6
$\begingroup$

Pete loves movies. He always watches trailers of the newest blockbuster on Youtube. Sometimes it is hard for him to decide which movie he should watch next, because work is stressful and most of the time he doesn't find time to enjoy the evening in front of the TV.

Since Pete's birthday is coming closer, his co-workers (who know that Pete loves movies) decide they want to gift him an autograph of his favourite actor. Unfortunately no one knows who that is. So they ask Pete about it. Pete, who wants to make a little puzzle out of everything, gives them a little piece of paper with the following content

eFcMRKsT5ffkDr+PoUNLoG7*poujK34kqReFhT_m@4hTn49gbkOrlP0

He also said:

I had to make it a little bit hard for you, because you know me too well, you know the things I like. I added a simple encryption to the code I gave you.

Who is Pete's favourite actor?

As requested, the other puzzles about Pete

I think this will be the hardest puzzle about Pete so far, I will continuously add hints to the puzzle. As always, if you find grammar errors, feel free to correct them. This time there is no special structure of the text (except the code). Good Luck

Hint 1

There is a good chance that active puzzlers have already used the encryption Pete is talking about

Hint 2

Maybe you should try to find out what Pete likes

Hint 3

Less is more

Hint 4

Some content may be irrelevant

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
7
  • $\begingroup$ Oh, my, god... PETE! Welcome back! $\endgroup$
    – Taco
    Commented Sep 18, 2018 at 14:43
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @PerpetualJ already thought about posting this earlier, but wasn't quite sure what would be the best idea to formulate this. The base idea was on my mind for quite some time now :D $\endgroup$
    – Ian Fako
    Commented Sep 18, 2018 at 17:05
  • $\begingroup$ do we need to look into any previous riddle for this? $\endgroup$
    – Shahriar Mahmud Sajid
    Commented Sep 27, 2018 at 8:33
  • $\begingroup$ @ShahriarMahmudSajid I'd say this cannot hurt ;) $\endgroup$
    – Ian Fako
    Commented Sep 27, 2018 at 9:09
  • $\begingroup$ any more hints? $\endgroup$
    – JGibbers
    Commented Oct 10, 2018 at 17:19

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

Partial answer, work in progress...

Hint 2 says find out what Pete likes. This is no secret, he likes...

YouTube.

I believe the content on the paper is:

the unique identifier from one or more YouTube urls.
For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvCGZEqk8Ak
The unique part of this url is vvCGZEqk8Ak

Hint 3 says "less is more"

I believe the cipher will remove characters which will then leave a unique identifier to a YouTube video (or videos) and the answer will be contained therein.

All I need to do is figure out the "simple cipher". Any suggestions?

If I am right it cannot be a substition cipher because there seem to be too many characters as it is. I am expecting a cipher that removes characters.

I have also noted that:

The message contains the symbols +, * and @. I am thinking that these may separate three different identifiers, but I have tried pasting them into YouTube as they are and they are not recognised. Alternatively, I wonder if the symbols will mean something when we know what the videos are? For example if the videos contain numbers the + and * could be mathematic operators that lead to an answer?

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This answer contains wrong, but also correct interpretations/explanations. Well done so far +1 $\endgroup$
    – Ian Fako
    Commented Oct 11, 2018 at 11:57

Your Answer

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

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