[Winner Announcement] Mini Crypto Challenge #1 - Congratulations, @howtostartablog! 🎉

After only two days the first Mini Crypto Challenge has already ended! @howtostartablog successfully pieced together all the hints and figured out the answer. Congratulations!! The $15 reward is all yours.

@jga gets an honorable mention for being the first to start solving and for unlocking some crucial hints that I'm sure were helpful in finding the final solution. Thanks for playing!

The rewards

I promised some rewards, so here's the breakdown:

• @howtostartablog wins $15 for winning and an additional $1 for reblogging
• @jga wins $5 for the hints he unlocked (four correct images and the fact that anagrams were involved).
• @carlgnash also reblogged so he gets another $1

I'm still trying to figure out if this is a good way to stimulate interaction, I might change the reward rules on upcoming challenges a little so let me know if you have any suggestions or improvements.

The solution

I had planned to post a detailed breakdown of the solution, but the winning answer already explains everything there was to the challenge. Read it here

Next challenge

I'm already working on Challenge #2, so stay tuned. I'm still trying to find a balance between giving additional hints and just letting you guys puzzle. Next time I'll try to only confirm or deny guesses in the comments, but I will keep upvoting replies and rewarding correct guesses.

Thanks for playing, see you next time!