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.
  • 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
A
B
B
C
C
D
D
E
E
F
F
G
G
H
H
I
I
J
J
K
K
L
L
M
M
N
N
O
O
P
P
Q
Q
R
R
S
S
T
T
U
U
V
V
W
W
X
X
Y
Y
Z
Z