Pyestock Cypher Multi-Cache

Please Note

The cache and its clues are placed on MOD managed access land close to the NGTE establishment. This land is occasionally used for military training. Please comply with all of the bylaws, respect any directions or restrictions in force and don't pick up anything remotely dodgy looking! The paths are mainly solid and clear of undergrowth, although after rain, there is one quite muddy stretch on the way to the clue. You will only need to stray off these paths at the very end to find the final cache site. The paths are also popular with dog walkers and muggles generally so some stealth may be required.
The old Parking site is now marked as restricted along the road where originally marked. An alternative parking spot without restrictions has been added.

Background

The Darcymob enjoyed a fascinating trip to the Bletchley Park codebreaking centre and thought it would be fun to combine the challenge of codes and cyphers with a cache.

At the final cache site, you are looking for a 1 litre click-lock box enclosed in a camo bag. The clue is in a micro cache so please take care to replace this in its correct location.

The Locality

Near Farnborough is a historic location that was key in the development of jet aviation, the National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE) at Pyestock. It was near this location, Sir Frank Whittle developed and perfected the jet engine. For many years, this was a key location for the testing of marine gas turbines and aircraft engines. Unfortunately, the NGTE site is now disused and falling into disrepair. The land is apparently earmarked to be a new supermarket distribution warehouse.

There is remarkably little "official" information about NGTE on the Internet, but some adventurous people have ventured onto the site and posted some great photographs here.

The cache location is also ideally placed to visit a number of other caches - our other two, simpler, caches Pyestock Little One, and the aptly named Pyestock Big One. So plenty of caching for those looking to extend their hunt.

The Cache

The co-ordinates above are not for the final cache - that would be too easy! They are for the road-side parking near to the first waypoint.

This cache can only be solved by breaking a simple code. This cypher is in two parts - the keyword and the cyphertext. Only by finding both and decoding the text will you be able to derive the co-ordinates of the final location.

The Stages

There used to be two stages to get you to the final site but one of the clues kept going missing. The first stage, the keyword, is now pre-populated into the translation table below.
Stage 1: Used to be a nano cache, but the keyword is now already in the translation grid for you.
Stage 2: Contains the cyphertext phrase you will need to crack using the translation grid in order to get the final cache location. The cyphertext is within a micro cache in a tree (sorry) - the original went missing after many years, so a new clue cache has been used - it is now a film pot. This has been hidden in a nearby tree. Please replace the cache and its contents carefully.

Please replace the stage cache and its contents carefully and watch out for muggles!

The Cypher

To encrypt the co-ordinates, we've used a simple keyword letter replacement cypher. When you have the keyword, you should write it into the grid below, starting below the "A". It is important that you ignore repeated characters and spaces in the keyword - these should be discarded and not written into the grid.

Now write in the remaining letters from the alphabet, in reverse order, being careful not to re-use letters from the keyword.

When you've finished, the grid should be completely filled in and no letter should appear in the grid more than once. This gives you the translation table to decode the cyphertext. Once you've retrieved the cyphertext mesage, translate it using this table. A further grid is provided to help you do this. This message will give you the co-ordinates of the final cache hiding place. You'll need to re-insert the spaces into the plaintext message to work out the co-ordinates.

Translation Grid

Message Translation Grid

Grid for Final Location

The grid below is to enable you to write out the full co-ordinates for the final location:

Worked Example

Keyword: DARCYMOB
Cyphertext: KBYPJ ZRWAN SHTMS GXJUQ YCSIY NKBYV DEFCSO

The translation table

The decrypted message

The Answer: THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG