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TSUTBE - Hail Caesar Mystery Cache

Hidden : 11/25/2016
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Encrypted Coordinates have been fixed. Apologies for the typo.

The beginning of a small series of caches: TSUTBE (or This Space Used To Be Empty).

This is an easy puzzle cache. The cache container is not at the coordinates noted above.

This puzzle is based on the Keyword Cipher, which is a modified version of the Caesar Cipher. If you are familiar with them feel free to scroll down toward the end where 'The Puzzle' is.


Caesar Cipher

The Caesar cipher is one of the earliest known and simplest ciphers. It is a type of substitution cipher in which each letter in the plaintext is 'shifted' a certain number of places down the alphabet.

For instance, here is a Caesar cipher using a right shift rotation of three places:

_Plain: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Cipher: DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC


When encrypting, a person looks up each letter of the message in the "plain" line and writes down the corresponding letter in the "cipher" line.

_Plaintext: THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
Ciphertext: WKH TXLFN EURZQ IRA MXPSV RYHU WKH ODCB GRJ


Deciphering is done in reverse, with a right shift of 3.

ROT13, which is used for encrypting the Hints on geocaching.com, is a special case of the Caesar cipher.

Keyword Cipher:

One variation to the standard Caesar cipher is when the alphabet is "keyed" by using a word. In the traditional variety, one could write the alphabet on two strips and just match up the strips after sliding the bottom strip to the left or right. To encode, you would find a letter in the top row and substitute it for the letter in the bottom row. For a keyed version, one would not use a standard alphabet, but would first write a word (omitting duplicated letters) and then write the remaining letters of the alphabet.

_Plain: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Cipher: GEOCAHBDFIJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZ


Some variations of the Keyword use the first appearance of a letter, while others use the last appearance of a letter that repeats. So it could also be:

_Plain: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Cipher: GOACHEBDFIJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZ


When encrypting, a person looks up each letter of the message in the "plain" line and writes down the corresponding letter in the "cipher" line.

_Plaintext: THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
Ciphertext: TDA QUFOJ ERNWM HNX IULPS NVAR TDA KGZY CNB


Deciphering is done in reverse

The Puzzle

I am sure a keyword variation based on the use of numbers could be used as a substitution cipher, with the keyword being something like... the year a cache was hidden, as an example.

Decrypt the following to locate the cache: N39° 38.080 W226° 91.702

You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.

Remember to bring a writing stick.

Congratulations to hunthikers for the FTF!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Chmmyr: N ahzrevp irefvba bs gur Xrljbeq pvcure. 0 vf abg nyjnlf gur svefg (guvax xrlobneq). Pnpur: Nggenpgrq gb zrgny.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)