I know there is some phenomenon about how our brains work when it comes to puzzle solving (though I can't remember its name) whereby we make a guess that something might be relevant, but then something happens where we convince ourself that our wild guess MUST be right, forgetting it that it was only speculation with no real reasoning behind it to begin with. Your dedication to those film reels was a masterclass exemplifying that phenomenon today. :-P I watched today because I was really hoping you'd explain for us what was the relevance of any of the words on that clipboard. I'm almost… relieved?… to see that you have no idea what the 26A was all about either. But my wife and I never even saw that watermelon - we've never turned the two books over because it feels like that's something we should only do if instructed to do so. Fortunately the pattern of the two dancers was legible even without the watermelon background. :-)
Thank you so much for your comment! You're absolutely spot-on on your first comment - and I have noticed I do this quite often! On SO many videos I either say something must be wrong but pursue it anyway; OR I have the right answer from the start but then move away from it. It's quite interesting to watch myself back! :) And on the dancer pattern, I suspected I could have solved it without the watermelon too (and indeed did identify the '10' dancer) so it's good to have confirmation!
We had a hard time with this one and eventually looked at the solution. We had arranged the disks correctly and could sort of see two dancers. We wen't sure which ones they were and didn't spend enough time trying to figure it out. We felt that it would only give two numbers so we thought we must have it wrong!
Yes, I was expecting to find three dancers too. It was only because I was so confused by the incongruity of the '10' that I twigged what was going on! :)
It stuck to my mind when you presented the backs of the booklets. All those different movie quotes that wrong in one way or another. Good thing that I have seen Dirty Dancing and know that Baby brings a watermelon to the party, not only half with bits missing. The room was very much a reference to the film with the very iconic lift, and the seed maps could only belong to the illustration. One puzzle where prior knowledge of the film came in handy.
Interesting! Well, I'm glad to have the excuse although I should have remembered to check the booklets too I suppose - I did earlier in the month, but clearly by now familiarity (or not!) had let me to be complacent! :)
@drgareth You got to the right answer without consulting the hint book, that is what counts. And it is interesting to see how you approach each puzzle, it's fun to see if my first impulse is completely wrong. I'm new to these escape room puzzles with an overarching narrative and had to look up the hints for my murder mystery light novel yesterday. 😅
I got the watermelon reference (the half confused me) but somehow still thought the dots in the circle were footprints of dancing steps. Still figured out what to do with them very quickly though, without help from the booklet. Only problem was that I had them mirrored so couldn't match them at first. Maybe I shouldn't do these first thing after waking up because it was clearly not my brightest moment
Haha, yes! Was it too much? I sometimes am tempted to just abandon what I've recorded and go again with some pre-knowledge, but then I figure that would be cheating and so I leave it all in. (I do occasionally have to re-record things because I failed to capture them adequately, such as something being off-camera, but that's different)
The "take" in "Take 26A" is a noun, not a verb. Chances are it was unambiguous in German but became an accidental red herring when translated to English.
It looks a lot better in the graphic than it does in reality, where the colours are much more dull. But my problem with it is that it in absolutely no way tells you what's inside the book. It is supposed to make clear that it is a version of Wordle you can play yourself without needing to be online or use a screen - and yet it utterly fails to do so. In fact it doesn't contain ANY graphics that identify it even as a puzzle book. BUT what I didn't say is that I also don't like the UK cover very much, although at least you can sort of infer what's going on. It should have used bright colours to match the Wordle grids, which are not original to Wordle anyway. In fact, Wordle uses the EXACT appearance and game design of the 35-year old TV Show 'Lingo', right down to the precise colours (in the UK version, at least - in the US version of Lingo, one colour differs from Wordle). The only difference is that in Lingo the first letter is given. At the time Wordle was also not trademarked, AND it shared its name with at least two other already-existing word puzzles. Two weeks after my book was published, another UK publisher printed a book called "Wordle Challenge" with an unambiguous cover and title and went on to sell vast, vast numbers. (I have no idea if that other book was printed in the US or not)
We solved it straight away BUT we couldn't see which dancer it was because the blobs were a bit rubbish, we thought they were 3 and 6 and were confused over the last digit! Had to check the hint to see which it actually was
I wasn't sure how accurately I had assembled them so did wonder if it would have been clearer if I'd done it more accurately - but it sounds like the answer is no! :)
With this one, i actually remembered seeing the water melon on a previous day so this one was a quick one for me today. Like you i don't understand what the 26A means...
Another one I had to look up the answer for. I thought each circle would be an individual number. Even after finding out you’re meant to stack them, I couldn’t do it. I just ended up with big blobby messes. And “Take 26A” is 100% movie related flavour text. As in, say, “Batman Returns, scene 17, take 14! Action!” The take being alphanumeric is a little odd, though.
Yes, I've never heard of an alphanumeric take number, although I can't claim to be an expert. But even without the letter, I think it would be too misleading to include when you also say that the clipboard contains a hidden message. And I also thought each circle was a separate number too (until I didn't!) - it's a bit mean to give you 3 circles! :)
As soon as I heard "watermelon" I shouted "the book!". 😂 I'd noticed the watermelon a while ago and thought it was noteworthy. My kid and I were dying when you were going down the film canister rabbit hole. 😳
I think you're too busy with other stuff, so you haven't looked a million times on the back of those books like I have! I haven't seen Dirty Dancing either, but found the "half a watermelon" is a misquote from that movie already some weeks ago! So I went straight there and interpreted the two dancers just like you 👍
Once something's 'off camera' I tend to forget about it entirely, unfortunately! :) It happens in all my videos, to some extent. I also felt I 'knew' the calendar by now, but clearly not!
Your chagrin over the US cover was very amusing... I'm guessing you're not in charge of cover design, then? Perhaps Take 26A is a noun, like a film take, rather than a verb? And it's just flavour text? If so, I wonder whether it was less ambiguous in the original version, if there are separate words for each meaning in German?
Covers are interesting. I do often get asked my opinion, but on the rare occasions where I say "I don't like it" I always get told "the team here love it so we're going ahead with it anyway". Or words to that effect. :) On the other hand, publishers will usually make small amends if I request them, which are typically to do with author credit placement or blurb text.
I know there is some phenomenon about how our brains work when it comes to puzzle solving (though I can't remember its name) whereby we make a guess that something might be relevant, but then something happens where we convince ourself that our wild guess MUST be right, forgetting it that it was only speculation with no real reasoning behind it to begin with. Your dedication to those film reels was a masterclass exemplifying that phenomenon today. :-P
I watched today because I was really hoping you'd explain for us what was the relevance of any of the words on that clipboard. I'm almost… relieved?… to see that you have no idea what the 26A was all about either. But my wife and I never even saw that watermelon - we've never turned the two books over because it feels like that's something we should only do if instructed to do so. Fortunately the pattern of the two dancers was legible even without the watermelon background. :-)
Thank you so much for your comment! You're absolutely spot-on on your first comment - and I have noticed I do this quite often! On SO many videos I either say something must be wrong but pursue it anyway; OR I have the right answer from the start but then move away from it. It's quite interesting to watch myself back! :) And on the dancer pattern, I suspected I could have solved it without the watermelon too (and indeed did identify the '10' dancer) so it's good to have confirmation!
We had a hard time with this one and eventually looked at the solution. We had arranged the disks correctly and could sort of see two dancers. We wen't sure which ones they were and didn't spend enough time trying to figure it out. We felt that it would only give two numbers so we thought we must have it wrong!
Yes, I was expecting to find three dancers too. It was only because I was so confused by the incongruity of the '10' that I twigged what was going on! :)
It stuck to my mind when you presented the backs of the booklets. All those different movie quotes that wrong in one way or another. Good thing that I have seen Dirty Dancing and know that Baby brings a watermelon to the party, not only half with bits missing. The room was very much a reference to the film with the very iconic lift, and the seed maps could only belong to the illustration.
One puzzle where prior knowledge of the film came in handy.
Interesting! Well, I'm glad to have the excuse although I should have remembered to check the booklets too I suppose - I did earlier in the month, but clearly by now familiarity (or not!) had let me to be complacent! :)
@drgareth You got to the right answer without consulting the hint book, that is what counts. And it is interesting to see how you approach each puzzle, it's fun to see if my first impulse is completely wrong. I'm new to these escape room puzzles with an overarching narrative and had to look up the hints for my murder mystery light novel yesterday. 😅
I got the watermelon reference (the half confused me) but somehow still thought the dots in the circle were footprints of dancing steps. Still figured out what to do with them very quickly though, without help from the booklet. Only problem was that I had them mirrored so couldn't match them at first. Maybe I shouldn't do these first thing after waking up because it was clearly not my brightest moment
A very thorough deep dive in the beginning for you haha. Otherwise a nice quick puzzle today :)
Haha, yes! Was it too much? I sometimes am tempted to just abandon what I've recorded and go again with some pre-knowledge, but then I figure that would be cheating and so I leave it all in. (I do occasionally have to re-record things because I failed to capture them adequately, such as something being off-camera, but that's different)
@@drgareth haha yes definately keep it real. Gives it that authentic and relatable touch
The "take" in "Take 26A" is a noun, not a verb. Chances are it was unambiguous in German but became an accidental red herring when translated to English.
You're probably right. It's a shame the text above tells you to treat the clipboard as a coded message - without that it would be easier to ignore.
I didn't even see the watermelon, that would have made working out the puzzle much easier :D
I know! :) I had forgotten about it entirely, if I had even properly ever twigged it being there.
Maybe it's because I'm American, but I enjoy the American cover of that book way more. I find it a lot more visually interesting.
It looks a lot better in the graphic than it does in reality, where the colours are much more dull. But my problem with it is that it in absolutely no way tells you what's inside the book. It is supposed to make clear that it is a version of Wordle you can play yourself without needing to be online or use a screen - and yet it utterly fails to do so. In fact it doesn't contain ANY graphics that identify it even as a puzzle book. BUT what I didn't say is that I also don't like the UK cover very much, although at least you can sort of infer what's going on. It should have used bright colours to match the Wordle grids, which are not original to Wordle anyway. In fact, Wordle uses the EXACT appearance and game design of the 35-year old TV Show 'Lingo', right down to the precise colours (in the UK version, at least - in the US version of Lingo, one colour differs from Wordle). The only difference is that in Lingo the first letter is given. At the time Wordle was also not trademarked, AND it shared its name with at least two other already-existing word puzzles. Two weeks after my book was published, another UK publisher printed a book called "Wordle Challenge" with an unambiguous cover and title and went on to sell vast, vast numbers. (I have no idea if that other book was printed in the US or not)
We solved it straight away BUT we couldn't see which dancer it was because the blobs were a bit rubbish, we thought they were 3 and 6 and were confused over the last digit!
Had to check the hint to see which it actually was
I wasn't sure how accurately I had assembled them so did wonder if it would have been clearer if I'd done it more accurately - but it sounds like the answer is no! :)
With this one, i actually remembered seeing the water melon on a previous day so this one was a quick one for me today. Like you i don't understand what the 26A means...
Well done - I had entirely forgotten, if I had even consciously noticed it! :)
Another one I had to look up the answer for. I thought each circle would be an individual number. Even after finding out you’re meant to stack them, I couldn’t do it. I just ended up with big blobby messes.
And “Take 26A” is 100% movie related flavour text. As in, say, “Batman Returns, scene 17, take 14! Action!” The take being alphanumeric is a little odd, though.
Yes, I've never heard of an alphanumeric take number, although I can't claim to be an expert. But even without the letter, I think it would be too misleading to include when you also say that the clipboard contains a hidden message. And I also thought each circle was a separate number too (until I didn't!) - it's a bit mean to give you 3 circles! :)
Been waiting! We are a couple days ahead but did 19 and 20 remarkably quickly!! 😂
As soon as I heard "watermelon" I shouted "the book!". 😂 I'd noticed the watermelon a while ago and thought it was noteworthy.
My kid and I were dying when you were going down the film canister rabbit hole. 😳
Well done - I wish I had! :)
Despite saying out loud that I must be wrong, it's surprising how long I persisted with it! :)
I think you're too busy with other stuff, so you haven't looked a million times on the back of those books like I have! I haven't seen Dirty Dancing either, but found the "half a watermelon" is a misquote from that movie already some weeks ago! So I went straight there and interpreted the two dancers just like you 👍
Once something's 'off camera' I tend to forget about it entirely, unfortunately! :) It happens in all my videos, to some extent. I also felt I 'knew' the calendar by now, but clearly not!
Your chagrin over the US cover was very amusing... I'm guessing you're not in charge of cover design, then?
Perhaps Take 26A is a noun, like a film take, rather than a verb? And it's just flavour text? If so, I wonder whether it was less ambiguous in the original version, if there are separate words for each meaning in German?
So I just looked up the German version from last year- it says Take 26A on the original, too. So I guess it's a more obvious distinction over there.
Covers are interesting. I do often get asked my opinion, but on the rare occasions where I say "I don't like it" I always get told "the team here love it so we're going ahead with it anyway". Or words to that effect. :) On the other hand, publishers will usually make small amends if I request them, which are typically to do with author credit placement or blurb text.
This one completely lost me and I gave in and looked at the solution. I'd been so good for so many of the puzzles but this one just annoyed me 😂
I would be very interested to know if the other identically sized circles are pure coincidence, or deliberate red herrings!