unforum

[pancito]

Going with Molnar's, and why I didn't try that I don't know, you get DEMO. But... Doing the "There is a classic..." you also get

[Rogi Ocnorb]

pancito...

Come on down!

You're the next contestant on the puzzle is right.

Good work, gang.

BTW: That decoder I was talking about is at;
http://ruffnekk.stormloader.com/baconian_tool.html

Where there are a ton of javascript-based en/decoders for various ciphers.
Good stuff, even with all the ads.

Now would be a good time to say that I fully expect to receive feedback, post-solve, on what worked/didn't in my setup for a puzzle and would encourage it on all future efforts, here.

Also... How should we handle drive-bys?
Should it be strictly "First one who enters the correct answer wins." regardless of how much effort somebody else put in?

A lot of times, somebody will get all but the last part of a puzzle and while they're researching something they haven't seen before, another person familiar with the method or with specialized knowledge posts the solve.

Just go on a case-by-case basis?

ETA: By the way, there's no secret meaning behind that one This IS just a game.

[pancito]

And away we go... Everything between the asterisks. You get the following email:
ETA: Subject changed!!!
************************
To: [your email addy here]
From: Me agin.
date: Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 8:26 PM HST
Subject: h (eVs) h in E=hv (eV s)

JIQWB IAVRR TWKQY XXFXA GOUNL DKLBD IBIGA PVLBC JAFZN HMLBK ZSMWS TAOHS JOYOU MVZKG AOLRD YMHTA ZCUJO NYO

************************

Hope this works. Have fun.

Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules! Just as with the MGG I think asking for and giving clues is fine. Who goes next? I think it needs to be on a case by case basis, but with a lean to the person that does most of the work. Puzzle maker's word is final, though people can also say "No, you go," just as in MGG, again.

ETA: Feedback on TINAG--

The two things that gave me the most trouble were, 1. Remembering that you could do Latin alphabet with that, and 2. Figuring out how you were geeking the traditional method. I initially thought it might be vowels/consenants. The half&half went right by me. [D'Oh!] Oh yeah, the ellipsis really screwed me up for a while. I kept trying to use it and the equals sign to make everything a set of five. But... After the solve it clicked in and I knew it was right. That should happen.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Character frequencies seem like it could be a form of monoalphabetic substitution (ROT/Dvorak, Atbash, etc.), but I'm getting nowhere with that.
The number of bi/trigraph groupings and periods don't seem to indicate that it's polyalphabetic, either. But it is a short chunk, so that's still a possibility.
I'm not getting anything out of the missing "a" in the "From:" or the text of the "Subject:".

[pancito]

This may be too obscure. I invariably go overboard on these things. Then people get all mixed up.

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Wile I can't make anything come of it, I feel like our answer will come out of work applied using information found on this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grille_(cryptography)
I get the feeling that the "From:" and "Subject:" hints may have something to do with repeating movements of a chess piece (Likely the knight based on how far apart the "Q"s are from their "U"s.).

[pancito]

Well, I will tell you that the 'From,' at least, is in game, but you'll need to be a bit more relentless in understanding the subject.

[MrToasty]

Was wondering if the eV was electron volts. Should have recognized it sooner, especially since the first google hit for "h ev s" is this:
http://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?hev
So, we have the Planck constant then which is 4.135 667 33(10)×10−15 eV s.

[pancito]

So far, so good. Though you might want to subject it to a bit more thought.

[pancito]

In an effort to not let a wonderful idea die because I can't come up with a decent puzzle...

[Rogi Ocnorb]

The push to Enigma is pretty obvious, now. But I'm not able to interpret the Planck clue in a way that lends itself to use as an initial configuration. Unless one of the results I get then needs to be manipulated further based on the other clues ("invariably", "board" and "relentless").

[magnet0]

I understood the 'invariably' and 'board' clues as they related to ħ. I am still having trouble with the 'relentless' clue, myself.

[pancito]

Yeah, those were all aimed at Planck's constant. I don't suppose it will help any to say that you know what sort of cipher to use, so you need three numbers between 1-5 [no repeats] and three letters. You do have all the info you need, but... You certainly need to go far beyond the minimum. If all else fails, it's always best to begin at the beginning.

[pancito]

/RESET/

[Rogi Ocnorb]

Decoding, ROT-13-ing and reversing, I get: