Solution: Greetings
Answer: ADVANCE SCOUT
Written by Thomas Gordon
This puzzle is about famous opening passages in books. More specifically, a substitution cipher has been applied to a message, with the letter A corresponding to the first word in a famous opening passage, the letter B corresponding to the second word, and so on. Repeated words are ignored, so each letter gets a unique word for each book.
For example, with the first book, 1984, the opening words are associated to letters like so:
| Word from 1984 | Associated Letter |
| IT | A |
| WAS | B |
| A | C |
| BRIGHT | D |
| COLD | E |
| DAY | F |
| IN | G |
| APRIL | H |
| AND | I |
| THE | J |
| CLOCKS | K |
| WERE | L |
| STRIKING | M |
| THIRTEEN | N |
| WINSTON | O |
| SMITH | P |
| HIS | Q |
| CHIN | R |
| NUZZLED | S |
| INTO | T |
| HIS | (skipped) |
| BREAST | U |
| IN | (skipped) |
| AN | V |
| EFFORT | W |
| TO | X |
| ESCAPE | Y |
| THE | (skipped) |
| VILE | Z |
The plaintext is divided into thirteen sections of sixteen letters each; so thirteen book passages are used, each consisting of sixteen words. To help with identification, these books are in alphabetical order. These sections are:
| Words | Book | Message |
| EFFORT WINSTON CHIN BRIGHT WINSTON THIRTEEN COLD INTO APRIL COLD STRIKING IT INTO INTO COLD CHIN | 1984 | WORDONETHEMATTER |
| IT OF WISDOM DESPAIR AGE OF HOPE HOPE WE WISDOM SEASON WISDOM WINTER WINTER WE SEASON | A Tale of Two Cities | AEITHERRUINISSUN |
| BEGIN NEW EVERY CALVINO'S BEGIN CONCENTRATE DISPEL YOU READING BEGIN EVERY WORLD ON NEW READING BEGIN | If On A Winter's Night A Traveler | EITHERSAFETYLIFE |
| HOW PURSE PARTICULAR HOW AND CALL HAVING PURSE AND CALL AND YEARS PURSE AND CALL AND | Moby-Dick | ISVITALSTATESTAT |
| WAS CASE SOMEONE IT'S AS THE USING CASE SOMEONE IT'S SAY TUNED HEARD THE DEAD THE | Neuromancer | ESUNWARSUNVITALA |
| SIGHT SIDE LYRA DAEMON MOVED HALL THREE DARKENING MOVED SIGHT KITCHEN GREAT ONE LYRA LYRA SIGHT | Northern Lights (published in the US as The Golden Compass) | ROADEITHERSUNAAR |
| HIS MANY MANY AFTERNOON HIS SQUAD HIS WHEN FATHER YEARS COLONEL HE LATER HIS AFTERNOON REMEMBER | One Hundred Years of Solitude | TAARTITSUBJECTRO |
| IT DECEMBER IT SICKENING OF MEANT SICKENING IT SICKENING OF IT ABOUT MEANT SICKENING DECEMBER OF | The Giver | ADARTORARTAWORDT |
| FEEL BEEN I'VE MORE YOU MORE MIND ME MORE THAT FEEL FATHER MORE I'VE ME MORE | The Great Gatsby | WONEVERJEMWHENJE |
| GALAXY SUN OF A ORBITING FAR LIES THE OUT YELLOW A SPIRAL UNCHARTED LIES FAR OUT | The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy | MSGOTANDBROKENAB |
| WET GROUND IN OOZY LIVED ENDS OOZY YET IN AN IN AND FILLED IN OOZY YET | The Hobbit | LEATGOTWASARMATW |
| OF AND TO TRELAWNEY PARTICULARS WRITE HAVING AND TO TREASURE OF THESE PARTICULARS TREASURE AND AND | Treasure Island | HENBROKENTHIRTEE |
| ON LATHER SUSTAINED THE WHICH CROSSED WHICH FROM CROSSED STAIRHEAD BEARING RAZOR CROSSED CAME CAME ON | Ulysses | NMYGOTOFTHIRTEEN |
The full plaintext message is as follows:
WORD ONE THE MATTER A EITHER RUIN IS SUN EITHER SAFETY LIFE IS VITAL STATE STATE SUN WAR SUN VITAL A ROAD EITHER SUN A ART A ART IT SUBJECT ROAD ART OR ART A WORD TWO NEVER JEM WHEN JEMS GOT AND BROKEN ABLE AT GOT WAS ARM AT WHEN BROKEN THIRTEEN MY GOT OF THIRTEEN
There are two sections, one marked as WORD ONE and the other marked as WORD TWO. These are again substitution ciphers, using two more books:
| Words | Book | Message |
| THE MATTER A EITHER RUIN IS SUN EITHER SAFETY LIFE IS VITAL STATE STATE SUN WAR SUN VITAL A ROAD EITHER SUN A ART A ART IT SUBJECT ROAD ART OR ART A | The Art of War | DONTWHATUPHILLAGAINSTANENEMYSEVEN |
| NEVER JEM WHEN JEMS GOT AND BROKEN ABLE AT GOT WAS ARM AT WHEN BROKEN THIRTEEN MY GOT OF THIRTEEN | To Kill A Mockingbird | WHATISMYNICKNAMEFIVE |
Both of these cluephrases are references to their respective books.
For Word One, the cluephrase refers to this passage from The Art of War:
It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill.
The first word is ADVANCE.
For Word Two, the cluephrase refers to the person who is speaking in the opening passage, and the narrator of the novel; her name is SCOUT.
The full answer is therefore ADVANCE SCOUT.
Author’s Notes
There are very few puzzles that do this, but sometimes a puzzle just arrives into your head fully formed. I'd like to say it came to me a dream, but that may not actually be true. Scratch that, it's my author's notes, I can say what I like and you have no choice but to believe me.
I remember very distinctly that I came up with the idea for this puzzle at the end of 2021, because I almost included it in a Christmas present for a friend of mine. However, once the third round meta was finalised, I found that it worked very naturally for this answer; and thus, Greetings was born.
The placement of this puzzle at the start of the round is intentional. We found the idea of greeting solvers on their way in almost unmentionably funny. Or, at least, I did.
In its initial drafts, this puzzle was named Hello!.