23
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Remember my friend, Jim, who, y'know, gave me that "retaliation" puzzle, which I pretended to be stumped at, just to make him happy?
Well, anyone who's met me knows I don't keep people happy for long.
So, I shoved this text file into his computer today:

1.0
2.0
1.4
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
1.2
2.2
1.5
7.0
8.0
9.0
10.0
1.3
11.0
1.6
1.9
12.0
1.13
13.0
14.0
15.0
16.0
17.0
18.0
19.0
20.0
1.3
21.0
22.0
23.0
1.8
24.0
1.4
1.8
24.0
1.4
1.0
2.0
1.4
1.4

In case he needed some "help", I added this into a separate file:

kiyiavmb.pyv

Along with that file, I explained to him the way to solve it:

  • The songs lyrics are encoded in a special cipher I made:
    Each unique lyric is encoded in a number (these numbers go sequentially)
    If a lyric is a change from another one, that lyric's number would be put, then a period, then the number of words changed (for a unique lyric, this is 0)

Hard to get? Let me give you an example. The following lyrics:

Sunshine, falling down on me
Through the air and through the trees
Sunshine, falling down on me, yeah
Oh, how I love it so...

would be encoded to:

1.0
2.0
1.1
3.0

Lyrics 1 and 2 are unique, so they get 1.0 and 2.0.
Lyric 3 is just one word added from the first line (1.0), so it's 1.1.
Lyric 4 is unique, but since lyric 3 wasn't unique (it doesn't have it's own number), lyric 4 gets the number 3.0 instead of lyric 3.

I'm hoping that you guys can solve this, so that Jim can read this solution, and tell me I'm an amazing person. ;)

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20
  • $\begingroup$ the second appearance of 24.0 means the exact line is repeated? does this hold for say 1.3 aswell, or can they be different? $\endgroup$
    – JMP
    Jun 3, 2016 at 5:40
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    $\begingroup$ There are multiple instances of 1.4. Is it safe to assume that these are all the same or could they be different variants of 1.0 with other words changed? $\endgroup$
    – Gordon K
    Jun 3, 2016 at 8:14
  • $\begingroup$ Does word order in a line matter? If, in your example, the 3rd line was "Hello Sunshine, falling right down on me, yeah", would the encoding be: '1.0, 2.0, 1.3, 3.0'? Similarly, if the 3rd line was "I love the sunshine, bright as can be", is the inclusion of "sunshine" enough to match line 1, but with 7 changes (1.7)? $\endgroup$
    – William
    Jun 3, 2016 at 13:04
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    $\begingroup$ Could we have any hint about the song? $\endgroup$
    – user14352
    Jun 3, 2016 at 16:23
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    $\begingroup$ @SahibPrime With regards to 'changes' and 'deletions', can you give more clarity as to which can be considered a change and a delete? For example: "I eat desserts when I am happy" with "When I am happy, I am stressed." would desserts -> stressed be considered a delete AND addition? or is this just a change (desserts is stressed backwards). $\endgroup$
    – Takeshi
    Aug 10, 2016 at 9:16

1 Answer 1

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12
$\begingroup$

After many sleepless nights, my research ended with this song:

Lukas Graham - 7 years

I really hope this is the right answer..I'm soo tired now..

Edited:

Let's see the lyrics:

(Different words are bolded)

Once I was seven years old my momma told me

This is the first line, so refers to 1.0

Go make yourself some friends or you'll be lonely

Second line is different, so we encrypt as 2.0

Once I was seven years old

Same as first line, except last four word, so 4 is the difference, refers 1.4

It was a big big world, but we thought we were bigger
Pushing each other to the limits, we were learning quicker
By eleven smoking herb and drinking burning liquor
Never rich so we were out to make that steady figure

Different lines refers different numbers in encryption: 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0

Once I was eleven years old my daddy told me

2 different, so 1.2

Go get yourself a wife or you'll be lonely

3 different, maybe this is wrong, or but i count here 3, so 2.3

Once I was eleven years old

4 words missing 1 changed, so 1.5

etc..

Or im i wrong?

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8
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I suggest you provide explanations for your answer... $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Aug 16, 2016 at 15:06
  • $\begingroup$ great finding! any idea what the hint kiyiavmb.pyv might mean? $\endgroup$
    – elias
    Aug 16, 2016 at 21:59
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    $\begingroup$ Wow. Finally someone cracked it. Props to you, I really mean it. $\endgroup$
    – InitializeSahib
    Aug 17, 2016 at 3:31
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    $\begingroup$ Nice one. Finally I can get on with my work - this has been driving me mad. I was convinced the title, specifically the "dominate them" bit was some sort of clue - but apparently not. I also thought the kiyiavmb.pyv would be the artist's name encrypted somehow - I put most of my focus into trying to decipher that to no avail. What did that mean?! As suspected, I've never heard of the artist or the song :(. $\endgroup$
    – greenglass
    Aug 17, 2016 at 7:11
  • $\begingroup$ i've no idea what was hint representing. I was "bruteforcing" or mining the soution, i was totally sick to find the pattern in the songs. Finally seems i geti it. So maybe the nextquestion could be decypher the Hint. sry for my bad english :D $\endgroup$
    – peszo
    Aug 17, 2016 at 12:10

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