29
$\begingroup$

This party is so popular!

So just like before, you want the spaghetti recipe yada yada yada... basically, you want to get in to the party.

The first guest arrives, the security guard says "6". The guest goes away to check the answer, but soon returns, saying "3", and is admitted.

The second guest arrives, the security guard looks annoyed and says "1", in a menacing tone. The guest says "9" and is admitted.

The third guest arrives, the security guard says "5" and the guest replies back, "0", and is admitted.

It's the next guest's turn now. The security guard says "2", and to your surprise, the guest attacks him! The guest overpowers the security guard, and tries to enter the party without saying anything! But another security guard appears (from the infinite stock of security guards in the guardroom) and stops him. Abashed, the guest says "2" and is admitted to the party.

So now the original security guard is back on his feet and he's looking angry. Another guest comes up to him and the guard grabs him by the collar. Clearly he's looking to get his revenge on these unruly guests! He snarls, "3", but the guest replies "5" and the security guard is forced to admit him.

It's your turn now. You go up to the door and the security guard says "4". You hope that he'll admit you, but you know that it's pointless to try overpowering him. What do you reply?

Hints

As you're standing outside the party waiting for inspiration to strike, you hear music and voices coming from inside the party. Could this be a clue? [Yes]

The track listing is:

  • Royale With Cheese (Dialogue), Pulp Fiction on Pulp Fiction

    Pulp Fiction (album cover)

  • 20th Century Fox, The Doors on The Best of The Doors

    Best of The Doors (album cover)

  • Mr Tambourine Man, The Byrds on American Graffiti (More) - 1979

  • Out of Space, The Prodigy

  • Space Oddity, David Bowie on Best of Bowie

    bowie (album cover)

  • Indiana Jones Theme, John Williams on Raiders of the Lost Ark

    Raiders of the Lost Ark (album cover)

  • Space Cowboy, Jamiroquai on The Return of the Space Cowboy

    The Return of the Space Cowboy (album cover)

  • The Galaxy Song, Eric Idle on Eric Idle Sings Monty Python

    Eric Idle Sings Monty Python (album cover)

  • Girl From Mars, Ash on 1977

    1977 (album cover)

  • Across the Universe, Fiona Apple on Across the Universe

    Across the Universe (album cover)

  • Choose Life, Underworld

  • Born To Be Wild (With Miss Piggy) Ozzy Osbourne, on Prince Of Darkness (Box Set) Prince Of Darkness (Box Set - cover art)

Clue: Decode the message enciphered in these symbols: ◳◰ ◓◨ ◨◧◕ ◎◌ ◱◯◱◯ ◍◌○ ◉◉ ◇◔◓◕ ◐►◓◒ ◒◑ ◈◑ ◆◆◓ ◉◉◉ (now solved!)

New clue: Decode the message enciphered in these symbols: ��↑↙↓↘←↑↙↘↘↗↓↗←↙↓↖ (also solved)

Administrative details (not part of the puzzle):

  • This is the latest instalment in the Party Security series.

  • Answers in spoiler blocks please.

  • Where someone proposes a solution that is not the method I'm thinking of, I've decided not to comment on whether the actual answer they've given is correct, because if I do then it provides an additional data point; which changes the puzzle for other people.

  • The other playlists on the Grooveshark account have nothing to do with this puzzle, neither does the Grooveshark username or the Grooveshark profile pic.

  • The Pulp Fiction dialogue track is NSFW if your workplace has objections to swearing. All the rest should be fine to play out-loud.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
26
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Most of the songs here are about space. Is that a clue? $\endgroup$
    – stackErr
    Commented Nov 13, 2014 at 18:43
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ All right, it's about time for hint #2? $\endgroup$
    – Raystafarian
    Commented Nov 14, 2014 at 12:52
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @stackErr space, but also soundtracks is pretty common. $\endgroup$
    – Raystafarian
    Commented Nov 14, 2014 at 15:13
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ wild guess: all the song's years have the numbers 1, 9, and 7? (this is totally based on the 2 years you wrote there, i did no research whatsoever.... heh.) $\endgroup$
    – vero
    Commented Nov 14, 2014 at 20:42
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @AE Is the order of the playlist a clue or are just random placed? $\endgroup$
    – Emi987
    Commented Nov 15, 2014 at 12:32

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
23
+50
$\begingroup$

Feeling good about this one:

7

Reasoning:

The answer is based on the ones value of the year that the corresponding Star Wars episode was released:
(From IMDB)
Episode I: The Phantom Menace - 1999
Episode II: Attack of the Clones - 2002 (Apparently the guest wasn't a fan of the prequels)
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - 2005
Episode IV: A New Hope - 1977
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - 1980
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - 1983

I'll note here that one section of the main Star Wars Wikipedia page says Episode III was released in 2006, which almost ruined my theory, but I'm glad I double-checked!

Ohhh, now I'm seeing more hints related to each episode embedded. Return, menace, back, attack (and clones), revenge, and hope. Very nicely done!

Guesses for what each song in the soundtrack refers to:

Royale With Cheese - Mr. Samuel L. Jackson
20th Century Fox - The name of the distributor
Mr Tambourine Man - American Graffiti/George Lucas
Out of Space - Space
Space Oddity - Space
Indiana Jones Theme - George Lucas and John Williams
Space Cowboy - Space
The Galaxy Song - Space (and a reference to "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away")
Girl From Mars - Space (and 1977)
Across the Universe - Space
Choose Life - ??? (Maybe the future? "Choose your future")
Born To Be Wild (With Miss Piggy) - Frank Oz, creator and performer of Miss Piggy and the puppeteer and voice of Yoda!

The first (solved) clue refers to:

(movie spoilers!) Luke and Leia

The second clue (thanks, nexolute) refers to:

(more movie spoilers!) Darth Vader being Luke's father

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
9
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I think you got it! $\endgroup$
    – QuyNguyen2013
    Commented Nov 15, 2014 at 22:18
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ I can go to sleep now!!! $\endgroup$
    – Emi987
    Commented Nov 15, 2014 at 23:56
  • $\begingroup$ Yes! Hooray! Well done! Nice work! See if you (or others) can work out the rest of the clues... $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 at 8:03
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Added more details about how each song fits into the theme. Still not sure about some of them - the Pulp Fiction one still has me racking my brain! (edit: got it, good one! I feel so much better now.) $\endgroup$
    – TylerW
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 at 18:35
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Got it, that's probably my favorite now too :) $\endgroup$
    – TylerW
    Commented Nov 17, 2014 at 17:40
6
$\begingroup$

<3 OEIS

Define x as the number the guard tells you.

Add 80 to x.

Obtain the xth significant digit of fourth root of 12.

Therefore the number we say to the guard should be 1.

The number 12 was chosen because you have 12 songs in the soundtrack, and [12] in the title.

The fourth root is because of time and space - four dimensions. We need to normalize these 4 dimensions into a 1 dimensional number.

The number 80 was added because it is the secret ingredient in the spaghetti recipe!

Obviously assuming all the guests are capable of doing math precise to 100 decimal places...

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Lol, but I don't see any "clues"... $\endgroup$
    – QuyNguyen2013
    Commented Nov 14, 2014 at 22:13
  • $\begingroup$ Nope, but thanks for the guess! $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Commented Nov 15, 2014 at 0:36
3
$\begingroup$

PRIME NUMBER

Sequence starts at 2. Guard:2 Guest:2 2-2 =0

Guard:3 Guest:5 5-3=2 (First prime number) Guard:5 Guest:0 10-5=5 (Third prime number)

Guard:6 Guest:3 13-6=7(Forth prime number)

Guard:4 Guest:4 + 2nd prime number= 4+ 3

Answer: 7

PS: How about Guard:1 ? 1+19%10 is not 9!

Then you have to deduct it. 1-2=9. You move backwards, the sequence doesn't loops over

Easy.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ This is a troll joke, right? $\endgroup$
    – ThePopMachine
    Commented Nov 12, 2014 at 15:21
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Hold on. My answer is correct? $\endgroup$
    – Realdeo
    Commented Nov 12, 2014 at 15:26
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ +1 from me for being the first person to have a try, but no, that's not the method I was thinking of. Where someone proposes a solution that is not the method I'm thinking of, I've decided not to comment on whether the actual answer they've given is correct, because if I do then it provides an additional data point - which changes the puzzle for other people. $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Commented Nov 12, 2014 at 16:38
3
$\begingroup$

just random guessing

if this one doesn't require maths, it will be those soundtrack name
guard will tell the guest which number of the track they want to guess (according to the list without modify)
First, it will check if the track contain "the". If yes, go to F1. If not, go to F2. if contain more than 1 "the", go to F3.

F1: if "t" is lowercase, then select the second word after "the" (example: "the bla thing", choose "thing"), if "T" is uppercase, then select the first word after "the". Count the total alphabet of the selected word

f2: if track contains "()", count inner word length. If doesn't contain "()", then say 0.

F3: count total "the" in the track and minus one.

the answer for 4th track is "Prodigy", which is 7.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Interesting system, and thanks for the guess, but no. $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Commented Nov 15, 2014 at 13:49
3
$\begingroup$

Still can't figure out any answer from the numbers, but some kind of an idea...

What if the first 5 guests are sibilings (hence the annoyed guard, after seeing the similar face again and again, and one of them even beat him up), and these sibilings have magic powers to travel through spacetime... Using this special ability, we could explain the odd behaviors of the sibilings (such as the "0" answer of the 3rd guest, and the going-crazy of the 4th guest) because they meet a spacetime paradox.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ +1 for entertaining answer, but no, there's no secret about the guests that I haven't told you. $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Commented Nov 15, 2014 at 16:36
2
$\begingroup$

Reference answer.

Tyler W has the right solution and the right method, so go and upvote him/her before reading this.

The purpose of this post is to explain all the clues, including a few that haven't been solved yet.

My own post-mortem: I was surprised that the question turned out to be so difficult. But I enjoyed compiling the extra clues - I hope you enjoyed solving them.

OK, the clues explained:

Clues in the text of the question (each clue applies specifically to the challenge/response that it shares a paragraph with):

returns (Return of the Jedi)
menacing (Phantom Menace)
back (Emprire Strikes Back)
attacks and a hint at clones (Attack of the Clones)
revenge (Revenge of the Sith)
hope (A New Hope)

Musical clues:

Royale With Cheese (Dialogue), Pulp Fiction on Pulp Fiction
Features the voice of Samuel L. Jackson, who appears in Star Wars.

20th Century Fox, The Doors on The Best of The Doors
The movie studio which owns Star Wars.

Mr Tambourine Man, The Byrds on American Graffiti (More) - 1979
Taken from a movie where George Lucas (director of Star Wars) was one of the writers. Sequel to a movie directed by George Lucas.

Out of Space, The Prodigy
Theme of space.

Space Oddity, David Bowie on Best of Bowie
More space.

Indiana Jones Theme, John Williams on Raiders of the Lost Ark
Written by the composer who wrote the music for Star Wars. From a movie directed by George Lucas and starring Harrison Ford (director and star of Star Wars respectively)

Space Cowboy, Jamiroquai on The Return of the Space Cowboy
Yet more space.

The Galaxy Song, Eric Idle on Eric Idle Sings Monty Python
Have I made the point yet that space is a clue? :)

Girl From Mars, Ash on 1977
All the members of the band were born in 1977, which is also the name of the album - and the year in which Star Wars was released. And the answer to the puzzle, essentially. Also, space.

Across the Universe, Fiona Apple on Across the Universe
Just in case you missed the 'space' theme.

Choose Life, Underworld
Features the voice of Ewan McGregor, who stars in Star Wars.

Born To Be Wild (With Miss Piggy) Ozzy Osbourne, on Prince Of Darkness (Box Set)
Features the voice of Frank Oz (as Miss Piggy, not Ozzy), who is also the voice of Yoda.

Q: Was I meant to know all that obscure background information?

A: No, it's all on Wikipedia and IMDB. Googling the track titles is likely to bring it up pretty easily.

The two sub-puzzles:

* MAGICSIBLINGS are Luke and Leia, obviously.

* PATERNITYDISPUTE: "You're not my father!"

Hope you had fun - I certainly did.

If you liked it, look out for more of my puzzles!

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.