I need help to solve this puzzle

This puzzle was shared by a friend, who in turn got it from school, and there is no competition involved. We have been working on it for a long time without any answers at all. Can anyone help me find the beginning of the answer ?

As a hint, we got the hash is like a MAP. We must follow it in order to get the right answer. When we arrive into ETX with an integer, we will know that the answer is right !

Here is it:

There are ASCII + HEXADECIMAL characters in the table.

ASCII Table: http://www.asciitable.com/

Notice the 0F In our minds, this means that we will add F in the right columns, and 0 in the bottom columns, so we get hexadecimal characters (Look at the arrows).

The >>v is a mystery, without knowing the exact position of it.

UPDATE

New hint: Use 10 first bytes of the HASH as your MAP for success.

• what do you mean by "without knowing the exact position"? Did you receive the riddle handwritten and you could post an image? Did you change anything? – Bananenkopp Jul 5 '19 at 9:31

Here are my thoughts on how to solve...

1. Start position is depicted by >>v (sort of an arrow) in the upper right corner, the blank position
2. Move directions are given with 0F and the two arrows in the upper left:
- number: move down (wrapping around)
- letter: move right (a=1..f=6, wrapping around)
3. Path is the hash

HASH => MoveX MoveY => (newX, newY) => Value
d => 4 0 => ( 3, 0) => 3
4 => 0 4 => ( 3, 4) => 6
6 => 0 6 => ( 3, 2) => DEL
a => 1 0 => ( 4, 2) => 4
4 => 0 4 => ( 4, 6) => 5
b => 2 0 => ( 6, 6) => 8
6 => 0 6 => ( 6, 4) => 4
e => 5 0 => ( 3, 4) => 6
f => 6 0 => ( 1, 4) => NAK
0 => 0 0 => ( 1, 4) => NAK
9 => 0 9 => ( 1, 5) => ESC
a => 1 0 => ( 2, 5) => 4
9 => 0 9 => ( 2, 6) => 3
a => 1 0 => ( 3, 6) => 0
3 => 0 3 => ( 3, 1) => 1
f => 6 0 => ( 1, 1) => 60
0 => 0 0 => ( 1, 1) => 60
a => 1 0 => ( 2, 1) => 8
1 => 0 1 => ( 2, 2) => 4
0 => 0 0 => ( 2, 2) => 4
3 => 0 3 => ( 2, 5) => 4
4 => 0 4 => ( 2, 1) => 8
2 => 0 2 => ( 2, 3) => 9
4 => 0 4 => ( 2, 7) => 1
3 => 0 3 => ( 2, 2) => 4
3 => 0 3 => ( 2, 5) => 4
d => 4 0 => ( 6, 5) => NUL
3 => 0 3 => ( 6, 0) => 1
8 => 0 8 => ( 6, 0) => 1
4 => 0 4 => ( 6, 4) => 4
b => 2 0 => ( 0, 4) => 2
a => 1 0 => ( 1, 4) => NAK
8 => 0 8 => ( 1, 4) => NAK
0 => 0 0 => ( 1, 4) => NAK
b => 2 0 => ( 3, 4) => 6
in total: 36DEL45846NAKNAKESC43016060844489144NUL1142NAKNAKNAK6

But I noticed that with only changing two letters of the hash (i.e. the second and the last one) I get a solution ending with ETX containing only numbers and hex-letters ("integers?").

Maybe the hash is incorrect? Or, well, my answer is incorrect and I have to go back to the start.

• The hint say that when you arrive at ETX and you have an INTEGER, you will now that you are in the right way. Another hint is to use only the 10 first byte of the HASH. Thank you – Cliff Anger Jul 3 '19 at 2:46
• And please how 0F is used in your example ? I think about ETX etc. Must be transformed to HEX (Just thinking). Thank you – Cliff Anger Jul 3 '19 at 2:52
• @Cliff Anger You should add the hint ("10 first byte..:") to your question as a hint – Bananenkopp Jul 3 '19 at 16:30
• I just did that, thank you again :) – Cliff Anger Jul 3 '19 at 19:22

When you say:

The ">>v" is a mystery, without knowing the exact position of it.

The exact position of what? >>v is in the top right and seems to point the blank square

What you named hash isn't really a hash or it is truncated. Anyway, 10 first bytes are d4 6a 4b 6e f0 9a 9a 3f 0a 10.
So, here'a my approach.

Use each bytes as a coordinate in a map
Using this coordinate system over the grid:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 a b c d e f
0 8
1 9
2 a
3 b
4 c
5 d
6 e
7 f
first byte digit as y, second digit as x
1 3 6 8 8 8 8 2 4 7

first byte digit as x, second digit as y
ca 3 2 8 _ 9 9 8 7 ETX ("_" means blank square)

Maybe we have to merge these two solutions usiong ">>v" or maybe it is absolutely wrong. What are we searching for? Integer? How do we know that is the correct integer?

• Hi, ">>v" It's not written especially in the top of blank square but can be vertically placed in the left or horizentally using another position. What about 0F, what is your approach about it please ? Thank's again – Cliff Anger Jul 5 '19 at 17:51
• I interpreted 0F with the arrows as x and y axis over the grid – That guy Jul 8 '19 at 10:26