Publicity Puzzles
Usman Akeju, Brandy Evans
Using the word "WHAT" to decipher the ciphertext yields the answer to the question:
KNOWINGHOWTO
RECOGNIZETHECLUES
or "Knowing how to recognize the clues."
The "MH2K4 signature" is a collection of 10 sequences, each with a missing character. The email's body clues what the different sequences are:
"irrational number" -> _14159265 (pi) "prime" -> 314159_17 (a prime) "months" -> jFMAMJJA_OND (Jan., Feb., Mar..) "key... bottom line" -> zXCV_NM (see your keyboard) "shift gears" -> pR_D32L (park, reverse, neutral..) "ordinal number" -> fSTFFSSENT_T (first, second, third..) "rainbow" -> rOYG_IV/rO_GBIV (red, orange, yellow..) "major scale" -> dRMFS_TD (do, re, mi..) "worlds" -> m_EMJSUNP (Mercury, Venus, Earth..)Using the parenthesized numbers to put the associated characters in order, we get the answer:
1 L DRMFS(L)TD 2 0 3141592(0)7 3 B ZXCV(B)NM 4 B ROYG(B)IV 5 Y RO(Y)GBIV 6 S JFMAMJJA(S)OND 7 3 (3)14159265 8 V M(V)EMJSUNP 9 E FSTFFSSENT(E)T 10 N PR(N)D32L⇒ "L0BBYS3VEN" (or "Lobby 7".. duh ;)
GURL JBA'G OR GUVF RNFL THEY WON'T BE THIS EASY