Cryptogram Puzzles

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Light

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Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by Light »

I've seen the many riddles here and was thinking, if there are people here, that are interested in solving cryptograms.

A few rules first!
1. If you post a cryptogram here, you should tell the method you have used or at least give a hint.
2. You can encrypt a message multiple times, but tell the people here that you have done it and test it afterwards so that it's still possible to decipher.
3. DON'T use programs to work it out, that's just not fun!

If you want, you can even encrypt lateral thinking puzzles, were you must first crack the code to solve it.

Let's start with a simple Caesar cipher:

EQPITCVWNCVKQPU! AQW IGV C EQQMKG.
“Mercy to the guilty is treason to the innocent.â€
Sayumi

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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by Sayumi »

Got it!!!
Spoiler:
2letters backwards, so:
EQPITCVWNCVKQPU! AQW IGV C EQQMKG. becomes:
CONGRATULATIONS!   YOU GET A  COOKIE. *yay-where is it???*
lets see...
my hint is
Spoiler:
CHEMISTRY!
NPPBe NePHe! CaOFK FK HVBKPAlB  :D! MnPScAr CaScArSi SiPV...

it sort of needs two steps... but it's not really hard.

EDIT: Crap-I missed a letter! It's HVBKPAlB, not HVBKAlB. Changed now
Last edited by Sayumi on March 4th, 2009, 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"It is one of those instances where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbor, because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the deduction."
Sherlock Holmes
bash7353
部下の手柄は上司のもの
上司の失敗は部下の責任

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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by bash7353 »

Hey,

I don't really know how this works; I understood the first riddle but now I also see capital letters and lower case letters. I don't know what to do or to think. Can someone give me a little heads-up.
@Sayumi: A PN in German would be appreciated.

Later.
"Vad ska jag annars vara?" - "Det vet jag inte. Det måste du svara på. Men om du släpper allt du tror att du måste, och frågar dig vad du vill... Vad vill du då?"
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AtticusGreen
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by AtticusGreen »

NPPBe NePHe! CaOFK FK HVBKAlB  :D! MnPScAr CaScArSi SiPV...
Spoiler:
Copy and paste from my Notepad to show I did it by hand Everything was lined up in there but it got shifted due to font. Letters get turned into numbers using the periodic table and those numbers are turned into letters by what they are in the alphabet.

N P P Be Ne P He ! Ca O F K F K H V B K Al B ! Mn P Sc Ar Ca Sc Ar Si Si P V ...
7 15 15 4 10 15 2 ! 20 8 9 19 9 19 1 23 5 19 13 5 ! 25 15 21 18 20 21 18 14 14 15 23 
G O O D J O B ! T H I S I S A W E S M E ! Y O U R T U R N N O W ...
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

So that would make it "Good Job! This is Awesme :D! Your turn now..."
So here is mine:
10110010100111101000011010011101100110101101111110001011100101111001011010001100110
11111100010001001111010001100110111111000101110010000100100001101111110011010100111
101000110010000110

Notes:
1. That is supposed to be one long string of numbers, not three lines. I had to separate it as such so it posted right.

2. You are allowed the use of a binary converter such as http://www.nickciske.com/tools/binary.php for this code only.

3. No it is not supposed to make sense if you decode it from binary as is.

4. I don't think I'll have to but I'll give a hint if its needed.
Last edited by AtticusGreen on March 4th, 2009, 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"It only takes one snowflake to cause an avalanche."
tera

Posts:
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by tera »

Spoiler:
ASCII 8-bit letter values start with 0! so switch all the 1's with 0's and vice versa in 10110010100111101000011010011101100110101101111110001011100101111001011010001100110
11111100010001001111010001100110111111000101110010000100100001101111110011010100111
101000110010000110 and you get "Maybe this was too easy"
Here's mine
HPQUED EVC OSRGDSS YK GNN
(edited. Thanks ayw!)

Clues:
-It's not a one-to-one replacement
-The substitution pattern changes as you progress from left to right (but in a solvable way)

Extra hint if you need it:
Spoiler:
The first letter is "h"
Last edited by tera on March 5th, 2009, 4:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
ayw
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by ayw »

@tera, There is a mistake at the fourth letter that carries over to the next three letters. After the eigth letter the code is correct again.
The code should read HPQUED EVC OSRGDSS YK GNN
Spoiler:
From the given letter move shift backwards by 0,1,2,3,4,... . The following loop helps do it easier when numbers become large.

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L
Z                                M
Y  X  W  V  U  T  S  R  Q  P  O  N

The part in the brackets is where the mistake slipped in.
code:  H  P  Q [T  D  C    D] V  C    O  S  R  G  D  S  S    Y  K  G  N  N
shifts: 0  1  2 [2  3  4    5] 7  8    9 10 11 12 13 14 15  16 17  18 19 20
result: H  O  O [R  A  Y    Y] O  U    F  I  G  U  R  E  D    I  T  O  U  T
Here's the next one:

EGRM, IHJ XNM SIZ SABB GFMH

My hint is...
Spoiler:
A  ¤  ¤  ¤  ¤

¤  ¤  ¤  ¤  ¤

¤  ¤  Y  ¤  ¤

¤  W  ¤  ¤  ¤

¤  ¤  ¤  ¤  ¤
Move, and the way will open.
tera

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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by tera »

>> ACK thanks a lot ayw, props for figuring it out despite the error... corrected it now
dany
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by dany »

I think I solved the EGRM, IHJ XNM SIZ SABB GFMH code but since I'm not a native english speaker I'm not sure of the answer
Spoiler:
First we have to put the letter like this:
A B C D E
P Q R S F
O X Y T G
N W V U H
M L K J I

Then it's about symmetry, axial symmetry (horizontal and vertical) but also central symmetry, for example the A can become E (horizontal), M (vertical) or I (central). The problem is I didn't find a way to know which symmetry we have to choose for each letter but I can obtain something like this:

"Move, and the waz will open."

Don't know really about the waz but it seems it's an english word I didn't know (Wikipedia) and I'm not sure about this word since there is no Z in the letter grid and I don't know what to do.
Here's my puzzle:
PJYNM GRWY

Hint :
Spoiler:
The key is a mathematic symbol
Hint 2 :
Spoiler:
I also used a basic and easy way of encrypting a message 
ayw
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by ayw »

@dany, Pair Y with the one letter that is missing ;)
Last edited by ayw on March 5th, 2009, 7:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Move, and the way will open.
dany
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by dany »

Yeah thank you, it clearly makes more sense now. I was too focused on an English expression I wouldn't have know.
And thank you because I really took pleasure in solving this.
sstimson
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by sstimson »

While the Cryptogram has remained popular, over time other puzzles similar to it have emerged. One of these is the Cryptoquote, which is a famous quote encrypted in the same way as a Cryptogram. Another is the Cryptoquiz. This puzzle starts off at the top with a category (unencrypted). For example, "Flowers" might be used. Below this is a list of encrypted words which are related to the stated category. The person must then solve for the entire list to finish the puzzle.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptogram

any got some of these kind . I lov figuring out the longer ones

Later very simple code for you use what is above and start at h

:) ;);)  >:( ;) ;D 8)  :-X :) ;) :-[
Last edited by sstimson on March 5th, 2009, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Later

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ayw
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by ayw »

@sstimson Thanks for the info. Yes, a cryptogram needn't have a mapping according to some pattern. You can just have a random one-to-one mapping of characters like your example, which could read
Spoiler:
:) ;);)   >:( ;) ;D 8)   :-X :) ;) :-[
H  i  .   I    l  i  k  e     t  h  i  s
though this is not a unique solution because the example is short.  You're right, longer cryptograms are fun since they contain more 'frequency' clues. Our examples so far make up for it by having some cyphering mechanism that can be deduced from logical or lateral thinking.  :)

@next person, dany's cryptogram has yet to be solved.
Last edited by ayw on March 6th, 2009, 2:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Move, and the way will open.
sstimson
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by sstimson »

dany wrote: I think I solved the EGRM, IHJ XNM SIZ SABB GFMH code but since I'm not a native english speaker I'm not sure of the answer
Spoiler:
First we have to put the letter like this:
A B C D E
P Q R S F
O X Y T G
N W V U H
M L K J I

Then it's about symmetry, axial symmetry (horizontal and vertical) but also central symmetry, for example the A can become E (horizontal), M (vertical) or I (central). The problem is I didn't find a way to know which symmetry we have to choose for each letter but I can obtain something like this:

"Move, and the waz will open."

Don't know really about the waz but it seems it's an english word I didn't know (Wikipedia) and I'm not sure about this word since there is no Z in the letter grid and I don't know what to do.
Here's my puzzle:
PJYNM GRWY

Hint :
Spoiler:
The key is a mathematic symbol
Hint 2 :
Spoiler:
I also used a basic and easy way of encrypting a message 
This is a guess ( logical guess based on your clues and word length )
Spoiler:
Does PJYNM=EQUAL & Does GRWY=SIGN?
Later

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dany
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by dany »

That's not the right answer, I think it will be easier and more exact if the first hint is :
Spoiler:
The key is a mathematical constant
And here a third hint :
Spoiler:
The last letter is a S
sstimson
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Re: Cryptogram Puzzles

Post by sstimson »

found a great site for the kind of Cryptogram puzzles I mentioned earlier. It is
http://teppo.tv/cryptogram/

Later
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