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Help me find the password!

All stories in this puzzle are fictions.

Once I was checking my old notes, and found a small chest with a 6-letter lock and 4 strange papers.

Paper #1

inventor a b d h t m
s 0 1 8 9 7 9
o 3 5 1 5 2 7
a 4 7 0 1 8 9
e 7 3 2 3 6 2
i 4 2 8 4 6 5
y 6 3 1 5 4 2 
qwertyuiop
asdfghjkl;
zxcvbnm,./

Paper #2, a story

On the first day he thought about reversing words, or move one character from the end to the beginning; but soon he abandoned this unbrilliant idea. On the second day, he looked at his table, and suddenly found something. An inventor wouldn't let any ideas go away. Finally, inspired by an old machine, he invented the encoder on the fifth day, but it's extremely dangerous.

Paper #3, unreadable characters

ABC
COMPOSE YEAR
´Ã£óEÕ´CDCE×Ç´BöB÷ÖBs"ÖBsróDBò÷Âä2æ2w§£2òô2ò÷Ä"Ä"Âóä"ÅBô"Ã2ó$Âòô"Âò÷ÂäÂæ£'ÄtróärôtwÆC"Ö2÷¢÷§Å

Paper #4

Index from #1 p b 2 w 9 5 - r
5 q i i t v 7 q i
o i j l n 6 w 1 5
r p 5 o t h q 1 l
4 q h m 9 q l 9 u
d q g 3 c l h 8 g
i q c m y q b e d
- z x y e b r 9 h
8 q b 8 c y s w v
2 d i b p c 9 p f 
(21,22)(37,16)(15,19)(35,13) For #1

Can you help me find out the correct password?

HINT

Search for Mozart's symphony No.35, "Haffner". And do what "he" did.

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    $\begingroup$ Nice - I like the question - I don't know that I would have given out all the hints so early though :) $\endgroup$
    – Graylocke
    Feb 19, 2021 at 11:59
  • $\begingroup$ To add on to what @Graylocke said, if you think hints are necessary to solve the puzzle, it's better to work those hints into the puzzle than to add them as hints later (of course, gauging whether or not the hints are needed to solve is easier said than done). $\endgroup$
    – samm82
    Feb 20, 2021 at 2:14
  • $\begingroup$ No, hints are not necessary. May I remove them? Only think some steps are too hard. Well I'll leave some hints, but remove the others. $\endgroup$
    – atzlt
    Feb 20, 2021 at 2:41
  • $\begingroup$ You mention 5 papers in the backstory but the puzzle only shows 4 papers... $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Feb 20, 2021 at 4:34
  • $\begingroup$ Only a typo @Sid $\endgroup$
    – atzlt
    Feb 20, 2021 at 4:35

1 Answer 1

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Well I waited for really a long time but there's no response. So I decided to give the answer:

Answer: arrest.

First look at paper #3, ´Ã£óEÕ´CDCE×Ç´BöB÷ÖBs"ÖBsróDBò÷Âä2æ2w§£2òô2ò÷Ä"Ä"Âóä"ÅBô"Ã2ó$Âòô"Âò÷ÂäÂæ£'ÄtróärôtwÆC"Ö2÷¢÷§Å:

Convert the characters into ASCII hex values: b4c3a312f345d5b443444345d7c7b442f642f7d6427322d6427372f34442f2f7c2e432e63277a7a332f2f432f2f7c422c422c2f3e422c542f422c332f32412c2f2f422c2f2f7c2e412c2e617a327c47472f3e472f47477c64322d632f7a2f7a7c5; then notice paper #2, 'he' moved the last character to the beginning. We do that: 5b4c3a312f345d5b443444345d7c7b442f642f7d6427322d6427372f34442f2f7c2e432e63277a7a332f2f432f2f7c422c422c2f3e422c542f422c332f32412c2f2f422c2f2f7c2e412c2e617a327c47472f3e472f47477c64322d632f7a2f7a7c, then convert it back: [L:1/4][D4D4]|{D/d/}d'2-d'7/4D//|.C.c'zz3//C//|B,B,/>B,T/B,3/2A,//B,//|.A,.az2|GG/>G/GG|d2-c/z/z|. That's a piece of ABC notation. Convert it into score, and you'll get the beginning of Mozart's work, 'Haffner', which was composed in 1782.

Then paper #4, (21,22)(37,16)(15,19)(35,13) For #1.

For each set (ab,cd), we find the two letters in the keyboard grid in paper #1: 1. at ln a, col b; 2. at ln c, col d. You'll get as my to be. That's the clue for paper #1.

Then paper #1:

For each word xy in as my to be, find the number at row x, col y. You'll get 0223. Together with the year 1782 you get a date 1782.02.23. James Watt's bidirectional steam engine was patented. So the inventor is jameswatt.

Finally, paper #4:

The clues are jameswatt and dangerous (from the story). Turn every number n in the table into the n-th letter of jameswatt. Find for the letters d a n g e r o u s. They are on: 1. row p, col a; 2. row s, col s; 3. row w, col o; 4. row r, col d; 5. row -, col i; 6. row s, col -; 7. row a, col r; 8. row r, col e; 9. row s, col t. Combine them: password-is-arrest.

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    $\begingroup$ If you think one of your questions has been lacking an answer for too long, you can bring more attention to it by placing a bounty on it (ideally with a new hint or two), in order to encourage more people to try it. $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    May 9, 2021 at 3:59

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