1984 =
Message:
u l g i o w y m s m u e b x g z g e n t<
(Note that dot sizes and distances are not part of the puzzle.)
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
-
$\begingroup$ What are you asking though? $\endgroup$ – Gordon Allocman May 19 '16 at 19:45
-
$\begingroup$ Well, saying that would make the puzzle much easier. $\endgroup$ – Yllrauei May 19 '16 at 19:46
-
2$\begingroup$ In that case tag enigmatic-puzzle $\endgroup$ – Gordon Allocman May 19 '16 at 19:46
-
$\begingroup$ is it intended that some of the dots are very slightly different sizes than others? (For example the third grouping of the "1984" set - the red and gray dots on the right are slightly smaller than the red dots on the left). Or is that an accidental result of however the image was generated? $\endgroup$ – Paul L May 19 '16 at 20:41
-
$\begingroup$ No, that was just an accident. $\endgroup$ – Yllrauei May 19 '16 at 20:44
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
The answer is:
waterfall
Reasoning:
Dots in groups of 7 (2 + 3 + 2 vertical dots) represent a 7-segment digital display (e.g. 8 = all dots red, 9 = lower left gray, etc.).
Hence the bottom message reads 2539 which we need to substitute with corresponding letters of alphabet to get beci.
This in turn is a key for Vigenère cipher to turn the encrypted text into "theansweriswaterfall".
-
$\begingroup$ any chance you have a link that explains how to decrypt such a cipher? I'm completely at a loss as to how you arrived at the final answer. $\endgroup$ – Paul L May 20 '16 at 13:59
-
$\begingroup$ practicalcryptography.com/ciphers/autokey-cipher $\endgroup$ – Yllrauei May 20 '16 at 16:59
