CISRA Puzzle Competition 2007 - Solutions

This is the archive of the 2007 Puzzle Competition. Please visit the current competition site for information about the latest Puzzle Competition.

B.1 Artefact

Intuitive Leap: The puzzle is a Rubik's Cube, which needs to be turned according to the capital letters in the puzzle.

The first step is to write characters on the face of a Rubik's cube, such that they match the characters on the cross, if the cross were to be folded to form a cube. (The puzzle can also be solved by cutting up the small squares and manipulating them on a table, although this is a bit more tricky!)

The instructions to manipulate the cube are within the puzzle itself. The upper case letters L, R, F, U, B, D are a standard notation used when writing about Rubik's cubes. The letters represent which face of the cube should be turned: Left, Right, Front (facing you), Up (above the front), Back (facing away from you), or Down (the lower face, opposite Up). Each letter indicates a turn of the indicated face by 90 degrees clockwise, as viewed when looking at the face. In the puzzle, the uppermost face of the cross is U, the central face of the cross is F, the face on the left side is L, the right face is R, and so on:

   U
 L F R
   D
   B

Notice that all of the upper case letters are right-way up in the "unfolded" cube. This is a clue that the instructions are intended to be read from the unfolded cube. They are read like normal English - left to right, and top to bottom - to give:

U U L B R R D L U B L F D D L B R F

Applying these turns to the cube orients all of the lower case letters into an upright position, and moves all of the upper case letters onto the U and D faces. Starting on the left face and reading around the cube gives this encoded message:

Un cadeau pour la cour royale 1250

This is French, and any one of several online translators renders this in English as "A gift for the royal court 1250". So, whoever ruled France in 1250 received this cross as a gift. Again, the Internet to the rescue - 1250 is during the reign of LOUIS IX (also called Saint Louis).