The time has come to issue a warning: this entire series of caches will be archived between May 1st and October 31st, 2022.
Introduction to the Cipher Series
Flowers is the sixth in a series created for those interested in some degree in cryptology. It is recommended that one do these in alphabetical order, the entire series being Alberti (GC3TAT5), Babbage (GC3V0GV), Colossus (GC3VAFW), Doyle (GC3WTWC), Enigma (GC3X6T8), Flowers (GC41DHR), Gifford (GC6B6HE), Hammer (GC6BR6X), Information (GC6CAXY), Jabberwocky (GC6CY2J), Koblitz (GC6DFP0), Lewis (GC6DMYB), Michie (GC6E4GP), Newman (GC6ENZC), Oded (GC6FNDV), Painvin (GC6G245) and Quits (GC6GN8R). Some can be done independent of the others but, in general, information given and skills acquired in one cache will not be repeated in subsequent caches. We hasten to add that there is not necessarily any connection between the name of the cache and the type of cipher used therein.
When we scouted out this area, we wrote that the cache is in a “rural area with farms on both sides of the trail and with the sky as a huge part of the scenery.”
Specifics of Flowers, the Man
His obituary, written in 1998, stated: “Tommy Flowers’ contribution to code breaking in World War Two was immense.” Born in 1905, Flowers became an engineer particularly interested in electronics and switching electronics. When World War II broke out, his research unit moved to Bletchley Park, Britain’s now famous deciphering centre. Flowers’ early work there so impressed Alan Turing that he assigned him to fix a deciphering machine nicknamed "Heath Robinson.” However, because it kept breaking down he undertook the task of building a different and better machine starting in February, 1943 and finishing the first unit ten months later. His invention - “Colossus,” the world’s first programmable computer - has been described as one of the greatest of the twentieth century. “Colossus” proved to be a highly reliable and speedy machine - an important issue as D-Day was approaching and the allies needed as much knowledge as possible. By the time World War II ended, British intelligence had access to ten Colossus machines. Two were kept for some time but all had been dismantled by 1960. During the “Cold War,” Flowers’ work was highly classified and he remained silent under the Official Secrets Act. It must have been difficult for him when, in 1948, the Americans announced that they had developed the world’s first computer - something he had done some five years earlier - and he was not free to respond. It was only in his later years that the truth came out. As late as 2011, some of the work done by Tommy Flowers remained classified. He died in 1998 at the age of 92.
“Flowers” - the Cryptogram
Lord but it was cold! The wind was frigid and as piercing as if it had fingers to work its way through to his skin. The rain fell in huge icy drops, large enough to deafen him as they impacted on the brim of his already saturated hat. Between the wet and the wind, his fingers had been rendered numb and the treads on his boots useless in the treacherous mud underfoot. But he and his mates had made it to this ancient derelict of a house - this ghostly shadow with its rattling shutters and flapping shingles. . . .
Well, you know the story. They surround the house and make a quick and efficient entrance only to find after a thorough search that their quarry has escaped by some means - a unique one if the novelist can manage it - and they are left with only unmade beds, dirty dishes, a practically empty gin bottle and warm ashes in the fireplace. But wait! Among those ashes is the remains of a book . . . a copy of Two Gentlemen of Verona! What! These thugs read Shakespeare!! So bizarre is the thought that they quickly infer that the copy of the play is one item for which they have been searching - the key to the cipher these hoodlums have been using to convey messages. The night is, after all, a success!!
We’ve all read a novel involving such a scene. And our cipher this time is based on a book too. The message is made up of individual letters identified by four numbers: the number of the chapter in the book, the number of the paragraph within that chapter, the number of the word in that paragraph and the number of the letter within the word.
We are using the text only - no chapter headings. Included as paragraphs are the indentations that come with a new speaker in a dialogue but not incidental little lines or couplets of verse which do appear a couple of times. Beware, though, because we have added one wrinkle that should be obvious to you once you have deciphered our text using the book in question.
But what is the “book in question” you ask?!?! Well, it’s a Canadian novel - one which surely every Canadian has read at about ten or twelve years of age. It has been chosen because even if not every household contains it, then every library does! That should give you an adequate clue and if that doesn’t work, this quotation from the book - enciphered according to "Doyle" (GC3WTWC) - will!
Ini nctt ikhto or wsn wawtn msae i iyt sttie ohnt atmroi ae dyi hoitks nte?
So, assuming 44 degrees north and 78 degrees west, here we go!
3-4-6-4/5-4-4-2/8-3-1-1*35-4-5-7/36-3-3-1/1-3-3-5/
2-4-1-4*20-4-1-5/25-2-3-3-/33-4-7-2/34-4-12-1*13-2-8-2/
16-2-4-2/18-2-5-1*28-4-3-1/22-2-2-1/19-3-3-4/15-1-3-6/
19-3-2-3/29-4-3-3/32-2-2-1/38-5-6-6/17-2-1-3/14-4-3-5*
29-2-6-1/8-2-4-4/14-1-4-7/17-3-1-2/28-6-2-1*16-8-3-4/
18-2-6-5*9-1-3-2/12-4-9-1/14-6-5-1*15-3-2-4/20-2-3-1/
25-1-23-4/29-2-2-3*37-2-10-4/19-2-9-2/20-2-2-2/23-5-4-6/
25-1-12-1*17-1-3-2/14-2-7-5*6-3-2-2/4-4-8-2/2-5-4-1/
1-3-3-1/26-2-2-2/25-2-7-1/19-1-4-2/18-2-7-1*17-1-2-3/
15-3-2-2/12-4-2-7*
19-1-17-1/29-2-5-4-/32-3-6-1*
37-2-3-3/35-3-3-4/29-2-2-2/15-3-4-2*4-3-4-4/5-3-2-5/
6-1-5-5/7-1-1-3/8-1-3-3*1-1-4-4/2-4-2-1/3-3-7-4*
17-4-5-1/19-2-4-2/28-4-1-3/29-2-4-6/30-2-3-1/31-3-2-5/
32-5-3-5/33-1-3-3/34-1-7-1/35-4-1-2/36-2-7-1*8-1-3-4/
9-3-4-3/13-2-12-6/19-1-1-4/17-1-5-4*3-1-4-1/4-3-4-2*
25-1-6-2/1-2-1-2/2-2-1-4*21-3-3-1/23-5-2-3/28-5-2-6/
29-1-5-3*19-2-2-1/17-1-3-5/2-1-5-2/3-1-4-2/4-2-5-1*
15-3-4-2/19-2-2-2*32-4-7-2/2-1-1-1/6-1-1-1/8-2-4-4/
9-1-1-2/14-1-2-3*10-5-1-3/9-5-4-1/8-2-4-4/5-4-8-3*
3-2-4-4/30-4-4-1/28-2-5-1/25-1-3-4/21-2-5-4*
Other Notes
- Bring your own pen, please;
- The cache is a well-washed peanut butter container;
- Parking is available at the appropriate spot but it is road-side parking - be careful!
Check Your Answer
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.