The time has come to issue a warning: this entire series of caches will be archived between May 1st and October 31st, 2022.
A Cipher Series
Hammer is the eighth 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.
Hammer, the Person
Dr. Carl Hammer was born in Chicago in 1914 and received a PhD from the University of Munich. By 1938, he had returned to the United States and, thereafter, was employed in almost a dozen different posts connected with mathematics, statistics and computers. He ended his working life with Sperry Univac in Washington, D.C. at a time when this company was supplying “supercomputers” to the National Security Agency in the U.S. In that position, he had access to the world's then most powerful computers and to the best decryption talent of the time. Hence, over the years, and especially when with Sperry Univac, he was in an excellent position to provide top-notch computer assistance to efforts to solve the “Beale Cyphers” - a prime reason to name one of the caches in this series after him.
Hammer had been interested for years in the story of the “Beale Cyphers”- an intriguing one which appeared in a pamphlet published in 1885. It seems that in the 1820s, a man named Thomas J. Beale buried a considerable treasure (estimated, in 2011, to be worth about US$60 million) in Virginia. He then entrusted to the local innkeeper a box containing, among other things, three cyphers and subsequently disappeared never to be seen again. Almost a quarter of a century followed before the box was opened and decades more passed before the papers were passed to someone else and attempts to decrypt the cyphers were begun. Only the second cypher, which revealed the apparent makeup of the buried treasure, has ever been decrypted. For those who are interested, there is much more to be learned about this mystery by reference to the internet.
In 1968, Carl Hammer formed a group to study the “Beale Cyphers” and, a few years later, this group became formalized as “The Beale Cypher Association.” During its existence, members of the public could join the organization and paid an annual fee for the privilege. Dr. Hammer led the group for a long time but eventually, in the late 1990s, the association ceased to exist. Dr. Hammer died in 2004.
Hammer, the Cache
The Encryption Process
For this cache, you will need the identical grid as that created for Gifford. This time, however, the plain text is decoded as is without any groupings or reversals although the letters are all strung together to begin with. However, there is an important difference: instead of writing the two numbers for a letter beside each other, we placed them underneath each other so that, as the message progresses, one sees a double line of numbers. Once this process was completed for the entire message - consider it to be one very long two-space line - the second line was added to the right end of the first line (at least mentally) and the numbers encoded into letters from the grid using pairs starting at the left end of the long single line.
Let us demonstrate with the encryption of the words “MIND THE GAP” or “MINDTHEGAP.” Reference to the grid gives us (according to the process outlined in Gifford): 32-24-33-14-44-23-15-22-11-35. But we will write them as:
3-2-3-1-4-2-1-2-1-3
2-4-3-4-4-3-5-2-1-5.
Then we write the second line beside the first line - we actually do it physically here:
3-2-3-1-4-2-1-2-1-3-2-4-3-4-4-3-5-2-1-5.
Next, we pair them side-by-side: 32-31-42-12-13-24-34-43-52-15.
Lastly, we use these ten two-digit numbers with the grid to produce: MLRBCIOSWE.
In this cache, we have followed that precise process and have then grouped the letters arbitrarily to give the impression that one is looking at a "normal" sentence. Your job is to reverse these processes to learn the location of the cache. Good luck!
The Message
CHVTS NMA OT KILQ CDQTN ORHTHT AIA SHDAL AH CUM KDXMO QQLV TVS QVLGIAI ATIA MLAB LPDOI AQ VNHTD XTQOJA QBU SSPO KRY KOSRSD WDWUG ZNSY ZOXRAR QQYJ IPULO KOZIP EPROUG ZOMZ OPU OFEW TM ZPEM SYX.
Comments
- Please provide your own writing utensil;
- The difficulty level is due mostly to the puzzle, rather than the hide;
- Please be stealthy because we suspect that children play in the area from time to time;
- Especially because of the children in the area, please be sure to return the cache as hidden;
- Please feel free to check your answer for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.