The Hunter's Forum: April 2006

Hint for Clue 17

Clue 17 is based on Mathematics. The bottom half of the clue acts as an index for the flags. The title of the clue gives you a hint as to what is to be done.

First Hunter to complete the Hunt

Nitin.Kallikat becomes the first hunter to complete "The Hunt". Based on his comments, some levels might be changed, but not within the next few days. The Hunt is going strong now with around 85 people having received the link to the first clue. But, only five have crossed the first stage!
Does it mean that the clues are not easy enough or is it that the people don't have time? Only time will tell!

Problem with Level 34

Level 34 has proved to be a bad level. Nitin.kallikat, who has progressed through all the previous levels with ease, is stuck with this level for almost a week. No, not that he doesn't know the funda, but it is a crazy clue with lot of crazy searching. So, I am thinking of changing this clue. So, if you are at this level, drop in a mail to rajaram.hunt address and I shall provide you the next level (level 35). But, this level change will happen only sometime next week, as I am in Dubai currently and don't have all the necessary tools to create the page.

The simplest form of encryption

I don't know whether i mentioned this in any of the "Hunting Tips" which appear below the clues on many pages of The Hunt. The simplest form of encryption is the kind where alphabets are replaced by numbers i.e a->1 , b->2 ...z->26.

If the numbers are more than 26, all you have to do is a MOD 26 on the number.

Btw, all clues except one have passwords which exclusively contain alphabets. Only one clue's password consists of numbers and this is clearly mentioned in the clue.

Hint for Clue 4

"Windows Explorer" might help !

All the levels uploaded

All the 35 levels have been uploaded. One person went to the 34th level yesterday before i could upload it !! So, the Hunt is theoretically complete and just waiting for you to solve :-)

Clarification for Clue 29

There were some queries raised for Clue 29. The question in question is a fictional one. Don't search on Google. The answer is to be found in the text of one of the previous clues.

A Starter Clue ..

From the log of my website, I can see the various links people are trying out as answers. Most of these originate from the first clue. The first clue, inspite of being a very easy clue, is a kind of clue where you get the "a-ha" moment immediately or it might take you forever. The text of the clue is important, not for solving this clue, but for a later clue. If you are stuck, try checking the HTML source of the page. It would look complicated for a simple 3 paragraph page. Analyse the difference between the paragraphs and you should get the "a-ha" moment :-)

Error in Clue 17

Level 17 had an error. The error is because I had placed a wrong flag in one place. If you were stuck because of this, refresh the page now. The correct picture is in place now.

Clarification for Clue 15

For the clue 15, once you deduce what you are supposed to be searching for (I assume, in google), you might not necessarily get the correct answer in the first page of Google Search. The answer might be in the second or the third page of google search. I don't want to explain further, because it might give away the logic behind the clue. But, when you see the answer in Google search, it would be as clear as the answer to Clue 14. Btw, the answer is not "Perfect".

5 more levels added

I have added 5 more levels bringing the total number to 31 now. I shall upload 4 more levels (as soon as someone finishes stage 2) to complete "The Hunt" at 35 levels.

Error in Clue 6

Those of you, who have reached level 6 and found the answer, you wouldn't have found the next page. I had changed the level 6 page, but had forgotten to upload the new one. The new level 6 is up now. The answer is an ordinary english word, not the name of a greek island!

I have found the answer ..

What next?
The question posed by many ... So, here's a better explanation (hopefully!)

Lets take the first clue as an example. Lets assume that you find the answer/hidden word/password. Assume that this password is "India". So, to go to the next puzzle, you have to go to the page http://www.srajaram.com/thehunt/india.php. The clue number appears in the title of each page. So, if you happen to take guesses and land on the wrong page, you can consider yourself lucky !

Some people had the question "What now?".

The clues in this hunt are not the typical question-and-answer format. On some pages, you wouldn't even know what you are supposed to be looking for ! So, what do you do. Hope that a ray of light shines somewhere pointing you in the right direction ? Well, what if it is cloudy that particular day and the "ray of light" never comes through :-)

The text of the clue, in most cases (not the first), should give you a hint as to what is to be done. Sometimes, looking at the HTML source might help. In other cases, you just have to wait for that ray of light !

Clarification for Clue 3

The answer to clue 3 might appear to be a wrongly spelt word, but it is not so. It appears so because of the way the answer, when encoded, appears on screen. Check the source of the file to see the actual encoded word, then you will know the correct spelling of the answer.

If you are seeing this before solving the clue, don't bother. First solve it the usual way and if you get a wrongly spelt word as the answer, then come back here.