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This is a "sorry for messing up yesterday's clues" puzzle.

For each shape below, divide along grid-lines into identical pieces (rotation and reflection allowed). The first shape has 3 pieces, and the second has 6. I tried to make the grids look pretty :)

Then find the hidden message, which definitely does not describe you, dear solver. To decode it you will need these numbers: 137211214 and 2136412. Good luck!
grid shapes

If no one has solved this in a day, I'll start posting hints. Also - is there a better tag than for finding a phrase?

EDIT: I accidentally swapped the # of pieces. It's 3 and 6, updated now

Smaller hint:

Each number corresponds to a word, and each word is 5 letters

Medium hint:

Break the numbers up with spaces

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  • $\begingroup$ Are the black squares included? Also a bit confused for the second as there are 47/49 squares with and without the black squares, but neither of those are divisible by 3... (word is fine btw :) ) $\endgroup$ Jun 2, 2020 at 20:09
  • $\begingroup$ Black squares are not included. There are 30/48 squares without black $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Jun 2, 2020 at 20:17
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, turns out I can't count :P $\endgroup$ Jun 2, 2020 at 20:18
  • $\begingroup$ I made a mistake though - just edited it to be correct. $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Jun 2, 2020 at 20:19

2 Answers 2

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To add the cherry to the top of @BeastlyGerbil's cake, the final answer - which the OP says "definitely does not describe you, dear solver" - is:

SMART ALECK

To find this, realise that the two tesselating shapes are:

An 'F' and a 'Y'. These are the 6th and 25th letters of the English alphabet, respectively.

enter image description here
Image courtesy of @BeastlyGerbil's answer here - go upvote!

Taking the two strings provided by the OP - 137211214 and 2136412 - we can:

Split these into numbers conveniently in the range of 1-26. Although there are many possibilities for these choices, only one arrangement will lead us to the answer: 13-7-21-12-14 and 2-13-6-4-12.

Convert these into letters using A1Z26, to get MGULN and BMFDL. Now recalling the 'F' and 'Y' tile shapes, apply rot-6 (since F is the 6th letter) to the first string and rot-25 (since Y is the 25th letter) to the second to get the answer, SMART ALECK.

Since a 'Smart Aleck' is "a person who is irritating because they behave as if they know everything", it is rather a relief that the OP does not hold us in that regard!

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  • $\begingroup$ Good job! Maybe the second hint was a little too much... $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Jun 3, 2020 at 20:47
  • $\begingroup$ @bobble To be honest, I'd already sussed Hint 2 was required, so I didn't really need it. Hint 1 with the word lengths was the more vital of the two to me... $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Jun 3, 2020 at 20:48
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    $\begingroup$ Reminder to self: don't assume that your solver's brains will do that same logic as yours. $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Jun 3, 2020 at 20:49
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Partial answer: Shapes found!

The grid is cut like so:

enter image description here

The shapes:

Spell 'f' and 'y' but I'm not sure what that means.

I got these by counting the number of squares and dividing by the number of shapes so I knew the squares per shape, and then looking at the edges and possible recurring shapes.

Not sure what the numbers mean just yet but think A1Z26...

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  • $\begingroup$ Good job! I figured that the cutting would be the easy part... using the numbers requires an 'ah hah!' moment. Also, rot13(vg'f abg n w) Edit: also rot13(vg'f abg n g). I guess the shape wasn't good enough... it is a rot13(ybjrepnfr s) $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Jun 2, 2020 at 20:35
  • $\begingroup$ I've found you the final answer (see my contributed answer here) - feel free to add it to yours for a complete solution (I insist this time!) :-) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Jun 3, 2020 at 20:44
  • $\begingroup$ @Stiv no I insist! :P I simply found some shapes, that’s the easy part here! The cipher is much harder to find, all I did really was find 2 letters :) $\endgroup$ Jun 3, 2020 at 20:46
  • $\begingroup$ Well, here we go again! :-) I'll link to your answer and borrow the image then... (Ever thought of just merging our accounts, so we can find complete solutions all in one go?!) (JOKE) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Jun 3, 2020 at 20:50
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    $\begingroup$ Well, when this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together...! (again, JOKE) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Jun 3, 2020 at 20:57

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