Department of Occult Investigations

Fundamentals

• Check your work.
• Google it.
• It probably means something.
• 5*5 = 3*3*3 = 4*2*2*1 = 2*2*2*2*2 = 26.

Questions to Ask Yourself

• ``What information is contained in this puzzle that we haven't used yet?''
• ``Could this be a reference to external data (historical, geographical, etc?)''
• ``What do these things have in common?''
• ``Is this a real pattern, or does it only work some of the time?''

What do I do when I'm stuck?

• Check your work. Check your teammates' work.
• Try reusing a technique that worked earlier in the same puzzle.
• Say it aloud.
• Write it down and stare at it.
• Go back and rewrite everything neatly.
• Ask a teammate for insight.
• Try to extract the answer using partial progress. nutrimatic.org is your friend!

What do I do with this list of words or phrases?

• Is the list already alphabetized? If so, maybe you need to find the right order. If not, then the given order is important.
• Read down the left side: take the first letter or word of each entry.
• Read down the diagonal: take the nth letter or word from the nth entry.
• If you have a list of words with a number associated to every word, try indexing that number into each word. (i.e., take the a_nth letter of the nth word.)

What do I do with these numbers?

• If they are between 1 and 26, try A=1, B=2, etc.
• If they are between 1 and N, and there are N items elsewhere in the puzzle, apply the numbers to that list.
• Try math: write in a different base, factor, or look at the number of digits.

Resources

• Google is your friend!
• nutrimatic.org is your friend! quinaplus.com/qat.html is also your friend.
• OneLook.com is good for finding words that fit a particular pattern.
• Use online solvers for anagrams, sudoku, caesar shift, substitution ciphers, etc.

Encodings

• Standards: Morse code, Braille, 5-bit binary, semaphore flags
• Weirder things: Roman numerals, NATO phonetic alphabet, airport codes ...

Great work agents. We've taken the liberty of unlocking some of your office.

• - For your excellent work solving a case file, we've awarded you this dog.
• - We've unscrewed the really tight lid on the pins for you. You should be able to use the colorful pins on the map now.
• - We've hooked up your phone to the collaboration hotline.
• - We weren't able to get you a promotion, but we've replaced your plant for you. Take better care of it this time.
• - No news on that payraise. However, the shag carpet you requested has been installed.
• - You're proving to be one of our most capable units. Assistant Director said you might appreciate this invisible gnome .