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I can't understand. I mean, I'm trying to be interesting. Maybe I'm just bad at this. Huh, maybe I should try clickbait... or something special... another type... no, not just another type... GOT IT! I KNOW HOW TO BE INTERESTING:

SomeoneInExistence, nee Parz, presents: THE INTERESTING PUZZLE:

Um... maybe it's bro-baabaasdid,africagreenlandfaroearuba,papgoago,heldi,virginiakentucky,heldi,thinloameggstores,orcai,unassigned,maybepensacola,maybegreenbay,somewhereineldoradoca,eggstores!

Huh, that's new. Maybe it's just gibberish, but given I'm typing it, it might be PUZZLES! Don't you love slogs through horrible anagrams? Well, if you do, call the toll-free numbers below!

1-866-274-0892

(Please don't really call this unless you need insurance)

Partials are fine, but I'd prefer parfaits. My answer, by the way, is not an answer, but a fashion statement. Not so much a fashion statement as an English fashion statement. Not so much an English fashion statement as an English statement.

PROGRESS THUS FAR:

Stiv has part one, the ANAGRAMMING, CORRECT!

Hint one, because even my INTERESTING PUZZLE isn't interesting.

The phone number leads to Right Track from Quicken Loans. Annagrammabanana is a good way to do this, then phone Quicken Loans and ask them if they have contacts in other countries' capitals.

Hint two, for Stiv.

If I could give you 44 upvotes, I would. You solved part one!

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  • $\begingroup$ I thought it was a meta post. Nevermind. $\endgroup$
    – I'm Nobody
    May 20, 2022 at 18:36
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    $\begingroup$ Then I would post it on the meta. Hmm? $\endgroup$
    – user79541
    May 20, 2022 at 18:39
  • $\begingroup$ Is rot13 (Cyrnfr qba'g ernyyl pnyy guvf hayrff lbh arrq vafhenapr) n pyhr be qb lbh ernyyl zrna vg? $\endgroup$
    – Varun W.
    May 24, 2022 at 14:31
  • $\begingroup$ @VarunW. If you google the number it's a real phone number for Liberty Mutual, a US insurer. So it's a genuine remark. The question is: does it also mean anything else, while just coincidentally also being this real phone number...? $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    May 24, 2022 at 14:53
  • $\begingroup$ Just a comment because not enough for an answer: rot13(fbzr bs gur abafrafr jbeqf urer ner nantenzf bs jbeyq pncvgnyf, yvxr fb: NQQVF NONON (Rguvbcvn), nsevpnterraynaqsnebrnehon, CNTB CNTB (Nzrevpna Fnzbn), QRYUV (Vaqvn), ivetvavnxraghpxl, QRYUV (Vaqvn), UNZVYGBA (Orezhqn) FG TRBETRF (Teranqn) PNVEB (Rtlcg), hanffvtarq, znlorcrafnpbyn, znlorterraonl, fbzrjurervaryqbenqbpn, FG TRBETRF (Teranqn)!) But I don't yet see what more to do with these. $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    May 24, 2022 at 14:58

1 Answer 1

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Posting a partial answer with some discoveries so far (transferred from my comments on the question) and some thoughts on where this is going next...

Firstly, note that in the long string of seemingly disconnected words...

...several of the words here are s of capital cities of countries or territories around the world:

baabaasdid = ADDIS ABABA (Ethiopia),
africagreenlandfaroearuba,
papgoago = PAGO PAGO (American Samoa),
heldi = DELHI (India),
virginiakentucky,
heldi = DELHI (India),
thinloam = HAMILTON (Bermuda),
eggstores = ST. GEORGE'S (Grenada)
orcai = CAIRO (Egypt),
unassigned, maybepensacola, maybegreenbay, somewhereineldoradoca,
eggstores = ST. GEORGE'S (Grenada)

The next step seems like it should be something to do with...

international calling codes, since we have reference to a telephone number in the puzzle, and the second hint appears to indicate the calling code for my home country, the UK (+44).

If we write out the calling codes for the cities in the anagrams we get:

Addis Ababa +251-1
Pago Pago +1-684
Delhi +91-11
Delhi +91-11
Hamilton +1-441
St. George's +1-473
Cairo +20-2
St. George's +1-473

(NB The country codes are substrings of these city codes.)

It may also be worth noting at this point that the phrases which were not anagrams could also potentially be converted to numbers via dialling codes here - most notably because (phrase 2) African countries, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Aruba make up all of the nations whose calling code takes the form +2xx, suggesting that we may need to convert that part of the text to '2'... Some of these would need to be back-solved if this were the case though, particularly 'unassigned' (of which there are many such codes...).

What to do with these numbers then? It's tempting at first to try and convert these numbers into letters via A1Z26, but apart from a beguiling 'ASK AND' appearing across the two Delhis and Hamilton, this doesn't seem to lead anywhere just yet.

An alternative possibility is that the phone number in the puzzle isn't just fluff (or a pointer to think about calling codes) and is actually some kind of key for extracting letters out of the capitals/countries we have found. However, since the phone number contains a '9' and we only have 8 anagrams, this is unlikely.

Perhaps someone else can spot the next step...

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  • $\begingroup$ Not the cities but the… $\endgroup$
    – user79541
    May 27, 2022 at 16:59

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