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aoPrk

You've been invited to room 314, but who lives in 314?

Hint 1:

Room 314 is the last door at the end of the hall.

Hint 2:

As you listen at the door, you can hear someone playing an instrument

Hint 3:

The neighbor's door has a post-it note stuck to it with the question "Why does the sun shine?"

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Way too short to even be a partial answer, but the image footnote reference is 2, rather than the standard 1. Together with the room number that might mean something, using 1-4 together. $\endgroup$
    – Lolgast
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 8:14
  • $\begingroup$ How about the fact that the QR's are not of equal size, and the 314 print on the door looks distorted? Does this relate to the stenography tag? $\endgroup$
    – nl-x
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 13:07
  • $\begingroup$ It's pi: 3.14.. turning the knob describes the circle. $\endgroup$
    – rocksteady
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 20:26
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    $\begingroup$ Piano starts with "pi" $\endgroup$
    – Andrew Savinykh
    Commented Jan 19, 2018 at 4:22
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    $\begingroup$ @AndrewSavinykh I've added another hint. Also noteworthy, each hint is actually 2 hints, from a certain point of view. $\endgroup$
    – David Starkey
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 21:20

6 Answers 6

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The only way I got even close is through the work of everyone else here, and I'm really just piecing together things everyone else has said so consider this a "group solve", but I believe the answer is:

Dr. Worm (a song by They Might be Giants). Everything is a reference to lyrics from that song.

The QR codes say:

A REAL ONE I AM NOT YET REAL I AM

Well:

The lyrics for Dr. worm say: I'm not a real doctor, But I am a real worm;

The QR codes also say:

Just come turn the knob and things get interesting

and

Dr. Worm lyrics: I'm interested in things.

How the clues fit in:

clue 1:

Last door at the end of the hall

explanation:

The last letter of the clues for each QR code are TMBG - initials for They Might Be Giants.

clue 2:

As you listen at the door, you can hear someone playing an instrument

explanation:

I like to play the drums.

clue 3:

The neighbor's door has a post-it note stuck to it with the question "Why does the sun shine?"

explanation:

Another song by TMBG

original hint 1:

There's also a doorbell, but no one answered when you pushed it.

explanation:

I'll leave the front un-locked 'cause I can't Hear the doorbell

original hint 2:

They really seem to enjoy banging those drums!

explanation:

I like to play the drums.

original hint 3:

Istanbul/Constantinople

explanation:

Another song by TMBG

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  • $\begingroup$ It's already been answered by puzzle-guesser but thank you for your effort. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel P
    Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 21:30
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    $\begingroup$ "Last door at the end of the hall" is meant to direct you to look at the endings. $\endgroup$
    – David Starkey
    Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 21:39
  • $\begingroup$ @DavidStarkey oh, got it. edited in. $\endgroup$
    – PopularIsn'tRight
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 4:10
  • $\begingroup$ @Gh0sT Puzzle guesser's post has no connection between the puzzle and the answer - it's based solely off a guess based on the clues (per the post). $\endgroup$
    – PopularIsn'tRight
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 4:11
  • $\begingroup$ I agree. This answer is more complete, as it works through the connection from the actual puzzle contents to the answer. If someone knew the lyrics to this song very well, they could get from the puzzle to the answer. $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 18:13
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Partial answer

If you decode every QR code using something like zxing.org, you get these codes (top to bottom):

1

nmi ztia, Q pu
Vigenere Cipher with key "PI":
YET REAL I AM

2

bonk eht nrut emoc tsuJ
Inverse the string:
Just come turn the knob

3

YW5kIHRoaW5ncyBnZXQgaW50ZXJlc3Rpbmc=
From base-64:
and things get interesting

4

N erny bar, V nz abg
Rot 13:
A REAL ONE I AM NOT

Credits

Gareth McCaughan♦ spotted a mistake.

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  • $\begingroup$ There are a lot of things related to circles. PI as the Vignere key, room 314 (3.14...), turn the knob (the knob would be the radius and turning it would create 1/4 of a circle), a real one (pi is irrational but a real number) $\endgroup$
    – ferret
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 20:00
  • $\begingroup$ I'm guessing you need to answer the final question of "who lives there". It's obvious from the clues you got (and @andrewtweber's hint). $\endgroup$
    – PopularIsn'tRight
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 20:26
  • $\begingroup$ @Bachrach44 I'm not sure it's obvious... Mr. Circle? Mr. Pi? :) I also don't know what the clue "and things get intereting" means. There's probably something I'm not noticing. $\endgroup$
    – Reinis Mazeiks
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 20:58
  • $\begingroup$ @R.M Perhaps I'm being overly simplistic, but I would just assume the answer is "pi". $\endgroup$
    – PopularIsn'tRight
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 21:22
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    $\begingroup$ But what does the "music" tag indicate? I vote for A Perfect Circle ;) $\endgroup$
    – APrough
    Commented Jan 11, 2018 at 21:24
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Another partial answer because I can't comment

The image's alt attribute is aoPrk, so going to https://i.sstatic.net/aoPrk.png, we see the order of the qr codes.

Plugging in the decoded words from R.M's answer, we see

A REAL ONE I AM NOT
YET REAL I AM
Just come turn the knob
and things get interesting

No clue where to go from here.

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Is it i or $\sqrt{-1}$

1.

YET REAL I AM A REAL ONE I AM NOT
This similar to complex numbers as they are not "real numbers"

2.

The room number is 314
This is one part of eulers identity $e^{i\pi} = -1$
This again uses complex numbers

3.

The words "just come turn the knob and things get interesting"
Probably alludes to multiplication by $i$ rotates something $90^{\circ}$ on the complex plane

Credits to R.M. for decoding QR codes

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    $\begingroup$ You could even say that "I live in room 314". $\endgroup$
    – Lolgast
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 9:03
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    $\begingroup$ I like this answer, but I'm not sure how it fits with the music tag. $\endgroup$
    – David Starkey
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 14:35
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Another partial answer

At first, I was planning to post this in comment, but I think it's better to write as partial answer for sharing.

When I was checking edit history of this one, I found that OP wrote some comments when update hints.

For Hint 1,

There's also a doorbell, but no one answered when you pushed it.

For Hint 2,

They really seem to enjoy banging those drums!

Last, for Hint 3

There's also a flag down the hall for Istanbul....or maybe Constantanople?

And I assume that OP had make another typo in hints again. :)

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  • $\begingroup$ You are correct. I am terrible at spell. $\endgroup$
    – David Starkey
    Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 14:11
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Is the occupant of 314:

Dan Hickey, drummer for They Might be Giants from 1997 to 2003?

Guess is based on:

These clues: Istanbul (Not Constantinople), Why Does the Sun Shine, drumming

Guess is not based on:

Anything in the original puzzle. No clue how the original puzzle without the clues would lead to this answer.

Updated Guess:

Based on last clue in comments below, I believe Dr. Worm lives in Room 314. Full credit to all the other clues and guesses that led to this answer.

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  • $\begingroup$ Close. Perhaps a song about a certain dirt-dwelling critter of theirs will help out? $\endgroup$
    – David Starkey
    Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 16:35
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    $\begingroup$ Good job! I agree with you the original puzzle is unsolvable. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel P
    Commented Feb 20, 2018 at 21:12
  • $\begingroup$ @Gh0sT Perhaps I overestimated the popularity of the song, but I believe the puzzle to be solvable without the assistance of the hints. $\endgroup$
    – David Starkey
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 15:58
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    $\begingroup$ After discovering the full answer, I agree. I was not familiar with the song lyrics, but someone who is could get from the puzzle to the answer directly. PopularIsn'tRight has a more complete and correct answer. $\endgroup$
    – MetaZen
    Commented Feb 21, 2018 at 18:15

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