CX-CCS08 (Mar 10, 1996)
Puzzle
“Buzz in when you know!”
See: CX-CCS07 | 1 Word
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: Ignore the bottom four lines for now. What is 'the beginning', and will also (metaphorically) 'hit you'.
Clue 2: Most often used to talk about the beginning of time. Also, 'the answer hit me'. What's a synonym for that phrase?
Clue 3: A quick glance at the Necropolis' Rings - check the Zodiac Files if you need to - might shed some light on this beginning of time.
Answer and Explanation
Answer: Dawn
Explanation: A term for ‘at the beginning’ is also ‘dawn’; furthermore, the term ‘it dawned on me’ refers to a realisation, similar to the term ‘it hit me’ (as in, ‘the answer hit me’).
Summary of Receipt
Summary
Transcript
RECEIPT #00E
FILED UNDER: COMPLEXITY-CCS
DATE: 3/10/96
EMPLOYEE #71
Well, how about that, eh? It would seem we won the madman’s game. Good work, everyone, especially young #44. If it hadn’t dawned on him, we might not have had the opportunity to don Complexico’s prize: The Veil of Cassandra. A powerful artifact, to be certain. It is said that it once belonged to the seer Cassandra, blessed with the ability of precognition at the price of never being believed. Whether or not that is true doesn’t matter. What does matter is the power this veil holds, no?
The wearer of the veil is able to “see” truth. Utter, unveiled, unconcealed, and ultimate truth. No lie can pass it, physically, sonically, or mentally. If you are wearing this veil, you can never be lied to. Words will twist into the truth, whatever it may be. Of course, it’s not so straightforward. They don’t call it the Veil of Cassandra for nothing, eh? Once you take off the veil, your “truth,” as it were, becomes the lie you were fed. Think of it this way: say we use the veil to see through Mrs. Pleasant’s glamor; once we take the veil off, we can only ever see Mrs. Pleasant as her glamored form and never the true lepidopterical demon beneath.
It is both a wonderful prize… yet a steep price to pay. I’m uncertain if one can wear the veil and then convey the truth to another. It would be a glaring oversight, no? Though Cassandra’s curse permeates this fabric, so I imagine even if you knew the truth, no one would believe you. Perhaps some small-scale tests are in order, though extreme caution must be utilized. Changing one’s perception of reality permanently to a falsehood is… not ideal, to say the least.