STARPWN-2026-Writeup

Strange Holos 5

Category	Misc
Points	442
Solves	193

Description

A Glittercity billboard reads DON’T PANIC in faded letters. Projected over it in neon is a two-line cipher. A discarded “TOWEL DAY — Always know where your towel is” flyer lies on the ground.

Attachments: space5-glitter.png

Solution

Steps

1. Read the ciphertext

The neon projection on the billboard reads:

IE BEDW QDT JXQDAI
VEH QBB JXU FXYIX

2. Spot the contextual hints

The background billboard says DON’T PANIC and the ground flyer references TOWEL DAY — both iconic phrases from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The original novel famously ends with the dolphins leaving Earth with the message “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”

3. Identify the cipher

The ciphertext uses Latin characters shifted by a fixed amount — a Caesar cipher. Testing shift 16 (subtract 16 from each letter mod 26):

IE BEDW QDT JXQDAI VEH QBB JXU FXYIX
→ SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE PHISH

Note: “PHISH” instead of “FISH” is an intentional twist on the original quote.

4. Read the flag

The decoded inscription is the flag itself.

Flag

so long and thanks for all the phish