Solution to Infinite Corridor Simulator

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by Jon Schneider, ...

Infinite Corridor Simulator is the fifth and final type of puzzle unlocked in the Infinite Corridor round. True to its name, each Infinite Corridor Simulator puzzle looks a lot like a summary of the Infinite Corridor Round itself — more specifically, each Infinite Corridor Simulator puzzle contains a list of 100,000 similarly named and numbered puzzles along with their answers. For example, Puzzle 5 (the first Infinite Corridor Simulator Puzzle — we will use it as a running example throughout this solution) begins as follows:

Puzzle 1UnchainedDELIRIUM
Puzzle 2Make Your Own Word SearchEPISTLE
Puzzle 3Library of ImagesCOP
Puzzle 4UnchainedOBLITERATION
Puzzle 5Infinite Corridor SimulatorDUSKY
Puzzle 6UnchainedETHICS
Puzzle 7Library of ImagesE
Puzzle 8UnchainedANTEROOM
Puzzle 9Library of ImagesCUSP
Puzzle 10UnchainedHYPOTHESES
Puzzle 11UnchainedPROM
Puzzle 12Infinite Corridor SimulatorUDDER
Puzzle 13Library of ImagesZ
Puzzle 14UnchainedZITHER
Puzzle 15Library of ImagesLEVEL
Puzzle 16UnchainedENCROACH
Puzzle 17Cafe FiveSEED
Puzzle 18Make Your Own Word SearchWEAN
Puzzle 19Infinite Corridor SimulatorKETCH
Puzzle 20UnchainedSUPERHIGHWAY
...

These answer/puzzle pairings differ between different instances of Infinite Corridor Simulator and do not match the puzzles and answers in the Infinite Corridor round (with one notable exception). However, all Infinite Corridor Simulator puzzles use the same puzzle mechanics as each other.

If we take the first letters of each answer, we get the message DECODE EACH PUZZLE (after which the first letters devolve into nonsense). This suggests looking at all the answers of each type separately. When we do this, we find that we can solve each stream of answers as a subpuzzle to get an answer phrase of the form “[ordinal number] [digit]” (e.g. FIRST SEVEN). The solutions to each subpuzzle are detailed below.

The five ordinal numbers we obtain always include each of FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, and FIFTH exactly once. For example, in Puzzle 5, we obtain the five subpuzzle answers:

FIRST ONE
SECOND SEVEN
THIRD ZERO
FOURTH THREE
FIFTH ONE

This allows us to form a five-digit number n by placing each digit at its corresponding location (17031 for the above example). Looking up Puzzle n in our list of puzzles, we find it is an Infinite Corridor Simulator puzzle — for example, in Puzzle 5, we observe:

...
Puzzle 17030Library of ImagesDUN
Puzzle 17031Infinite Corridor SimulatorDRESS
Puzzle 17032Infinite Corridor SimulatorEXILE
...

The answer to Puzzle n is the answer to this Infinite Corridor Simulator puzzle (and so for the specific example of Puzzle 5, the answer is DRESS).

Subpuzzle solutions

Unchained

The first few answers to Unchained puzzles in Puzzle 5 are:

Puzzle 1UnchainedDELIRIUM
Puzzle 4UnchainedOBLITERATION
Puzzle 6UnchainedETHICS
Puzzle 8UnchainedANTEROOM
Puzzle 10UnchainedHYPOTHESES
Puzzle 11UnchainedPROM
Puzzle 14UnchainedZITHER
Puzzle 16UnchainedENCROACH
Puzzle 20UnchainedSUPERHIGHWAY
Puzzle 26UnchainedFAROFF
Puzzle 31UnchainedASPIRATE
Puzzle 37UnchainedOVERDO
Puzzle 42UnchainedASPIRANT
...

All of these answers have even length. In addition, the central bigrams of these answers often repeat (IR, ER, HI, ER, TH, RO, TH, ...). These central bigrams are randomly selected from the answer phrase — in particular, they alternate between being chosen from the first word of the answer phrase and being chosen from the second word of the answer phrase. From this, we can reconstruct the answer to this subpuzzle. For this specific puzzle (Puzzle 5), this leads to the subpuzzle answer THIRD ZERO.

Cafe Five

The first few answers to Cafe Five puzzles in Puzzle 5 are:

Puzzle 17Cafe FiveSEED
Puzzle 22Cafe FiveSELFMADE
Puzzle 27Cafe FiveLAM
Puzzle 32Cafe FiveSTREAMLINE
Puzzle 36Cafe FiveRESENT
Puzzle 40Cafe FiveTRANSFERENCE
Puzzle 44Cafe FiveCRANE
Puzzle 50Cafe FiveRECTANGLE
Puzzle 57Cafe FiveLEG
Puzzle 61Cafe FivePENLIGHT
Puzzle 67Cafe FivePINT
Puzzle 71Cafe FiveTREPIDATION
Puzzle 76Cafe FiveTIRADE
Puzzle 79Cafe FiveANTIDEPRESSANT
Puzzle 84Cafe FiveAPTNESS
Puzzle 89Cafe FivePARENTHESES
Puzzle 94Cafe FiveHER
Puzzle 99Cafe FiveHALFBREED
Puzzle 103Cafe FiveBLADE
...

Every other answer in this stream can be formed by anagramming its two surrounding answers along with an additional letter (for example, SELFMADE = SEED + LAM + F). Reading off these additional letters reveals the subpuzzle answer repeated endlessly. For this specific puzzle (Puzzle 5), this leads to the subpuzzle answer FIFTH ONE.

Library of Images

The first few answers to Library of Images puzzles in Puzzle 5 are:

Puzzle 3Library of ImagesCOP
Puzzle 7Library of ImagesE
Puzzle 9Library of ImagesCUSP
Puzzle 13Library of ImagesZ
Puzzle 15Library of ImagesLEVEL
Puzzle 21Library of ImagesMERRIMENT
Puzzle 24Library of ImagesAX
Puzzle 29Library of ImagesFRIDAY
Puzzle 33Library of ImagesJUMBO
Puzzle 38Library of ImagesAMP
Puzzle 43Library of ImagesCATCH
Puzzle 48Library of ImagesTRICOLOR
Puzzle 54Library of ImagesMORTGAGEE
Puzzle 59Library of ImagesHASHISH
Puzzle 62Library of ImagesCYNICALLY
Puzzle 65Library of ImagesWOE
Puzzle 70Library of ImagesAX
Puzzle 74Library of ImagesCUR
Puzzle 80Library of ImagesHOCKSHOP
Puzzle 86Library of ImagesTHAW
Puzzle 91Library of ImagesSLOPPY
Puzzle 96Library of ImagesON
Puzzle 101Library of ImagesAROUSE
Puzzle 106Library of ImagesHACK
Puzzle 111Library of ImagesIRE
Puzzle 116Library of ImagesNAB
Puzzle 121Library of ImagesENVIABLE
Puzzle 126Library of ImagesSLY
Puzzle 132Library of ImagesSN
Puzzle 137Library of ImagesCONVICT
Puzzle 142Library of ImagesMILITANCY
Puzzle 146Library of ImagesLIKEN
Puzzle 153Library of ImagesF
Puzzle 158Library of ImagesBE
...

If we look at the lengths of these answers, we see that in order they are 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6, …, which we can recognize as the digits of pi. Indeed, the lengths of the answers match up with the digits of pi, with the exception that where the corresponding digit would be 0, the answer is a single character. The first such instance occurs at the 33rd digit of pi (counting the leading 3 as the first digit) — in the above example, this corresponds to the 33rd instance of Library of Images, which is Puzzle 153 with the answer F. Taking these characters in order reveals the answer to this subpuzzle. For this specific puzzle (Puzzle 5), this leads to the subpuzzle answer FOURTH THREE.

Make Your Own Word Search

The first few answers to Make Your Own Word Search puzzles in Puzzle 5 are:

Puzzle 2Make Your Own Word SearchEPISTLE
Puzzle 18Make Your Own Word SearchWEAN
Puzzle 23Make Your Own Word SearchSPECKLE
Puzzle 28Make Your Own Word SearchEGYPTIAN
Puzzle 34Make Your Own Word SearchWEEKNIGHT
Puzzle 39Make Your Own Word SearchSANDAL
Puzzle 46Make Your Own Word SearchFLANK
Puzzle 49Make Your Own Word SearchSYLPH
Puzzle 53Make Your Own Word SearchSAVIOR
Puzzle 58Make Your Own Word SearchDEVIANCE
Puzzle 64Make Your Own Word SearchNOSTRIL
Puzzle 69Make Your Own Word SearchNITWIT
Puzzle 75Make Your Own Word SearchENFEEBLE
Puzzle 81Make Your Own Word SearchSTARK
Puzzle 85Make Your Own Word SearchWORKING
Puzzle 90Make Your Own Word SearchSEANCE
Puzzle 95Make Your Own Word SearchTYPOGRAPHY
...

Many of these answers start with a compass direction (N, S, E, W) and some (e.g. SEANCE) even start with one of the four diagonal compass directions (NE, NW, SE, SW — however, NW will not appear in any puzzle). These answers are divided into chunks by answers that do not start with any compass direction (e.g. FLANK). The path we obtain by following the compass directions for a single chunk draws out a letter. For example, in the first chunk of six puzzles before FLANK, we have the directions E, W, S, E, W, S, which results in the following path:

This path draws out the letter F. Drawing out these paths and reading the letters formed reveals the answer to this subpuzzle. For this specific puzzle (Puzzle 5), this leads to the subpuzzle answer FIRST ONE.

Infinite Corridor Simulator

The first few answers to Infinite Corridor Simulator puzzles in Puzzle 5 are:

Puzzle 5Infinite Corridor SimulatorDUSKY
Puzzle 12Infinite Corridor SimulatorUDDER
Puzzle 19Infinite Corridor SimulatorKETCH
Puzzle 25Infinite Corridor SimulatorYOUNG
Puzzle 30Infinite Corridor SimulatorUNWED
Puzzle 35Infinite Corridor SimulatorDOWSE
Puzzle 41Infinite Corridor SimulatorDIVER
Puzzle 45Infinite Corridor SimulatorRAPID
Puzzle 51Infinite Corridor SimulatorKNEAD
Puzzle 56Infinite Corridor SimulatorENSUE
Puzzle 63Infinite Corridor SimulatorTONIC
Puzzle 68Infinite Corridor SimulatorHUMOR
Puzzle 73Infinite Corridor SimulatorYEARN
Puzzle 77Infinite Corridor SimulatorUNWED
Puzzle 82Infinite Corridor SimulatorGRIST
Puzzle 88Infinite Corridor SimulatorUNDUE
...

If we read the first letters of these answers, we find that this almost matches the string we get by concatenating all the answers in order. For example, the string we get by reading the first letters of the above answers is

DUKYUDDRKETHYUGU…

and the string we get by simply concatenating the answers is

DUSKYUDDERKETCHYOUNGU…

It is possible to transform the second string into the first string by deleting some letters (approximately one per word, but occasionally more, and occasionally fewer). Reading the deleted letters, we find the subpuzzle answer. For this specific puzzle, the answer is SECOND SEVEN.