Enigma #30

[enigma]

Diminutive T.V. deputy
9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs of Canadian Horror
Press '6', Sir
A gladiator goes sailing
Vincent (or Vinnie) plays the lottery
Bruno's arranged meeting from hell
A piggy boss as a Congressman
Maybe Hawkeye was eating soup?


qvshbbnq

[enigma]

Bump. Anyone wish to get the ball rolling?

[gottimd]

Press '6', Sir


Dial "M" for Murder? I got nothing....

[gottimd]

Maybe each is referring to a movie that the actor/actress was the same?

[WSUCougar]

A gladiator goes sailing
Maybe Russell Crowe? (Master and Commander)

[gottimd]

9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs of Canadian Horror

=96,494 Coulombs of Canadian Horror????

[QuikSand]

9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs????

The first part is Faraday's constant... but a little bit of googling led me nowhere with any connection to Canadian humor. Actually, as nearly as I can tell, there is no such thing as Canadian humor... which compounds my/our difficulty.

[gottimd]

The first part is Faraday's constant... but a little bit of googling led me nowhere with any connection to Canadian humor. Actually, as nearly as I can tell, there is no such thing as Canadian humor... which compounds my/our difficulty.

hahahah, I was doing the same thing, and came to the same conclusion.

Is there an actor/actress with the name Faraday? Michael Faraday rings a bell, maybe in a canadian horror movie?

EDIT: Michael Faraday is the one which Faraday's constant was named for, so I guess at this point, "I'm with stupid".

[QuikSand]

Vincent (or Vinnie) plays the lottery

The first part is probably John Travolta... (Vincent Vega, Vinnie Barbarino) -- but I have nothing for the latter. Any recent movies of his have a connection to chance, risk, prizes, or the like?

[QuikSand]

I don't know why I misread "horror" as "humor" -- my mistake, above. I still have nothing to connect with there.

[gottimd]

The first part is probably John Travolta... (Vincent Vega, Vinnie Barbarino) -- but I have nothing for the latter. Any recent movies of his have a connection to chance, risk, prizes, or the like?


Lucky Numbers in 1999.

[gottimd]

Google "Faraday" "Canadian" "Horror"

Got a movie called Happy Birthday to Me

[gottimd]

maybe Hawkeye....??

Alan Alda Movies?

[gottimd]

Bruno's arranged meeting from hell???

Richard Bruno in "Heavan Can Wait"?????

[enigma]

Actually, as nearly as I can tell, there is no such thing as Canadian humor... which compounds my/our difficulty.
Maybe if you tried Canadian humour...

[digamma]

Maybe if you tried Canadian humour...
or perhaps Canadian humourless?:D

[gottimd]

or perhaps Canadian humourless?:D

Or perhaps Humorless Canadians? :confused:

[Godzilla Blitz]

Might be a stretch, but Maybe "Bruno's arranged meeting from hell" is the 1987 movie Blind Date? Bruno is Bruce Willis' nickname, and the blind date goes horribly wrong in the movie.

[Radii]

Google "Faraday" "Canadian" "Horror"

Got a movie called Happy Birthday to Me

PING: Oliegirl(she was telling me about this movie awhile ago).

[gottimd]

I think he did a movie with Lisa Kudrow recently about a rigged lottery.

(I'd look for more info, but I'm still reeling from the dig about Canadian humor. Jim Carrey? Mike Myers? Phil Hartman? Half the writers from any major comedy show? Do you Americans just assume everyone on your TV is from the US?)

See post #11

[QuikSand]

I can't find anything here that seems to connect to the "soup" clue...

Alan Alda - IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000257/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9QWxhbiBBbGRhfGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1)

[Maple Leafs]

The first part is probably John Travolta... (Vincent Vega, Vinnie Barbarino) -- but I have nothing for the latter. Any recent movies of his have a connection to chance, risk, prizes, or the like?
I think he did a movie with Lisa Kudrow recently about a rigged lottery.

(I'd look for more info, but I'm still reeling from the dig about Canadian humor. Jim Carrey? Mike Myers? Phil Hartman? Half the writers from any major comedy show? Do you Americans just assume everyone on your TV is from the US?)

[QuikSand]

(I'd look for more info, but I'm still reeling from the dig about Canadian humor. Jim Carrey? Mike Myers? Phil Hartman? Half the writers from any major comedy show? Do you Americans just assume everyone on your TV is from the US?)

And they are all living comfortably in Canada to this day, right?

Just a poke, anyway -- meant specifically for you.

[vtbub]

I think he did a movie with Lisa Kudrow recently about a rigged lottery.

(I'd look for more info, but I'm still reeling from the dig about Canadian humor. Jim Carrey? Mike Myers? Phil Hartman? Half the writers from any major comedy show? Do you Americans just assume everyone on your TV is from the US?)


Didn't you get the memo that we annexed you?

Have you ever seen Don Rumsfeld and Paul Martin together?

MWAHHHHAHAHAHA :p ;)

[cuervo72]

And they are all living comfortably in Canada to this day, right?

Just a poke, anyway -- meant specifically for you.

Here's wishing Phil Hartman was comfortably living, period.

[Radii]

I can't find anything here that seems to connect to the "soup" clue...

Alan Alda - IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000257/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9QWxhbiBBbGRhfGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=1;ft=20;fm=1)


Donald Sutherland played Hawkeye in the movie...

Googling 'donald sutherland soup' returns this absurd website:

http://www.soupsong.com/imovies.html

with a soup reference in a movie called "Eye of the Needle" and donald sutherland.

... if that reference is correct, then I give up on the rest of this puzzle right now, but, perhaps we're not looking for alan alda references...

[Buzzbee]

A piggy boss as a Congressman

A possibility?

The actor Sorrell Booke died on February 11th 1994 of colon cancer. He was born on January 4th 1930 and was 5'6" and weighed only 175lbs. Sorrell started out in radio playing multiple parts due to his love of dialects. He spent the Korean war in counter intelligence before returning to performing in the late 50's. many films followed from the early 60s up until 1977 before being cast in the dukes. During filming in the Duke's of Hazzard he was padded up with foam to give him the 40"+ waist line seen in the series. A great actor, he enjoyed working with food, speaking Russian and Japanese and reading.

rock-a-doodle. (1992)
dukes of hazzard. (1979-1985)
freaky friday. (1977)
special delivery. (1977)
brenda starr. (1976)
adventures of the queen. (1975)
devil times five. (1974)
bank shot. (1974)
mastermind. (1973)
slaughterhouse five. (1972)
what's up doc? (1972)
up the down staircase. (1967)
black like me. (1964)
fail safe. (1964)

joy house. (1964)
purlie victorious. (1963)
gone are the days. (1963)

[VPI97]

fail safe. (1964) Fail-Safe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058083/) (1964) .... Congressman Raskob

[enigma]

Nice progress has been made on the clues. (bump)

[QuikSand]

So, it looks like we have:

Diminutive T.V. deputy
9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs of Canadian Horror - ____ Faraday in Happy Birthday to Me
Press '6', Sir
A gladiator goes sailing - Russell Crowe in Master and Commander
Vincent (or Vinnie) plays the lottery -- John Travolta in Lucky Numbers
Bruno's arranged meeting from hell -- Bruce Willis in Blind Date
A piggy boss as a Congressman -- Sorrell Brooke in Fail-Safe
Maybe Hawkeye was eating soup? -- Donald Sutherland in Eye of the Needle ?

[QuikSand]

Press '6', Sir


Maybe this is a reference to an actor who has been knighted -- Olivier, Geilgud, and Guiness all come to mind for me. I'm sure there are others.

[gottimd]

Maybe this is a reference to an actor who has been knighted -- Olivier, Geilgud, and Guiness all come to mind for me. I'm sure there are others.

I was thinking that the 6, was the "MNO" on the phone as noted in an earlier post, "Dial M for murder"????

[QuikSand]

I like the "Dial M" connection -- but can't get "Sir" to connect any way. Ray Milland is the most obvious actor there, I suppose, but I have nothing else to go with him.

I was also looking at Sidney Poitier -- from his role in To Sir, With Love but have come up empty on reconnecting him, either.

I suspect the "Dial M" thing is correct, I just can't finish the link...

[QuikSand]

Sir Alfred Hitchcock directed Dial M for Murder

Okay, I'll buy that. Didn't know he was knighted, and we haven't had a director yet (to my knowledge) but it's by far better than anythign I have come up with.

[gottimd]

What is this "qvshbbnq"? The end of the enigma puzzle, any ideas?

[QuikSand]

Diminutive T.V. deputy

TV Deputy got me thinking of Don Kotts as Barney Fife - but I can't make a connection with "diminutive" in any of his work (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0461455/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9RG9uIEtub3R0c3xodG1sPTF8bm09b24_;fc=1;ft=18;fm=1).

Other well known TV deputies?

[VPI97]

Sir Alfred Hitchcock directed Dial M for Murder

[QuikSand]

Dr. David Faraday was the character Glenn Ford played in the movie

These clues seem a little bit uneven (not that that's wrong) -- most references are to the actors themselves, this is apparently to the character only. Another is to the director.

Doesn't matter -- maybe it's just the movie titles we need to solve this thing, using the last jumble of letters (with 8 letters, and 8 movies above it) as some sort of "key."

[VPI97]

9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs of Canadian Horror - ____ Faraday in Happy Birthday to MeDr. David Faraday was the character Glenn Ford played in the movie

[QuikSand]

This ordering bug is really getting annoying, especially in a "build on the last thing someone said" thread like this one...

[QuikSand]

Don Knotts played a character named 'Captain Little' in 1961's 'The Last Time I Saw Archie'

Good catch, I missed it! (This response will probably precede yours... I ought to just post it myself and claim credit)

[VPI97]

Diminutive T.V. deputyDon Knotts played a character named 'Captain Little' in 1961's 'The Last Time I Saw Archie'

[enigma]

These clues seem a little bit uneven (not that that's wrong) -- most references are to the actors themselves, this is apparently to the character only. Another is to the director.

Doesn't matter -- maybe it's just the movie titles we need to solve this thing, using the last jumble of letters (with 8 letters, and 8 movies above it) as some sort of "key."
The movie/show titles are helpful, but not the only part of the puzzle. If anything, they serve more as clues of what else you need to identify. Or rather, what to uncover about what you've identified.

I will tell you that it is NOT Don Knotts. It was my worry that he was the easy guess..."diminutive" in this case describes the actor rather than any character, and there is a bit of a hint in how the clue reads.

Other notes...HBTM is Canadian, as is Glenn Ford...review Sutherland's list of works again.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Lots of possibilities for deputies, but this one jumped out a bit from the crowd...

Michael J Fox. He played a Deputy Mayor Michael Flaherty in Spin City, and he's only 5'4".

I'm not picking up any patterns/connections in the list we've generated so far. I wonder if we need to look at the characters these guys played in the movies/tv shows?

Any thoughts on the stuff at the bottom? No vowels. Maybe a straight substition code from alphabetical order, with each letter shifted by the same amount ? I'd find it hard to think something that short would be a cryptogram.

[QuikSand]

Michael J Fox. He played a Deputy Mayor Michael Flaherty in Spin City, and he's only 5'4".

He's also Canadian...

[QuikSand]

Other notes...HBTM is Canadian, as is Glenn Ford...review Sutherland's list of works again.

Sutherland did a flick called "Crackers," which I suppose could be the answer to the soup clue...

[cuervo72]

The movie/show titles are helpful, but not the only part of the puzzle. If anything, they serve more as clues of what else you need to identify. Or rather, what to uncover about what you've identified.

Maybe there is something else we should look at with the titles too? I'm not sure what, but maybe there's something there.

Neat finding on the birthplaces...I think there is some incidious foreign plot (led by the Canadians of course) to take over American entertainment!

[QuikSand]

Well, here's a curious list of birthplaces that gets me absolutely nowhere:

Michael J Fox – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Glenn Ford – Quebec, Canada
Alfred Hitchcock – Leytonstone, London, UK
Russell Crowe – Wellington, New Zealand
John Travolta – Englewood, NJ
Bruce Willis – Idar-Oberstein, West Germany
Sorrell Brooke – Buffalo, NY
Donald Sutherland – Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

[cuervo72]

I think GB had it with 'Spin City' for Fox.

[QuikSand]

So, it looks like we have:

Diminutive T.V. deputy - Michael J Fox in Spin City (born in Alberta, Canada)
9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs of Canadian Horror - Glenn Ford in Happy Birthday to Me (born in Quebec, Canada)
Press '6', Sir - Alfred Hitchcock directing Dial M for Murder (born in London, England)
A gladiator goes sailing - Russell Crowe in Master and Commander (born in Wellington, New Zealand)
Vincent (or Vinnie) plays the lottery -- John Travolta in Lucky Numbers (born in Englewood, NJ)
Bruno's arranged meeting from hell -- Bruce Willis in Blind Date (born in West Germany)
A piggy boss as a Congressman -- Sorrell Brooke in Fail-Safe (born in Buffalo, NY)
Maybe Hawkeye was eating soup? -- Donald Sutherland in Crackers ? (born in New Brunswick, Canada)

[QuikSand]

This is making my hair hurt.

[QuikSand]

bump... and *sigh*

[Godzilla Blitz]

Sutherland did a flick called "Crackers," which I suppose could be the answer to the soup clue...

I was wondering about Six Degrees of Separation. I haven't seen the movie, but a large chunk of the movie supposedly happens over dinner, and that title has a number in it, which somehow or the other seems to fit with a few of the other movie titles.

[Godzilla Blitz]

dola...

And I got nowhere with the line of letters at the bottom of the puzzle last night, but I think I better check my work: Christmas beers don't make for the clearest mind.

[QuikSand]

Funny - I was thinking that my problem was that I hadn't been drinking enough.

[enigma]

Ok...all of the titles/actors are correct. I can't say too much, as to not give away the trick to the puzzle. But study some of the words in the titles, and see if anything pieces itself together.

[QuikSand]

Re-posting for page 2 convenience:

Diminutive T.V. deputy - Michael J Fox in Spin City (born in Alberta, Canada)
9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs of Canadian Horror - Glenn Ford in Happy Birthday to Me (born in Quebec, Canada)
Press '6', Sir - Alfred Hitchcock directing Dial M for Murder (born in London, England)
A gladiator goes sailing - Russell Crowe in Master and Commander (born in Wellington, New Zealand)
Vincent (or Vinnie) plays the lottery -- John Travolta in Lucky Numbers (born in Englewood, NJ)
Bruno's arranged meeting from hell -- Bruce Willis in Blind Date (born in West Germany)
A piggy boss as a Congressman -- Sorrell Brooke in Fail-Safe (born in Buffalo, NY)
Maybe Hawkeye was eating soup? -- Donald Sutherland in Crackers ? (born in New Brunswick, Canada)

[QuikSand]

Thinking out loud - probably nothing here...

"Spin City" is the only TV show on the list. This is a pretty odd list of actors and films -- it has to have been very deliberate. So, there must be some very specific reason to include "Spin City." If all you wantd was the word "City," there are any number of movies that you could have used. So -- I'm thinking that the important word is "Spin" -- or else the connection with the Canadian-born actor is somehow important.

If it's "spin" -- then what" We have "dial" later - maybe that connection is useful. The Russell Crowe movie's full title includes "The Far Side of the World" -- not exactly "around" but not too far away.

...oooh, I think I have something...

[QuikSand]

spin
_____
dial
master (as in MasterLock)
numbers
_____
safe
crackers


I'm sensing a theme here -- something to do with combinations, locks, lockpicking, or the like.


I don't know how to incorporate the final clue, though:
qvshbbnq

[QuikSand]

"birthday" and "date" seem to be the logical words to use from the remaining titles -- but I can't get them to connect in any meaningful way to the lockpicking theme...

[WSUCougar]

For what it's worth, the letters at the bottom have the following order in the alphabet:

17-22-19-8-2-2-14-17

[QuikSand]

...lucky numbers, birthday, and date all might be connected somehow to something like "picking lottery numbers" -- this might be a little broader than cracking a safe or picking a lock.

[QuikSand]

someone?

anyone?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Random thoughts that haven't gotten me anywhere...

Just on a whim, I wanted to see if the letters at the bottom made any sense by shifting over a bit in the alphabet. I did this the other night (after beers) and didn't come up with anything. I don't think I've got anything this time either, but in case someone sees something, the other 25 combinations are below.

I don't see anything in Cougar's list of numbers, either. I tried that the other night as well, and can't see any dates in there. Given that the "2" and the "17" repeat, it doesn't make too much sense that this is a lottery number, no? I don't see how they could be a combination, either. Is there a way those numbers could be pointing us to something else, like a website, or a map location?

Another thought I toyed with is the "Happy Birthday to Me" movie. Thinking that maybe 12/20, the date of the posting, was the person's birthday. However, a list of famous people born on 12/20 doesn't seem to fit with any of the other movie clues.

I just started looking at these puzzles a short while back, so I'm not familiar with the patterns in the answers. Are the answers always a person?

Letters if shifted over:
RWTICCOR
SXUJDDPS
TYVKEEQT
UZWLFFRU
VAXMGGSV
WBYNHHTW
XCZOIIUX
YDAPJJVY
ZEBQKKWZ
AFCRLLXA
BGDSMMYB
CHETNNZC
DIFUOOAD
EJGVPPBE
FKHWQQCF
GLIXRRDG
HMJYSSEH
INKZTTFI
JOLAUUGJ
KPMBVVHK
LQNCWWIL
MRODXXJM
NSPEYYKN
OTQFZZLO
PURGAAMP

[Buzzbee]

Dial and spin got me thinking of a rotary telephone dial. FWIW, the letters correspond to the following numbers:

78742267

I thought those might correspond the letter in the title (7th letter in Spin City = t), but came up with gibberish, even as an anagram:

TROLAUAR

Perhaps we need to order the movies by the "date" they were released?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Dial M for Murder (1954)
Fail-Safe (1964)
Happy Birthday to Me (1981)
Crackers (1984)
Blind Date (1987)
Spin City (1996)
Lucky Numbers (2000)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

[QuikSand]

No reason to hold back -- anything might get us somewhere.

[WSUCougar]

I'm kinda thinking we've milked what we can from the movie clues. It's the meaning of the qvshbbnq letters that we need to "crack." GB's shifting of the letters might be on the right track. The safe-cracking theme suggests a back and forth (right-left-right) turning of a dial, but I can't get anywhere with it.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I'm lost. I don't even know what I'm looking for. A person? A thing? A lottery ticket? A famous safe-cracker? I've been trying to focus on the link between the movies and the letters at the bottom, but I can't seem to get enough info out of the top to be able to figure out what to do with the letters at the bottom.

Buzzbee's telephone dial clue led me to think that the letters could represent the other letters on a telephone dial, which gives us the following possibilities:

PQRS-TUV-PQRS-GHI-ABC-ABC-MNO-PQRS

I can't get a word out of this, though, at least in this order.

*bangs head on keyboard*

[cuervo72]

The movie/show titles are helpful, but not the only part of the puzzle. If anything, they serve more as clues of what else you need to identify. Or rather, what to uncover about what you've identified.

Just looking at some of enigma's hints...it seems we're on the right track with a lock theme, but we seem to be missing what the combination is. "What to uncover about what you've identified"...we've identified people as well as movie titles, maybe that's what we need to be focusing on?

[WSUCougar]

I realize it's stating the obvious, but there are eight movie/TV clues and eight letters. If taken in their original order, they would correspond like so:

q = Spin City
v = Happy Birthday to Me
s = Dial M for Murder
h = Master and Commander
b = Lucky Numbers
b = Blind Date
n = Fail-Safe
q = Crackers

Don't have a clue from there, just looking at it differently...

[QuikSand]

Re-posting for page 2 convenience:

Diminutive T.V. deputy - Michael J Fox in Spin City (born in Alberta, Canada)
9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs of Canadian Horror - Glenn Ford in Happy Birthday to Me (born in Quebec, Canada)
Press '6', Sir - Alfred Hitchcock directing Dial M for Murder (born in London, England)
A gladiator goes sailing - Russell Crowe in Master and Commander (born in Wellington, New Zealand)
Vincent (or Vinnie) plays the lottery -- John Travolta in Lucky Numbers (born in Englewood, NJ)
Bruno's arranged meeting from hell -- Bruce Willis in Blind Date (born in West Germany)
A piggy boss as a Congressman -- Sorrell Brooke in Fail-Safe (born in Buffalo, NY)
Maybe Hawkeye was eating soup? -- Donald Sutherland in Crackers ? (born in New Brunswick, Canada)



Well, I'm getting nothing from that list of names -- no theme, no letter seuqences, nada.

The birthplaces seem odd... but there's no indication that that means anything, other than a very oblique drop from e himself.

*sigh*

[QuikSand]

The movie/show titles are helpful, but not the only part of the puzzle. If anything, they serve more as clues of what else you need to identify. Or rather, what to uncover about what you've identified.

I don't have any idea where to go with this. Presumably the actors' names are important -- but I don't see how to use them, nor what to make of this clue.

[Ironhead]

Has anyone looked at the birthdates of the actors in these movies? Considering that a safe or lock combination usually consists of 3 numbers and a birthdate is kind of set up in a similar fashion (11/30/92) it is worth a look. Also, people usually use birthdates for lottery numbers.

Michael J. Fox - 6/6/61
Glenn Ford - 5/1/16
Alfred Hitchcock - 8/13/99 (1899)
Russell Crowe - 4/7/64
John Travolta - 2/18/54
Bruce Willis - 3/19/55
Sorrell Brooke - 1/4/30
Donald Sutherland - 7/17/35

Don't know if it is a coincidence, but no two months of birth are the same and they go from January thru August, not in order though.

[QuikSand]

The months of birth could be a cluue on how something shoudl be ordered 1-8... wither the key words from the movie titles, or the letters in the final jumble. Ugh.

[enigma]

Don't know if it is a coincidence, but no two months of birth are the same and they go from January thru AugustNot a coincidence.

[QuikSand]

Taking the previously posted list of movies, paired with the letters, with the supposed keywords emphasized, and placed into order according to the actor birth-month... here's what I get:

n = Fail-Safe
b = Lucky Numbers
b = Blind Date
h = Master and Commander
v = Happy Birthday to Me
q = Spin City
q = Crackers
s = Dial M for Murder


So, I guess that wraps up this puzzle, once and for all. What's next?

[enigma]

placed into order according to the actor birth-month...
No...order of the clues is inconsequential.


So, I guess that wraps up this puzzle, once and for all. What's next?
If this isn't wrapped up by noon tomorrow, another clue will be posted that should all but give away the puzzle.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Maybe the birth months dictate the order of some action to be peformed on the letters below. E.g., 1/4/30 tells us to go right one place, then left 4 places, then right 30 on q, the first letter in the puzzle. Been messing with this for a few minutes, but I'm still just getting gibberish.

[QuikSand]

There's no room to be critical of any suggestions or ideas... we're at great risk of just letting this lapse, even with so much "progress" already made.

[enigma]

Diminutive T.V. deputy - Michael J. Fox (6/9) in SPIN City

9.6494 x 10^4 Coulombs of Canadian Horror - Glenn Ford (5/1) as Dr. Faraday in 'Happy BIRTHDAY to Me'

Press '6', Sir - Alfred Hitchcock (8/13), director of 'DIAL M For Murder'

A gladiator goes sailing - Russell Crowe (4/7) in 'MASTER and Commander'

Vincent (or Vinnie) plays the lottery - John Travolta (2/18) in 'Lucky NUMBERS'

Bruno's arranged meeting from hell - Bruce (aka "Bruno") Willis (3/19) in 'Blind DATE'

A piggy boss as a Congressman - Sorrell Booke (1/4) - Boss Hogg - as Congressman Raskob in 'Fail-SAFE'

Maybe Hawkeye was eating soup? - Donald Sutherland (7/17) - the movie version of Hawkeye Pierce - in 'CRACKERS'

------------

The trick to this puzzle is to not only identify the individuals, but the titles associated with them, and to take clues from those titles.

SPIN, BIRTHDAY, DIAL, MASTER, NUMBERS, DATE, LOCK, CRACKERS

These words (with any luck) should lead the user to both look for birth dates (BIRTHDAY, DATE) and to apply these birthdates somehow to the string of characters listed after the clues (SPIN, DIAL, MASTER, NUMBERS, LOCK, CRACKERS).

If you apply the dates, using the birth months as the position (there are 8 clues, one for each month, and eight characters in the string) and the day as the number of "clicks" to rotate (i.e. 1/4 turns the first digit 4 times, from q->r->s->t->u), you can transform the string

qvshbbnq

to

unlocked

[WSUCougar]

*head spontaneously bursts into flames*

[QuikSand]

Great.

[flere-imsaho]

Whomever solved that is my hero.

[Maple Leafs]

Having missed virtually all of this the first time, and then going through it after it's been solved, the answer makes an amazing amount of sense and seems perfectly obvious.

Good puzzle.

[Buccaneer]

SPIN, BIRTHDAY, DIAL, MASTER, NUMBERS, DATE, LOCK, CRACKERS

I am unclear as to how these words apply to the clue or answer? Seems like all you needed was the month/day of the actor's birthday.

[Maple Leafs]

SPIN, BIRTHDAY, DIAL, MASTER, NUMBERS, DATE, LOCK, CRACKERS

I am unclear as to how these words apply to the clue or answer? Seems like all you needed was the month/day of the actor's birthday.
I think "birthday" and "date" told you to find the actor's birthday, and the rest were clues as to the "safe" theme that lead to the answer.

[Neon_Chaos]

Michael J. Fox - 6/6/61
Glenn Ford - 5/1/16
Alfred Hitchcock - 8/13/99 (1899)
Russell Crowe - 4/7/64
John Travolta - 2/18/54
Bruce Willis - 3/19/55
Sorrell Brooke - 1/4/30
Donald Sutherland - 7/17/35

Anyone notice that the months are 1 to 8? Arrange the months of birth by the number.

Sorrell Brooke - 1/4/30
John Travolta - 2/18/54
Bruce Willis - 3/19/55
Russell Crowe - 4/7/64
Glenn Ford - 5/1/16
Michael J. Fox - 6/6/61
Donald Sutherland - 7/17/35
Alfred Hitchcock - 8/13/99 (1899)

So then we use the days as a given number of clicks to rotate the jumbled letters deciphered by Cougar.

q = Spin City
v = Happy Birthday to Me
s = Dial M for Murder
h = Master and Commander
b = Lucky Numbers
b = Blind Date
n = Fail-Safe
q = Crackers


qvshbbnq

4-18-19-7-1-6-17-13

unlocked

wow... the word really is... unlocked.

Damn. my head hurt. Great puzzle, enigma!

:)

[QuikSand]

ping enigma... we're waiting for a new puzzle...

[QuikSand]

can we at least get confirmation that the new enigma has not simply ... wandered off?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Based on my last post I'm afraid some people might think it's me, but I didn't get it.

Would love to see another puzzle. Just discovered these a few weeks ago, and have enjoyed the few that I've worked on.

[enigma]

No, not gone. Just having one hell of a time trying to come up with something that doesn't suck.

[WSUCougar]

Post something...anything. Then the next guy can bear the burden. :D

[QuikSand]

We'll get this resolved soon.

[QuikSand]

No, not gone. Just having one hell of a time trying to come up with something that doesn't suck.

We'll take a puzzle that sucks over weeks of waiting... please.