Jan 31, 2022
F473 Phase 1-Puzzle Solution
Solvers:
JTobcat
Ziot
LeFevre
mattm
silver_anth
F473 Game
F473 is an interactive art experience created by coin_artist for the June 2021 “Proof of Sovereignty” Christies collection. Part of the experience included a public aspect, a collection game among participants all housed on the Polygon chain and in usual coin_artist form, a secret puzzle to be solved. Going to the link below will take you to the F473 game where you can collect polygon assets and hearts.
https://ipfs.coinartist.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5djyk5kj4d5dvad8ev3g2zfyu0ktrusqpwg3qdewd68772mdthhu/#/
Outside of the game, there are 8 clickable areas on the F473 image that take you to 8 different puzzles to be solved
F473 Puzzle — Stage 1
The puzzles are numbered 1–8 in the source code, but this is not the actual order to solve them. The solution path below will go through the correct order to solve the puzzles.
Puzzle 3
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5dl8y99qodblq0fk7pgko9cgdcovxgdtscraotqd22pomtpue4ej
This is the first puzzle to begin with as indicated by the 1347 at the bottom (Known to be like a bat signal for coin_artist puzzles).
There are a few pieces of information to be gathered from this image. The first is the coloring of 1347 which indicated pink=1, teal=3, blue=4, green=7 for the circles. If you apply this to the circles above (and add the number with more than one color) you get 314159265158979 which is the string for Pi.
The next thing of note is the string 212322. Knowing that we are looking for a wallet, it makes logical sense that with 8 puzzles, each could give 3 seed words and this string can be broken up into 21 23 22 telling us the words we get from this puzzle are seed words 21 23 22.
The last thing to figure out from this puzzle is the triangles. This turns out to be semaphore with each circle being the center point of the flag signal and the two arms branching off are the flags.
Mapping the semaphore as shown above translates to the string ALWAYS ARTIST COIN, which when combined with the 21 23 22 we know the order is ALWAYS COIN ARTIST. This is interesting that all 3 are bip 39 seed words, but also make a legible phrase. This seems to indicate the final seed may be a legible sentence (which was a huge help to solving the rest knowing this fact)
21=ALWAYS
23=ARTIST
22=COIN
At this point, the only thing not used is Pi. What this is telling us is that the next puzzle is located at Pi radians from this puzzle (a full circle is 360 degrees which is 2*Pi, so Pi is 180 degrees, or directly left of this puzzle) which is puzzle 2 per the source
Puzzle 2
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5dkim7ocpzv014ta5xd7mqtk58evwf5ledy78xtshj4wrupyorpx
Knowing that we are expecting 3 seed words from each puzzle and a 3 number string indicating position of the seed words, we can begin to determine what data is what on the remaining puzzles. Based on this information, it means 6CCLN8NYX3Y0687C1Y is our seed words encoded in some form, and ETIER is probably the 3 positions of the seed words also encoded in some form. This leaves the 4 phrases and 4 fruits in the middle as the puzzle.
All the phrases seem to be a form of cryptic crossword clues. It is realized that each phrase can be broken up into a word+crossword clue, with the first word of each phrase being a type of fruit/vegetable represented by the image underneath. This leads us to know the images are of:
Angelys Pear
Francis Mango
Bon Rouge Pear
White Turnip
This just leaves us with the crossword clues to resolve. After some digging and googling, there seems to be a common theme among the possible answers as they are all 7 letters in length and all begin with the letters PLU
FALLS RAPIDLY FROM GRACE-PLUMMET
FINE FEATHERY FILAMENTS-PLUMOSE
DESPISES LEAKS-PLUMBER
WRITES WRITS-PLURIES
This is significant because PLU codes are what identify different types of produce at the market. Using a lookup tool (https://plufinder.com/) you can find the PLU codes of the 4 items we were given above.
Angelys pears-3317
Francis Mango-3621
Bon Rouge Pear-3014
White Turnip-4812
Now we just need to put it all together and realize the crossword answer can be mapped to PLU+code (ie PLUMMET = PLU3317). This gives us a number/letter mapping that can be used on the 2 remaining strings on the page.
This means we can convert 6CCLN8NYX3Y0687C1Y into all alpha letters of OCCLNINYXMYBOITCEY as we know 6=O, etc from the PLU mapping. And we can do the opposite to ETIER and turn it into 17814 telling us our three seed words are 17 8 14.
The last step to solve is what to do with the encoded string we still have. This string can actually be decoded using playfair cipher (https://www.dcode.fr/playfair-cipher) using ALWAYSARTISTCOIN (the string from the previous puzzle) as the key to get CITYDREAMELECTRICX . This is important as we now know that each subsequent puzzle uses the previous puzzle’s solution as its key, requiring us to solve them in order.
17=CITY
8=DREAM
14=ELECTRIC
To get to the next puzzle, you need to looks at the overall shape of the puzzle which tapers as you go to the bottom like an arrow indicating go straight down to next puzzle
Puzzle 7
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5dk590drlydg0pqq3hohqh9ndcp8trpil5qurtzh4fj1m14wdyn0
For this puzzle PRCA>XJRNTKCMK is the word cipher, IIIIIX is the seed order and J is telling us which puzzle is next.
The August at the bottom is a hint that the PRCA>XJRNTKCMK is actually typed using a Dvorak Keyboard as it was created by August Dvorak. Using a converter (https://www.dcode.fr/keyboard-change-cipher) we get a normal QWERTY output of ROIAEBCOLKVIMV which can be playfair decoded with the previous answer CITYDREAMELECTRIC to get ENTERFINDLOVE.
Reading the pink letters as roman numerals per row gives 11119 which gives either 1 11 19 or 11 1 19 (1 11 19 is the correct choice and was determined based off the final seed being a legible phrase)
1=ENTER
11=FIND
19=LOVE
The next puzzle can be found using the J and following a J shaped path to the puzzle to the left of this one.
Puzzle 6
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5dj93j394bmw2k7y0gimmft5mblbu2qhrg94cw6t78evv2eldxil
Continuing our format, it is most likely that the string:
ASFGJKZXVNQETUADFZXVQERYUOASFHKZCBMQERYIADFZXVNMQWRADGHZCBNQWRYIADGJZXQETY
will give us our seed words and the bolded letter KEZX will give their order and location of next puzzle. Reviewing the given string, it an be noticed that strings of letters are localized to the same row of letters on a keyboard. For example ASFGJK is all on the middle row of a QWERTY keyboard. If you map this out you will notice some letters missing (AS d FG h JK) which indicates a space. With every group of letters being 1 or 2 in length, it can be determined that this is morse disguised in a keyboard.
This results in the string ODHANPBHLAKNUUBHTU which can be decoded using playfair and the previous key ENTERFINDLOVE to get the output LIGHTMAGICMESSAGE.
Now we can use KEZX to figure out ordering. Ranking the letters from smallest to largest gives ZEKX and looking at the positions of the first three letters in the string gives 18 12 6 which is the positions for the answers to this puzzle.
18=LIGHT
12=MAGIC
6=MESSAGE
X is at position 45 indicating go 45 degrees from this puzzle to the one in the upper right.
Puzzle 1
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5dkkvvo1m45d4xkkwkcx2pl4x10zbjn7eu4xy3hpvvkw53wylvpi
This puzzle can be broken into the line (the ciphered string) 4 highlighted squares (the order) and the string 5:00 (location of next puzzle)
Solving this puzzle is pretty straight forward. Map the characters A-Y to the grid in order and extract the string using the given path starting in the upper left. Doing this gives the string ACHUGWQOLLHMUPACFSCY which when decoded with LIGHTMAGICMESSAGE gives MATRIXPUZZLEROMANCE (Note: this one didnt use normal playfair rules with double letters as it contained LL which become ZZ and had to be removed from string during decoding)
The 4 highlighted grids can just be viewed as their column value for each row to give 2415 for 2 4 15 as the final order.
2=MATRIX
4=PUZZLE
15=ROMANCE
5:00 indicates that the next puzzle is located at 5:00 from this one (like looking at a clock) which is the bottom right puzzle
Puzzle 8
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5di3rybhw7cmg83llqoj77dof8da8euo6ag2zdz1mnj088c2yemy
This one begins withthe green dot is the center of a radial grid that can be segmented into 26 equals wedges with a dot falling on each. Mapping the grid, and assigning each wedge a letter A-Z starting at the top you can extract letters based on their distance from the center as shown below.
This gives the string ITMCMCKPOBAVBPQN which can be decoded with MATRIXPUZZLEROMANCE to give RAREREFLECTSOLVE.
This means the TIMPMK NMIPK TIO TIMKO string gives us ordering. To do this you must connect the dots of the letters. For example, for the first one, TIMPMK you start at the pink dot on the T line, then connect to the I dot and continue as shown below to get a number represented visually in return.
Doing this for all 4 strings gives the number string 2473 or 24 7 3.
24=RARE
7=REFLECT
3=SOLVE
Using the blue dot, it is telling us where the next puzzle is in relation to the current puzzle represented by the green dot (so left and slightly up)
Puzzle 4
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5dlkxqxkqd04g8losslpd1g2mp08csm8wli8lrsxr0rub6ubc7gl
This puzzle has a sequence of images and a string 1E0A1S3T5.
To begin we can break the letters out from 1E0A1S3T5 to get 10135 and EAST with 10135 being 10 13 5 for the ordering and EAST telling us how to get to the final puzzle.
Some effort was needed, but the string shown is VGXNGSRNXKTVSLEU. If each letter had depth and then viewed from the right side (that we simulated above), you would get the shapes in the puzzle (N is shown from above, we assume for uniqueness). This string when decoded with RAREREFLECTSOLVE gives SINGSEEKUNCOVERX
10=SING
13=SEEK
5=UNCOVER
This leaves the word EAST to tell us to go directly EAST to final puzzle
Puzzle 5
https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipns/k51qzi5uqu5dk6xegmzrghsbtviqfmenqpcohz2f3kil3tjd20n8vxz97ntrst
This puzzle required some steg skills to get all the necessary info. As hinted by the alpha symbol on the image, if you look at the alpha channel you can find a string of numbers hidden
Which is our final set of seed order numbers 16 9 20
In addition to this, there is a png hidden within the image that can be extracted which gives an hourglass shape
Which when examined closer seems to hint we should start at the upper left and all the numbers given are unique and run from 1-116
This puzzle required a lot of patience to complete. Using the arrow as a starting point, you must draw a dot at the intersection of each pair of numbers. For example, the first two numbers are 18 and 61, this means starting at the arrow, you must draw a line using the 18th and 61st line marks and draw a dot where they intersect. The first one is shown below
Repeating this process for all 58 pairs gives the following sequence of dots.
Each block of dots can be treated as morse code read top to bottom (2 dots is dash, 1 is dot) to give the string CIFGATASZSGDCW which can be decoded with SINGSEEKUNCOVER to give UNDERWRITEYOUX.
16=UNDER
9=WRITE
20=YOU
This is the final path through the puzzles
FINAL
We now have 24 seed words from 8 puzzles and their position in the seed which gives:
enter matrix solve puzzle uncover message reflect dream write sing find magic seek electric romance under city light love you always coin artist rare
Which opened wallet 0x0804c8ae5fdd715969e5719b79b2d6038d25ace5
That contained this NFT
Which is the start of Phase 2 thats hold the key to a wallet somewhere and remains unsolved…
