If you're interested in starting the treasure hunt from the very beginning, check out the prologue!
After cracking the code, you catch a flight to Oslo, the capital of Norway. Being on a long flight makes you need to use the restroom badly -- but it's after 10 PM? Dare you risk it? Deciding that risking it is necessary, you relieve yourself, and (luckily) you aren't caught.
On the way out of the restroom, you notice a telltale man in a suit and sunglasses holding a plaque with your name on it. You walk up to him, and he silently hands you a letter.
Tearing into the letter, you read:
Dear [insert username here],
Welcome to Norway! Feel free to spend a couple of hours here enjoying Scandinavia. After all, it's positively gorgeous. You have 48 hours from midnight tonight to reach your next pit stop, at which point anyone not there will be cut from the Treasure Hunt. My suggestion is to spend the day here and sleep on the plane - once you land, it's just a short drive to the pit stop.
You do, of course, have to figure out where you're flying to, though. I've left a puzzle on the back of this note. Solve it when you're ready!
Yours truly,
Bailey M
Puzzlemaster for the Treasure Hunt 'Round the World
You shrug. Better to solve the puzzle now and then spend any remaining time enjoying the city, right? Flipping over the letter, you read:
- OLD FLAGS
- FISHY DISH
- PUERTO RICO
- ACQUITTED IDIOT
- 61B2068696E74
- MANLY PINK
- BANANA CABANA
- STREET SMART
DETERMINE THE ODD ONES OUT TO DISCOVER THE WAY
P.S. No, 61B2068696E74 isn't "the odd one out because it's hex and the rest are strings". Think of it as a hint.
P.P.S. Prepare yourself for a long flight -- you're finally leaving Europe!
Where is your next destination?
Hint/Clarification:
The only conversion you need to do is the first hex-to-string. None of the other strings need to be converted for this puzzle to be fully solved.
Hint/Clarification #2:
I've edited the tags. You'll note that cryptograms is not among them.
Hint/Clarification #3:
I'm not spoiler tagging this one since it's basically a general-knowledge sort of thing. It should be noted that the Puzzlemaster, Bailey M, is an American, and writes his puzzles as such.
Hint/Clarification #4:
The Puzzlemaster typed this puzzle up on a good old-fashioned American keyboard. Apologies to anyone solving the puzzle who doesn't have one on hand.
The story continues in Treasure hunt 'round the world! (Interlude 2)
Answer
We're going to
Cambodia
There's a single odd letter out in each of the clues, and for all but the hex clue, the odd letter out is based on how the word is typed on a QWERTY keyboard.
OLD FLAGS:
O is the only letter typed on the top row of the keyboard. The rest are all on the home row.
FISHY DISH:
D is the only letter in an odd numbered column of the keyboard.
PUERTO RICO:
C is the only letter on the bottom row. The rest are all on the top row.
ACQUITTED IDIOT:
I is the only letter in an even numbered column of the keyboard.
61B2068696E74:
If you remove the letter B and convert from hex to ASCII, you get "a hint".
MANLY PINK:
A is the only letter typed with the left hand.
BANANA CABANA:
A is the only letter on the home row. The rest are all on the bottom row.
STREET SMART:
M is the only letter typed with the right hand.
These letters, when arranged in the right order, give the solution above. I don't think there was a hint to the order, which made it much harder to get the solution without finding all of the letters.
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