# All twelve the same

What is the phrase I'm looking for?

## (|X-)

                             A-Order

|BKGS|XQYU|QZGU|QTMS|DCRH|  33141
|DSBC|QBLS|YHPL|RHXP|AQPN|  32413
|RTEQ|YEVS|LMHR|IOPU|IMVB|  21342
|HJOP|FRWA|AMLA|BONZ|TYVP|  23123
|QRWF|ZUFE|YUIS|WIUB|ARTO|  42212


Hint 1

One letter per box.

• This markdown confuses me on so many levels Jul 1 at 17:37
• @LukasRotter Keep trying :) I'll add a hint tomorrow Jul 2 at 0:09

The phrase you are looking for is:

MAGIC SQUARE
(a square containing a number of integers arranged so that the sum of the numbers is the same in each row, column, and 2 main diagonals, as alluded to by: | (vertical), X (diagonal), and - (horizontal) which are in the top parentheses.

We note that (as @new QOpenGLWidget posted) "A-Order" likely means

"alphabetical order", and the digits matching the 5 columns with values from 1-4 suggest we take the nth item from each 4 digit value in the corresponding column.

This yields:

|K|X|G|T|C|
|D|L|Y|H|P|
|Q|E|M|U|I|
|J|R|A|N|V|
|W|F|S|B|O|

Converting to numbers yields:
11 24 7 20 3
4 12 25 8 16
17 5 13 21 9
10 18 1 14 22
23 6 19 2 15

Which is a MAGIC SQUARE where each row, column, and diagonal sum to 65. (12 sums in total, so "All twelve the same" as stated in the title!).

• Nice solve and well-explained.
– JLee
Jul 3 at 2:16
• That's the phrase I was looking for and everything explained correctly. Well done! Jul 3 at 6:05

"A-Order" seems to mean alphabetical order, so let's order our words in alphabetical order.

|BGKS|QUXY|GQUZ|MQST|CDHR| 33141
|BCDS|BLQS|HLPY|HPRX|ANPQ| 32413
|EQRT|ESVY|HLMR|IOPU|BIMV| 21342
|HJOP|AFRW|AALM|BNOZ|PTVY| 23123
|FQRW|EFUZ|ISUY|BIUW|AORT| 42212


Now use the numbers on the right. So we get

|K|X|G|T|C|
|C|L|S|H|N|
|Q|E|M|U|I|
|J|R|A|N|V|
|W|F|S|B|O|


...which, unfortunately, doesn't have anything too useful. I've tried a Caesar cipher, but it doesn't work. I'm thinking about trying a Caesar cipher on the box, then doing the steps above.

I also don't know how (|X-) or "All twelve the same" figures into this.

• You got the right the idea. But check row two again (some errors). I made an error myself, fixed now. Jul 2 at 23:52