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You wake up in a room, you don't know where you are.

You look around, you see a computer, a note, and door with an 9 digit combination lock.

You go up to the note, it reads:

I heard you were a web designer, a pretty good one at that. I want you to fix my website. My company's logo won't show on our website.

The issue is the background, but I don't know how to change it.

This is probably a little drastic, locking you in a room and all. But you said you would do it whilst you were drunk last night, and I wanted to ensure you would do it straight away.

I obviously want my company's colours incorporated into the website. My last web designer said the colour code was #ED2C4A. Once you have changed the website's files, which is located on the desktop of the computer in front of you, then you are free to leave. The code will be be seen from the website's source code, but only when loaded in Google Chrome.

You load the computer and the first thing you notice when you load Chrome is the "Color Format" option is not set to the default "As Authored".

Before you get to work changing the website, you think it is best to figure out where you are, and who you are dealing with.

You look in the website's folders for an image which contains your captors' company's logo. To no avail. So you look on Google Maps and see your coordinates are 52.9563767 -1.1511079.

Armed with this knowledge, you change the website's background.

But now it's up to you. You need to figure out:
-What the code is for the door
-Which company is to be reported to the police (bonus point for getting the name of the person).

Assumptions:

  • You are being held within a 5 minute walk of the business
  • You understand web design
  • (for the bonus point) It is the director of the company which took you
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  • $\begingroup$ I'm just sitting in my school cafeteria turning around in my seat while using google maps augmented reality $\endgroup$
    – Areeb
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 12:34
  • $\begingroup$ Having a bad day at work? $\endgroup$
    – Ivanhoe
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 13:11
  • $\begingroup$ It would be more interesting if I was... The story would have been a little more interesting $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 13:23
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    $\begingroup$ @jordsta95 "although that is a good idea for a future puzzle" - Probably not, honestly. Requiring the solver to view external unknown websites for hints is usually not well-received here; A puzzle should be self-contained for the most part. $\endgroup$
    – user14478
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 13:38
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This is a "who can guess what I am thinking" game $\endgroup$
    – YogaPanda
    Commented Sep 21, 2016 at 14:01

6 Answers 6

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Completing the puzzle from the good work of YogaPanda...

The company is:

World Cuisine Buffet (confirmed correct by OP)

The door code is:

237044074 (confirmed correct by OP)

Your captor is:

Nasim Kayani (World Cuisine Buffet was sold 5 months ago to investment company Framemill, and Kayani is the director ... http://www.nottinghampost.com/red-hot-world-buffet-nottingham-sold/story-29187055-detail/story.html)

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to the site. It is generally requested that answers not only state the answer, but also the reasoning why this answer is true. Could you please edit your post with that content? In particular, as this answer has been accepted by @jordsta95 $\endgroup$
    – BmyGuest
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 7:00
  • $\begingroup$ I don't think this is right, the Red Hot World Buffet is another restaurant that near by that area. It's a different restaurant. Seriously? @jordsta95 $\endgroup$
    – YogaPanda
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 12:44
  • $\begingroup$ This was the business used goo.gl/0pYM9b (shortened URL because maps url is way too long) $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 13:11
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks @BmyGuest. As I stated in my post, I didn't figure out the company or the door code ... YogaPanda had already worked those out and jordsta95 had confirmed them as the correct answers, so you'll need to scan the rest of the thread to learn how they were determined. All I did was find the Nottingham Post news article reporting on the change of ownership... $\endgroup$
    – SamW
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 23:18
  • $\begingroup$ @YogaPanda if you read the news article I linked to, it stated: "The flagship Nottingham restaurant of all-you-can-eat chain Red Hot World Buffet has been taken over ... the restaurant will be renamed World Cuisine Buffet within the next month". So it WAS the Red Hot back in April, but not now. $\endgroup$
    – SamW
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 23:22
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Some food-related (OP indicated it was food-related) businesses in the area with logos that are in the ballpark of this color:

enter image description here

enter image description here
There are at least 4 Tesco Express shops and 1 Tesco Metro shop in the 5-minute walk vicinity.

enter image description here
There's a Wimpy burger place here

enter image description here
There are a couple Argos stores nearby.

Though it's tough to tell which if any might be correct.

As for the 9-digit code, I suspect that

the hint about the "as authored" setting means we need to convert the Hex representation of the color to a different one. Some ideas (OP has confirmed that one of the first two is correct, guess I can just try them both on the door and get out):

RGB (237,44,74) → 237044074
RGB% (92.9, 17.3, 29.0) → 929173290
CMYK (but why would you use it for web?) (0, 81.4, 68.8, 7.1) → 081468871 (confirmed wrong)

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  • $\begingroup$ You've escaped the room (with one of the 3 codes you gave - it isn't the CMYK, as it isn't available in CDT). However, you are still none the wiser to the company which took you. $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 20:51
  • $\begingroup$ @jordsta95 Well, that's at least one part (mostly) solved. Do we have anything to go on re: the company other than the color, the 5-min radius, and food-related? There's a ton of stuff there! $\endgroup$
    – Dan Russell
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 20:54
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    $\begingroup$ I'm hoping there are clues in the OP. So far this just feels like we're examining web code for random eateries in the area. $\endgroup$
    – Steve Mangiameli
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 21:01
  • $\begingroup$ @SteveMangiameli Yeah, I've been over the story a couple times but can't see any other obvious (or even non-obvious) clues that aren't already used in the door code part. $\endgroup$
    – Dan Russell
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 21:03
  • $\begingroup$ @SteveMangiameli It may be a completely non-obvious clue to anyone outside the UK (or at least my county) - which is that Asians are generally stereotyped as "Do it. Do it now!" people, whereas a Briton wouldn't really expect someone who says "I'll get right on it" to do stuff within 24 hours of promising to do something... Hopefully that's enough of a clue? $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 21:28
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I'm going with (partial answer)

E-on

Because

It's 2 minutes away by foot and the colour code of the company's logo is close to the one in the story.

That would mean the CEO of the company is

Tony Cocker

Haven't got a clue about the lock code yet.

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  • $\begingroup$ I thought that too at first, but OP stated that "The website in the story is only hypothetical. This mystery company may or may not have a website", so I doubt it's the correct solution. $\endgroup$
    – user14478
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 13:55
  • $\begingroup$ Unfortunately, you're not even close. Your on the right track with the colour code and the logo being similar. However, I'd advise looking at the companies you can see when looking at Google Maps, as their images may give you a clue. $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 13:56
  • $\begingroup$ I found this one too, it's on the same block as the coordinates we got dumped off at... but the wikipedia page says it's headquartered in Essen, Germany $\endgroup$
    – Sconibulus
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 13:56
  • $\begingroup$ @Sconibulus I saw that too but I imagined the OP would have used E-on UK which has its HQ somewhere in Coventry. $\endgroup$
    – Ivanhoe
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 14:06
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I'm thinking the website is for

Red Bar and Lounge - it's a 2 minute walk, the hex is for bright red and the developer was drunk last night

The owner is

Johnny Moore

And the door code is

your current location - the Guildhall - in A1Z26 format 7 21 9 12 4 8 1 12 12

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2
  • $\begingroup$ Looks like you might have too many numbers...the lock is a 9-digit lock. $\endgroup$
    – Dan Russell
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 20:31
  • $\begingroup$ I like the thinking with the door code, however, you wouldn't get that in Chrome's developer tools. (Hint for those that haven't used it before: CDT shows the elements on the page, as well as CSS - fonts, colours, sizes, etc.) Unfortunately, the company isn't correct. $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 20:35
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Here's my partial answer

Pizza Hut, due to the color code given being a shade of red that looks quite close to if not matching Pizza Hut's red roof logo and there is one within a 5 minute walk of the coordinates given.

Which makes the captor

Scott Bergren, CEO of Pizza Hut

As with Ivanhoe's answer, still working on the door code

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1
  • $\begingroup$ Unfortunately it's not Pizza Hut. However, you may be glad to know your company is in the right ball park (food-related). $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 19:43
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The company is

World Cuisine Buffet

Because

Their color theme #ca0f13 is similar with the red

The code for the door is

237044074

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  • $\begingroup$ Use the help when answering. Basically, you just needed to add an exclamation after your greater than symbol - >! Why do you think that's the company? $\endgroup$
    – Steve Mangiameli
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 21:22
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, please add some explanation to this answer, otherwise it may be deleted. $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 21:24
  • $\begingroup$ Your reasoning for the company is a wrong assumption. A director is one of the "top dogs" of any company in the UK. They make all of th decisions. Although you may have "director of marketing" as a job title, you may also have a corner shop whose owner is the director of the company, even though it's just the owner and one employee... Also, the company is incorrect $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 21:44
  • $\begingroup$ @jordsta95 Thanks for the feedback and I have updated my answer. (will post the captor later on) $\endgroup$
    – YogaPanda
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 22:08
  • $\begingroup$ Well the police have the staff on lockdown, as you have got the correct code, and the correct company! $\endgroup$
    – jordsta95
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 22:10

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