I've received an early Christmas gift with a combination lock and a letter containing a poem and some sentences. There are several typos: I don't believe they're intentional, but they might be. I have not yet solved it.
Who and When is all you need
One letter each,
And gifts are freed!EIGHTH
Renowned Curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the valuted archway of the museum's Grand GalleryTENTH
It was five o' clock on a winter's morning SyriaTHIRD
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.FIFTH
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,"
grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
The combination lock doesn't have every letter.
RSTLNBDMJPLHAEIOUYRTRSTLNACDEODHKYRSTLNE
These are the same for every MasterLock, so they likely don't have anything to do with the actual solution, just whether a solution could be valid.
I've already figured this much out:
Every sentence is the opening sentence of a book. The first (Renowned curator...) is from The Da Vinci Code, the second (It was five o' clock...) is from Murder on the Orient Express, the third (It was a bright cold day...) is from 1984, and the fourth (Christmas won't be Christmas...) is from Little Women.
The following codes are incorrect:
* NHNL (nth letter of each title)
* CHNL (nth letter of each title, with no The in Da Vinci Code)
* NIOS (nth letter of each author's name)