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Forums » Epic Week 2023 » Ancient Symbol (SOLVED)

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Wedge, its the shape of a Delta, delta being a Greek letter. Also used in modern phonetics.

Also thinking about the Nile Delta.
does the forkhead fop have ANYTHING to do with this lol
Kim Topic Starter Site Admin

oven wrote:
does the forkhead fop have ANYTHING to do with this lol

Nothing, I just like him.
"where old and new unite"

a museum?

forkhead: i like him too. reminds me of nickelodeon shorts by indie animators, back when nick still did that
I tried "museum" earlier but it didn't work.
Dragonfire Moderator

*taps lips* What about... the actual encoding of cuneiform script into Unicode?

The first character in the ordering is: 𒀀 - U+12000
Ohh, I like the idea of using the actual Unicode encoding. It would definitely make sense with both "wedge script", "where new and old meet" and "in code". Question is then, what does it have to do with "first location"? And how do we phrase a proper answer?

Museum is a good route to try. Maybe a museum where one of the Codes Of ___ are, or maybe where they were moved first? Any significant museums where they were found? Then we just need to get it connected to the "first location in code" bit.
The Code of Ur-Nammu is in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, and the Code of Hammurabi is in the Lourve
Kim Topic Starter Site Admin

Congrats on solving this symbol! The answer was "U+12000".

For those of you wondering how this answer could be arrived at, here's a quick explanation. :)

This one was a HUMDINGER. Both Dragonfire and Ilmarinen separately, without knowing the other had done it, sent me Ea-Nasir/cuneiform themed riddles this year. Instead of nixing one, I decided that Ilmarinen’s blisteringly hard riddle could be kept on with a tiny rewrite (that I didn’t tell Ilmarinen about because I couldn’t think of how to do it without clueing them about about DF’s also being on the topic.) I thought Dragonfire’s being situated earlier on the prism would either prime the pump in getting y’all thinking about Ea-nasir’s collection of complaints OR be an absolutely evil misdirect for people saying “There was already one on this topic, it can’t be happening again.” In my defense, each one went in SUCH a different direction with the material, and I have been desperately trying to get EW ready while parenting and potty training an 8 week old puppy and wasn’t about to turn down a good riddle when it was dropped in my lap, okay? ;.;

So, with that context, this was Ilmarinen\'s original riddle and what they had to say about it:
Ilmarinen wrote:
"Ac-Cu-sation"
"Wedge script"
"Where old and new unite"

In 1750 BC, a buyer accused a merchant named Ea-Nasir of selling substandard copper. (The elemental symbol for copper is "Cu.") The complaint was written on a stone tablet in cuneiform, an alphabet known for its wedgelike shapes. In Unicode, the first code point (or location) for cuneiform is written as U+12000. (This tablet is the earliest known written complaint, and found in Ea-Nasir's dwelling were a couple of others, too.)
Dragonfire Moderator

ROFLcopters.

I mean, both of them originally being about Ea-nasir meant that I was already primed to figure out part of this one, since I'd just recently spent a lot of time looking at cuneiform tablets. ;)
I have to say though, I would've clued in quicker if that *shakes fist* gd copper merchant was part of this clue XD

(also popping in just to say, forkhead my beloved <3)
I am unreasonably pleased to know that what might be my favorite of the mascots I've submitted was coupled with an Ilmarinen riddle. :3 I'm always delighted to see the silly thing pop up! XD

And also quite happy to see the mascot appreciated. :D
Ilmarinen Moderator

Oh man guys, CONGRATS! This was a tricky one. When I realized that both DF and I did Ea-Nasir riddles I was DELIGHTED!
Dragonfire Moderator

It is a very tickly kind of coincidence, haha!
Kudos all for figuring this one out. It was my favorite one this year!

And, I am also quite fond of the dapper silverware. 🧐
Aha!
This was such a good riddle! We really went around every single option, haha.
The answer being a Unicode encoding is brilliant. And of course that godforsaken copper merchant shows up again

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