CRYPTOGRAMS
Saturday June 3
by Catspaws
Tracey on Phobos is a source of information on many subjects, not to mention she knows -all- the latest gossip in Fed DataSpace. I try to make it a point to touch base with this gem of gabbiness at least once a month, if only to find out what rodents are hiding in Lynnea's hair... ahem....
I was so caught up in Tracey's tales this week - something about a fiasco involving Lynnea and an exterminator - that time got away from me and, before I knew it, the Cryptograms players were swarming into the Morph Bar, and Tracey was scampering back to the Help Desk. Not wanting to appear caught out, I acted as if I had intended to hold the game this week in just this spot.
Thanks to Freya's generous donation of a slithy, and my whining and begging (ahem! cajoling...) over the comms, we had a nice crowd for the game this week. I am certain Jessecka wasn't nearly as lucky with her crowd, but we all know I'm the best event hostess in Fed, don't we, Jess?
Player names in Fed sometimes amaze me, sometimes make me cringe, and sometimes make me laugh. Hence for the first puzzle, I dealt with funny player names. I'm glad I did, because Gwaptiva showed his newly-honed skills by finishing the puzzle first, followed by Robius and Gilar.
FUNNY PLAYER NAMES:
I W V U R V L L O
I W V T T S X
I S E I I O I N D R
C S E X R B W D X D R B X
D H W V Z H R
Z W N X J U S X
If you've ever studied the DI SYSTEMS display, you might have noticed that there are many planets with the same number of letters. My favorite number is 'seven', so for the next puzzle, I looked at 7-letter system names. (Not planet names.) Fancy solved this puzzle first, Gilar second, and Robius third.
SYSTEM NAMES WITH 7 LETTERS (DI SYSTEMS):
Q T Z O Q S I
Q T A K Z H Q
F Z E O G S H
Z T D Z Q M Z
I M Z V O I O
I K M P F O T
Fed2 has this nifty command called 'buy' which can be used to purchase many things. I only needed six though, and to make it a bit more challenging, I chose words with 4, 8 or 9 letters. Gilar beat out Zand for this one, who in turn beat out Fancy. This put Gilar in the lead, a position in which he is quite comfortable.
THINGS YOU CAN BUY IN FED2:
E J J G
E W O Z
M Y O V R W Y B
Y O K F R M Y B
H J A A J G F M B
N V Y O I J W R O
Our company owners are hard-working, congenial and friendly (sometimes). So for our next puzzle I chose to salute these people by making mention of the unique names they have chosen for their companies. Gilar, Fancy and Zand solved this puzzle which had several obvious starting points, the most obvious being the apostrophe in the fourth entry.
COMPANY NAMES (DI COMPANIES):
E Q F O Q / K Z K / Z F , / Z V S
U A Q V K / P V F P O R O Z J P J /, / Z V S
L P Q K / C V / D Z O P , / Z V S C O R C O Q F P K
S F L B A L B ' J / S B K K A T / S C V F O Q R F Z C V J
U O P Q K / & / O C J P J
S O T C / & / M P V P F Z S / P V M Z V P P O Z V M / Z V S
I like to finish off a game with a long puzzle because it helps hone solving skills and often stumps Fancy. Not this time, however, as Gilar, Fancy and Gwaptiva solved this puzzle first.
THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T TELL THE OWNER OF THE PLANET WHERE YOU HAVE FACTORIES:
M H Y / Q U V / P U H Y / T D / H / Z D J / I V M C X?
Q U V K / A K E M D X / X V M C
E ' T / X D P P E Y B / T Q / U V FAVF / DPXDJNDKD.
E / JHYF / UYPQ / HKFX / ZHMX . / E ' T / P H F Q
E / F D P P / H P P / T Q / Z K E D Y O X / F U / O V T A / N D K D
T Q / P H X F / A P H Y D F / U J Y D K / B H S D / T D / X P E F N E D X
When the scores were tallied, Gilar had a comfortable 4-point lead over Fancy, who had the same lead over Gwaptiva. I'm wondering how many weeks it'll be before Gwaptiva takes first place. My, how he has grown! As a reward for taking first place, Gilar also won the slithy prize.
Join me each Saturday at 4.00pm eastern for Cryptograms, the game that exercises your brain. And, if you would like the answers to this week's puzzles, you can email me at catspaws_fed@sbcglobal.fed.
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