Wikipedia:Wikifun/Round 9/Answers/Question 17

• I first read the two sentences as a cryptogram, but quickly realized that there were actually two separate ones - and it became easier when I noticed that all the letters in the first sentence were rotated by 3 - yielding Turnabout may be fair play, but a name of a person lies underneath the first word. After some playing with the second sentence, I think "turnabout" refers to the ROT13 encryption scheme, which makes the second sentence That person is an architect, urban planner and author. I thought "urban planner" would probably yield the shortest list, and List of urban planners gave me what I wanted. On this list, Frank Lloyd Wright is a famous architect (creator of the Prairie Style, and his article also states that he wrote books like The Disappearing City. ESkog 18:19, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • Close, but no cigar. -- AllyUnion (talk) 07:50, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)
• I deciphered the second part about a week ago, but couldn't work out the first half. ROT3 is more commonly known as the Caesar cipher - Julius Caesar wrote, Nero was an architect and urban planner. So is the answer Caesar? Alphax ^τεχ 05:14, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • Nope. I'll give a small hint. The name I'm looking as part of the final answer has 9 letters. -- AllyUnion (talk) 10:51, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Answer?

I'm not sure about this answer, but is it Margaret Peterson Haddix?

It took me a while to crack the two codes, but the sentences read: Turnabout may be fair, but a name of a person lies underneath the first word. That person is an architect, urban planner, and author. The first sentence shifts each letter by 3, and the second sentence is crypted by writing half the alphabet underneath the first half and substituting. I looked into "Turnabout", the first word, and found that it is a novel by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I'm not sure about this though- I could find no references to architect or urban planner. Hmm... let me know! (This is fun!) Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 00:24, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Nope. It would be fun to tell you what Turnabout means in the context of the question, but I like for everyone to keep guessing. Think outside of the box people. There is a reason for everything in my questions, and this is not any different. -- AllyUnion (talk) 05:46, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Revision to answer

How about Peter Calthorpe? I looked at the lists of authors, urban planners, and architects and decided to look at urban planners (being the shortest). Calthorpe is an architect and urban planner and also says he has written several books. Can't imagine what it has to do with turnaround, though. Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 00:31, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Peter Calthorpe is not a name of 9 letters. Keep guessing. -- AllyUnion (talk) 05:47, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Ally, you are the bane of my existence.

Bruno Taut, which is an anagram of Turnabout. I don't know how the hell you come up with these things :) --kizzle 18:50, Jun 22, 2005 (UTC)

Let's just say I recently read the Da Vinci Code. At least, you had fun doing this, didn't you? Even if I am the bane of your existence... Due to the complex nature of this question, I am awarding 1 point to kizzle and 1 point to ESkog -- AllyUnion (talk) 08:46, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Answer

"Turnabout may be fair play, but a name if a person lies underneath the first word. That person is an architect, urban planner and author."
And that would be Bruno Julius Florian Taut. --Fibonacci 01:19, 30 August 2005 (UTC)