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 Forum index » Diversions » TimeWasters
Break my code
Moderators: Giskard, ndemeter, ScarpeGrosse
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grumpyboy
Unfettered

Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 660
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
i believe the way the code works is that symbols are being flipped/mirrored along the 2 *diagonal* axes (or rotated 180 degrees or something like that Razz). with the symmetry of the symbols, each letter of the alphabet appears to be represented by 2 symbols. at the same time (also due to the symmetry of symbols) each symbol can represent 2 letters of the alphabet.

armed with that idea, I looked for patterns within the code. working with code 2, i observed the following:

- the x xxxx pattern at the end of the 1st paragraph appears 4 times (including twice at the very end of the code).

- a xxx pattern appears 12 times (first time at the end of the very first line)

- the 1st 3 symbol of the 1st word, in the 2nd line of the 3rd paragraph, has the same pattern as the xxx that appears 12 times. so those words are likely "you" and "your"

- 3rd paragraph, the first 2 words are the same in all 4 lines

- also in the 3rd paragraph, in the first line, there appears to be a 7-letter word repeated. the 3 letter word in between is possibly "and"

- since the code is in english, the single letter words will be either "i" or "a"

- I also assumed that the codes are song lyrics since there appears to similar patterns at the end of certain lines (rhyming)


applying a little elbow grease, the 2nd code is:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Beatles - I Will (note: there seems to be a coding error in the 3rd line of the 2nd paragraph)

Who knows how long I've loved you
You know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely lifetime
If you want me to--I will.

And if I ever saw you
I didn't catch your name
But it never really mattered
I will always feel the same.

Love you forever and forever
Love you with all my heart
Love you whenever we're together
Love you when we're apart.

And when at last I find you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
Make it easy to be near you
Oh the things you do endear you to me
Oh you know I will
I will.


back solving code 1:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Jonahthan Coulton - Baby Got Back (appears to be the Jonathan Coulton cover version rather than the original Sir Mix-A-Lot version)

L.A. face with the Oakland booty

I like big butts and I cannot lie
You other brothers can't deny
When a girl walks in with an itty-bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, wanna pull up tough
You notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring

Oh babe, I wanna get with ya
And take your pretty picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But that butt you got makes me so horny


too lazy to figure out *exactly* how the code works, but understand it well enough to figure out work out the codes

PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:16 am
Last edited by grumpyboy on Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:51 am; edited 1 time in total
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chulo333
Decorated


Joined: 28 Jul 2004
Posts: 263
Location: Long Beach, CA

 		nice job!
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AKA Major Sena! A "trusted" crew member
Team OCARG - Orange County Axon Relay Group

PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:58 am
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Agent Lex
Entrenched


Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 1188
Location: No longer London, still in England

 		Holy carp!

Grumpyboy, you're correct about everything except the coding error. I seem to be using a different version of the words *hint hint there's a connection and you've got half of it*

I think it'd be pretty pointless posting up more codes, so I'll explain how it works.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
As chulo correctly surmised, There are 13 characters that can be flipped by 180 degrees and coloured either red or green, giving the illusion of a 52-character substitution. Each of the characters can of course stand for 2 letters, and which letter they stand for is determined by two factors:
  1. If the character after is red, add 1 to an imaginary counter
  2. If the character before is flipped by 180 degrees, add 1 to the counter

(in both cases treat the text as a loop: the character before the first character is the final character, the character after the final character is the first character)
If your counter is 0 or 2, then the character encodes to a letter from A-M. If your counter is 1, the character encodes a letter from N-Z.

I determined the colours using a random string of binary digits, so all of the flipping had to be done character by character. For example, using text 1, I would have the text laid out all unflipped, and coloured using the random string, then begin a process as follows:

"The first character is L, the character after is green, we're okay.
The second character is A, the character after is green, we're okay.
The third character is F, the character after is red, we're not okay (since it would currently decode to S) so we flip the character before (the A)."

And so on through the whole text. This is undoubtedly the most long and boring part of encipherment, and why I ended up being too tired to make a ciphertext most nights.

I made a font with the code, but before I did that I made myself a file I was going to copy-paste the characters from (disastrously). The file is still accurate so I'll put it up here for all to see how it works.


Oh, and grumpyboy gets the prize!
Stroopwafel Brownie
Enjoy!

PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:35 am
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grumpyboy
Unfettered

Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Posts: 660
Agent Lex wrote:
Grumpyboy, you're correct about everything except the coding error. I seem to be using a different version of the words *hint hint there's a connection and you've got half of it*


ah, i see jonathan coulton also did a cover of "I Will" and he used "but it doesn't really matter" instead of "but it never really matter"

PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:00 am
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Omega
Unfettered


Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Posts: 430
Location: Utah

 		Ack! I had it all wrong! The code certainly had a lot of red herrings and possible interpretations, which was interesting. How did you go about devising this cipher, AgentLex?
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Puzzle Experiments: #3, #4, #6

PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:14 pm
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Agent Lex
Entrenched


Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 1188
Location: No longer London, still in England
Omega wrote:
Ack! I had it all wrong! The code certainly had a lot of red herrings and possible interpretations, which was interesting. How did you go about devising this cipher, AgentLex?

Boredom at work, mainly. It went through one phase where the symbols were totally distinct, so the 180 flip was obvious, then I decided to be devious. The kind of cipher where there's more than one factor to a symbol's meaning, but not directly connected to that symbol, struck me one day and I had to use it.

PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:28 pm
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Dream_Author
Boot

Joined: 08 Jun 2008
Posts: 44

 		I wish I were that clever, i wouldn't be so anxious about an ARG i'm designing (which is FAR from complete, of course, and I need more experience before i fully commit to it). I'm more of a writer than a creator of ciphers, lol.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 7:27 am
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chulo333
Decorated


Joined: 28 Jul 2004
Posts: 263
Location: Long Beach, CA

 		So close...just needed to spend some time to apply my theory. Oh well. Good job, that was fun.
_________________
AKA Major Sena! A "trusted" crew member
Team OCARG - Orange County Axon Relay Group

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 4:40 pm
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Nighthawk
I Have 100 Cats and Smell of Wee


Joined: 14 Jul 2007
Posts: 4751
Location: Miami, Florida, USA, Earth

 		I should hire you, 'cause that's way more evil than anything I could usually come up with.
_________________
"Omne ignotum pro magnifico"

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:48 pm
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