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We are looking for an idiom.

fwf part 7

Hint 1:

The puzzle contains two strings of information. Finding one helps decrypt the other.

Hint 2:

Endonym


Other (independently solvable) puzzles of this type: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10.

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    $\begingroup$ In case it helps anyone, I have labeled the country names and added rot13(synt frzncuber pbqr). I don't know if the latter is relevant or not. $\endgroup$ Apr 20, 2020 at 12:42
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    $\begingroup$ @eyl327 I have the same as you. The three you're missing are rot13(Hmorxvfgna, Nezravn naq Serapu Cbylarfvn) and pretty sure your slashes should resolve as "I"... I also am yet to spot what to do after that! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Apr 20, 2020 at 12:58
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    $\begingroup$ Now that the puzzle is solved, I have one criticism: rot13/ Sbe zbfg syntf bs gur jbeyq jvgu na nflzzrgevp qrfvta, gur erirefr fvqr vf n zveebe vzntr bs gur boirefr. Ubjrire, gung jnf qrcvpgrq pbeerpgyl sbe bayl n srj, ohg abg zbfg bs gur vzntrf va guvf chmmyr. Gur syntf bs Wbeqna naq Svaynaq ner pbeerpgyl erirefrq, ohg zbfg bs gur bgure nflzzrgevp syntf ner abg. Guvf yrq zr gb oryvrir gung, nf jvgu na rneyvre chmmyr, gur bevragngvba vf eryrinag. $\endgroup$ Apr 28, 2020 at 8:10
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    $\begingroup$ Shegurezber, gur synt bs Rguvbcvn vf vapbeerpgyl zveeberq jura vg fubhyq abg or; onfrq ba gur cbfvgvba bs gur syntcbyr, vg fubhyq or gur boirefr juvpu vf fubja, abg gur erirefr. Sbe ravtzngvp chmmyrf, fhpu zvfgnxrf pna pnhfr fbyiref gb jnfgr n ybg bs gvzr ba snyfr yrnqf. $\endgroup$ Apr 28, 2020 at 8:10
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    $\begingroup$ @LannyStrack Lbh'er nofbyhgryl pbeerpg, V yrg gur nrfgurgvpf bs gur cvpgher gnxr gur hccre unaq va guvf chmmyr. V ncbybtvmr vs guvf yrq lbh be bgure chmmyref qbja n jebat cngu. Nobhg gur Rguvbcvna synt: guvf jnf na reebe ba zl cneg, V hfrq n zveeberq vzntr ol zvfgnxr (jryy fcbggrq gubhtu!). $\endgroup$ Apr 28, 2020 at 8:28

1 Answer 1

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I think I got it. The idiom we are looking for is:

RAISE RED FLAG!

:00

To start,

@eyl327 already decrypted the semaphore part in one of the above comments. Together, the letters spell UAVYIIWLLYAR.

Next,

@eyl327 and @Stiv also found out the country names. The last one happens to be Chad, not Romania.

This is confirmed by comparing the RGB values of the red part of the flag in OP's image, to the red parts of the flags of Romania and Chad (flag images from Wikipedia were used.)

The second hint implies that

We have to look for the endonyms of each country in OP's image. (An endonym is the name of a country in the native language of that country.)

Doing this for each pair of countries gives

India, Ethopia
Bharat (Hindi), Ityop'ia (Amharic)

Turkey, Germany
Turkiye (Turkish), Deutschland (German)

Uzbekistan, Timor Leste
O'zbekiston (Uzbek), Timor-Lorosa'e/Timor-Leste (Tetum/Portuguese)

Lithuania, Israel
Lietuva (Lithuanian), Yisra'el (Hebrew)

Albania, Latvia
Shqiperia (Albanian), Latvija (Latvian)

Marshall Islands, Finland
Aorokin Majel (Marshallese), Suomi (Finnish)

Croatia, (North) Macedonia
Hrvatska (Croatian), Severna Makedonija (Macedonian)

Spain, Vanuatu
Espana (Spanish), Vanuatu (French)

Estonia, Japan
Eesti (Estonian), Nihon/Nippon (Japanese)

Tajikistan, Armenia
Tojikistan (Tajiki-Persian), Hayastan (Armenian)

French Polynesia, Jordan
Polynesie francaise (French), Al-'Urdun (Arabic)

Dominican Republic, Chad
Republica Dominicana (Spanish), Tchad/Tsad (French/Arabic)

Taking the first letters and putting them together gives

BITDOTLYSLASHSEVENTHPART.
This is a link! Going to bit.ly/seventhpart gives us text that says:

dangersignal

Taking this and the first hint, it seems that we do need to use

the Vigenere cipher to decrypt.

And what do we decrypt? Well, there's one string discovered from the start, which was UAVYIIWLLYAR. And we have the key (DANGERSIGNAL) as well!

Using the Vigenere cipher, decrypting the former string using the latter string as the key, we get the final answer above, RAISEREDFLAG.

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    $\begingroup$ Well done oAlt - a clear, thorough explanation and a good answer +1 :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Apr 28, 2020 at 7:23
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    $\begingroup$ @oAlt this is correct, good job! $\endgroup$ Apr 28, 2020 at 7:56
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    $\begingroup$ Very Brilliant indeed but I want to add that Sanskrit is not common in India. Bharat is most commonly used in Hindi and we use this instead of Bharatam. Btw +1 for good answer. $\endgroup$ Jul 11, 2020 at 13:33
  • $\begingroup$ @LakshaySura Thank you for the clarification! I just chose one translation at random since according to Wikipedia most of the translations of "India" in its own languages all start with a 'B'. But again, thank you for clarifying; will edit tomorrow. $\endgroup$
    – oAlt
    Jul 11, 2020 at 13:43
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    $\begingroup$ @oAlt No problem at all, I have really added nothing to your answer. $\endgroup$ Jul 11, 2020 at 13:45

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