# Any quiz genuises know the answer to this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455 "2003-06-03T21:33:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pavlos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@Pavlos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavlos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/1 "2003-06-03T21:33:42Z")
The “WTF?” Riddle MTEwMTExMDAxMDExMTAxMTExMDExMTEwMDAxMTAwMTA xMTAwMTEwMTAxMDEwMTAwMDExMDEwMTExMDAxMTAwMT ExMTEwMTAxMTEwMTExMQ0KMTExMDAxMTExMTAwMTExM DAxMTEwMTExMTAxMTExMTEwMTAxMTExMDExMTEwMDAw MTAxMTExMDEwMTExMTExMDAwMDEwMDAxMTAwMDEwMA0 KMTExMDExMDExMTEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDEwMTAxMDExMT EwMDEwMDAxMDAxMTAwMTAwMTExMDExMDAxMTAxMDEwM TAxMDAwMTEwMTAwMDExMA0KMDAxMDAxMTEwMTEwMTEx MTEwMDEwMDAxMDAxMTAwMTAwMTExMTAxMDAwMTAxMDA xMDAxMTExMDEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDAxMTAwMTExMDAwMQ Hint: !@##%&\*+^\~?\*>=!%=@?+_\>$=[?+}_(?@` Another Hint: Think alphabetical. It was posted on another forum and after several days we aint got a clue. someone seemed to think it was something to do with binary. ---
**Author:** ![PoignantSod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@PoignantSod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoignantSod)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/2 "2003-06-04T00:59:58Z")
Dunno if this helps … the first few things of the hint are the number keys without a shift. The whole string is: 12343578=6|`/8.4+15+2/=8.4+{/=]8|9/2~ Not sure if that helps. On the other hand, to continue the binary thought, take a look at this binary and ascii table [http://www.prepressure.com/library/binhex.htm](http://www.prepressure.com/library/binhex.htm) to see if there is a pattern to it. I couldn’t find one. Is there a known solution? ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/3 "2003-06-04T02:08:17Z")
What’s the context of the riddle, was it just given to you as that text string, or is there a little story around it? Also, is it meant to be read as a single line, or spilt into lines as you’ve done here? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/4 "2003-06-04T02:14:24Z")
I thought it might be Base64 encoded (it does resemble it strongly), but according to [this page](http://www.opinionatedgeek.com/dotnet/tools/Base64Decode/Default.aspx), it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/5 "2003-06-04T02:30:08Z")
OK, I threw the whoel thing into Notepad, and adjusted the page width until the MQ0K terms lined up vertically. This gives: MTEwMTExMDAxMDExMTAxMTExMDExMTEwMDAxMTAwMTAxMTAwMTEwMTAxMDEwMTAwMDExMDEwMTExMDAxMTAwMTExMTEwMTAxMTEwMTExMQ0K MTExMDAxMTExMTAwMTExMDAxMTEwMTExMTAxMTExMTEwMTAxMTExMDExMTEwMDAwMTAxMTExMDEwMTExMTExMDAwMDEwMDAxMTAwMDEwMA0K MTExMDExMDExMTEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDEwMDAxMDAxMTAwMTAwMTExMDExMDAxMTAxMDEwMTAxMDAwMTEwMTAwMDExMA0K MDAxMDAxMTEwMTEwMTExMTEwMDEwMDAxMDAxMTAwMTAwMTExMTAxMDAwMTAxMDAxMDAxMTExMDEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDAxMTAwMTExMDAwMQ [Sorry about eating up the page width size] Chucking that through QED’s base 64 decoder gives: 1101110010111011110111100011001011001101010101000110101110011001111101011101111 1110011111001110011101111011111101011110111100001011110101111110000100011000100 1110110111101010111100101010111100100010011001001110110011010101010001101000110 0010011101101111100100010011001001111010001010010011110101010111100011001110001 If someone can decipher the binary, I would be interested in seeing how it turns out, but I’m placing my bets with the accompanying clues. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/6 "2003-06-04T02:39:54Z")
Oooooooo…good job there. I hadn’t thought to adjust the alignment. Unfortunately according to [this page](http://nickciske.com/tools/binary.php) that binary string decodes to: [quote] Ü»Þ2ÍTk™õßÏœï~½ázü#·«Ê¼‰“³U1;|‰“ÑIê¼g[/quote ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/7 "2003-06-04T02:48:19Z")
If you substitute the four letter groups with numbers: MDAw = 1 MDAx = 2 MDEw = 3 MDEx = 4 MTAw = 5 MTAx = 6 MTEw = 7 MTEx = 8 You get the following pattern: 78246847256576354382587678 MQ0K 82858278687684716838813253 MA0K 84476473647322558426361754 MA0K 22778732255861622836472581 MQ Four groups of 26, each followed by an anomolous four letter group. The twenty-six group strings along with the second hint suggest there’s four substitutions for the alphabet. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/8 "2003-06-04T02:53:59Z")
That’s what I get for posting without proofreading. Obviously the last 26 character string isn’t followed by a four character group. If we split the anomolous groups, we get the following: 78246847256576354382587678MQ 0K82858278687684716838813253MA 0K84476473647322558426361754MA 0K22778732255861622836472581MQ ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/9 "2003-06-04T03:43:17Z")
I’m not sure who thinks this is a riddle? or where it came from? I would like a link to this cite before I proceed. Never mind… It appears to be links to individuals websites via their provider. Perhaps some e-theft going on? Try cutting the message into strings of data and do a search on them. They all come back to profiles of members of [www.hostobserver.com](http://www.hostobserver.com) [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=MTEwMTEx&btnG=Google+Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=MTEwMTEx&btnG=Google+Search) [http://www.hostobserver.com/company\_profile.php?country=Australia&c=MTExMDAwMQ%3D%3D](http://www.hostobserver.com/company_profile.php?country=Australia&c=MTExMDAwMQ%3D%3D) Mods. not sure on the ethics and/or legal issues this may bring about. Perhaps I’m just wrong and this is a coincidence. Either way, delete this post if it’s problematic. See ya~ ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/10 "2003-06-04T03:47:47Z")
I did that too, **t-keela**. The reason I think that happens is because Base64 is often used by websites to encode long strings of data in URLs. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/11 "2003-06-04T04:00:59Z")
Yes, these are definitely the ISP for hostobservers clients. Go to the top link in my first post and check out the new client list. Load a few of them and check their addresses. String all of them together and the “riddle” is found. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/12 "2003-06-04T04:02:41Z")
Perhaps but it seems funny that all of the new clients in the list are the same as the strings in the “riddle”. Just the conspiracy nut coming out in me I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/13 "2003-06-04T04:09:23Z")
That’s good detective work, **t-keela**. I never would have thought of that. I was stumped. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/14 "2003-06-04T06:31:42Z")
I really think the base64 thing is a red herring. Base64 generally comes up with high-entropy results, and these puzzle values are clearly very low entropy. Each 4 byte group has 4x7=28 bits = 268million possible values. And there seem to be only 8 actual values (perhaps 10 if you include the ending MA and MQ). Yes, **t-keela** is clearly on to something, and perhaps this is the only answer. But there must’ve been some reason Host Observer picked these values, and it’s certainly not intuitive. They could’ve used simple unique integers for each company ID. There are many benefits to using an integer in their back-end coding. But they didn’t. There must be a reason. Also, there’s this whole neat layout of 4 rows x 26 entries per line. I think there’s more to this, but I haven’t got it. ---
**Author:** ![Pavlos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@Pavlos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavlos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/15 "2003-06-04T07:24:27Z")
The original post is from [www.riddleplanet.com](http://www.riddleplanet.com) and it is exactly has I have posted. ---
**Author:** ![Pavlos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@Pavlos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavlos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/16 "2003-06-04T07:26:09Z")
question 5.25 btw. ---
**Author:** ![Severian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Severian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Severian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/17 "2003-06-04T12:47:38Z")
Apparently you can’t see the riddle without answering all the previous riddles. I did find this in the [www.riddleplanet.com](http://www.riddleplanet.com) forums though: > [@](#): > > okay to start --\> 5.25 > > part a) > > The hints given on the page of the riddle are for that riddle only - they do not apply to any of the other parts. Think alphabetically is the biggest hint to be given in decoding the monstrosity. And it also helps when you put that clue with the other “cryptic” clue. > > Just as a pointer this riddle is a combination binary and crypto. Also - it combines two previous methods. > > Stretham summed it up quite well > > 1. The binary needs decoding in the same way as 5.21. > 2. The resulting text will be a cryptogram. > 3. The cryptogram is a standard replacement cypher. > 4. The normal ‘look for short common words’ approach may pay off. > > part b ) > > Firstly - this has been a hot topic of conversation as to the choice of the answers. Apologies - I went by what I knew them as. > > To aide you the answers contain the following number of initials. (22) > > 1. 2 > 2. 1 > 3. 3 > 4. 3 > 5. 2 > 6. 2 > 7. 2 > 8. 1 > 9. 3 > 10. 3 ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/18 "2003-06-04T16:37:13Z")
**Pavlos** , I’m skeptical about the accuracy of your OP as the forum discussions don’t match what you posted. In particular, there are references to "MDENCjAx, DQox, MQ0KMTEx, MDENCjEx ". Also, it apparently was posted not broken up as you posted here. Please go to the page where the riddle appears, right click, choose “Properties”, where it says "address (URL), select the url with your mouse, type ctrl-c to copy. Then come here and paste the result here, so others can see the original. (I’m assuming you use Internet Explorer). It should look something like this: ```auto http://www.mtgplanet.com/riddleplanet/index.php?page=riddles&contest=1 &round=1&ridnum=1&answer=the+answer ``` BTW, for others, [here](http://www.mtgplanet.com/riddleplanet/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=13&t=349&st=0) is the discussion at riddleplanet. There are some interesting observations there about frequencies, etc. ---
**Author:** ![jormundgondir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@jormundgondir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jormundgondir)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/19 "2003-06-04T17:56:55Z")
It lokos like, having followed the thread through on riddleplanet, the riddle was actually _changed_ at a certain point, so earlier discussion was related to a different sequence than was posted for this thread. fwiw, here are the original and subsequent versions, according to that message board: Original: (apologies for formatting) MTAwMDExMTEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDExMTEwMDAxMDExMDAxMTEwMDEwMTAxMTExMTAxMDAxMTEwMTEwMTAxMDAxMTAwMDEwMDAxMTAwMTAxMTAxMDEN CjAxMTExMDAxMTEwMTExMTExMTAxMDAxMTExMDAxMTExMDExMDEwMTAxMTExMTAwMDExMDExMDEwMTEwMTEwMTExMDEwMTEwMDEwMTAxMDAxMTEx DQoxMTAxMTEwMTEwMTEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDExMTEwMDAxMDExMDAxMTEwMTAwMTAxMTExMDExMDEwMTExMTAwMDExMDAxMDExMDExMTExMDExMDEw MQ0KMTExMTAwMTEwMTAwMTEwMDAxMTEwMDAxMTAwMDEwMDEwMTAxMDAxMTExMDAxMTExMTAxMDEwMDEwMDAxMTAxMTExMDAwMTAwMTAxMDExMDEw MDENCjExMTAxMTExMDExMTEwMTAwMTAwMTAxMTAxMDExMDAxMDExMDAwMTExMTAxMTAwMDExMDAwMTAxMTAxMDExMTEwMTAwMTAxMDExMTAwMDEwMTAx Revised: MTEwMTExMDAxMDExMTAxMTExMDExMTEwMDAxMTAwMTA xMTAwMTEwMTAxMDEwMTAwMDExMDEwMTExMDAxMTAwMT ExMTEwMTAxMTEwMTExMQ0KMTExMDAxMTExMTAwMTExM DAxMTEwMTExMTAxMTExMTEwMTAxMTExMDExMTEwMDAw MTAxMTExMDEwMTExMTExMDAwMDEwMDAxMTAwMDEwMA0 KMTExMDExMDExMTEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDEwMTAxMDExMT EwMDEwMDAxMDAxMTAwMTAwMTExMDExMDAxMTAxMDEwM TAxMDAwMTEwMTAwMDExMA0KMDAxMDAxMTEwMTEwMTEx MTEwMDEwMDAxMDAxMTAwMTAwMTExMTAxMDAwMTAxMDA xMDAxMTExMDEwMTAxMDExMTEwMDAxMTAwMTExMDAwMQ Hint: !@##%&\*+^\~?\*>=!%=@?+_\>$=[?+}_(?@` Another Hint: Think alphabetical ---
**Author:** ![Pavlos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@Pavlos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavlos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455/20 "2003-06-04T18:23:22Z")
As above. I don’t know if it was changed at all, I only got there yesterday. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-quiz-genuises-know-the-answer-to-this/179455.md?page=2)