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TENET Letterbox Hybrid

Hidden : 7/2/2022
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   large (large)

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Geocache Description:


*The geocache is not at the posted coordinates*, those are for parking. Final is within 500 feet. This puzzle can be super easy, or down right perplexing. You choose. For greater complexity, read further.

Recommended listening while working on this geocache: Tenet official soundtrack 

For this puzzle based letterbox you are playing the role of Andre Sator, the antagonist of the Christopher Nolan blockbuster Tenet. Before the events of the film we see Andre Sator, digging Plutonium from the rubble of his hometown as a teenager, Stalsk 12. One part of a warhead exploded at ground level, scattering the others. They needed people to find the plutonium. It became his first contract. Nobody else even bid, they thought it was a death sentence. But one man's probability of death is another man's possibility for a life. He staked his claim in the new russia. Even now, his company is the only one to operate in the ruins.

Sator uncovers a capsule, similar to the one you will find at the final. It contained time inverted gold bars and A MESSAGE from the future explaining how to build a 'turnstile' machine that can time invert objects as part of a global climate crisis scheme. This concept of time inversion leads to some mind bending scenes where people and objects moving forward in time interact with people and objects moving backwards in time. THIS video playlist has animations explaining some of these scenes, and THIS video is one scene synced up from different view points - (people travelling forward and backward through time), in case you want to study up on time inversion.

 

To find the coordinates you need the code phrases

Sator was opposed by the organization TENET, and they used ignorance as their ammunition. To recognize another member of their organization they would say a line of poetry each in call and response fashion. Those two lines of poetry in order with no punctuation, capital letters, or spaces, is the answer you need to put into this checker. For example, if you looked at the list of poetry lines below and thought it was line (1) then (2) you would enter: "theenemystrikesatdawnwereintoculturaldetritus", without quotes, into the checker.


You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.

 No need to watch the film if you don't want to, this puzzle can be solved with logic using the poetry and information below instead:

 

Code phrase poetry lines:

  1. The enemy strikes at dawn
  2. We're into cultural detritus
  3. To arrive at that minute of the hour regular as brickwork
  4. There are no friends at dusk
  5. The black walls smirk
  6. The past falls open anywhere
  7. From beyond the lookout post
  8. We live in a twilight world
  9. Arrive with a broken chord
  10. Summoned to our lonely ceremonies
  11. Silence brimming into sleep and dawn
  12. You cannot kill a book

 

Instructions from the future

To reveal the two poetry lines and in which order they come without seeing the script or movie, you need to logically sequence which order which instructions below would be shown in the letter Sator found from the future in the capsule. The turnstyle machine technology from the future that Sator is instructed to build has two connected pods. At the same time an inverted and a non-inverted copy of something enters, one in each pod, and then both disappear into the past (or disappear into the future if the turnstyle is being used from the other direction of time). Only 7 instructions in this list are used. If this puzzle is just too much, here is a hint shown from 1:37 - 1:51 in this video.

  1. Swap non-inverted gold for the inverted gold at the bank
  2. Out of the turnstyle will suddenly appear inverted and non-inverted gold
  3. Bury the original inverted gold in the capsule to maintin its line to the future
  4. Place both inverted and non-inverted gold in the turnstyle
  5. Uninvert yourself using the turnstyle
  6. Invert yourself using the turnstyle
  7. Use the original inverted gold from the capsule to get a loan
  8. Build a turnstyle
  9. Bury empty capsule and leave message for the future
  10. Bury the inverted gold - it has travelled from the future to you

 

Sequence of instructions into code phrases

Using the table below, the correct sequence of instructions will tell you what two poetry lines are the code phrases.
The first instruction's letter will tell you the first line of code phrase poetry. The order of the remaining six instructions will tell you the second line of code phrase poetry.

First instruction:
A = 1        F = 12
B = 5        G = 8
C = 7        H = 2
D = 11      I  = 6
E = 4        J = 3
 

Remaining six instructions, revealing second line of code phrase poetry
ACHIEF = 3
AIBGJE = 8
BEIJDA = 2
BICDHE = 9
CAGEDB = 1
CDEAJF = 11
DACJGH = 5
DEJHFI = 8
EDGJHE = 7
EHIABC = 12
FIBDGH = 10
FJBDCG = 6
GCAFHJ = 1
GDIEBH = 5
HGFAJB = 11
HIBJAC = 4
IGAEHC = 10
IJDBHA = 12
JEDCBI = 2
JHIECF = 9

 

Housekeeping

The capsule (the geocaching one, not the one in the movie) is placed with permission from the landowners - my family. The surrounding neighbors are also aware of the geocache. Solve this one however you wish. It should be difficulty 1.5 but if you do the full puzzle it might feel like a 4.5. I split the difference.

This is a letterbox cache. The stamp inside is to remain inside the capsule.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Va n aneebj fcnpr. Npprff sebz jurer n pne pna or.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)