Solution: Earphones
Answer: SPEECH AMBIOPHONICS
Written by Eunice Wong
The first step is to realise that these are all lines from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. And no, your earphones aren’t broken - some lines are only playing on the right or left audio channels. Note the next word (clued by “what’s next?” in the flavourtext), as well as the act and scene numbers of each line. A full script can be found here.
| AUDIO EXCERPT | ACT | SCENE | NEXT WORD | CHANNEL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MARULLUS Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What dost thou with thy best apparel on? You, sir, what trade |
1 | 1 | are | right |
| OCTAVIUS What man is that? MESSALA My master's man. Strato, where is thy master? STRATO Free from the bondage you |
5 | 5 | are | right |
| BRUTUS Let us not wrangle: bid them move away; Then in my tent, enlarge your griefs, And I will give you |
4 | 2 | audience | right |
| First Citizen What is your name? Second Citizen Whither are you going? Third Citizen Where do you dwell? Fourth Citizen Are you a married man or a bachelor? Second Citizen Answer every man directly. |
3 | 3 | ay | normal |
| ANTONY I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it |
3 | 2 | be | normal |
| Soothsayer That I have, lady: if it will please Caesar To be so good to Caesar as to hear me, I shall |
2 | 4 | beseech | left |
| CAESAR What can be avoided Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods? Yet |
2 | 2 | Caesar | normal |
| LUCILIUS I dare assure thee that no enemy Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus: The gods |
5 | 4 | defend | left |
| BRUTUS He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base |
2 | 1 | degrees | right |
| CAESAR What, Brutus! CASSIUS Pardon, Caesar; Caesar, pardon: As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall, To beg |
3 | 1 | enfranchisement | left |
| CASSIUS A man no mightier than thyself or me In personal action, yet prodigious grown And fearful, as these strange |
1 | 3 | eruptions | normal |
| ARTEMIDORUS Take heed of Cassius; come not near Casca; have an |
2 | 3 | eye | left |
| BRUTUS I do not, till you practise them on me. CASSIUS You love me not. BRUTUS I do not like your faults. CASSIUS A friendly |
4 | 3 | eye | left |
| PINDARUS Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord CASSIUS This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius; Are those my tents where |
5 | 3 | I | normal |
| ANTONY Therefore let our alliance be combined, Our best friends made, our means stretch'd And let us presently go sit in council, How covert matters may be best disclosed, And |
4 | 1 | open | normal |
| CASSIUS I have not from your eyes that gentleness And show of love as I was wont to have: You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand |
1 | 2 | over | right |
| BRUTUS For I perceive But cold demeanour in Octavius' wing, And sudden push gives them the |
5 | 2 | overflow | left |
| OCTAVIUS I was not born to die on Brutus' sword. BRUTUS O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain, Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable. CASSIUS A |
5 | 1 | peevish | left |
The identified next words have been presented in alpha order, suggesting some reordering is needed. They also all have a first syllable that sounds like a letter. Caesar shift the letter +1 if the audio was on the right channel, -1 if the audio was on the left channel, and 0 if the audio was playing out of both channels. Lastly, reorder by scene and act numbers.
| ACT | SCENE | NEXT WORD | LETTER | CHANNEL | SHIFT | CORRECT LETTER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | are | R | right | +1 | S |
| 1 | 2 | over | O | right | +1 | P |
| 1 | 3 | eruptions | E | normal | 0 | E |
| 2 | 1 | degrees | D | right | +1 | E |
| 2 | 2 | Caesar | C | normal | 0 | C |
| 2 | 3 | eye | I | left | -1 | H |
| 2 | 4 | beseech | B | left | -1 | A |
| 3 | 1 | enfranchisement | N | left | -1 | M |
| 3 | 2 | be | B | normal | 0 | B |
| 3 | 3 | ay | I | normal | 0 | I |
| 4 | 1 | open | O | normal | 0 | O |
| 4 | 2 | audience | O | right | +1 | P |
| 4 | 3 | eye | I | left | -1 | H |
| 5 | 1 | peevish | P | left | -1 | O |
| 5 | 2 | overflow | O | left | -1 | N |
| 5 | 3 | I | I | normal | 0 | I |
| 5 | 4 | defend | D | left | -1 | C |
| 5 | 5 | are | R | right | +1 | S |
The answer is SPEECH AMBIOPHONICS.
This puzzle answer was screaming out to be an audio puzzle, and I thought using audio panning would be a simple way to indicate a Caesar shift. Coincidentally enough, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar has the same number of scenes as letters in the puzzle answer, and I was excited to be able to discover each letter sound, + or -1, in order of scenes (apologies for the slightly questionable “audience” for “O” sound in Act 4, Scene 2).
The audio was taken from here, except for Act 5, Scene 4, which was taken from here.