26
$\begingroup$

Happy belated (or early!) birthday to everyone!

Birthday Gift

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
4
  • $\begingroup$ thanks but it's not my birthday until next year... $\endgroup$
    – L_Church
    Jun 15, 2018 at 13:53
  • $\begingroup$ Aww, my birthday was exactly a week ago. Should have made this earlier. :P $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Jun 15, 2018 at 13:54
  • $\begingroup$ I actually just bought a 55 inch TV for my birthday yesterday! $\endgroup$
    – PmanAce
    Jun 15, 2018 at 16:07
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ +1 for zero-indexing $\endgroup$
    – noneuclideanisms
    Jun 15, 2018 at 21:56

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
11
$\begingroup$

Building off the other answers (thanks UselessInfoMine and N'Katar), I think I have them all worked out.

1:

DIE, TOYS, SAD (as noted above)
enter image description here

2:

TSAR, SUM (MUST without its end and reversed), REN (Sophia LoREN). enter image description here

3:

HANG (within "sHANGhai" or abduct), LOL (head of LOLLIPOP), KEG (EKG anagram)
enter image description here

For the grids:

Place the answers in their corresponding colored spaces, first letter going in 0, second in 1, etc.

Then:

Stack the grids so that three apropos phrases read down: MATROYSHKA, NESTED DOLL and RUSSIAN EGG.

I think that's all.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ You seem to have Rot13(FUNATUNV)'d the victory, but there Rot13(ZHFG) be a better alternative for "imperative." $\endgroup$
    – Chowzen
    Jun 16, 2018 at 11:19
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the clarification. I'll add those to my answer. $\endgroup$
    – SKOG
    Jun 16, 2018 at 15:40
15
$\begingroup$

Aha!

I downloaded it, and I opened it. :)
I opened it with 7-zip. Inside I found:

  1. 1clues.png which appears to be some weird crossword-ish puzzle.
    1clues.png

  2. Another, smaller box gif called outfile2.gif, which contained:

  3. 2clues.png which is another puzzle like 1clues.png 2clues.png

  4. Another, even smaller box gif called outfile1.gif, which contained:

  5. 3clues.png which is a third, similar puzzle.
    3clues.png

1clues.png's clues are as follows:
Check out the start of this nutritionist's advice!
Walrus and Carpenter action figures remove their preys head and scramble it.
Despondency found in grievous adolescents

To which my answers are:

Nut
Eggs
Sad
However, I'm not sure how they fit in the grid. I tried the obvious way, colours and numbers in order, but I get nothing in the grid.

Next bit:

2clues.png's clues are as follows:
Capital punishment for his part in the abduction
Sucker head is showing amusement
Life of the party's heart activity is abnormal

To which my answers are:

No idea.
No idea.
No idea.

Followed by:

3clues.png's clues are as follows:
Inside cats are ruling people
Addition imperative without footnotes is coming back
Animated dog removes actress Sophia's top

To which my answers are:

Tsar
No idea.
No idea, but could be something along the lines of Snoopy -Sop (Sophia's top) = noy?

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ What did you find? A surprise? :-) $\endgroup$
    – Mea Culpa Nay
    Jun 15, 2018 at 16:03
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I did. I shall update in a moment. I'm stuck at work so poking in between tasks. $\endgroup$
    – UselessInfoMine
    Jun 15, 2018 at 16:04
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ The walrus and the carpenter are taken from Alice in wonderland - how's that pearl of a hint? $\endgroup$
    – schil227
    Jun 15, 2018 at 18:03
11
$\begingroup$

This gift is beginning to feel like celebrating

the GIF Graphics Interchange Format that was developed by a team at CompuServe led by the computer scientist Steve Wilhite on June 15, 1987 - today (or yesterday in some countries).

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
7
$\begingroup$

After opening the actual image file as a(n)

7-Zip archive, and nested in the gift is another gift, all matryoshka-like.

You eventually get three small cryptic... crosswords?

Thanks for uploading them UselessInfoMine, one, two, three

Which seem to imply the following clues:

Block 1

Check out the start of this nutritionist's advice! (3)
Walrus and Carpenter action figures remove their preys head and scramble it. (4)
Despondency found in grievous adolescents (3)

Block 2

Capital punishment for his part in the abduction (4)
Sucker head is showing amusement (3)
Life of the party's heart activity is abnormal (3)

Block 3

Inside cats are ruling people (4)
Addition imperative without footnotes is coming back (3)
Animated dog removes actress Sophia's top (3)

Which I don't know all the answers to, but have partial insight:

Check out the start of this nutritionist's advice! (3)
Nutritionists advise to DIET, the start of which is DIE, which certainly is to "check out"

Walrus and Carpenter action figures remove their preys head and scramble it. (4)
Lewis Carroll says that the two prey on OYSTERS (head OYST), but as action figures they are TOYS

Despondency found in grievous adolescents (3)
Possibly as simple as GRIEVOUSADOLESCENTS

Capital punishment for his part in the abduction (4)
Hanging someone with a ROPE is capital punishment, and possible part of APPROPRIATE (A stretch)

Inside cats are ruling people (4)
CATSARE

Addition imperative without footnotes is coming back (3)
To come back is to RETURN, the key of which you can use to finish an addition on your calculator (Another stretch)

Animated dog removes actress Sophia's top (3)
Remove the top of SOPHIA LOREN and you're left with the other half of Stimpy

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ "Sucker head is showing amusement" could be rot13(yby orpnhfr vg vf gur urnq bs ybyyvcbc). $\endgroup$
    – noneuclideanisms
    Jun 15, 2018 at 21:39

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.