# SafeCracker #2 - The Mission Continues

Thanks to an alert StackE user, we were able to get the first safe open.

### Mission Details

This next safe is in a former employee's house. He is gone for now, so we have no time to spare.

We weren't able to get the actual combo , however, we did find some notes scribbled on scrap paper. The notes appeared to be some sort of code by using a deck of cards.

Study the drawing, and fingure out what number is supposed to be in the blank square.

Once you are confident you have the card number and suit, we need to do some string manipulation.

1. Take the number of letters in the numeric part of the card and multiply by the number of letters in the suit name.

2. The result is the combination we are looking for.

3. The author of the note had highlighted what appears to read, "There are two, and only two solutions"

Good Luck, Team. Let's get this one done, so we can move onto the last Safe and retrieve all our company documents:

Teaser: It might be a good idea to memorize the answer from SafeCracker #1, and this one, too. We may need them in the next house.

• Is there a mistake in the suits in the first row? – Voldemort's Wrath May 2 at 12:08
• I checked and double-checked my puzzle, just to be sure. All the cards and suits are correct. – John S. May 2 at 12:30
• May we have a hint for the numbers? – Voldemort's Wrath May 2 at 13:07
• Also, how many digits is he combinations? – Voldemort's Wrath May 2 at 13:55
• I'm guessing there's a reason that HEART and Diamond are missing the s at the end? – Smock May 2 at 15:59

Very long shot; the answer is:

30

Why?

From the grid we are pretty confident about the suit being either clubs or spades i.e. 5 or 6 letters.

Regarding the numeric value of the card we have have the following options:

1) 3 letters (2, 6, 10)
2) 4 letters (4, 5, 9)
3) 5 letters (3, 7, 8)

So:

From the grid we can see that the number 8 never appears; if we eliminate it from our options we get two options of 5 letters (3 and 7). The only way to have: "There are two, and only two solutions" is if we have only one possibility for the value of the suit. Spades is the only on with 6 letters. We discard clubs as it has the same number of letters as heart.

Then the two solutions are:

3 of spades, or 7 of spades i.e. $$5 \times 6 = 30$$

• The combo is a single digit, that can be one of two suites and still be correct. You are very close, though! – John S. May 2 at 15:10
• Yes, you got them both. Nice work. Give #3 a shot, I posted it this morning. Oh, I gotta add you in the graphic image now! – John S. May 2 at 17:38

I believe I have the suit for now, which should be

Spades, because the grid is 'symmetrical':
First 2 columns: S S C S, C C S C (Spades becomes Clubs, Clubs becomes Spades)
Middle is well, middle so no mirror available
Last 2 columns: S C S C, C S C S
Also rows are palindromes, which confirms my theory: S C D C S

• The first row doesn't match your last observation... – Arnaud Mortier May 2 at 12:13