+
Solution to Guess What I'm Thinking
+
+
Authors: Chieu Nguyen and Aaron Bader
+
+
This puzzle is a parody of the puzzle authoring no-no of writing a puzzle
+ that is essentially "guess what the author is thinking." As such, the
+ puzzle appears to be nothing but a line with 20 blank squares. However, in order to
+ assist the solver, the puzzle itself interacts with your guesses to guide
+ you towards the correct answer.
+
+
In order to solve the puzzle you must attempt to submit an answer that is
+ 20 letters long. Yes, you actually have to
+ submit an answer. Provided that your
+ answer guess is 20 letters long (after excluding non-alphabetical characters),
+ you will receive a response that shows you how to proceed.
+ And no, this answer is not counted against you.
+
+
+
Once you make a guess, you are presented with a response that indicates the
+ difference between your guess and the string of letters we had in mind.
+ You are also given four more rows of blanks ranging from 21 blanks to 24
+ blanks, as well as an input box to use so that you don't accidentally call
+ in guesses as answer attempts and make things a logistical nightmare for us.
+ Any guess from 20 to 24 letters long will receive a response, and each length
+ corresponds to a different guessing game.
+
+
+
The four correct solutions are:
+
+- WORDOFTENWITHNEITHER = NOR
+- DIRECTIONOPPOSITEWEST = EAST
+- CLOONEYHOSPITALNBCSHOW = ER
+- JETSTARPACIFICSIATACODE = BL
+- COMEDIANEDDIEOFTHERICHES = IZZARD
+
+
+
The answers to the phrase combine to form the answer, NOR'EASTER BLIZZARD. Now, we know that you can probably guess the answer with 4 or maybe even 3
+ of the pieces. But you guys were having so much fun with this puzzle, that
+ you probably solved them all anyway.
+
+
Here's how all the different guessing games work:
+
+
For the 20-letter phrase, WORDOFTENWITHNEITHER, you are given the
+ standard Mastermind readout. Black means that you have a letter in the
+ correct place. White means you have a letter, but not in the correct
+ place.
+
+
For the 21-letter phrase, DIRECTIONOPPOSITEWEST, the answer first compares
+ the length of the Morse code strings. If they are different lengths, it lets
+ you know that your guess is not the correct length, and gives you a decimal
+ value of how much longer or shorter you are. If it is the same length, it
+ tells you the binary difference between the answer you "tapped out" and the
+ actual answer, treating dits as 0 and dahs as 1. The "tapped out" is
+ supposed to clue you towards Morse. Eventually you get a solution that is
+ the same length letterwise, and the same number of Morse characters, but
+ this is still not enough for a unique phrase. So in the case that the
+ Morse strings are the same, it will tell you where your first error is.
+
+
For the 22-letter phrase, CLOONEYHOSPITALNBCSHOW, you are given 22 symbols.
+ The symbol is red if your guess letter is earlier in the alphabet than the
+ correct letter and blue if it is later in the alphabet than your guess
+ letter. It is green if it is correct. This one is trivial to do with 26
+ guesses, so feel free to thank us.
+
+
For the 23-letter phrase, JETSTARPACIFICSIATACODE, convert both the guess and
+ the phrase into a 23-dimensional vector using standard alphanumeric
+ substitution. Then take the Euclidean 2-norm of the difference of the
+ vectors. This yields how far "off" you are from the answer phrase.
+
+
For the 24-letter phrase, COMEDIANEDDIEOFTHERICHES, you are given a set of
+ slashes lines and dots in two sets. The top set are the pigpen strokes that
+ appear in your letter but not in the corresponding answer letter. The
+ bottom set are the ones that appear in the answer letter but not in your
+ letter.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ 
+
+ 
+
+ 
+
+ 
+
+ 
+
+ 
+
+ 
+
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 
+ 