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Ciphers from seventy years ago

(44 Posts)
Elegran Tue 19-Aug-14 21:29:41

I have just found some cipher brainteasers from my father, from I945-47 (he died almost 30 years ago). When you get the answer it will be obvious that it is right, so no need to post it to find out (but you can boast that you have solved it, if you like)

He would be chuffed to know that they are still being solved!

There are ten. This is the first:-

ZPV TIPVME GJOE UIJT POF WFSZ FBTZ CVU JU JT POMZjust UIF GJSTU

JoyBloggs Tue 16-Sept-14 17:50:30

Elegran Thank you, but not sure that I would be too good at making them up! A very busy time with the family at the moment, so brain not in quite the right 'mode' but look forward to giving it a try when life is quieter!

Elegran Tue 02-Sept-14 20:50:12

Why not make some up and post them, Joy ? I would do them and post more.

JoyBloggs Tue 02-Sept-14 20:36:41

Thank you for sharing all these ciphers Elegran - have finished the last couple and I just hope you find some more one day!

Elegran Fri 29-Aug-14 14:44:41

Make sure that you get the corrections too, dustyangel of the ones where I blush got it wrong, or you will be decipering mistakes.

The more you do, the more you get your eye in for the ones that you stuck on - there are different ways of transposing or substituting letters, but the principles are much the same.

dustyangel Fri 29-Aug-14 13:22:09

I've been printing these out so that I can go back to them later . I've got a weepy eye at the moment and am fining it hard to concentrate. (that's my excuse any way!)
I seem to have nine already but more are always welcome Elegran. Especially if they are easy peasy. smile
I got stuck on five but have managed number ten /eleven already. grin

Elegran Thu 28-Aug-14 22:08:20

I am in the embarrassing position of having two left out of ten, when I thought that I had posted nine. It was that confusion about four and five that did it.

So here are the last two -

SIH TSAR AFSA TEGO TLLE WENO DEVA HUOY

and

SI THSI A GREADG HHICW I ESE EBEFOR EM, ETH NAHLED TWRAOD MY AHDN?

These are EASY PEASY.

JoyBloggs Tue 26-Aug-14 22:11:02

Well Elegran, I barked up lots and lots of wrong trees before solving it and doubt I would have managed it without your tips in your post on Saturday. As for the 'obvious clue', I completely missed it, so now I am busy scratching my head and puzzling over that... confused

Elegran Tue 26-Aug-14 21:36:25

Isn't it just? And so obvious once you see it. There is even the obvious clue as well. It took me two days of coming back to it at every opportunity and trying everything I could think of before I finally twigged.

JoyBloggs Tue 26-Aug-14 21:27:58

Elegran Thank you for that! I happened to be on a long journey today so it kept me amused and I eventually worked it out - quite different from the rest.

Elegran Mon 25-Aug-14 22:12:15

HASNI DNAIF FAOIT RELNY OEYAS SAYEO YNLER TIOAF FIAND INSAH

Elegran Mon 25-Aug-14 22:10:15

You are right, Joy That was not my mistake - it wasmy father's. The next isuue of the newsletter he had put them in had an apology for mistakes but did not specify where they were. I missed them because I recognised the quotation before I had finished decoding. Next one coming up.

JoyBloggs Mon 25-Aug-14 21:48:13

Elegran When you have a moment please would you post number 9? I am very interested in seeing it after your intriguing description, even though there is very little chance of my solving it! Thank you. smile

I have done numbers 7 and 8... I think! In number 7 would I be allowed 'N' instead of 'M' in BMO and 'E' instead of 'F' in TWUZJF?

Elegran Sat 23-Aug-14 14:33:57

No , you won't! Number nine is actually very easy once you see the obvious pattern.

Have fun.

JoyBloggs Sat 23-Aug-14 14:11:24

Elegran Look forward to having a go at numbers seven and eight over the weekend. Number nine sounds fiendish, congrats to you for cracking it! (I hope your brainbox brother is suitably impressed.)

I fear I will be way out of my depth from now on...

Elegran Sat 23-Aug-14 11:45:36

Number eight -

011212 07151504 130514 190815211204 03151305 2015 200805 010904 1506 200805 1601182025

Elegran Sat 23-Aug-14 11:41:51

Number seven -
J BO NQQEWIO PH BMO J TWUZJF

I shall get number eight up too - you won't be long on this one.

Elegran Sat 23-Aug-14 11:39:01

Yes, you are right about that. I copied it wrongly. Sorry. I suppose you want number seven now?

Elegran Sat 23-Aug-14 11:36:05

Joy I almost gave up on number nine. Tried all kinds of things, including some systems that were way more complicated than any of the other ones on here. Zilch. My daughter said that she could see that it was a palindrome (not difficult, a child just learning to read would spot the way it reversed in the middle) but nothing more. I even emailed it to my brother (acknowledged brainbox of the family) He spent an hour and was stumped. I am still waiting for him to come back to me with an answer.

Then I sat back and did some lateral thinking. All the letters in it were common ones, so it was probably not a substitution system, you always end up with Qs and Xs and Bs all over those. So it was a rearrangement system.

I treated the letters like one of those word puzzles you get in the back of the Radio Times, where you have to make as many words as possible out of the letters in a nine-letter word. I wrote down all the words I could make, which included a lot of short ones and a few a bit longer.

Then I looked at the message again. After staring at it blankly for a while I could make out one of the longer words I had found, neatly arranged in a regular system among the letters. I extended the system to the rest and Bingo! The reason it was a palindrome was revealed then, too.

(The more complicated system I tried was called the Playfair cipher. Worth a look if you enjoyed these. See www.braingle.com/brainteasers/codes/index.php )

JoyBloggs Sat 23-Aug-14 11:35:26

Elegran Think I have done number six, but am I right in thinking the first letter of the third word should be 'W'?

Elegran Sat 23-Aug-14 11:13:01

Number 6 -

JOUP UIF VBMMFZ PG EFBUI SPEF UIF TJY IVOESFE

Elegran Sat 23-Aug-14 11:11:13

More general advice - If the same group of letters reappears more than once, chances are it is the same word, and if it is a short word (one, two or three letters) then there are not all that many words it can be. so a one-letter word could probably be I or A , a three-letter AND or THE a two-letter one IS or AT, and so on.
No guarantee that it is, of course, but worth trying whatever shift gave that result on the rest of the message.

Elegran Sat 23-Aug-14 11:10:37

Don't give up, Ana Each one you do gets your mind a bit more in tune with how to do them.

Ana Sat 23-Aug-14 10:54:18

Just got number 4!grin (probably the easiest - don't think I'll get the rest)

JoyBloggs Sat 23-Aug-14 10:47:20

Elegran Number 5 took a long time and I almost gave up... But the message it revealed made it worth the hard 'work'!

dustyangel Thu 21-Aug-14 22:06:54

Thanks Elegran, i'm going to save it for tomorrow as well. smile