Thread: Gold

From the poem:

Did you hear the faintest sound?
Ah! The place to start is found.

It looks like we have to start in page 15, that is the one where the question about the sound you cannot hear is.

Hi Gabi,

I see what you mean about starting from the "faintest sound". You may well be right, but I'm thinking along the lines of the poem.

It starts with the four lines from "Back and forth ....." to " ..... church and gown". This could mean that we go on a journey round Winchester. The book itself is a guide book and the pages in order take us on a walk, from the Great Hall to the Guildhall.

It ends with the two lines "If you fail .... " to " ..... welcome you" - which is an ending to the story.

I think this could mean that we take the poem in order as written. Unfortunately the "place to start" is found in the third verse, but I reckon this organiser might not make it so simple If so, our first conundrum is to find the opposites that attract?

I started at the beginning of the poem and it looked like a description of the book, "back and forth in time" in the descriptions of the different parts of Winchester, "round the city", I printed a map of Winchester and plotted both the silver and the bronze tours (I could have plotted just one tour in the order in which the questions appear in the book and I plan on doing that one too) and both go around the city starting at the Great Hall. "both church and gown" are described in the different sections.

I agree with you that the "opposites attract" is the first big riddle we should solve. Another important one seems to be the one about the bird and the fish.

About the clocks turning I think it is an indication to move through the letters around the pictures.

Yes, I made just one tour. Because the bronze and silver questions were interweaved with each other, it seemed to make more sense to me that way, and it does work out as one continuous tour.

Like your idea about going clockwise around the letters.

I'm thinking bird and fish might be connected to the river (it does say "river's ebb and flow") - still checking that one out.

I will check that tour with all the stops combined then.

You could be right about the river referring to the bird and fish but it sounds a little bit strange that a line of the poem is taking us back to another line in the poem, I would think that the poem is full of references to the rest of the book rather than to itself, but I could easily be wrong.

Another part of the poem that has me coming up with multiple possibilities are "the guards of six or twenty". I am going to write a list with some of them so you can see how I am thinking (I think that the answer to the puzzle is in those letters around the drawings):

- take letters 6 and 20 of each sentence written around the drawings
- take letters 6 and 20 starting your count on the top left square
- take letters 5, 7, 19 and 21 (guards of 6 and 20) again both in sentence and in position
- the reference about guards and the question about the tiles made me think of Rome, and from there to Caesar shift, so apply a caesar +6 and a caesar +20 to the letters

I still haven't tried any of those ideas because when I come up with them I am at work and don't have the book with me. I will start trying now.

What about the "fair place where we no longer see your face"? This reference looks similar to the window you cannot see and the sound you cannot hear...

I just love the way you people think.

'Tis a glorious day here in Winchester, the sun is shining and the Easter flowers are in full bloom.

Just out of curiosity - for those of you who have solved the Bronze and Silver questions - did any of you find out where the window is that can't be seen?

Cruel? Moi?

I never found that window while I was doing my virtual tour, but I assumed it was covered by water since the sound was barely visible

Originally Posted by gabi

I never found that window while I was doing my virtual tour, but I assumed it was covered by water since the sound was barely visible

Oh no! It's up high where a window should be. I'll bet that Mr Hanks didn't see it when he was there either - but if he'd had Xray eyes he would've.