Solving a Chapter Puzzle Without Facebook Clues
There have been some good thoughts posted in some other threads, both pro and con, that made me do some pondering last night.
Now that we have the solutions to two chapters, revisiting these solutions may be beneficial.
I came up with something that's so simple it made me do a double-take. I don't think it's quite right yet, but I don't think it's entirely wrong either.
I want you to consider that picture in chapter 9 and the possibility we're dealing with three keys here, an alpha key, an omega key, and one that symbolizes something missing.
Each chapter would have an iteration of all three keys.
1. For chapter 1, the iterations were numerical. The alpha key was '1,' and the omega key was '23'. (Lower case omega = w = 23.) They were paragraph numbers. Contained within those two paragraphs were the first 19 letters of the solution.
The 'Q' is missing.
The 'missing key' appears to be a combination of the alpha and omega keys. For chapter 1, the missing key = 1 + 23 = '24'. It was a paragraph number as well, and that's where the 'Q' showed up.
2. For chapter 2, the iterations were symbolic. The alpha key was 'male' ("alpha male"), and the omega key was 'female'. This appears to be carried out by the last word of the female's chapter being 'first'. Contained within these two locations were the first 18 letters of the solution.
The 'J' and 'Q' are missing.
Once again, the 'missing key' would be a combination of the alpha and omega keys. Male + female = Jack Queen. If this is indeed an iteration of a 'missing key', it wouldn't be necessary for it to be in the text. It would have been coincidence that it was that way for chapter 1.
3. I submitted an answer to chapter 3 based on this concept. As originally stated, it doesn't feel quite right yet, but it doesn't feel quite wrong either.
There are ten pages in chapter 3. That appears as a superb place to begin looking for keys.
Once again, he's given a clue that makes me think first = last again: First word of the chapter is 'Charlie'; last word is 'sea'. Both are equivalent to 'C'. (Might be 'tuna' but I don't think so. :) )
My alpha key was 'firsts' and my omega key was 'lasts'. I took the first unique letter from each page such that it began C from 'Charlie' on p. 1, A from 'A' on p. 2, etc. After collecting the ten letters from the ten pages, I returned to page 1 and went to the end of the text and began collecting the leftover letters from there.
When you arrive at the tenth page, lo and behold the 'Q' is missing again.
I don't think I have chapter 3 correct as yet, but I wanted to pass along some thoughts that the puzzle may be able to be solved without Facebook clues. It's a rethink on the concept of the keys. The alpha and omega keys wouldn't be the ten numbers in the map solution; they would be a singular concept in each chapter.
Chapter 1 = 1, 23, 24
Chapter 2 = male, female, male+female
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