IMPORTANT: The cache may contain a clue for use on the next cache in this series! Please make a note of it! BYOP!
DESIGNER’S NOTES: Any resemblance between the examples given and existing Puzzle Caches are purely coincidental. Having stated that, if any Cache Owner feels that I have put out a “spoiler” on an existing cache, please notify me and I’ll alter my content accordingly.
Let’s put aside the Name and Category puzzles for a while. If you enjoyed them, don’t worry; you may see one again later in this series…
For the next few caches, however, we will examine Codes and Ciphers. The terms are somewhat interchangeable, and they both refer to a process used upon a message to either intentionally disguise the message from the casual observer (for example a cryptogram), or to put the message in a format that can be transmitted over a non-standard media (i.e., Morse code).
There most important steps in deciphering a scrambled message is the ability to recognizing the cipher (encryption technique). Here are just a few of the many types you may encounter, particularly if you enjoy the puzzle caches:
SUBSTITUTION: SIMPLE ONE-TO-ONE
With these ciphers, you will typically see a letter replaced by another letter. The built-in geocaching hints use this scheme. Every occurrence of “A” is replaced by “O”, “B” by “N: and so on. Every letter is mapped to one and only one substitution. Here’s another example:
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
RTC APKLE XJBHF SBD IPUVZ BQCJ RTC MGYO NBW
A one-to-one substitution does not have to restrict itself to letters, however. You can just as freely substitute symbols, numbers, icons, photos, or anything else! You can recognize most one-to-one substitutions because they typically make no attempt to further disguise the message. It will look to like a normal sentence with varying word length, only the “words” will make no sense.
You can typically crack a Simple Substitution by analyzing the message for commonly used letters, comparing letter patterns in small words or around punctuation, and by looking for expected words given the context,
SUBSTITUTION: COMPLEX ONE-TO-ONE
A more complex one-to-one scheme allows for longer length substitutions. ASCII would be a prime example of a complex one-to-one substitution. You should also notice that a space also gets its own ASCII code of 32.
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
84 72 69 32 81 85 73 67 75 32 66 82 79 87 78 32 70 79 88 32 74 85 77 80 83 32 79 86 69 82 32 84 72 69 32 76 65 90 89 32 68 79 71 (DECIMAL – 0-9)
124 110 105 40 121 125 111 103 113 40 102 122 117 127 116 40 106 117 130 40 112 125 115 120 123 40 117 126 105 122 40 124 110 105 40 114 101 132 131 40 104 117 107 (OCTAL – 0-7)
54 48 45 20 51 55 49 43 4B 20 42 52 4F 57 4E 20 46 4F 58 20 4A 55 4D 50 53 20 4F 56 45 52 20 54 48 45 20 4C 41 5A 59 20 44 4F 47 (HEXDECIMAL – 0-9, A-F)
01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01010001 01010101 01001001 01000011 01001011 00100000 01000010 01010010 01001111 01010111 01001110 00100000 01000110 01001111 01011000 00100000 01001010 01010101 01001101 01010000 01010011 00100000 01001111 01010110 01000101 01010010 00100000 01010100 01001000 01000101 00100000 01001100 01000001 01011010 01011001 00100000 01000100 01001111 01000111 (BINARY – 0-1)
If a standard or known code is used (ASCII in the above example), decryption is a matter of looking up the letter values on a table. Otherwise, you can still use the same techniques for a simple substitution, although it may help to replace the digit combinations with a single letter first. This reduces the problem to a simple one-to-one.
SUBSTITUTION: VARIABLE LENGTH ONE-TO-ONE
Variable length substitutions can complicate matters by introducing errors or alternate translations. It grays the character delimitation and produces mote than one solution set.
Let’s assume: 1=>A, 2=>B, 3=>C, 11=>D, 22=>E, 33=>F
How would your translate 222111? It could be EBDA, EBAD, BEDA, BEAD, or even BBBAAA! Assuming it was a single word, we would go with BEAD. Context is important and you will have to use trial and error techniques often!
SUBSTITUTION: MANY-TO-ONE,
A many-to-one cipher allows a single symbol to represent more than one letter. Here is an obvious one-to-many telephone substitution:
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
84378425276963695867768378435299364
(NOTE: this could be altered back into one-to-one by repeating each digit the number of times you would need to press them while dri- I mean texting!)
A key giveaway that a many-to-one substitution is used is in the simplicity of the translation. Depending upon the message length, if it doesn’t appear to have 20 or more characters represented it’s probably a many-to-one substitution! As with the variable length (above) multiple solutions are again possible. Writing all the possibilities for each letter down and letting your mind “wander” across the array can be very helpful!
SUBSTITUTION: ONE-TO-MANY
Here is where the deciphering can truly break one’s patience! A single letter could be represented by more than one translation, so breaking the code in one spot may or may not be of any use in other areas! If T=>162 or 937, H=>182 or 750, and E=>078 or 620, the simple word “THE” could be represented by 8 different combinations! Breaking such code by hand would be extremely tedious, and the use of a computer would come in handy!
SUBSTITUTION: ACCENTS
An “accent” is not really an encryption technique, but it acts as an accessory. An accent indicates some change in format. If you are aware of an accent, it can make deciphering much easier! An accent can be anything out of the ordinary. For example, a red letter could indicate the beginning of a new word (otherwise this is exactly the same as the simple substitution above)
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
RTCAPKLEXJBHFSBDIPUVZBQCJRTCMGYONBW
Some of the many other uses of accents could be to indicate punctuation, a change in character types (alphabetic to numeric), or even a switch in ciphers!
SUBSTITUTION: GROUPINGS (ONE-FOR-MANY)
You are not restricted to substitutions on individual letters; you could also represent groups of letters, words, or even phrases. An example of this would Egyptian hieroglyphics or Japanese Kanji.
SUBSTITUTION: THINKING OUT OF THE BOX
Anything that accurately represents the message can be used for the substitution process; think of a phonetic alphabet! I believe some party games are based on this.
THUK WICP RAWN VAKS CHUMP T OH FERTH A LAY ZEED HOG.
A YAM. SOFA KING. WE TODD IT.
SUBSTITUTION: VARIABLE CIPHER
Who says the cipher has to be uniform over the entire message? If the translation table changes for each letter, it becomes much harder to decipher. For example, if every letter is shifted down the alphabet by its relative position in its word, it would look like a cryptogram, but be unsolvable by a cryptogram’s traditional methods:
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
UJH RWLGP CTRAS GQA KWPTI PXHV UJH MCCC EQJ
While not conclusive, a pattern that should not exist in a standard cryptogram could be an indication of a shifting cipher, such as the word “MCCC”
SCRAMBLING:
Scrambling or otherwise altering the expected presentation can be another effective way of hiding an intended message. You could jumble the letters and/or words in any manner, as long as your intended audience can get them back in the right order.
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
TEQIKBONFXJMSOE H AYDGH UC RW O UP VRTELZ O (Every odd letter in the sentence, followed by every even letter)
You can also “dilute” the message with garbage to hide it:
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
TQHWEE RQTUYIUCIKO PBARSODWFNG HFJOKXL ZJXUCMVPBSN MOQVWEERR TTYHUEI OLPAAZSYD FDGOHG (Interspaced every other letter with consecutive letters on the keyboard)
Scrambling could also be done physically, like the old strip of paper and wrapped around a tube technique.
ALTERED REPRESENTATION:
You can also craft a message that has nothing to do with data you actually wish to transmit, but something else about the code is what is important.
814
aaaaaaaAAaaaA (capitalize positions 8, 1, and 4 consecutively)
Berating a fool (Word length of 8, 1, and 4)
MAPPED DATA
Mapped data presents the information by indirect reference to something else. This is a very popular technique for geocaching coordinates!
41° 29.928'N 87° 41.096'W
MTIANHTXSCMDGAVANHMA (State abbreviations by order of admission to the US)
MULTIPLE ENCRYPTIONS:
Every technique has its own earmarks and methods for deciphering. Stacking different types of encryptions has its benefits! From the samples above and the clue from the last cache, you should be able to find this cache:
QHACZCWESSXOEADECARNFRVHTOGRBYYNHTNEUTJNMNIPKIOTLIPEQOARZIWWSSXEEGDTCSRVFNVOTRGYBN
YPHINTUNJEMGITKNOTLEPAQHAIZLWCSTXDETDOCTRFFUVTTOGEBWYNHYNIUEJOMNINKNOFLUPSQXAEZTWIS
HXYEEDECFRUFTVOTEGOBNYOHENIUHJOMEI
BY THE WAY:
The grace period of brute-force caches is over. If you do this without the hint, award yourself an extra star or 2 on the difficulty scale!
USEFUL TOOLS:
Pen and paper or a simple word processor.