SpyVSpy DC34 Writeup - By AGLaconic (Team Fox)

SpyVSpy
Solution Guide

Short answers when the challenge is simple. Clear steps when it is not.

Challenges
59
Solved
53
Still open
6

59 challenges

01

Training: Lucy Bus

3 challenges

#14 Mitzvah Hebrew Atbash chutzpah
How it works
  1. The Jeremiah 25:26 reference names Sheshach, a Biblical use of Atbash. That tells us to pair the first Hebrew letter with the last, the second with the next-to-last, and so forth.
  2. The ciphertext is ספהוצ. Apply the five Atbash swaps: ס→ח, פ→ו, ה→צ, ו→פ, and צ→ה.
  3. The result is חוצפה. Written with English letters, that is CHUTZPAH.
Tools and references dCode: Hebrew Atbash
#15 Jump the Five Phone keypad BLUE BOX OFFICE
How it works
  1. The source digits are 880002277884441144477777766688877. On a phone keypad, “jump the five” means swap keys across the center: 0↔5, 1↔9, 2↔8, 3↔7, and 4↔6.
  2. The swapped stream is 225558833226669966633333344422233.
  3. Split it into old-phone multi-tap runs: 22 555 88 33 / 22 666 99 / 666 333 333 444 222 33.
  4. Those runs decode to BLUEBOXOFFICE
Tools and references dCode: Multi-tap phone
#16 ROT13 is for Amateurs ROT8000 itsunder9000
How it works
  1. The title is a ROT hint, but the ciphertext 籯籵籪籰籃 籲籽籼籾籷籭籮类籂簹簹簹 contains characters that are translate as Traditional Chinese, but are Unicode (idk Chinese). That points to ROT8000, the Unicode version of a ROT cipher.
  2. Paste the full ciphertext into the dCode/Cyberchef ROT8000 decoder.
  3. Decoded text is “flag: itsunder9000.”
Tools and references dCode: ROT8000 cipher CyberChef: solved ROT8000
02

Training: Polite Stampede

3 challenges

#17 Not Pigpen Three-grid Pigpen DOT MATRIX
How it works
  1. Despite the title, the fifteen marks use a three-grid Pigpen variant. Frame shape gives the position in a 3 by 3 grid; zero dots, one dot, or two dots choose which of the three letter grids to use.
  2. Read the symbols left to right and keep the larger word gaps. They decode as F L A G / I S / D O T / M A T R I X.
Tools and references dCode: Pigpen cipher
#18 Agent Sanborn's Puzzle Kryptos / Vigenere eastnortheast
How it works
  1. Pasting into dcode Cipher Identifier, points towards Viginere Cipher. But what is the Alphabet and Key?
  2. Jim Sanborn (Agent Sanborn) made Kryptos, and K2 uses a Viginere w/ the alphabet: KRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZ
  3. Plug LIM HPHV SQK ZXFA LM MJDNXXHOUGNGG into dcode and use the key GRAYFACTION.
  4. The plaintext is THE FLAG YOU SEEK IS EAST NORTHEAST.
Tools and references dCode: Vigenere with custom alphabet Reference: Kryptos alphabet
#19 Windows (16)98 Film identification rear window
How it works
  1. Start with the story clues before trying to turn every window into binary.
  2. Jeffries is a photographer watching neighbors through apartment windows. That is the plot of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window.
  3. The marked windows also point to positions 2, 9, and 14, which spell BIN. That confirms the window pattern is a hint, not the full answer.
03

Training: Stop and Smell the Roses

5 challenges

#49 The Language of Flowers 1 Visual literary rebus War and Peace
How it works
  1. The background is a military battle, which directly supplies WAR. The foreground branches are olive branches, the standard symbol of PEACE.
  2. Join the two picture clues with “and”: WAR AND PEACE, the Tolstoy title requested by the challenge.
#51 The Language of Flowers 2 Literary identification The Power and the Glory
How it works
  1. The picture shows a disheveled Catholic priest carrying alcohol through a poor Mexican town. He is the unnamed “whisky priest” in Graham Greene’s novel.
  2. The prompt asks for the book represented by the scene. That book is THE POWER AND THE GLORY.
#52 The Language of Flowers 3 Flower meanings / quote Beauty is truth, truth beauty
How it works
  1. In Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers, the party-coloured daisy means BEAUTY and the white chrysanthemum means TRUTH.
  2. The mirror repeats those ideas in reverse, giving BEAUTY / TRUTH / TRUTH / BEAUTY. The Grecian urn in the picture points to Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn.”
  3. Complete the quoted line as BEAUTY IS TRUTH, TRUTH BEAUTY.
Tools and references Source: Greenaway flower dictionary
#53 The Language of Flowers 4 Flower meanings / book Great Expectations
How it works
  1. The pink flowers are zephyr flowers, also called rain lilies. In the flower dictionary they mean expectation.
  2. The oversized tree plus the churchyard and decaying-house setting point toward Dickens and add the idea of “great.”
  3. The resulting book title is GREAT EXPECTATIONS.
Tools and references Source: Greenaway flower dictionary
#56 The Language of Flowers 5 Flower meanings Patience is a virtue
How it works
  1. Identify the white flowers as ox-eye daisies and the green herb as mint.
  2. Kate Greenaway’s flower dictionary gives patience for ox-eye and virtue for mint.
  3. Join those meanings into the proverb PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE.
Tools and references Source: Greenaway flower dictionary
04

Training: Oops We Hid it Again

3 challenges

#67 Oops Dead Drop 1 Physical dead drop No answer
How it works

The physical item was not saved, so this cannot be solved from the online files.

#68 Oops Dead Drop 2 Physical dead drop No answer
How it works

The physical item was not saved, so this cannot be solved from the online files.

#69 Oops Dead Drop 3 Physical dead drop No answer
How it works

The physical item was not saved, so this cannot be solved from the online files.

05

Operation Landspeeder

5 challenges

#20 Correspondence Punctuation Morse cribsheets
How it works
  1. Agent Vail and the word signalman point to Alfred Vail, who helped develop and promote Morse code.
  2. On each dialogue line, throw away every character except periods and hyphens. Treat a period as a Morse dot and a hyphen as a Morse dash.
  3. The ten lines become -.-. / .-. / .. / -... / ... / .... / . / . / - / ..., which decode to C R I B S H E E T S.
Tools and references dCode: Morse code CyberChef: solved Morse
#21 Peat-Accumulating Wetland FEN / pawn lettering uphill
How it works
  1. Each slash-separated line is a chess position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation, usually shortened to FEN. The name Forsyth in the prompt confirms the format.
  2. Expand digits into empty squares to make six 8 by 8 boards, then keep only pawns. Using # for a pawn and . for an empty square, board 1 is .#....#. repeated six times, then .######. and ........: U.
  3. Board 2 is .#####.. / .#....#. / .#....#. / .#####.. / .#...... / .#...... / .#...... / ........: P. Board 3 is ........ / ........ / .#....#. / .#....#. / .######. / .#....#. / .#....#. / ........: H.
  4. Board 4 is .#...... repeated seven times, then ........: I. Board 5 is .#...... repeated six times, .#####.., then ........: L. Board 6 is .#...... repeated six times, .######., then ........: L.
  5. The six pawn letters are U P H I L L, giving UPHILL.
Tools and references dCode: FEN viewer
#22 The Big City Birds-on-a-Wire cipher POLLYWANNAHACKER
How it works
  1. The birds are not decoration: posture, facing direction, and position on the wire distinguish the symbols. Those shapes match the Birds-on-a-Wire alphabet.
  2. Replace the sixteen birds from left to right with their matching letters: P O L L Y W A N N A H A C K E R.
  3. The sixteen letters form one continuous codeword; no second cipher or movie reference is needed.
Tools and references dCode: Birds on a Wire
#23 Gen3 Pokemon cry initials BREWING
How it works
  1. Silence splits the ten-second file into seven cries. The active sections begin near 0.00, 1.24, 2.48, 4.00, 6.68, 8.24, and 9.60 seconds.
  2. Compare each section with the legacy Generation III cry set. In order, the exact matches are Beautifly (#267), Ralts (#280), Electrike (#309), Wailord (#321), Illumise (#314), Nosepass (#299), and Grumpig (#326).
  3. Their initials are B R E W I N G.
Tools and references Reference: Pokemon cries
#24 Mysterious Maze Betamaze Asaf Avidan
How it works
  1. The picture is a grid of connected letter-like paths, not a normal maze.
  2. The 9 by 8 field contains 72 Betamaze glyphs. Read them row by row with a Betamaze key.
  3. The complete decoded sentence is WHO SAID IF ONLY ID HAVE LISTENED TO YOU WHEN YOU OFFERED ME THAT THREAD.
  4. Those words are from “The Labyrinth Song.” The prompt asks who said them; the singer and writer is ASAF AVIDAN.
Tools and references dCode: Betamaze
06

Operation Barbie Museum

5 challenges

#25 More of that Strange Oil Phyrexian script Yawgmoth
How it works
  1. The oily, machine-like script is Phyrexian from Magic: The Gathering. Rotate the vertical strip into the same horizontal direction used by a Phyrexian chart.
  2. The complete romanized line is θəflagǥžjɒ'gmo'θ. Its stable English frame is “the flag …” and the ending jɒ'gmo'θ is the official Phyrexian spelling of Yawgmoth.
Tools and references Reference: Phyrexian alphabet
#45 Resist or be Ruled Resistor colors / Caesar WE VOW AT THIS BOND
How it works
  1. The printed letters are RESISTORBERULED. Reading the matching resistor colors as digits gives 5,0,3,6,4,7,5,2,6,4,1,7,3,9,0.
  2. Shift each letter forward by its digit, wrapping after Z: R+5=W, E+0=E, S+3=V, I+6=O, S+4=W, T+7=A, O+5=T, R+2=T.
  3. Continue: B+6=H, E+4=I, R+1=S, U+7=B, L+3=O, E+9=N, D+0=D.
  4. The result is WEVOWATTHISBOND. Restore the spaces as WE VOW AT THIS BOND.
Tools and references dCode: Resistor colors dCode: Successive shifts
#46 Dance Tutorial Dance-name initials thanos snap
How it works
  1. The video contains ten roughly ten-second clips. In order, they show Tango, Hokey Pokey, Azonto, Nae Nae, Orange Justice, Square dance, Salsa, Nutbush, Adumu, and Polka.
  2. Take the first letter of every dance: T H A N O S S N A P.
  3. Insert the natural word break after the sixth letter: THANOS SNAP.
#47 Maritime Historical signal code harbor
How it works
  1. The clue “tenth edition” points to Frederick Marryat’s 1847 A Code of Signals. Its plate maps the colored flags to digits; the special flag above a number selects Part I (English men-of-war), Part III (merchant vessels), or Part VI (telegraph vocabulary).
  2. Read the hoists top to bottom. The first six lookups are Part I 256→Fanny, Part III 6927→Lagan, Part VI 76→Acquire, Part III 4612→Goodwill, Part III 5390→I. C. I. van Speyk, and Part I 672→Success.
  3. The next five are Part VI 4036→Handle, Part I 1→Aboukir, Part I 569→Redbreast, Part VI 916→Buoy, near the, and Part I 486→Ocean. Their initials make F L A G I S H A R B O.
  4. The last pictured hoist appears to select Part I 341, but that entry is blank in the preserved 1847 scan. The first eleven letters and the required location word leave only R, completing FLAG IS HARBOR; the validator accepted that result. This final lookup is an inconsistency in the source artwork, not a recoverable named entry.
Tools and references Source: Marryat signal code (1847)
#91 Crop Circles Gallifreyan wonderman
How it works
  1. The circles match the Doctor Who fan alphabet usually called Circular Gallifreyan.
  2. Start each word circle at 6 o’clock and move counterclockwise. Reading the eight circles in page order gives THE / FLAG / FOR / THIS / CHALLENGE / CODE / IS / WONDERMAN.
Tools and references Source: Circular Gallifreyan guide
07

CYOA: Video

16 challenges

#28 Hollywood 1 Film identification Truman
How it works
  1. The prompt asks for the person in the image, so the movie title is only an identification step.
  2. The staged staircase, exit door, and artificial world point to The Truman Show; Jim Carrey plays its title character, and the prompt asks for his first name.
#29 Hollywood 2 Film identification Jumanji
How it works
  1. The jungle setting, oversized animal trouble, and Robin Williams-like figure point to the dangerous board game coming to life.
  2. That is the central idea of Jumanji.
  3. The prompt asks for the movie rather than the character Alan Parrish.
#30 Hollywood 3 Character identification The Dude
How it works
  1. The two men, bowling-era clothes, beard, and laid-back pose point to The Big Lebowski.
  2. The question asks for the man on the left, not the actor or movie.
  3. Jeffrey Lebowski is normally called THE DUDE.
#31 Hollywood 4 Character identification Inigo Montoya
How it works
  1. The long-haired swordsman and Spanish-style clothes point to The Princess Bride.
  2. The best confirming clue is the famous introduction about his father and preparing to die.
  3. The character is INIGO MONTOYA.
#32 Hollywood 5 Movie quotation hack the planet
How it works
  1. The scene is from Hackers and shows Dade being taken away near the end of the movie.
  2. The prompt asks what he is saying, so identify the line rather than submitting the movie title.
  3. He shouts HACK THE PLANET.
#33 Hollywood 6 Song identification Pure Imagination
How it works
  1. The bright factory setting and top-hatted candy maker identify Willy Wonka.
  2. The question asks for the song being performed in the scene, not the movie.
  3. The song is PURE IMAGINATION.
#34 Hollywood 7 Film identification 8 Mile
How it works
  1. The hooded rapper, microphone, crowd, and battle-stage setting point to an Eminem rap battle.
  2. That scene is the final battle from 8 Mile.
  3. The prompt asks for the movie rather than the rapper or character.
#35 Hollywood 8 Film identification Animal House
How it works
  1. Read the malformed image as a literal food fight rather than trying to identify the candy characters.
  2. The famous cafeteria call of “Food fight!” points to the college comedy Animal House.
#37 Hollywood 9 Movie quotation Here's Johnny
How it works
  1. The face appearing through a smashed door identifies the bathroom-door scene in The Shining.
  2. The question asks for the spoken line, not the movie or character.
  3. The line is HERE’S JOHNNY.
#38 Hollywood 10 Video identification No answer
How it works

The media is archived, but no answer has been confirmed.

#39 Hollywood 11 Character identification John McClane
How it works
  1. The man crawling through a ventilation duct with a lighter is the best-known visual clue from Die Hard.
  2. The prompt asks for his name rather than the actor or movie.
  3. The character is JOHN MCCLANE.
#40 Hollywood 12 Film identification Austin Powers
How it works
  1. The image shows the long, very slow steamroller approach gag.
  2. That scene is from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
#41 Hollywood 13 Actor identification John Candy
How it works
  1. The devil at the wheel recreates the wrong-way highway nightmare in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
  2. The prompt specifically asks for the original actor rather than the movie or character Del Griffith.
  3. The actor is JOHN CANDY.
#42 Hollywood 14 Film identification Mrs. Doubtfire
How it works
  1. The older woman’s face, floral clothing, and housekeeper look point to Robin Williams’ nanny disguise.
  2. The prompt asks for the movie rather than the actor or character’s real identity.
  3. The movie is MRS. DOUBTFIRE.
#43 Hollywood 15 Character identification Harry Dunne
How it works
  1. The orange and blue tuxedos identify the pair from Dumb and Dumber.
  2. The question asks for the character on the right. The blue-suited character is played by Jeff Daniels.
  3. His character name is HARRY DUNNE.
#44 Hollywood 16 Film identification Anchorman
How it works
  1. The four men in loud 1970s suits are posed like a local television news team.
  2. That group is Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 news team.
  3. The requested movie is ANCHORMAN.
08

CYOA: Audio

5 challenges

#65 Face the Music Musical-note rebus Face/Off
How it works
  1. Write each played pitch as its note name, A through G, and use the rests as spaces.
  2. The first half reads A FED ADDED A CAGE FACE. The second half reads A CAGE ADDED A FED FACE.
  3. A federal agent and a caged criminal exchange faces in the movie FACE/OFF, which is the answer.
Tools and references dCode: Music notation
#107 Rotten NATO initials / ROT16 NO FUTURE FOR YOU
How it works
  1. Transcribe each sung NATO phonetic word and keep its initial. The three payload sections produce OEKXQLUHEEJEDQTUQTCQSXYDUJXUHEEJYIHEJQBBJXUMQOTEMD, MUQHUJXURKWJXQJDULUHWEJFQJSXUTJHKIJDEJXYDWOEKTYTDEJTUSETUOEKHIUBV, and JXUVBQWYIDEVKJKHUVEHOEK.
  2. The title “Rotten” is a ROT hint. The letters were moved forward 16 places, so undo ROT16 by moving each letter backward 16 places, equivalent to moving forward 10.
  3. The first two sections decode to YOU HAVE ROOT ON A DEAD MACHINE THE ROOT IS ROT ALL THE WAY DOWN and WE ARE THE BUG THAT NEVER GOT PATCHED TRUST NOTHING YOU DID NOT DECODE YOURSELF. They confirm the transcription and rotation.
  4. The final section JXUVBQWYIDEVKJKHUVEHOEK decodes to THEFLAGISNOFUTUREFORYOU.
Tools and references dCode: ROT cipher CyberChef: solved ROT16
#108 Binary Hate Binary word stream m3g4d34th
How it works
  1. Listen to the left channel, where the singer repeats controlled binary words between the normal chorus lines. Map affirmative, yes, yep, yup, yeah, high, one, positive, and true to 1. Map negative, no, nope, nah, nay, low, zero, false, and negatory to 0.
  2. Ignore ordinary lyric words and concatenate only those mapped tokens. Grouping the result into eight-bit bytes gives 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101100 01101100 01100101 01101110 01100111 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 00110011 01100111 00110100 01100100 00110011 00110100 01110100 01101000 00101110.
  3. Decode the bytes as ASCII. They read “the challenge is m3g4d34th.”
  4. The final word is leetspeak for Megadeth.
Tools and references CyberChef: solved binary
#109 Tastee Songs Audio subtraction Butt sweat on the car seat
How it works
  1. Decode both MP3 files to the same uncompressed PCM format. They have the same length, which makes sample-by-sample comparison possible.
  2. In Audacity, import both tracks, invert one with Effect → Invert, then use Tracks → Mix → Mix and Render. This subtracts one waveform from the other.
  3. The only useful difference is a short spoken segment around 62 seconds. Raise the volume on that isolated difference and listen to it.
  4. The hidden voice says BUTT SWEAT ON THE CAR SEAT.
Tools and references Tool reference: Audacity Invert
#110 All Killer, No Filler Prime indexing Deryck Whibley
How it works
  1. Transcribe the 41-word opening: Another dead end in rows of yellow houses / stacked like cans of kerosene and gasoline / and waste and hate and all the idiots who said that we were born to lose it / all before we got even one good whole year.
  2. The script describes numbers divisible only by one and themselves and explicitly mentions 41, 13, and “13 letters, one name.” Keep the thirteen prime positions through 41: 2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29,31,37,41.
  3. The selected words are 2 dead→D, 3 end→E, 5 rows→R, 7 yellow→Y, 11 cans→C, 13 kerosene→K, 17 waste→W, 19 hate→H, 23 idiots→I, 29 born→B, 31 lose→L, 37 even→E, and 41 year→Y.
  4. Those letters spell DERYCKWHIBLEY.
  5. The title All Killer, No Filler is also a Sum 41 album, confirming Deryck Whibley.
Tools and references dCode: Letter extraction
09

Operation Lamp Skirts

3 challenges

#62 Speak & Spell Audio / toy encoding No answer
How it works

No accepted answer or complete derivation was preserved.

#89 Using the Net NNTP / PAR2 recovery the_squirrel_sign_points_nowhere
How it works
  1. Connect to the supplied NNTP service on port 3091, authenticate, list groups, and inspect alt.binaries.movies. The NFO for Rat.Race.2001.DVDRip.XviD-CTFGRP says pieces are damaged and asks for PAR2 recovery posts.
  2. Download every yEnc body for the RAR set plus the PAR2 index and recovery volumes. Decode the yEnc bodies into their original files.
  3. Run par2 repair on the set, then extract the repaired RAR volumes with the password printed in the NFO. This produces the recovered video.
  4. Near the bottom of the recovered video, a caption reads “the squirrel sign points nowhere.”
  5. Convert the caption to the challenge’s filename-style underscore format.
Tools and references Tool reference: PAR2 repair
#90 DJ bitwize Bitwise audio No answer
How it works

No accepted answer or complete derivation was preserved.

10

Everybody Gets a Redo

3 challenges

#48 Silent Key Ottendorf cipher CAENIDES
How it works
  1. The source is the Massachusetts Historical Society scan of Silence Dogood essay No. 1. Count pages and printed lines from 1; exclude the heading and “SIR,” and count only letters inside the selected line.
  2. The first seven coordinates give 1-1-2=T, 1-3-6=H, 1-3-31=E, 2-11-4=C, 1-10-1=O, 2-3-6=D, 1-16-22=E: THECODE.
  3. The next seven give 2-8-1=W, 1-10-1=O, 1-13-24=R, 2-9-37=D, 2-20-1=I, 2-23-10=S, 1-11-26=C: WORDISC.
  4. The final seven give 1-5-1=A, 1-4-27=E, 2-9-9=N, 2-1-19=I, 1-17-35=D, 2-31-41=E, 2-4-4=S: AENIDES.
  5. Together they read THE CODE WORD IS CAENIDES.
Tools and references dCode: Book cipher Source: Silence Dogood No. 1 scan
#50 Fight Night Mortal Kombat grid walk BOOM
How it works
  1. The 1992 and “finish him” clues identify the original Mortal Kombat Fatality commands. The lower portraits are Johnny Cage, Kano, Sub-Zero, and Raiden.
  2. Start on each fighter’s matching lettered portrait in the upper grid. Treat forward as right, back as left, and down as down.
  3. Cage uses F,F,F and ends on B. Kano uses B,D,F and ends on O. Sub-Zero uses F,D,F and ends on O. Raiden uses F,B,B,B and ends on M.
  4. The four ending letters spell BOOM.
Tools and references Reference: Mortal Kombat fatalities
#55 What a Mess ASCII-art reordering CRANE
How it works
  1. Every scrambled text row contains one three-digit sort key. Sort all rows numerically by that embedded key, then remove the first three-digit key from each row.
  2. Preserve the remaining spaces and view the result in a same-width font. The repaired large text reads THE FLAG IS CRANE.
11

50/50: Business

5 challenges

#59 a. Business Expense Word lengths / A1Z26 BIG DEAL
How it works
  1. The words are Inside / headquarters / I / watched / carefully / counterintelligence / by / lamplight / tracked / four / spies / I / investigated.
  2. Their lengths are 6, 12, 1, 7, 9, 19, 2, 9, 7, 4, 5, 1, 12.
  3. Convert every value with A1Z26: 6=F, 12=L, 1=A, 7=G, 9=I, 19=S, 2=B, 9=I, 7=G, 4=D, 5=E, 1=A, 12=L.
  4. That spells FLAGISBIGDEAL, or FLAG IS BIG DEAL.
Tools and references dCode: A1Z26 CyberChef: solved A1Z26
#63 b. Expense Expense Final letters NIGHTFALL
How it works
  1. Split the sentence into words. Its awkward word choices suggest that the ends of the words were controlled.
  2. Read the last letter of every word: TraffiC videO confirmeD thE taxI iS withiN EMi shieldinG WatcH checkpoinT stafF camerA signaL patroL.
  3. Those letters read CODE IS NIGHTFALL.
Tools and references dCode: Acrostic extractor
#60 c. Personal Expense Length indexing RED TARGET
How it works
  1. The source words are Strategic / coordinated / countermeasure / helped / identify / a / spy / Agents / communications / track / each / new / contact / across / cells.
  2. Their lengths are 9,11,14,6,8,1,3,6,14,5,4,3,7,6,5. Remove spaces from the original sentence to make STRATEGICCOORDINATEDCOUNTERMEASUREHELPEDIDENTIFYASPYAGENTSCOMMUNICATIONSTRACKEACHNEWCONTACTACROSSCELLS.
  3. Use each length as a 1-based index into that same continuous string: 9=C, 11=O, 14=D, 6=E, 8=I, 1=S, 3=R, 6=E, 14=D, 5=T, 4=A, 3=R, 7=G, 6=E, 5=T.
  4. The indexed letters spell CODEISREDTARGET.
Tools and references dCode: Letter extraction
#64 d. Discretionary Expense Length indexing CARVANA
How it works
  1. The words are Neighbors / saw / leafy / rhubarb / arrive / in / gigantic / cases / from / volunteers / after / a / while.
  2. Their lengths are 9,3,5,7,6,2,8,5,4,10,5,1,5. Their first letters form the thirteen-character index string NSLRAIGCFVAAW.
  3. Use each length as a 1-based index into NSLRAIGCFVAAW: 9=F, 3=L, 5=A, 7=G, 6=I, 2=S, 8=C, 5=A, 4=R, 10=V, 5=A, 1=N, 5=A.
  4. The indexed letters spell FLAGISCARVANA.
Tools and references dCode: Letter extraction
#61 e. Operating Expense Recursive word lengths FIELDCHIEF
How it works
  1. Count the ten source words: Practitioner=12, misinterpretation=17, plagues=7, antidisestablishmentarianism=28, since=5, everything=10, unfortunately=13, counterproductive=17, becomes=7, unavoidable=11.
  2. Write each number out: TWELVE, SEVENTEEN, SEVEN, TWENTY-EIGHT, FIVE, TEN, THIRTEEN, SEVENTEEN, SEVEN, ELEVEN.
  3. Count those new strings, including the hyphen in TWENTY-EIGHT: 6,9,5,12,4,3,8,9,5,6.
  4. Convert every value with A1Z26: 6=F, 9=I, 5=E, 12=L, 4=D, 3=C, 8=H, 9=I, 5=E, 6=F.
  5. The complete result is FIELDCHIEF.
Tools and references dCode: A1Z26 CyberChef: solved A1Z26
12

50/50: Pleasure

3 challenges

#66 Under Par Golf constraint solving 37234
How it works
  1. Add each player’s visible holes before the covered cells. The partial totals are Alice=30+A, Bob=30+B+C, Carol=32+D, and Dave=31+E.
  2. The only eagle is on hole 3, a par 5. A and B are the two hole-3 cells. Bob also needs a double bogey or worse, so B cannot be the eagle; therefore A=3 and the remaining constraints force B=7.
  3. Bob’s only par-3 birdie is C on hole 6, so C=2. Carol’s only birdie is D on hole 5, a par 4, so D=3. Dave’s only birdie is E on hole 7, a par 5, so E=4.
  4. The repaired totals are Alice 33, Bob 39, Carol 35, and Dave 35. Alice wins by two and Bob finishes six behind, matching the notes.
  5. Read A B C D E as 3 7 2 3 4.
#70 The Caddy's Key Golf score shifts ALBATROSS
How it works
  1. The nine sentence initials are Z M A A U Q O T R. The nine pars are 4,3,5,4,4,3,5,4,4 and the player scores are 3,4,4,4,5,2,5,5,3.
  2. Compute par minus score for each hole: +1,-1,+1,0,-1,+1,0,-1,+1. Use each signed result as a Caesar shift on its sentence initial.
  3. The shifts are Z+1=A, M-1=L, A+1=B, A+0=A, U-1=T, Q+1=R, O+0=O, T-1=S, R+1=S.
  4. The letters spell ALBATROSS.
Tools and references dCode: Successive shifts
#71 Club Champion Score sorting / first letters EAGLE
How it works
  1. Sort the full roster from lowest score to highest: Evans 63, Anderson 66, Garcia 68, Larson 70, Estrada 71, Thompson 72, Walsh 73, Mitchell 74, Patel 75.
  2. The rest are Nakamura 76, Quinn 77, Rosenberg 78, Santos 79, Burke 80, Chang 81, Dixon 82, Ford 83, and Hall 84.
  3. The surname-initial stream is EAGLETWMPNQRSBCDFH. Its first five letters form the complete golf term; the remaining names are filler.