Cipher Puzzle Caches Decoded - The Baconator Mystery Cache

CIPHER PUZZLE CACHES DECODED - THE BACONATOR

Some cachers dread mystery/puzzle caches, especially if the puzzle is some sort of cipher. With this new series, I would like to try to shed some light on ciphers found in some puzzle caches out there using this cache series to show you how to identify the different ciphers and how to solve them. I am calling this series "Cipher Puzzle Caches Decoded". This is sort of a reboot of a series I did 14 years ago that ended up with just a few caches in the series. 

Before we jump in, lets first go over some cipher terminology that will be helpful in solving ciphers:

PLAINTEXT: Is a message or text that has not been encrypted.

CIPHERTEXT:  Is a message or test that HAS been encrypted.

KEY or KEY TEXT: Is a keyword, letter, or phrase that is used to make ciphered text more difficult to solve.

CODE: Is a kind of substitute language that is used to hide or conceal the word in question. An example would be something like "Pizza dinner tonight @ 5 PM" could be worded as the frisbee hits the table at 5 PM. Substituting the word "pizza" for frisbee changes the meaning of the sentence for those who know what the code is. 

BLOCK CIPHER:  A block cipher breaks a message into a set number of pieces and encrypts one piece or block at a time.

MONOALPHABETIC CIPHER: This is a cipher that uses a single alphabet. Letters are usually just replaced with another letter in the same alphabet like replacing the letter "A" with the letter "N". Caesar, Pigpen and Playfair ciphers re all monoalphabetic ciphers.

INTRODUCTION TO THE CIPHER: This cache will explore the "Bacon Cipher or Baconian Cipher" which is named after Sir Fancis Bacon of England who was an English philosopher and statesman. The Bacon cipher is both a substitution cipher as well as a concealment cipher making it a two-layer cipher. We've gone over substitution ciphers before such as the Caesar Cipher so I wont go over that. However, we have not touched on a concealment cipher. Concealment ciphers is a type of stenography where the practice of representing information is hidden within another message. This is done by concealing the hidden message within the text by using alternating bolt print and type faces like this:

Dont be afraid of cipher puzzle geocaches. They can be a lot of fun to solve.

Now,  hiding text within text using different type faces would be pretty easy to decipher. The Bacon Cipher takes it a step further by adding an additional layer of encryption. The Bacon Cipher takes each letter of the alphabet and replaces it with a group of five letters using a combination of A's and B's for each letter of the alphabet with the exception of "I" and "J" which shares the same 5 letter "A & B" combination and "U" and "V" which also shares their own 5 letter A & B code.  There is a second version of the Bacon Cipher where I, J, U, and V all have their own A & B codes. Here is an image of the codes for each letter of the alphabet:

The letter "P" reminds me of that Swedish pop band from the 1970's. Well "Fernando", lets "dance" this queen on over and see the Bacon Cipher in action. Lets use the text I referenced previously:

Dont be afraid of cipher puzzle geocaches. They can be a lot of fun to solve.

Notice the different type face and bold letters?  Thats our concealed cipher text. We need to decipher the text using the Bacon code in the table. Notice that each code consists of 5 combination codes of A's and B's?  You will want to attack the text above chopping up the words into 5 letter combinations. Each 5 letter combination will represent one letter of the plain text. Lets start with the first 5 letters:

Dont b

Only the "n" and "t" are bold and in italics. The other three letters are not. The non-bold face italic type face represents the "A's" in the Bacon code and the bold face italic letters will represent the "B's" in the Bacon code. So, looking at that first series of 5 letters, the Bacon code would be "AABBA". Looking at the table above, that code represents the letter "G". The deciphered message looks like this:

Dont b   e afra   id of c   ipher    puzzl    e geoc    aches   they c    an be a lot of fun to solve.

   G           E         O          C          A           C           H         E

Notice that the last several words are not used and would be ignored. The way to determine if they are needed is the lack of any bold italic text. Hopefully this makes sense. The Bacon Cipher is quite a bit harder to decipher give its multiple layers.

INDENTIFICATION: The initial challenge with all ciphers is trying to identify what type of cipher you are dealing with. You can find clues in the cache name as well as in the text of the cache page. For Bacon Ciphers, you want to look for words that associate bacon, pigs etc. One you identify that, look at the text on the cache page. If the text on the page has text with different type faces that alternate or alternate bold and regular text, thats a good sign that you are likely looking at a Bacon Cipher. If you see text on a cache page with a bunch of "A's" and "B's" sequencing in groups of 5, that another clue that you are staring at a Bacon Cipher.

VARIATIONS: As with most ciphers, there will be variations to any cipher. You just want to be aware of that. Bacon Ciphers can use the alternative Bacon coding where the letters I, J, U and V have their own Bacon codes. There is also a version of the Bacon Cipher where instead of "A's" and "B's" zeros and ones are used in a binary version of the Bacon. Just be on the look out for those version.

THE SOLVE: You can solve this cipher as well as many others using several online decryption sites such as Geocaching Tool Box, dCodes Tool List and others. There are other sites, some that can even help identify what type of cipher you are dealing with. Most of the online solvers will require that you complete the first stage of the of the cipher by figuring out the Bacon codes first. Once you have the "A's and B's" then you can take the codes and put them into an online solver. Generally, the online solvers will only help with converting the AABB ciphertext to plaintext.

THIS CIPHER: Before we get to the main event, I do want to state that THIS CACHE IS NOT AT THE LISTED COORDINATES! Dont go there unless you plan to tube down the Cedar River. This cipher will not have any trickery. There will not be any reverse text, double ciphers, curve balls. You will only need to identify one word which you will put in the geochecker to get the corrected coordinates for this cache. Remember, that punctuation and capitalization is ignored when deciphering a Bacon Cipher. So, lets get after it!  Good Luck!

A great start to every day starts with a great breakfast.

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You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.