A Halloween Puzzle: Spy-Crostic

The Game Room
1

Another brisk autumn morning breathes the promise of a fine day ahead. You put on a pot of coffee and look forward to a relaxing week. Such a beautiful and peaceful season, this is. You laze back in your favorite easy chair and listen to the drip-drip sound of brewing Verona Blend. Ahhh…

Knock! Knock ! Knock!

Your serene morning is interrupted. You walk over to the door and open it. Special Agent Jones of the CIA stands on your stoop. Uh oh. Agent Jones rarely visits unannounced unless the CIA has a difficult code they cannot crack. That’s when they turn to you. You are the finest codebreaker in the land!

You welcome your friend inside and pour Jones a fresh cup of coffee.

“What’s up?” You inquire. “Has the CIA another nearly impossible spy code to crack?”

Jones shakes his head. “Not a code this time… but we do have a puzzle of some sort.” Jones settles down in a rocker. “You of course remember Boris Barlow, the mad scientist?”

Boris Barlow! You feel a chill go down your spine. But Boris Barlow was captured last year! You helped catch him and his evil spy gang. How could Jones have another case involving Barlow? You suddenly remember what month it is. October. The month of Boris Barlow’s birthday: Halloween.

“I thought Boris Barlow was in jail,” You say dully. “Please tell me he is in jail.”

Jones smiles wanly. “Yes, Boris is still in confinement. Don’t fret about that.”

Jones fills You in:

Ever since his capture last fall, Boris Barlow has been a prisoner in the government’s infamous “Blue Rutabega” prison in Tennessee. This is the prison for the most dangerous and mentally deranged villains of all. Boris’ crimes have been so shocking, so menacing, so absolutely terrible that few details of his misdeeds have ever been released to the general public. Panic and distrust in the rational world might ensue! It was expected by all who helped snare the demented scientist that Barlow would be kept forever locked away.

The psychiatrist assigned to Boris Barlow has been issuing reports monthly to the CIA. It seems Boris has been showing remarkable improvement. No longer does he rave about werewolves, zombies, alien blobs and world control. Instead he has become quite reasonable, almost friendly. Several times Barlow has communicated with Government scientists to offer ideas and thoughts on the most cutting edge of scientific research. Indeed Barlow is often sought out by some of our finest minds just for his brilliant analysis.

“I think it is all an act,” Jones says. “But those who work with Barlow every day at the prison say he is a well-liked and model prisoner. Barlow even runs a weekly “Prison Trivia” contest that is popular with the cons as well as the prison staff. Among his many talents, Barlow seems to have a remarkable knowledge of trivia.”

You think of the crazy Barlow You are familiar with. He is a madman obsessed with puzzles and evil trickery. “I cannot believe Barlow could so quickly become sane,” You tell Jones. “Something doesn’t smell right here.”

Jones agrees. “I personally make sure to read all reports on Barlow. He has little contact with the outside world other than certain trusted scientists. The prison has internet capabilities, and Barlow is allowed access to the web. However he cannot communicate, only browse. His mail, little that it is, is always closely monitored.”

“So why are you here today?” You inquire. “Has something happened?”

Jones reaches into his pocket and pulls out a sheet of paper. “Someone mailed this to Barlow two days ago. It appears to be a sort of acrostic puzzle. It arrived in a plain manila envelope with no return address. The postmark is from Roanoke, Virginia. Our good prison psychiatrist thinks it is probably from some other puzzle nut who may have heard where Barlow was being held. Notorious prisoners do get fan mail. And while Barlow’s crimes are not well known, he does have a following among certain crackpots. Barlow himself claims not to know the sender, but asked for, and was given, permission to try and solve the puzzle. He said it would be a refreshing diversion. But I worry this might be something more than a simple quote acrostic.

“Our CIA top codebreakers, Agents Cooper and White claim they have no time for something this trivial. Puzzles like this are for amateurs, not experts, or so they claim. Maybe they are right and this is nothing to worry about. I tried myself and couldn’t solve the thing. So I am bringing it to You.”

You examine the puzzle carefully. This is not your usual type of work… but You do have a fondness for word puzzles and games.

“Let me see what I can do with this,” You tell Jones. “I think you are right to be concerned. Anything out of the ordinary involving Barlow needs to be investigated.”

Jones finishes his coffee and prepares to leave.

“I will do my best,” You promise. “This worries me too. My instincts say trouble may be on the horizon.”

Is there reason to worry? Can You solve the puzzle and find out?
++++++++++

A FUN ACROSTIC FOR YOU

A. Former Name of Transylvania: [69, 95, 55, 174, 147, 11, 165, 137, 30, 91, 102, 181, 110]

B. Reptile House Occupant: [34, 44, 19, 124, 187, 9, 65, 84, 59, 152, 118, 75, 176]

C. Awful Incident: [188, 87, 54, 173, 21, 100, 31, 168, 60, 70, 14]

D. Nightmare Feature: [31, 187, 45, 103, 89, 39, 68, 149, 134, 69, 93]

E. Killer in the Louvre: [51, 81, 172, 141, 120, 151, 12, 158, 135, 5, 115]

F. Evil Dead Hero: [86, 115, 167, 105, 60, 150, 146, 149, 84]

G. New “Jason” Film: [186, 72, 144, 58, 117, 139, 92, 54, 62, 112, 174]

H. Stephen King Novel: [179, 14, 50, 20, 103, 160, 51, 10, 157, 1, 85, 111]

I. Town in Answer H: [47, 1, 107, 82, 123, 153, 26, 159, 73, 90]

J. Eerie, Like Music: [156, 183, 29, 101, 51, 57, 163, 94, 67]

K. It Wouldn’t Die: [175, 4, 177, 84, 136, 142, 133, 82, 156]

L. Not Able to be Slain: [186, 38, 4, 150, 140, 162, 27, 170, 62]

M. Mystery Series: [39, 161, 96, 145, 104, 120, 182]

N. Unusual TV Sitcom: [173, 160, 17, 33, 154, 71, 85, 125, 23, 56, 174]

O. Supernatural Setting: [80, 129, 20, 66, 3, 151, 114, 28, 41, 185, 45]

P. Troublesome Sprite: [12, 149, 25, 18, 140, 155, 32, 179, 39, 106, 132]

Q. Bad Brain Label: [140, 122, 133, 183, 10, 126, 41, 50]

R. Edgar Allen Poe Story: [42, 133, 45, 33, 73, 111, 7, 40, 143, 76, 180, 36]

S. Death Ray User: [60, 178, 33, 166, 15, 73, 22, 2, 152]

T. Entice a Witch?: [116, 186, 148, 74. 118, 188, 109, 131]

U. Scooby Doo Howler: [17, 118, 25, 140, 53, 133, 77, 99, 35, 52, 149]

V. The White Worm Author: [89, 113, 46, 121, 138, 128, 73, 174, 150, 129]

W. Really Big Danger: [130, 98, 117, 24, 61, 140, 79, 184, 133, 164]

X. October Treat: [13, 37, 48, 140, 78, 183, 119]

Y. Yeti or Bigfoot: [171, 8, 43, 175, 92, 55, 140, 127, 54]

Z. Enchantment: [16, 63, 67, 49, 169, 64, 39]

AA. Dog in Hell: [133, 135, 157, 88, 6, 97, 108, 83]

Sentence #1: (1-44) 3, 6, 4, 3, 6, 6, 2, 6, 8

Sentence #2 (45-75) 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 2, 3, 9

Sentence #3 (76-106) 3, 2, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2, 3, 4, 4

Sentence #4 (107-127) 2, 4, 4, 1, 3, 7

Sentence #5 (128-188) 3, 7, 2, 5, 3, 5-9, 7, 6, 2, 4, 8

++++++++++

2

I haven’t put much time into this, but just to give others a bit of a leg up:

Some answers that fit the number of letters:

E. Killer in the Louvre: [51, 81, 172, 141, 120, 151, 12, 158, 135, 5, 115]
SAUROCTONOS

H. Stephen King Novel: [179, 14, 50, 20, 103, 160, 51, 10, 157, 1, 85, 111]
UNDERTHEDOME

Q. Bad Brain Label: [140, 122, 133, 183, 10, 126, 41, 50]
ABNORMAL

V. TheWhite WormAuthor: [89, 113, 46, 121, 138, 128, 73, 174, 150, 129]
BRAMSTOKER

Y. Yeti or Bigfoot: [171, 8, 43, 175, 92, 55, 140, 127, 54]
SASQUATCH

AA. Dog in Hell: [133, 135, 157, 88, 6, 97, 108, 83]
CERBERUS
And some others that, curiously, do not fit the number of letters:
F. Evil DeadHero: [86, 115, 167, 105, 60, 150, 146, 149, 84]
ASHWILLIAMS

I. Town in Answer H: [47, 1, 107, 82, 123, 153, 26, 159, 73, 90]
CHESTERSMILL

But note that both of these answers would fit if you skipped over the “LL”.

So perhaps all doubled letters are to be elided? Or just double L’s?

3

Note that H and Q both have (10) in it, and under your answers, it’s E in H and R in Q.

Also note that the SASQUATCH answer would make 175 the letter Q, and 176 comes up at the end of answer B. Is there a reptile that ends in U, or is followed by a double letter/L?

4

An update from Jones:

Barlow worked on the puzzle at a table by himself during lunch in the prison cafeteria. At one point he began laughing and then ripped the puzzle into little pieces and threw it in the trash. Guards who had been told to collect his paper and scribblings were unable to do so. Before they could retrieve the bits of paper from the disposal bin, a prison employee dumped a container of potato salad into the garbage because it had been found to contain maggots. The guards then chose not to try and pick the bits of acrostic from the writhing mess.

Barlow was questioned by his psychiatrist, who informed the doctor that the acrostic puzzle was an unsolvable hoax. When he realized this he ripped up the page.

The psychiatrist believes Barlow. Jones does not.

5

A few more that fit the number of letters:

A. Former Name of Transylvania: [69, 95, 55, 174, 147, 11, 165, 137, 30, 91, 102, 181, 110]
ULTRASYLVANIA

G. New “Jason” Film: [186, 72, 144, 58, 117, 139, 92, 54, 62, 112, 174]
FRIDAYTHE13TH
That’s the latest Jason film, but only fits if you omit the numbers or the “th.”
FRIDAYTHETH
FRIDAYTHE13

R. Edgar Allen Poe Story: [42, 133, 45, 33, 73, 111, 7, 40, 143, 76, 180, 36]
THEBALLOONHOAX
Also only fits if you skip the “LL.” However, we have to count the “OO.”

U. Scooby Doo Howler: [17, 118, 25, 140, 53, 133, 77, 99, 35, 52, 149]
FRIGHTHOUND

6

If **AA. Dog in Hell **is C-E-R-B-E-R-U-S

then that means the 4th letter from the end in **H. Stephen King novel **is ‘R’ and I cannot find anything that matches that.

7

You are feeling frustration. While solving acrostic puzzles was never your specialty, You did feel that this sort of thing was not beyond your capabilities. After all, it simply means finding the right answers, and filling in the quote. And from your experience all it takes with most acrostic puzzles is to get a few answers… and then a few more… and suddenly it all comes into place. Why isn’t that working here? What is really going on with this puzzle? Grrr…

(Maybe Barlow was telling the truth. Maybe this is nothing but a Halloween hoax…)

No. You don’t believe that. What’s worse is that* if *Barlow has solved the puzzle, then he knows the message. And somehow You don’t think that is good. Not good at all.

You pour yourself another strong cup of coffee. Outside the wind is blowing. It is a cold night. Halloween is less than three weeks away. But You don’t think You have three weeks. This puzzle needs to be solved sooner. Much sooner.

Barlow has never played it straight, He loves red herrings and trickery and leading the solver down the wrong path. Somewhere there is a right path. You vow to find it.

8

Maybe it’s using the Spanish alphabet, in which “CH” and “LL” are both considered single letters?

I only has 10 letters, and CHESTERSMILL is 12 letters, so it needs more than just the LL to fit.

9

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen an Acrostic puzzle where there are multiple entries for a given space in the solution. Perhaps this is part of the twist? If there are two different letters that map to the same space in the answer, maybe the real letter is midway between them. Or perhaps both letters get written into the solution.

I count 267 letters in the clues compared to 188 in the solution. So there are 79 of these double-hits (unless there are triples as well; I haven’t gone through to look at that level of detail.)
Also, we need less squeamish guards. Maybe we can get an intern to dig through the garbage and recover a scrap of paper or two.

10

It seems to be that a few assumptions are being made.

For example, do the numbers next to each clue necessarily correspond to that clue’s answer? Clue Q’s answer also has eight numbers; perhaps this is meant to be “cerberus”.

Also, I have a feeling “A FUN ACROSTIC FOR YOU” has something to do with the solution.

However, I have tried a Beale Cipher method, by turning the 27 clues into a long string and assuming the numbers referred to the positions in that string; the first letter turned out to be “A”, but eventually it was gibberish. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the clues themselves, and not the supposed answers, that are the key to the solution.

11

Indeed. I’ve tried several other solutions for clues that seem to fit, but then they don’t match up with corresponding numbers on other solutions that I’m pretty sure are correct.

Do people use an excel template or something for this?

D. Nightmare Feature: [31, 187, 45, 103, 89, 39, 68, 149, 134, 69, 93]
Freddy Krueger fits if we remove the ‘DD.’
FREYKRUEGER

N. Unusual TV Sitcom: [173, 160, 17, 33, 154, 71, 85, 125, 23, 56, 174]
THEMUNSTERS
Seems like the most appropriate answer, but then 17 = E. And 17 is the first number in the Scooby Doo clue (U), which I was pretty sure was FRIGHTHOUND.

12

If we go with the combining double letters into one number thing, Addams Family could work.

13

FYI, there are not only doubles, but triples and higher.

1 [‘H’, ‘I’]
4 [‘K’, ‘L’]
10 [‘H’, ‘Q’]
12 [‘E’, ‘P’]
14 [‘C’, ‘H’]
17 [‘N’, ‘U’]
20 [‘H’, ‘O’]
25 [‘P’, ‘U’]
31 [‘C’, ‘D’]
33 [‘N’, ‘R’, ‘S’]
39 [‘D’, ‘M’, ‘P’, ‘Z’]
41 [‘O’, ‘Q’]
45 [‘D’, ‘O’, ‘R’]
50 [‘H’, ‘Q’]
51 [‘E’, ‘H’, ‘J’]
54 [‘C’, ‘G’, ‘Y’]
55 [‘A’, ‘Y’]
60 [‘C’, ‘F’, ‘S’]
62 [‘G’, ‘L’]
67 [‘J’, ‘Z’]
69 [‘A’, ‘D’]
73 [‘I’, ‘R’, ‘S’, ‘V’]
82 [‘I’, ‘K’]
84 [‘B’, ‘F’, ‘K’]
85 [‘H’, ‘N’]
89 [‘D’, ‘V’]
92 [‘G’, ‘Y’]
103 [‘D’, ‘H’]
111 [‘H’, ‘R’]
115 [‘E’, ‘F’]
117 [‘G’, ‘W’]
118 [‘B’, ‘T’, ‘U’]
120 [‘E’, ‘M’]
129 [‘O’, ‘V’]
133 [‘K’, ‘Q’, ‘R’, ‘U’, ‘W’, ‘AA’]
135 [‘E’, ‘AA’]
140 [‘L’, ‘P’, ‘Q’, ‘U’, ‘W’, ‘X’, ‘Y’]
149 [‘D’, ‘F’, ‘P’, ‘U’]
150 [‘F’, ‘L’, ‘V’]
151 [‘E’, ‘O’]
152 [‘B’, ‘S’]
156 [‘J’, ‘K’]
157 [‘H’, ‘AA’]
160 [‘H’, ‘N’]
173 [‘C’, ‘N’]
174 [‘A’, ‘G’, ‘N’, ‘V’]
175 [‘K’, ‘Y’]
179 [‘H’, ‘P’]
183 [‘J’, ‘Q’, ‘X’]
186 [‘G’, ‘L’, ‘T’]
187 [‘B’, ‘D’]
188 [‘C’, ‘T’]

There’s also a rather interesting “.” in clue T. Significant?

And for that matter: we’re supposed to think that the “Sentence” part are word lengths. But certainly #3 seems to be a little off and I’m not sure what the “-” in #5 means.

14

Jones call you this morning with bad news out of Tennessee.

Details are still sketchy, but something happened last night at the “Blue Rutabega” Prison. It was Wednesday evening, Trivia Night. Many prisoners and guards had gathered in the cafeteria for the popular game. At about 10pm, just as the event was scheduled to end, the lights went out. And not just the lights, but everything that operated electronically went dead. Cell phones were fried. Watches stopped. Alarm systems and cameras were disabled. The backup generators refused to generate. The prison was engulfed in pitch blackness. Flashlights didn’t even work.

Of course, chaos followed. The only thing that probably prevented a riot was that no one could tell who was friend or foe. Fortunately the next shift of workers arrived about fifteen minutes afterwards. Their equipment worked just fine. And approximately two hours later the prison was back in control of the guards and staff. However, the facility will probably have to be closed as all electronic equipment, even the battery operated stuff, is inoperable.

A guard and a prisoner are both dead. Their pacemakers stopped working. Two prisoners are missing. One is Rocco Stone, a dangerous murderer who is known to have killed five people with his bare hands. Stone was the prison arm wrestling champion for the past five years in a row. The other missing prisoner is his cellmate, Boris Barlow.

15

I have typed a period for a comma (and vice versa) more times than I care to count. It’s especially hard to tell them apart if you’re using a monospace font like Courier.

As for the hyphen, I am assuming “5-9” is a 14-letter hyphenated word with 5 letters before the hyphen.

Also notice that position 117 is a single letter word; I am assuming it is “A” or “I”, although it could be an initial.

You would think that all of the necessary letters could be put into the first 26 answers, so clue 27 wouldn’t be necessary; I have a feeling each clue shifts its letters between the answer and the sentence by a different number, with A and AA being a “Rosetta Stone” of sorts where the shifts are the same.

16

Well, fudge.

I can’t even make much out of the new information looking back at the message. For example, I don’t see two five letter words in the solution that might map to “Rocco Stone” easily. There are plenty of three letter words that could be “EMP” though.

Maybe Gazelle’s right and the “answer” isn’t really the answer, could even be a red herring entirely. It’s not as if there’s that much information that needed to be conveyed to Barlow, it seems:

10 PM Wednesday. (Guessing it’s the very next Wednesday, so no date required).
EMP blast to take out all electronics (presumably)
Bring Rocco along?

Except for the hyphenated word, there’s only one 9 letter word that could even be “Wednesday”, at the end of Sentence #2.
I’d also agree that having exactly 27 clues is suspicious. One per letter of the alphabet plus one. So some kind of letter shift doesn’t sound implausible.

17

In the previous examples double letters were eliminated entirely.

18

Usually in acrostic puzzles the sentences are a quote and the first letters of the clue answers are the author and/or the work. Can anyone make anything of the first letters?

Quite a few Poe stories fit the clue: The Oblong Box, A Predicament, Loss of Breath.

I don’t see how the 1 can be the same letter in:
H. Stephen King Novel: [179, 14, 50, 20, 103, 160, 51, 10, 157, 1, 85, 111]

I. Town in Answer H: [47, 1, 107, 82, 123, 153, 26, 159, 73, 90]

If H. is UnderTheDome, 1 is O, and I. is ChestersMi(ll), 1 is H.
If H. is Dreamcatcher, 1 is H, and I. is DerryMaine, 1 is E.

19

It appears there were some serious lapses at the “Blue Rutabega.” The new warden, Jeffery Dunn, took over last year and promoted “Compassionate Prison Reform” (also known as CPR). This penal theory involves less harsh treatment of prisoners and a more supportive role for the establishment. “A happy prisoner becomes a happy citizen” is the CPR motto. While all very well and good as an idea, some serious retooling of CPR is obviously in order.

  • A recently dug underground passage has been discovered. The tunnel begins at an unoccupied farmhouse about two miles from the prison, and comes out in a small storage room just off the cafeteria where the Trivia Night event was being held. It seems Barlow and Stone made their escape this way. The storage room should have been locked, and the guard in charge swears that it was locked before the Trivia Game. However, the door to the room was actually found to be unlocked during the search for Barlow and Stone. The entrance to the passage in the storage room was hidden —covered by a large pallet of full cement bags. It would have taken someone of great strength to move it away from the hole and then back into place again. Everyone agrees that Stone probably could have done it, though. No weakling, he.

  • Many people were surprised to see Rocco Stone at Trivia Night. He and Barlow may have been cellmates, but the general opinion is that they greatly dislike each other. In retrospect then, it should have caused more suspicion because, as one guard said, Rocco Stone never had attended Trivia Night before. Stone, according to this guard, “lacked the mental capacity to have any chance to make it past even the first round of easier trivia.”

  • A talk with Boris Barlow’s psychiatrist yielded a shocking twist. Boris Barlow has been sending self-made acrostic puzzles to an unknown for several weeks past. According to Barlow’s psychiatrist, Barlow had been hoping to become a trivia acrostic puzzle writer. Unfortunately for Boris, he was not allowed to mail out anything at all due to security concerns. (Barlow’s psychiatrist was unaware that Barlow had been meeting with Government scientists to help with top secret projects.) The shrink thought Barlow’s mail prohibition was just a formality that he could ignore because, after all, Barlow was just sending harmless puzzles to maybe be published. He’d help Barlow bypass the silly prohibition so Barlow could achieve a positive success as a puzzle writer. Because of this lack of communication and poor judgement, Barlow was able to dupe his doctor into sending the acrostics he devised. The clueless doctor thought he was helping Barlow with a hobby and was sending the acrostics to “American Acrostic Magazine” in Roanoke, Virginia. There is no such magazine. This whole clusterf**k is likely to get someone fired, or at least lead to a severe write-up. Barlow’s psychiatrist now feels he may have misread Barlow’s progress to better mental and societal health.

  • We do not know yet what secret Government projects Boris Barlow was involved with. The military is so far keeping mum, though Jones has a meeting tomorrow with a top official and may get some answers.

  • Despite a statewide dragnet, no information or sightings of the dangerous fugitives has been forthcoming. There are no leads at all, except for the one acrostic puzzle we have. You are the best chance to save the day.

20

FRANKNSTEIN MUST BE DESTOYED

That’s from the first letter of each clue.