Fed II Star - January 29, 2006

CRYPTOGRAMS
Saturday January 21
by Catspaws

I'm not certain what my fascination is with Oriental restaurants. Perhaps it is the fact that rumor has it feline is often the white meat of choice in some. Or it could be that annoying tune, "Cat in the Kettle," that is often used to taunt me. Be that as it may, I again moved to one of my favorite Oriental tea rooms, the Pearl Teahouse on.....you guessed it!....Pearl. One of my favorite things to do there is dip my paw into the golden dragon tea pot and pretend there's a mousie hidden inside. Fortunately, I got that out of my system before the players arrived, and I don't think any of them mentioned the taste of the tea being a tad off, so my secret is safe.... Ahem.... Yes, Cryptograms!

We had a great crowd for out game this week. Moreover, it seems many of the players are really getting the hang of the game, and we had a group who had never played before, yet showed a remarkable talent as they appear to be fast learners. So, we were off and running with our first puzzle, which Jackrungh solved first, Gilar second, and Prometheus third.

COMMODITIES BEGINNING WITH 'S'
E G A K F J Y G M Z E
E H Z E M L E
E Y K B G M E
E Q Z Y R E
E H A G V M Z B K V Y M L E
E H Z E J A I E

After a short tutorial on strategies and tips, we moved to a slightly harder puzzle, which scored points for Ryuken, Monkey and Fancy. A hint I gave the players was to look at the fifth entry, which was two words, in which the second word had only three letters. By scanning the list of commands on the website, they could figure out one that would fit.

OBSCURE COMMANDS YOU MAY NOT KNOW
(http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/commands/index.html)
E S J F
Q F L R M W A
Q F J V G E N / A T E F G
X A M T Y F Q X Z
J V R S J R M / D A Q
O V Q E X A / V E J J Y R M Q

Gilar, Fancy and Monkey were the first to solve the third puzzle, in which the company name ending in a period was a good starting point.

COMPANIES IN FED 2 (DI COMPANIES)
F K V R H G E T / E S Y I B C N E A B
P A V Y / D S / J E N A , / E S R D N G D N V C A Y
Y A B G A N V Y D B / R D N G D N V C E D S
K A Z Z E S T B / Q E C P / R P V E N B / E S R .
S V H A Y / I S E L V C D N B / I S K E Z E C A Y
P D K M / P V S Y / T N A S V Y A B / D J / V S C E D R P

For the fourth puzzle, I let my sense of humor come out of hiding, not that it hides very often, and gave out a list that sent Fancy into peals of laughter. A good starting point in this puzzle is the single letter, which has to be A or I. Monkey, Fancy, and Lynnea solved this puzzle.

WAYS TO BEAT FANCY AT CRYPTOGRAMS
K G R / E G F / I T
Z K I C C / D / F W I Z R / G A / E G Z / F W I K E
E G L R / E G Z / H W F F / I A G K
L G Z K U D H K / E G F / S G K E / D / Z R J Q / P G K K R A
T N D Q / D A / E W I U / R D U N Q / Z W / E R / F G Z Z R Z / K E R / O D F R
F W M R / K E R / O D F R / K W / D / Z R H U R K / N W H D K G W A

The final puzzle of the game was a stumper for those who haven't visited Selena lately. Monkey, Fancy and Gwaptiva solved this puzzle. The apostrophe in the third entry is a good starting point, as is the single letter in the first one.

WAYS TO RELAX ON THE MOON
J A A / E / T R L F A / F S / X Z A / E G Z E T I M E
K E T I G A / F S / X Z A / W E J F S R
Z E L A / E / Q M F S H / E X / T E M F R ' J
L F J F X / X Z A / W Z O M W Z
Y F S Q R Y / J Z R V / F S / D E T F G N / C A Y A G J
G F D X / I E M I A G G J / F S / X Z A / J V R M X J / W R T V G A U

Monkey, Fancy and Gilar were our big winners this week, and I had so much fun I almost wish we'd played another hour. We play Cryptograms every Saturday at 4.00pm eastern, and if you'd like the answers to this week's puzzles, you can email me at catspaws_fed@sbcglobal.net.