Another Shout-Out in Smallville: The Official Magazine

The Magazine

Smallville: The Official Magazine is a great bimonthly (used to be monthly; get the details on the News and Updates page) magazine with awesome articles, photos, and interviews pertaining to our favorite show, Smallville. I try to pick up a copy when I have time to get to our local comic book store, but, unsurprisingly, it's been SOLD OUT whenever I go. I was pleased as punch to have my site appear in Issue #5, and I wanted to check out Issue #6, which contains Part Two of the three-part Ezra Small series of articles. As expected (and hoped for!), Issue #6 has another coded snippet in its Ezra Small article.

The Snippet

This month's Ezra Small article is on page 50. The last paragraph reads as follows:

Although Christopher James Beppo characteristically shuns the limelight, he reminds readers of the resources available to them at ters lhs, ik'e amlr hcsi adyt styu orfr mlil nwni omin heam loes risz sapo eistn kpoi eoru co"a llee sdnr aoza uher lpee rn:s esv" aft.

At first, I thought this gobbledygook was some sort of code-- one letter stands for another, for example. However, I did a frequency check of the letters as they appear in the snippet, and the high frequency of e, s, t, r, and other popular letters leads me to believe there is no substitution of letters needed to unlock the mysteries of this snippet. Because Issue #5 instructed viewers to visit my site and the WB's Ezra Small site "for further information on Ezra Small and his legacy," the above snippet makes me think my site is again referenced. However, there is only one colon, one instance of the letter w, no slashes, and only one period, so there are no actual web addresses in this snippet. There also is no letter b in the snippet, so the possibility that the apostrophe could be part of the phrase "The WB's..." must be eliminated. Putting these ideas together, I first eliminated all the spaces in the snippet...

terslhs,ik'eamlrhcsiadytstyuorfrmlilnwniominheamloesriszsapoeistnkpoieoruco"alleesdnraozauherlpeern:sesv"aft.

Then, I took out Shirkie's Ezra Small Prophecies Site since, again, there is one (and only one) apostrophe in the snippet, which leaves us with...

shirkie's ezra small prophecies site l,ladyttyurfmnwnominhamlorissoistnkoieoruco"alleesdnraozauherlpeern:sesv"aft.

Perhaps the titles of other websites are hidden in the remaining letters and symbols? I notice you can pull out the title of the WB's Ezra Small site...

shirkie's ezra small prophecies site
the ezra small house
,dytyfnwnminmlorioistnkoioruco"allsdnraoauerlpeern:sesv"aft.

I also noticed the #1 fan site on the Web can be pulled out of the remaining letters and symbols...

shirkie's ezra small prophecies site
the ezra small house
kryptonsite
,dyfwnmnmlioinoioruco"allsdnraoaurleern:sesv"aft.

At this point, I was stumped. Stumped, I tell you! The Editors, worried that they had perhaps made the puzzle too difficult, asked me if I was closed to solving this puzzle. I showed them everything I had up until now, and the relieved staffers encouraged me, "YOU'RE SO CLOSE! You've just got a little more to figure out! Perhaps visiting those sites would help..." Well, as I pondered some more and followed the advice given to me by these sages, it became apparent that the missing part of the puzzle was right in front of my eyes-- but only when you visit KryptonSite and examine your browser's title bar.

shirkie's ezra small prophecies site,
the ezra small house
and
kryptonsite: your source for "smallville" news and information.

So, in context, the entire passage reads

Although Christopher James Beppo characteristically shuns the limelight, he reminds readers of the resources available to them at Shirkie's Ezra Small Prophecies Site, the Ezra Small House and KryptonSite: Your Source for "Smallville" News and Information.

Another fun puzzle from the mind of Beppo! Don't forget that Part Three of this series of articles will be in next month's Issue #7 of Smallville: The Official Magazine.