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Dividing Between the Lines (Posted on 2005-09-29) Difficulty: 3 of 5
Here is a chart of some of the black holes near Black Holes Bay:

REDUD@EFLIN-GOSYLZ@ROOM-GLA@KIVORES-B@BC@THID@@

(Hint: The @ are the black holes and they always appear in the right places.)

  Submitted by Gamer    
Rating: 4.1667 (6 votes)
Solution: (Hide)
The first interesting thing to notice is the hyphens split the "words" up into 4 lines of 11. If these lines are put on top of each other, it would look like this:
REDUD@EFLIN-
GOSYLZ@ROOM-
GLA@KIVORES-
B@BC@THID@@
This doesn't make much sense either, and no easy cryptographic method works, so look to the title, "dividing between the lines", for some help. It reinforces that there are several lines, and asks to divide between them. The letters are the most apparent things to divide between the lines, but as the hint explains, the black holes (which could be seen to represent spaces) stay put.

Starting with the first two words, they are both 5 letter words. The words "BLACK HOLES" have been repeated 3 times in the problem, so they are a likely first guess and as luck would have it they work. This makes the remaining letters easier to guess. The next thing to notice is the two letter word on the bottom row is probably BY, which gives help in determining the 6 letter word in the second row:
BLACK@HOLES-
GOSULZ@ROOM-
GED@DIVFRIN-
R@BY@TEID@@
A good next guess is the word ends in LT rather than any other combination, and from looking at the other letter possiblities, it can be deduced that the word is RESULT. This helps determine the first word of the third row is GOD and the last letter of the second word of the third row is G:
BLACK@HOLES-
RESULT@ROOM-
GOD@DIVFRIN-
G@BY@ZEID@@
Using a few more educated guesses gives the final phrase:
BLACK@HOLES-
RESULT@FROM-
GOD@DIVIDIN-
G@BY@ZERO@@

Comments: ( You must be logged in to post comments.)
  Subject Author Date
Puzzle AnswerK Sengupta2023-12-18 09:33:55
Great puzzleLarry2005-10-03 22:08:38
SolutionClearing the @ from my mindBob Smith2005-10-02 12:13:04
SolutionGamer2005-09-30 06:58:23
SolutionThis must be itKen Haley2005-09-30 04:57:07
SolutionI love it! (non-spoiler)Tristan2005-09-30 04:55:07
Some Thoughts2d slots?Dustin2005-09-30 03:29:28
re: Hmmm..this looks like fun!Gamer2005-09-30 02:24:00
Some ThoughtsHmmm..this looks like fun!Bob Smith2005-09-29 23:07:46
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