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One day, my Japanese wife Nono handed me two messages

580D10F20G10D13011173203443206640942092330411622053222041112103112221032212210421142012234130580236905325A031112H042127905121890142726016135802622212602A22270B412230846250A731106526107324208322081122056

and

7109501A350726505138504112A0423A0222290331A02225302142213043112220143341203421211204141211210524122206122112106133123072351211071912120629222072B4206122714205236112105313222104222223106162210121262220121281320335B204A40A10D0D0E

"I have something to tell you. Decrypt my message and you'll see", she said while smiling at me.

It took me a while but when I finally got a result I was full of joy! Why was I happy?

Hint 1

You can solve this using only pen and paper

Hint 2

My wife's name is an important clue

Hint 3

One of the characters acts as a separator

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3
  • $\begingroup$ first thought was to use the zeros to separate the rest and convert Hex to binary or something, but then I realized there are H's and G's in there :P maybe this will give someone a clue on how to approach this. GL $\endgroup$
    – DemonicBirdFlu
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 11:32
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ I think this is a nonogram where 0 are the separators of the columns. There are 35 zeros in each string. $\endgroup$
    – Element118
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 13:12
  • $\begingroup$ @Element118 ouch, that would be a mistake from me because you're on the right track and they should be equal on that mapping. I'm going to find the error and fix it in a couple of minutes $\endgroup$
    – Ivo
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 13:31

1 Answer 1

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This is

a nonogram where the zeroes are the separators of the columns. The letters map to numbers above 10: A$\rightarrow$10, B$\rightarrow$11 and so on. Using an online solver and the following text input, I received an image.

Text input:

    width 35
    height 35
 
    rows
    5,8
    13,1
    15,2
    16,1
    13,1,3
    1,1,1,7,3,2
    3,4,4,3,2
    6,6,4
    9,4,2
    9,2,3,3
    4,1,1,6,2,2
    5,3,2,2,2
    4,1,1,1,2,1
    3,1,1,2,2,2,1
    3,2,2,1,2,2,1
    4,2,1,1,4,2
    1,2,2,3,4,1,3
    5,8
    2,3,6,9
    5,3,2,5,10
    3,1,1,1,2,17
    4,2,1,2,7,9
    5,1,2,1,8,9
    1,4,2,7,2,6
    1,6,1,3,5,8
    2,6,2,2,2,1,2,6
    2,10,2,2,2,7
    11,4,1,2,2,3
    8,4,6,2,5
    10,7,3,1,1
    6,5,2,6,1
    7,3,2,4,2
    8,3,2,2
    8,1,1,2,2
    5,6


    columns
    7,1
    9,5
    1,10,3,5
    7,2,6,5
    5,1,3,8,5
    4,1,1,2,10
    4,2,3,10
    2,2,2,2,9
    3,3,1,10
    2,2,2,5,3
    2,1,4,2,2,1,3
    4,3,1,1,2,2,2
    1,4,3,3,4,1,2
    3,4,2,1,2,1,1,2
    4,1,4,1,2,1,1,2,1
    5,2,4,1,2,2,2
    6,1,2,2,1,1,2,1
    6,1,3,3,1,2,3
    7,2,3,5,1,2,1,1
    7,1,9,1,2,1,2
    6,2,9,2,2,2
    7,2,11,4,2
    6,1,2,2,7,1,4,2
    5,2,3,6,1,1,2,1
    5,3,1,3,2,2,2,1
    4,2,2,2,2,2,3,1
    6,1,6,2,2,1
    1,2,1,2,6,2,2,2
    1,2,1,2,8,1,3,2
    3,3,5,11,2
    4,10,4
    10,1
    13
    13
    14

output:

enter image description here

It took me a while but when I finally got a result I was full of joy! Why was I happy?

You have a new member in your family! Congratulations!

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5
  • 9
    $\begingroup$ Great job! I added a nicer output if you don't mind :) $\endgroup$
    – Ivo
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 14:04
  • 39
    $\begingroup$ Who needs a sonogram when a nonogram will do. $\endgroup$
    – Dancrumb
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 17:48
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    $\begingroup$ Congrats! But to be honest, I guessed it as soon as I saw "I have something to tell you" and "...smiling at me". $\endgroup$
    – Shawn V. Wilson
    Commented Apr 16, 2016 at 7:11
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    $\begingroup$ Forget the answer tell me how you made that image! :) $\endgroup$
    – Hanky Panky
    Commented Apr 17, 2016 at 6:54
  • $\begingroup$ @HankyPanky the nonogram itself I didn't create myself. I used Google image search for "nonogram baby" and ended up with that one. The rest of the puzzle I did came up by myself. $\endgroup$
    – Ivo
    Commented Apr 17, 2016 at 12:25

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