Davinci Code Quest - Looking For Tips and Solutions?

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (23 of 24)

2006-05-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today's and Tomorrow's solutions will be posted at http://googlefact.blogspot.com

Post your solution to the 22nd challenge in the comments below this post.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (22 of 24)

2006-05-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Annie who arrived at the solution first, and very quickly I might add. This chess challenge was again very simple. I will be making another post this evening detailing the topics of this blog for the days following The Da Vinci Code Quest.

The solution for today's puzzle is as follows:

"The leading member of the Priory of Sion is called:" The Nautonnier

"Which of these men was not rumored to be a Priory of Sion member?" Nicolas Poussin

"What is the name of the ancient Egyption goddess of fertility?" Isis

Post your solution to the 22nd challenge in the comments below this post.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (21 of 24)

2006-05-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

This was by far the easiest challenge to date. I will be making three posts over the next three days.

The first post will give you the statistics of this blog over the 24 days of the Da Vinci Code Quest. So if you are wondering how many people are in pursuit of one of those treasured prize items, you'll be interested in this post.

The next post will be about the last day of the puzzle. If your wondering if we will give or not give out the solution to the last puzzle, you'll want to read this one.

And finally, what are we to do after the quest is over. I will blog about any topic of your choosing. If it is related to Google that would be even better, but I won't put any restrictions on it. If there is something you have always been wondering about related to Google, you will want to read and comment on this post.

My question was about the Bishop of Cavaillon. What was the reason for the second present? dog See this link. Congratulations to David who solved this challenge in the quickest time.

Post your solution to the 21st challenge in the comments below this post.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (20 of 24)

2006-05-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

The trick to this challenge is to work from the inside out and leave some of the outer pieces to save you at the end since they all are clumped in the middle

Leonardo da Vinci's painting of The Adoration of the Magi hangs in the Royal Uffizi Gallery in Florence.What is the catalogue number in the 1890 catalogue of the museum? 1252

The exact link for my answer was on this page http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN03018849&id=MNnKj4jTHIIC&pg=PA208&q=adoration+of+magi&vq=adoration+of+magi&dq=%22Royal+Uffizi+Gallery%22+1890

In general, you can try this link from zGerman http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN03018849&id=MNnKj4jTHIIC&amp;pg=PA215&q=%22Royal+Uffizi+Gallery%22+leonardo&vq=%22Royal+Uffizi+Gallery%22+leonardo&dq=%22Royal+Uffizi+Gallery%22+leonardo

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Hope everybody is alive and well after Cinco de Mayo. It has been extreamly busy and I haven't been able to put enough time into the last few posts. I am hoping that I will be able to update them all later today. Thank you for hanging in their and sharing your comments and solutions with all of the GoogleFact readers. I have a meeting again today at about 1:30 so I am hoping to be able to make a short solutions post right before I leave. I will then make every attempt to update it in detail (along with the past couple days).

Thanks again to everyone for participating, we are getting closer, there only 4 more puzzles left after today. I am going to make some comments about the final days of this challenge that I think everyone will be interested to read, so stop back by later tonight or visit again tomorrow to see how we are going to conclude these 24 days.

Post your solution to the 20th challenge in the comments below this post.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (19 of 24)

2006-05-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

My solution to today's puzzle is

During his Italian Journeys William Dean Howelss enjoys a beefsteak and potatoes with a half-bottle of what kind of wine? Lingurian

Post your solution to today's challenge in the comments below this post.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (18 of 24)

2006-05-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

See http://googlefact.blogspot.com for today's solution

Who will be the first to finish today's challenge?

Now I will make two predictions. First, I won't be the quickest to finish today's challenge. Second, in the near future Google will annouce that they will have a new service http://magazines.google.com. Those are my predictions for this, the 4th day of May, in the year 2000 and 6.

Post your solution to today's Geography challenge in the comments below this post.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (17 of 24)

2006-05-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's comments were a little weak and I am guessing that was for 1 of 2 reasons. Either the challenge was simple and the solution was the same for everybody, or I scared you off with the whole SketchUp topic. Hopefully it was the first and not the second, so continute to submit your solutions for puzzle 17 in the comments to these posts. First I'll post the solution to today's challenge and then I have a comment for those of you who are timid about the SketchUp challenge.

I dislike the observation challenge because of the video you have to watch, but here is the link to the video that you may have to watch about Sir Leigh Teabing. O.K. I came in third!! (and I may or may not have looked at Artemiy's answers). Steve and Artemiy or super quick on the solutions everyday so if you don't have a lot of time some days (ehh hemmm cough cough) GoogleFact will always have the solutions quickly (Thanks Guys!!).

The questions and answers are as follows:

"Speaking of fascinating characters, there's only one letter in the entire video that is clearly written in lower-case. What is that letter?" f

"In just one word, the noble Sir Leigh describes the pursuit that both he and you are on. What is that word?" quest

"And to bring this back to the topic of movie spectacles, how many times is Sir Leigh shown wearing his? His spectacles, that is." 7

Now, continuing from above, if it was in fact the SketchUp challenge that scared everybody off from posting comments, have no fear. Check out this model from a GoogleFact reader. I was amazed by this 3D SketchUp, have a look for yourself.

See, it can be done! If you want help using sketchUp, I can post a short tutorial on it in the next few days. If you are already a SketchUp expert, let's see some of those images. I am also going to create a post just for SketchUp, so be on the lookout for that post as I will have more images (from differant angles) of the above model.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (16 of 24)

2006-05-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

Congrats to AC who solved the chess puzzle in lighting speed. My offer is still on the table for a free link to the website of your chosing (it could be a nonprofit link). Since today's puzzle, the 16th puzzle released for the Da Vinci Code Quest was so simple I am going to add my very own SketchUp challenge solution to this post. The SketchUp challenge is not a timed challenge and is a lot of fun so think about participating, see my last post for the details. First today's questions and answers. (bahh, sorry for the delay I am still having trouble uploading images to blogger POC so it is taking longer to get these posted)

See http://googlefact.blogspot.com for image to this post.

"The Louvre's famous Pyramid was designed by:" I.M. Pei

"What French king built the the Louvre?" Phillip II Augustus

"Which of these people in history never set foot in Notre Dame?" Pope Leo IX

Now for my solution to the all original SketchUp challenge from yesterday. Here is my best rendition of my dream home in SketchUp. Send your solution to davincicodequest@gmail.com or post a link in the comment of this post. I'll make reference to it in future posts.

See http://googlefact.blogspot.com for image to this post.

Do you like it? I thought it was pretty good myself, but of course I have a biased opinion. Also, did you know you can integrate these 3D objects right into Google Earth? I know, I love Google too. Until tomorrow, keep leaving those comments, completing those challenges, and clicking on those . Well, I'll let you finish that sentence.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.
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Submit your solution for puzzle 16 in the comments to this post. I look forward to seeing who can solve this challenge the fastest. I will be posting my solution to yesterday's side challenge for all of you today also, so keep an eye out for that.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (15 of 24)

2006-05-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Another easy challenge from Google and Sony. For those of you wondering, yes I did finish some time ago, but blogger wouldn't let me upload an image right (among other problems I have been having with blogger). For some reason, especially around 1 PM, I have a lot of trouble making blogger work for me. So I just went ahead and hosted the image off of my webserver, what a pain.

Well I thought Google was going to make these challenges more difficult but apparently I was wrong. So, to make up for the lack of difficulty, I have another fun, but more difficult, challenge for everyone. First let me post my solution for today's puzzle.

See http://googlefact.blogspot.com for image to this post.

My question after I created my masterpiece was, "Translate light to french". I used http://www.googlefact.com/examples/sms.html and typed in the search box "translate light from english to french" to get 'light' in English means 'lumiere' in French.

My side challenge that I mentioned above is the following. Back in March Google acquired Last Software and their flagship product SketchUp. SketchUp is a neat little 3D modeling tool that is very powerful, yet very simple to use. Google recently made a free version available to the general public (see this post for more details). My challenge is to see who can create the best 3D model of their current living quarters using SketchUp. So get your creative juices flowing, download this free software from Google (you won't regret it), and let's see some 3D buildings.

I will create a new post over the next few days where you can leave a link to your image. Or if you email them to davincicodequest@gmail.com I will host them for you (don't worry I won't give away any of your personal information or post your email address).

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Submit your solution for puzzle 15 in the comments to this post. I look forward to seeing who can solve this challenge the fastest. I also have another side challenge coming up for all of you today or tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (14 of 24)

2006-04-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

I finished second today. Congratulations Micheal for solving the challenge the quickest.

My question "Translate nzm from Atbash to English" 'nzm' in Atbash means 'man' in English.

How did I get that answer? Try http://www.googlefact.com/examples/sms.html
syntax : translate nzm from Atbash to English - Hope that helps

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (13 of 24)

2006-04-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

The symbol challenge did not increase in difficulty today as suspected. I was able to solve the puzzle with no mistakes. I hope the same was true for you.

Lets see how many differant screenshots we can collect today of solved puzzles. Before you place your last piece into the puzzle take a print screen of your puzzle and post a link to the image in the comments. If you need me to host the image file, just send it to me in an email davincicodequest@gmail.com. Here is mine.

My question was, "Translate aringhe from Italian to English." The answer was herrings.

I finished 2nd today after David. Congrats David, and send me a link if you want me to include one in this post. Look forward to seeing you all again for tomorrow's challenge. What are we all going to do when we don't have these puzzles to put together everyday?

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Today we will complete the 13th challenge, the 3rd symbol challenge, and the 1st challenge in the 3rd level of difficulty. I am still challenging everyone to see who can come up with the answer the quickest today. For the Grand Prize of today's competition, I will add a link to your website (or a website of your choosing) in my post. I know that is a weak Grand Prize but hey it is just for fun anyways right.

Also, I have a bonus question to answer. What do the numbers that are in bold (above) have in common? (Hint: related to the Da Vinci Code).

Good Luck Everyone!

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (12 of 24)

2006-04-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Everyone did a great job with the puzzle today, and a few of you were able to solve the puzzle before I could. Congrats to Steve who was the first to officially post the solution including a screenshot! This geography challenge was a fun challenge today that included a game of Where’s is Waldo at the end. After you put the puzzle pieces together you will see a satellite view of ...? Rome

And for the Where’s Waldo (The Greek Cross) part check out the tip of that big red arrow. Well we are officially half way through the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge. For those of you who are concerned that you won't win a prize because we are giving away freebies, have no fears.

I anticipate everyone making it to the 23rd challenge without a problem. We have already discussed that the puzzles are not intended to be terribly difficult. Sony wants to keep people interested in the movie, remember this is ultimately a marketing technique. I will not post my answer to the 24th puzzle until after the contest is over.

See everyone tomorrow same time, same place, same game.

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Yesterday I did a little trash talking in a comment on my last post. I realized after reading the comment that some of you may have taken it the wrong way. If so, please accept my apology. My intention was simply to give you a little extra challenge.

The extra challenge is to see who can come up with the answer the quickest. Now if you can't get to the puzzle right at 1 PM you can still participate in this challenge (but no cheating). Just leave your solution and the time it took you to solve the puzzle in a comment and we'll see who was able to come up with the solution to the geography challenge the quickest.

Also, another Da Vinci Code related puzzle was brought to my attention yesterday (see the comments on my last post). But, unfortunately that puzzle has already been solved (see the comments on my last post).

If you find an interesting puzzle/challenge for GoogleFact readers, feel free to leave a comment to that accord. Also, if you need extra help on any of the puzzles or you have a question you can contact me at davincicodequest@gmail.com.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (11 of 24)

2006-04-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, 11 down 13 to go. Today's challenge, my favorite type, the chess challenge, was a bit knotty today, just kidding. Google Common!! People are going to stop visiting my blog for solutions if you make the questions so dang simple!! And then I won't have raised any money for my college tuition!! What is that about?

Chess is the greatest board game on earth, well after shoots and ladders, oh and Candy Land. So practice up on your chess with this challenge since the questions were so retardedly simple. It took me longer to type this up (way longer) than to answer those questions.

If you still need the answers, I won't let you down.

"A word that can be read the same backwards and forwards is called?" A palindrome

"Jacques Sauniere's body was found in which part of the Louvre? The Denon Wing

"The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog is an example of" A pangram

I wonder how many of Google's PhD's it took to come up with these questions? Maybe that will be tomorrows question. My answer would be zero for that question. These questions were probably created by 10 of Sony's smartest executives. Way to go guys!! Just Joking again...

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (10 of 24)

2006-04-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here it is folks, the 10th puzzle and solution. The difficulty of the puzzle definitely increased today. The questions were vague and the answers required some finesse to get them worded in the correct form. For instance, I am certain most of you saw the first answer in the video, but weren’t exactly sure what shape or word properly described the object. For the second question, more than likely your first guess was water which would have been wrong, and by the third question you were probably just stumped and irritated.

A seemingly-important stone object is extracted from the ground by Silas.
What is its shape? Octagon

An interesting viewpoint is that vantage point from which we last see Silas.
What is the last thing we see him touch? Holy Water

During the action in the video, we see many things shattered and destroyed, but what is it that will ultimately be broken? Silence

I apologize for not being able to actively participate in today's challenge due to the circumstances mentioned earlier. I also want to apologize for closing the comments down to registered users only. Please do consider registering to continue participating in the commentary and sharing your solutions with other readers (it only takes a few seconds to register).

I also need to thank the loyal visitors who promptly stepped up and kindly submitted the answers for the puzzles. Specifically I want to thank mcian for providing the first two answers, and Nicholas Ramey for providing the answer to the third question shortly after my original post. Thanks Guys!!

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (9 of 24)

2006-04-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

O.K.. I know I am late today (again), I had another lunch meeting (Yes I do have a day job). So I'll make this short and sweet and possibly do an update with some more information in a few minutes. Is anybody bored with these puzzles?

Coming from Google I was expected a highly academic challenge. Looks like instead Sony has turned this into a big marketing campaign. Why am I even supporting something from sony? Aren't they the ones who installed rootkits on all of our computers? Alright, enough about that, here is what you came to see.

My question after I hung the paintings was, "What month was Jean Cocteau born in?" And my answer was July. See this link. Please share your questions and solutions in the comments for others.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details. Also visit http://googlefact.blogspot.com for additional solutions and comments.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (8 of 24)

2006-04-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

I thought these puzzles were supposed to be getting harder? Here we are on the 8th puzzle and I solved this one in the shortest time yet. Literally less than 2 minutes and that’s including flash loading/animation time. Of course I did get quite lucky and solved the debris puzzle on my first try.

My question was San [blank] and my hint was ISBN 0472113011. After a quick book search I had the answer in the title of the only search result. I personally don’t like this particular puzzle (the peg jump game revisited). Leave me a comment with your final questions and answers.

Sorry for the delay in posting Blogger has been Blogged down today and I could not publish any new content. See this post for more details on the status of blogger.

If you are looking for more information on the Da Vinci Code Quest Challenge visit Google's Official Blog for more details.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (7 of 24)

2006-04-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

One full week of puzzles will be completed today from the Google Da Vinci Code Quest. I have a meeting today from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. and so I unfortunately will not have the solution until a little later in the day, but check in today around mid afternoon. Take a moment if you would like, to help spread the word by digging GoogleFact for the Da Vinci Code Quest Solutions, and thanks again for stopping by. If you need more information about the Code Quest visit Google's Official blog.

Update - O.K. I can see everybody is anxiously awaiting today's solution. Here it goes. Today's puzzle the 7th of 24 is another symbols/suduko puzzle, how disappointing. I was afraid that Google was going to think outside the box and create a different type of symbol challenge. But hey, if you need to generate a lot of puzzles in a short period of time, just change the dimensions of a suduko puzzle 4 times right? Enough about that though, lets get to the solution.

And the question after, "How many atmospheres are in are in 2175 psi?" 148. Today's challenge emphasizes the point that there are in fact 12,358 puzzle variations. So my puzzle will not necessarily be your puzzle, but it is great to see other folks commenting on these posts with their solutions.

Here is a tip for the suduko challenges if you are struggling with them. Don't guess if a particular symbol goes in a square until you absolutely have to (in my puzzle I never did). Use the restrictions that the starting pieces impose to fill in the surrounding squares and with each new piece that you fill, you will be left with fewer choices to make.

I also feel the need to comment on why I am publishing these solutions (again).

1. There are people who may not have flash and hence cannot do the challenges. I want them to still be able to learn from and enjoy the experience.

2. The information that I am giving out is freely available on the Internet already. Sure I am saving people time from having to dig through Google search results, but last time I checked people didn't mind saving time.

3. I am not actually giving out entire solutions. There are many variations to each day's puzzle and I am simply publishing my particular solution, which will probably be different from yours, unless of course you keep requesting a new puzzle until you get the same puzzle. By the way, I expect as the puzzles increase in difficulty, the number of variations in the puzzle will also increase.

4. For the simple purpose of historical documentation. Someday somebody will want to tell their kid about this great challenge Google made with 24 puzzles and how they one the Grand Prize. Their kid will ask, well what kind of puzzles were they, and now that person (which won't by the way be me) can look back and reflect on that experience.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (6 of 24)

2006-04-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today's challenge remained at a low level of difficulty, i.e. another five minute or less task. But at least it was a fun simple task, as opposed to a dumb simple task. The challenge required you to put some puzzle pieces together that formed a picture of a location and then surf around on Google Maps to find the name of the city (if you didn't recognize it from the picture).

Well the latter half was more fun then the former becuase you always run across wierd looking images or roads on Google Maps that you would have otherwise never known about. See MapsMania if you have no idea what I am referring to. My puzzle happened to be of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and so the answer to my particular question was New York.

But hey, don't take my word for it check it out for yourself here. If you had a differant puzzle, leave me a link to your Google Map image location in a comment. I am curious to visit all of the differant locations they used (if any). If this is your first visit you can find more information about the challenge here.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (5 of 24)

2006-04-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

I correctly assessed yesterday, that today's challenge would be more interesting than the previous 4 because the chess challenge actually requires mental effort. To complete this task you need to understand the game of chess (something all human beings should learn and enjoy before they leave this blessed or cursed as it may be planet). Or you have to know how to use an internet search engine, which admittedly only requires half a mental effort.

I decided to solve the puzzle by playing the game rather than researching the storyline. I love the game of chess, thanks Dad for teaching me early in life, and so it was a natural choice, but you may wish to play the game since the only official hint given in this quest was to do just that. If you need assistance with any of the challenges, or if you have questions about any of Google's products, services, or API's, you may leave your email in a comment and I will be happy to assist you.

Oh right, you wanted the answers to those questions so you don't have to play chess. Since you can't be persuaded otherwise, here they are.

"What is the spiked belt that Silas wears called?" A cilice

"What are the second, third, and fourth leading members of the Priory of Sion called?" Senechaux

"The engraved tablet that is supposed to reveal the hiding place of the Holy Grail is called the" Keystone

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (4 of 24)

2006-04-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Alas, Day 4 of 24 in the Da Vinci Code Challenge. I hope this is going to get more interesting quickly. I am starting to get bored with these grade school rearrange the pieces puzzles. If you haven't picked up on it yet Google and Sony have partnered up to market the new movie with Tom Hanks, "The Da Vinci Code".

“The symbol shown on Sophie Neveu (pictured at left) is called what?” The answer that appears after the pictures are correctly hung is Chalice.

I will more than likely regret asking for harder puzzles near the end of these 3+ weeks, but for right now I am just bored. Hopefully we can put our minds to work with tomorrow’s chess challenge.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (3 of 24)

2006-04-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Today is the 3rd day of Google's 24 days of puzzles. The puzzle offered up today was much better than the first two days and even required math knowledge (sorta). For more information on the puzzles and Google visit the Official Google Blog.

The sony trailer video can be found here.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (2 of 24)

2006-04-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Today is the 2nd of 24 days in which Google will release a new puzzle. The puzzle offered up today was another easy one that involved moving pieces of debris around on a map. You can liken it to a variation of the peg game that can be played at Cracker Barrel restaurants. (For more information on the puzzle and Google visit the Official Google Blog).

“Name the symbol on Manuel Aringarosa, pictured at left.” The answer to the question that appears after you have removed all but one debris is Greek Cross.

“Unlike the more commonly-known Latin cross, the Greek cross has arms of equal length, signifying perfection or balance. This symbol is also associated with the four points of the compass, the four alchemical elements, the positive sign and the symbol for addition. It appears on the Greek and Swiss flags, and a red version of the Greek Cross is the symbol for the Red Cross organization.”

Please understand I am not posting a screenshot of the solution. There are 12,358 different puzzles, or 515 different possible puzzle configurations each day (if evenly distributed). The screenshot is for those who aren’t participating but are curious as to how the puzzles look. However, the question that appears after you have solved the puzzle seems to be for marketing purposes, static for all puzzle variations.

The Da Vinci Code - Quest Solution (1 of 24)

2006-04-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Google annouced that it has partnered with Sony to create a series of puzzles to promote the upcoming movie, "The Da Vinci Code" set to release May 19th. One puzzle will be released everyday for the next 24 days. Be one of the first 10,000 to solve all of the puzzles and you will win a collectors item from the movie (valued at $30).

"What is the symbol on Robert Langdon's forehead?" The answer to the question that appears after the symbols are arranged correctly is Blade.

"The blade or pyramid is the alchemical symbol for fire. It also symbolizes masculinity and in combination with its complement shape the chalice, the blade forms the Star of David or Solomon's Seal. The blade is also an equilateral triangle, a symbol of the Christian trinity."