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deAr spider-man,

you stopped me once before but nOt this time again. what you do not understand is That evolution is inevItable. i am merely speeding up this process. yes, people will become weird dry-skinned reptiles afteR this, but this is a sacrifice humanity has to make to improve. i have hiddEn my device at the top of the most wonderful of places, which will release its chemicals on christmas day, my gift to you all. i am afraid this time, you will Not have enough time to stop me.

in this letter, i also included a block of letters. this is not my iDea. my friends insisted that i send you this since it is "more fun". well, technically not my friends. just some people from someplace called "gofam" who are interested in my work. one of them oNly wears a green suit while the other dResses like a dumb clown, but hey, who am i to judge their appearance.

i am soRry that you do not understand the brilliance of my plan. maybe you would learn to appreciate what i do a bit more after you gain reGenerative powers.

yours faitHfully,
curt connors
(edited by thE r and j)

NERQUREEVAT
ADCLHHWIRNA
ADNRFGKOOQN
JGADOBFRAAB
XTTNTAWAIZO
EFSEAATRYHT
ERILYCEIUDS
FKKOSGRAADW
LQALIAYBILA
TVPNGUYANAN
IKOMSPVAAXA

You looked at your friend. Well, technically not your friend. Just some random dude with a black cape who flew into your apartment, scared the living daylights out of Aunt May, and handed you the letter.

"Well." He spoke with an unnecessarily low voice. "Where is the device hidden?"

Your answer is a location that exists in real life.

Hint:

"I found all the capitals in this letter and I think they can be rearranged to form a message!"

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  • $\begingroup$ If you ignore the red herring, I can find 3 of that mentioned group, 4 of another famous group, and one odd one out. But it doesn't feel like it's the final answer. $\endgroup$
    – Lukas Rotter
    Sep 1 at 13:18
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    $\begingroup$ Have no idea what to do with this: rot13(Gur pncvgnyvmrq yrggref fcryy bhg na nantenz sbe 'ABG N ERQ UREEVAT') $\endgroup$
    – JGibbers
    Sep 1 at 16:20
  • $\begingroup$ @LukasRotter Can you elaborate on the 'groups'? $\endgroup$
    – new Q Open Wid
    Sep 3 at 19:20
  • $\begingroup$ @newQOpenWid The remaining letters of the REDHERRING anagram are AOTN, so I thought maybe this hints towards NATO (3/8), 4 of the remaining are commonwealth countries (although Canada is both CW and in NATO), leaving Libya. I didn't even realize the anagram just means "NOT A red herring" - so its almost certainly a dead-end $\endgroup$
    – Lukas Rotter
    Sep 4 at 8:17

2 Answers 2

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This answer builds from Lezzup's answer. To recap, the grid of letters contains

the name of eight countries:

Botswana
Guyana
Nigeria
Norway
Pakistan
Croatia
Libya
Canada

Now:

The hint says "I found all the capitals in this letter and I think they can be rearranged to form a message!". Instead of the capital letters which spell out "not a red herring", this hint refers to the capital cities of the eight countries, which are:

Gaborone, Botswana
Georgetown, Guyana
Abuja, Nigeria
Oslo, Norway
Islamabad, Pakistan
Zagreb, Croatia
Tripoli, Libya
Ottawa, Canada

Then:

Taking the first letter of each capital city, we have GGAOIZTO. This anagrams to GO TO GIZA. We know from the letter that the device is hidden "at the top of the most wonderful of places". If we are in Giza, this means that the device must be hidden on top of the Great Pyramid, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ perhaps you could elaborate on rot13(Frira jbaqref)? $\endgroup$
    – CatProgrammer
    Sep 9 at 9:49
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First, let's find out who the friends are of Curt Connors:

"gofam" means probably Gotham, and that means we have to look for some DC vilains. The one with the green suit is The Riddler, and the one that dresses like a dumb clown, is the Joker. This explains the last sentence:
(edited by thE r and j) => (edited by The Riddler and Joker)

After that, it's quite obvious who is the friend of Spider-Man:

The one with the black cape and unnecessary low voice is Batman!

About all the capital letters:

They spell out AOTIRENDNRRGHE, which is an anagram for Not a red herring. No idea what to do with that.

Let's find out what's with the grid with letters means:

The first row spells out NERQUREEVAT which is rot13: A RED HERRING. So let's ignore that one. It's actually a word-search! In the grid, 8 countries could be found:
wordsearch
Botswana
Guyana
Nigeria
Norway
Pakistan
Croatia
Libya
Canada

"i have hiddEn my device at the top of the most wonderful of places", so the final answer is probably:

The highest mountains in these countries:

Botswana   Monalanong Hill

Guyana     Mount Roraima

Nigeria    Chabbal Waddi

Norway     Galdhøpiggen

Pakistan   K2

Croatia    DINARA

Libya      Bikku Bitti

Canada     Mount Logan

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    $\begingroup$ I don't think that's the right answer, though, as it's too general. I think it must have something to do with the exact countries themselves. $\endgroup$
    – new Q Open Wid
    Sep 2 at 12:56
  • $\begingroup$ @Lezzup, this is a very good attempt. Note that new Q Open Wid is right that this is not the final intended solution. $\endgroup$
    – CatProgrammer
    Sep 2 at 14:19
  • $\begingroup$ @CatProgrammer, now we are all weird dry-skinned reptiles :) $\endgroup$
    – WOWOW
    Sep 3 at 15:23
  • $\begingroup$ @WOWOW well it isn't Christmas day yet ;) $\endgroup$
    – new Q Open Wid
    Sep 3 at 19:18
  • $\begingroup$ @lezzup Hint for everyone, rot13 (Nsgre lbh erneenatr gur pncvgny yrggref, lbh ner gbyq guvf vf abg n erq ureevat. Ubj vf guvf eryrinag gb rvtug pbhagevrf? ) $\endgroup$
    – CatProgrammer
    Sep 4 at 9:55

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