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My roommate changed my password! The jerk got onto my machine, while I was in the restroom, and changed it.

Sigh...

As he left the room, he gave me a single slip of paper, that he claimed had a password hint on it.

It simply states:

6-sided
Very Harsh
28 characters

...Not that I have any idea what that's supposed to mean! Well, anyhow. The only things left on my desk, when he was gone were:

A single 1 gram weight
and
Dollar Coin

This is ridiculous... Would you guys mind helping me, please?

UPDATE!

My roommate came back! He was upset that I hadn't figured out the password, yet, though. He grabbed a marker from his desk, drew on the coin, and walked back out the door, without saying another word.

Hint

1

The coin has absolutely nothing to do with the answer, but it's got the most important part.

2

There are more 6-sided things than you've taken time to consider.

3

The answer is 28 Nibbles long.

4

One of the clues contained in the image has a particular feature which is extremely important towards deciphering the password.

5

The gram is indicative of a specific type of arrangement....one that has to do...with grams. ... Or a gram.

Conclusion

With Bolo's help, I was able to get into my computer finally!

When I finally made it in:

.... He had wiped my hard drive ...

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  • 4
    $\begingroup$ To get started: The image shows the "Sacagawea Golden Dollar", but with "Liberty" mirrored. See: coinnews.net/2007/09/06/… $\endgroup$
    – Gamow
    Mar 18, 2016 at 17:29
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    $\begingroup$ And the note means.... Die Hard Alphabet? $\endgroup$
    – Duncan
    Mar 18, 2016 at 17:33
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    $\begingroup$ very harsh = severe $\endgroup$
    – Raystafarian
    Mar 18, 2016 at 18:18
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    $\begingroup$ Forget your password, coin errors are typically quite valuable, especially a never-before-seen one like this! $\endgroup$
    – 2012rcampion
    Mar 19, 2016 at 10:55
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    $\begingroup$ Ok. So 26 nibbles and 6 sided makes me think the password is in hex. And it's 26 hex chars meaning it either is 13 letters long or 26 hex chars that can be derived elsewhere from ascii values. $\endgroup$
    – Z. Dailey
    Mar 26, 2016 at 3:08

6 Answers 6

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The password is: 5445525249424C59534556455245, which is a hexadecimal representation of TERRIBLYSEVERE, which is an anagram of REVERSE LIBERTY.

Some of the hints:

  • 6-sided — hexadecimal
  • 28 nibbles — 14 letters coded as 28 hexadecimals
  • 1 gram, I don't think I've ever seen anything of his in order. — anagram
  • harsh / very harsh — the 14-letter message is a harsh one
  • LIBERTY reversed — could point to the other side of the coin, where E PLURIBUS UNUM is written (13 letters, too short), or to something else.
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  • $\begingroup$ I approve this message! LoL $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Apr 5, 2016 at 21:15
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    $\begingroup$ I still don't get why 6-sided should point to hex, apart from hexadecimal beginning with the same letters as hexagon (but that's a stretch). Hexadecimal means 16, not 6. $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 5, 2016 at 21:39
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    $\begingroup$ @fffred I assume that's because in IT we sometimes say "hex" when referring to hexadecimal. You're right, that's not entirely accurate, but not a yuge (as politicians say these days) stretch. $\endgroup$
    – Bolo
    Apr 5, 2016 at 21:48
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    $\begingroup$ Hex is the short form of hexadecimal. The number 6 is intended to lean you in the right direction, not give you the word. The clue was pointing to the word hex, not necessarily hexagon. It's further hinted with nibble to assist. Hope that helps. $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Apr 5, 2016 at 22:21
  • $\begingroup$ This is the correct answer, good job. :) $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Apr 6, 2016 at 1:44
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Is it:

65706c757269627573756e756d which is e pluribus unum in hex.

Because:

The liberty reverse hints to the back side of the Sacajawea Dollar and on the 2003 "e pluribus unum" was on the back.

There have been plenty of hints toward hex and once e pluribus unum was mentioned in a hint, khale mentioned people were close.

Making a password hex is very harsh

It's 26 characters long.

Plenty of other hints were given in comments.

One as many is the translation which would account for the one gram weight.

Could also be:

31206772616d20776569676874

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    $\begingroup$ You're on the on the right track, but the gram holds more weight than you're giving it credit for. (pun intended) $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Mar 20, 2016 at 0:01
  • $\begingroup$ Hahahahaha. Nice one @Khale_Kitha $\endgroup$
    – Z. Dailey
    Mar 20, 2016 at 0:01
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    $\begingroup$ Is it something about a rot13(Xvyy-b-tenz) $\endgroup$
    – Z. Dailey
    Mar 20, 2016 at 0:03
  • $\begingroup$ Hah - nope. "Ask again later" $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Mar 20, 2016 at 0:05
  • $\begingroup$ @Khale_Kitha still thinking that was a hint on this. Is it or was it supposed to be a pun? $\endgroup$
    – Z. Dailey
    Mar 28, 2016 at 2:57
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Is it

53746172206F66204461766964

That is,

the 26-character hex-encoded ASCII code for “Star of David”, which is a hexagram? The backwards word on the coin could be a reference to the Hebrew script being written right-to-left.

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    $\begingroup$ You're close but not quite there. $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Mar 26, 2016 at 15:23
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    $\begingroup$ @Khale_Kitha: So, are you saying I have the right coding, but of the wrong phrase? $\endgroup$
    – dan04
    Mar 27, 2016 at 2:22
4
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Not an Answer

The comments were getting too crowded.

Regarding the coin, you can see what a real one looks like here. Because the "tails" side of a coin is technically known as the reverse, and the word "LIBERTY" is reversed in the puzzle, I thought it might be significant to see the reverse of the coin. The P in the lower right means that it was minted in Philadelphia.

Utah is six sided, as Gamow points out. So are cells in beehives and snowflakes.

Almost certainly unrelated but I thought this was interesting.

A one gram weight is really small. An American cent weighs about 2.5 grams. A paperclip weighs about a gram. On the other hand, sometimes grams are written things (like a hexagram?)

Harsh can mean caustic, severe or cruel

Liberty backwards could mean slavery or confinement of some sort. According to OP, none of his roommate's things are "in order". Maybe liberty isn't the only thing that's backward.

The longest Die Hard movie title, "Die Hard With a Vengeance" is 25 characters, including spaces.

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  • $\begingroup$ US stop signs, however, are eight-sided. $\endgroup$
    – question_asker
    Mar 21, 2016 at 15:48
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    $\begingroup$ Perhaps it is related to the Navajo Code Talkers; from 6-sided Utah; commemorated on 2016 reverse of Sacagawea Dollar. $\endgroup$
    – Gamow
    Mar 21, 2016 at 16:18
  • $\begingroup$ @Gamow Maybe. But the reverse of the 2003 coin is an eagle in flight and the motto "e pluribus unum". $\endgroup$
    – Hugh Meyers
    Mar 21, 2016 at 16:34
  • $\begingroup$ Hand over mouth You guys are getting SO many of the clues! They just aren't being connected together, correctly. (And you're all really focused on death.) $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Mar 21, 2016 at 16:58
  • $\begingroup$ Maybe changing the hexagon into a hexagram and looking at what would be on the edges of the coin at the points? The Sacajawea Dollar has writing on the outside edge. $\endgroup$
    – Z. Dailey
    Mar 21, 2016 at 20:41
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I think it is one of the following codes

456121612, 216121654 or 432161216. Using a hexagon (which is 6-sided), numbering the nodes clockwise, and ordering the alphabet (26 letters) around it clockwise, the first corner contains the 1, a, g, m (one-a-gram), perhaps also alluding to the word "anagram", a rehash of letters. The code is simply the code for the letters of "Very Harsh" (9 digits); the first guess. The reverted Liberty could point to either the reverse of the first guess, which is my second guess. Or, if the hexagon is numbered reverse, then the code is the third guess, changing each digit n in 8-n, unless it's 1.

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2
  • $\begingroup$ I don't think "very harsh" is a code as it used to be "harsh" and was edited afterwards $\endgroup$
    – fffred
    Apr 4, 2016 at 7:48
  • $\begingroup$ This is not it. See the other answers for clues. $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Apr 4, 2016 at 13:02
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It's time to start guessing. Therefore, my guess is:

562756675637E6F67616875686 This is the hex for "hexagonsevere" all backwards 6572657665736E6F6761786568 This is the hex for "erevesnogaxeh"

My reasoning:

We have the clue that it is 26 nibbles, or half-bytes long. This solution has 26 hex characters which could be considered 26 nibbles corresponding to the 13 characters in "hexagonsevere". "hexagonsevere" of course comes from a hexagon being six-sided and severe meaning very harsh. I assume it has to be reversed in some way because the word "Liberty" is reversed and the picture of Sacagawea looking back over her shoulder is outlined with a hexagon. I am taking "gram" in the sense of something written as in "telegram" or "electroencephalogram" and "one gram" to mean the two clues are written all as one word.

If I'm not right, I hope this will at least provoke another clue.

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1
  • $\begingroup$ You're using the right thought process here, but you've got a few details wrong, causing you to not reach the correct final solution. Just remember that the puzzle involves a coin (which is not important, as such) ...and a gram. $\endgroup$
    – Khale_Kitha
    Apr 5, 2016 at 14:52

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