue?
Anonymous said…
It's all right there in front of you. No special equipment needed. Poe has requested that those of us who have solved it not give hints or solutions. Those of us who have solved it have received a reward (of sorts). If we start giving hints, the reward loses its value. I hope everyone understands this.
Anonymous said…
Well sure it's a good word puzzle.. Maybe a bit too heavy for not english people.. I'm from Europe and my English isn't that good to find some sort of clue in it..

I've tryed combining and alfabetic order. Trying to remove letters.. But so far there are no clues coming up.. I will try more and more as the time i have left.. My NXT is coming in a few days.. Then that will be my new toy to play with..
rb95403 said…
Dear Agent Poe:

If you get this message....

Please have mercy on us code-challenged NXT folks...
Sorry, I would have posted this sooner but I got it at 3:38am and I was asleep :) And quite frankly, it's too early now for puzzles... I may give it a stab later today.

"Greetings, The NXT Step Team.

While we are hesitant to provide any more clues (to reward those who have solved the latest puzzle), we believe that we may safely provide one clue that will not give away too much:

Yes and No pertains to the first column. On and Off pertains to the second column.

That is all we can add at this point.

Cheers,

Poe
Agent 27
www.rifagent.com"
rb95403 said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
rb95403 said…
RIF has left their newsletter "The Parchment" with further clues at the
nxtasy.org blog:

http://nxtasy.org/wp-content/
uploads/2006/08/Parchment1.pdf
Anonymous said…
rb95403,

did you solve the puzzle yet? I hope so. I'd like to give you a hint but the Poe person asked me not to.

villo

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