On the Subject of Cruel Ed Balls
“Ed Balls”
—Ed Balls, 2011
- This module consists of a framed portrait of British politician Ed Balls and six circular buttons with letters on them.
- If the frame is not red, you’re looking at a different module.
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The letters are E, D, B, A, L, and S, but they are encoded by performing each of the following transformations exactly once (but not necessarily in this order):
- Each letter is Caesar shifted by a fixed amount (possibly 0).
- Each letter is converted to flag semaphore, rotated by a multiple of 45° (possibly 0°), and converted back to a letter. A letter will always be rotated into another letter, never the numeral or cancel symbols.
- To disarm this module, undo the transformations to return the letters to their original form and enter the message “ED BALLS.”
- Pressing an incorrect button will result in a strike and reset your input, but will not cause the buttons to change.
Semaphore Reference
A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
M |
N |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
S |
T |
U |
V |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |