ebert@arisia.Xerox.COM (Robert Ebert) (08/09/90)
In article <1990Aug8.120500.1@ssdvx2.mdcbbs.com?(brian?schar)> schar@ssdvx2.mdcbbs.com (brian schar) writes: >I'm stuck in "Fool's Errand." I can't solve the puzzles that >involve pressing the different combinations of letters to reveal the >hidden word. I've been hacking at it for weeks, to no avail. > >Anybody have any hints? Hints, yes. No spoilers here, hit 'n' now if you want spoilers. For the numbered button puzzles, I have two pieces of advice: 1) Figure out how each button changes the text. Each one does something different, reversing the text, adding letters at the beginning or end, or changing letters. Document what each one does. 2) Work backwards. Once you know what each button does, you can figure out what the text is supposed to say, sort of like solving an <mixed letters puzzle> (Anagram?) Then, match buttons to text via a sort of reverse- wildcard thing. I liked the puzzles better than any of the others in Fool's errand because they were ORIGINAL. They're a combination of different puzzle elements that I haven't seen before. Also, they put to use some of the stuff I learned about regular expressions in CS Theory class. (Thanks, Anne Condon!) --Bob