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[NON-ARG] GCHQ Crypto Challenge
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ariock
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Location: SF East Bay

 		[NON-ARG] GCHQ Crypto Challenge
Hope this is in the right location/not trout. Did a search for GCHQ and found nothing.

The following is a site with a cryptographic challenge for all of you with that bent.

http://www.gchq.gov.uk/codebreaking/index.html

It looks like an interesting puzzle. Hope an unfictionist wins!

- Ariock
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When the Apocalypse comes, it'll be in base64.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 1:13 pm
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bill
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 614
Location: Tampa

 		Just to get it rolling, here is the puzzle:

Quote:
There are three parts to the solution. What is the connection between the men in the first list and the women in the second list? Which man pairs with which woman? And what is the hidden quotation?

MEN
KCRVKXHL EUJDXZ
WKNJVWL GSWOXU
HYUE WREEYCS
QFDX ORNQTP
VTWMAC UEIIML
OFIIPTYX LYIJ
ZGRT BPDIIRNN
XCT GSXXJYUQ
RNBTCNP TCOSHNM
XIVL VFBD
NRIKUSL UIQORMDB
UFIV WKXXZY
DYFJN WCLEQPJ
LVZD CONKLNFK
PZSS TEBBMJ
BZGZD A'GAANZ
JRFJWRI XFCS
QJAMDU ZWWVDU
GMTHYL IKUBGMFPTPSSPM
KEZHQ WSNIEC

WOMEN
TVFAMI WVYVTT
KHP FNWHQBEV
MTJXMG EHXJRDT
ORERC VIUWFNUE
AIKUSBS EHSMKHNR
UQPIDJX HEXID
TZMMDR WDNCRM
ECWHX YCMBXA
LRNU FHZOHVN
YVTLG UGZVYNHT
YAERFI KFXBARV
OUGEUDLRZ EZBVJDR
CQMBSVDD LNYMICCNI
DGOFBL AGUCZD
AQSEWKC XFIWFSYK
RKUUC VHMPUUPT
CZNTBXD CFDNFE
OSXFSXCZ XBZGCXDUXA
BQKDVGBOJ OVIQXW
CWUIFBLSK HSOGSB

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 2:38 pm
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Olorin
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Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 613
Location: Gainesville, FL

 		Re: [NON-ARG] GCHQ Crypto Challenge
ariock wrote:
Hope this is in the right location/not trout. Did a search for GCHQ and found nothing.

The following is a site with a cryptographic challenge for all of you with that bent.

http://www.gchq.gov.uk/codebreaking/index.html

It looks like an interesting puzzle. Hope an unfictionist wins!

- Ariock

ARGh ! You beat me ot it...was going to post same link Smile

Heck, it looks tough !
F.O.R.

PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:39 pm
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ariock
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Posts: 762
Location: SF East Bay

 		Hints Posted
The GCHQ has posted some hints to their puzzle, which means that they are no longer accepting entries.

Since that part is over, did anyone get the quotation? If so, please respond with how you approached it in spoiler form below.

Thanks!
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"It says, 'Let's BEE friends'...and there's a picture of a bee!" -Ralph Wiggum
When the Apocalypse comes, it'll be in base64.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:38 pm
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Dark Side Of The Moon
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 167
Location: Between the outer edge of inner space and the inner edge of Outer Space...

 		Tried all the ROT combo's...didn't see anything obvious...
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:52 pm
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The Watcher
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Joined: 29 Jul 2004
Posts: 493

 		Cool. I wish our equivalent of the GCHQ, the NSA, did something like this instead of being all antisocial.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:53 pm
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Alzheimers
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Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 339

 		No solve, and I didn't look at the hints so I don't know if this is the right direction, but if you don't want to contaminate your own ideas:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):

One of the men in particular looks suspicions:

BZGZD A'GAANZ

The A' part leads me to think that, if this is a last name, the A' -> O'

Unfortunately, ROT-14 (A->O) doesn't resolve to anything. The double "AA" in the middle of the name is suspicious, and the "Z"s are probably vowels.

Peter O'Toole would fit, but I can't see any pattern to make it so.

ROT-14 works for B->P, D->R and A->O, but
Z->E would be ROT-5,
G->T would be ROT-13,
N->L would be ROT-24

edit:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

I don't know if it matters or not, but to Vignere the first name into "Peter" the code is MvNvM .. hmm...
to vignere to "Peter Otoole" the code is:
mvnvmmnmmcv
Lots of Ms, Ns, and Vs...Morse maybe?


Spoiler (Rollover to View):

Just in case, for a simple sub dictionary:
A->O
B->P
D->R
G->T
N->L
Z->E

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 12:54 pm
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ariock
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Location: SF East Bay

 		Alzheimers
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
You have the right name. That was the name that hmrpita first solved that put us on track to solve all the rest.

All the rest, that is, but for the quotation. I originally thought that perhaps there would be one letter per pair of names, but that seems an awfully short quote. If you decoded more, you would see why I might believe that.

Also, they have had previous puzzles that would seem to be along the lines of this one. Unfortunately, the lines weren't close enough for me to get the solution.

_________________
"It says, 'Let's BEE friends'...and there's a picture of a bee!" -Ralph Wiggum
When the Apocalypse comes, it'll be in base64.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:59 pm
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ariock
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Location: SF East Bay

 		Solution Posted.
SO CLOSE!
_________________
"It says, 'Let's BEE friends'...and there's a picture of a bee!" -Ralph Wiggum
When the Apocalypse comes, it'll be in base64.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 12:48 pm
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growfybruce
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Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Posts: 81
Location: London, UK

 		Oh geez, are people still looking at this?

Here's the dirt:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
BZGZD A'GAANZ is indeed PETER O'TOOLE (and that was how I got into the puzzle too). From there it's not that hard to guess that all your men are actors and your women are actresses.

I spent a while just guessing names and noting down the alphabetic substitutions until I noticed that some of the names had identical substitutions - in fact, if you persevere, you'll find that there's one actor and one actress for every substitution and the substitution is based on the name of a film starring both of them.

That should be enough to go on with if you're still playing with it.


If you persevere and work out all of the encrypted names, here's how to find the quote:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
You'll have a stack of alphabetic substitutions by now - and the quote is hidden in them. It should become immediately obvious if you order them correctly. You'll want to look closely at the films used in each substitution to work out what the order should be.

_________________
Bruceł ~ I have a fridge full of Red Bull that says insomnia will get me first

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 10:16 am
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growfybruce
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Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Posts: 81
Location: London, UK

 		For the record, here is my solution as I submitted it to GCHQ:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 22:46:46 +0000
To: pressofficeSPLATgchq.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: GCHQ Challenge

Answer:

The men and women listed are actors and actresses who have starred in films together:

Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland - Strike Up The Band (1940)
Rex Harrison & Margaret Rutherford - Blithe Spirit (1945)
Gregory Peck & Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday (1953)
Charles Laughton & Marlene Dietrich - Witness For The Prosecution (1957)
Jack Lemmon & Shirley MacLaine - The Apartment (1960)
Peter O'Toole & Katharine Hepburn - The Lion In Winter (1968)
Albert Finney & Lauren Bacall - Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
Alec Guinness & Carrie Fisher - Star Wars (1977)
John Hurt & Sigourney Weaver - Alien (1979)
Arnold Schwarzenegger & Linda Hamilton - The Terminator (1984)
Harrison Ford & Kelly McGillis - Witness (1985)
Anthony Hopkins & Jodie Foster - The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Kevin Spacey & Kim Basinger - L.A. Confidential (1997)
Ewan McGregor & Nicole Kidman - Moulin Rouge (2001)
Tobey Maguire & Kirsten Dunst - Spiderman (2002)
Bill Murray & Scarlett Johansson - Lost In Translation (2003)

Each pair of names are encoded using an alphabetical substitution keyed by the name of the film they starred together in (without duplicating characters) - in date order, the substitutions are:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
--------------------------
HBANDCFGJLMOQVWXYZSTRIKEUP Strike Up The Band (1940)
DEFGHIJKMOPQRTUVWXYZCASBLN Casablanca (1942)
SPRACDFGJKMNOQUVWXYZBLITHE Blithe Spirit (1945)
YBCEFGJKPQSTUVWXZROMANHLID Roman Holiday (1953)
ITNESFORHPCUABDGJKLMQVXYZW Witness For The Prosecution (1957)
ZSOMELIKTHABCDFGJNPQRUVWXY Some Like It Hot (1959)
FGIJKLOQSUVWXYZTHEAPRMNBCD The Apartment (1960)
UVWXYZGOLDFINERABCHJKMPQST Goldfinger (1964)
VGNLBCEJKMPQTUXYZWHOSAFRID Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
UVXYZTHELIONWRABCDFGJKMPQS The Lion In Winter (1968)
VWYZMURDEONTHIXPSABCFGJKLQ Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
ZSTARWBCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQUVXY Star Wars (1977)
OPQRSTUVWXYZALIENBCDFGHJKM Alien (1979)
GJKLPQSTVWXYZTHERMINAOBCDF The Terminator (1984)
FGHJKLMOPQRUVXYZWITNESABCD Witness (1985)
RUVWXYZTHESILNCOFAMBDGJKPQ The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
NFIDETBGHJKMPQRSUVWXYZLACO L.A. Confidential (1997)
ZMOULINRGEABCDFHJKPQSTVWXY Moulin Rouge (2001)
CFGHJKLOQTUVWXYZSPIDERMANB Spiderman (2002)
MPQUVWXYZLOSTINRABCDEFGHJK Lost In Translation (2003)

By reading the diagonal, we retrieve the quotation:

"Here's looking at you, kid." - Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942)

~ Bruce

_________________
Bruceł ~ I have a fridge full of Red Bull that says insomnia will get me first

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:31 am
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ariock
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growfybruce wrote:
For the record, here is my solution as I submitted it to GCHQ:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 22:46:46 +0000
To: pressofficeSPLATgchq.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: GCHQ Challenge

Answer:

SNIP!!

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
--------------------------
HBANDCFGJLMOQVWXYZSTRIKEUP Strike Up The Band (1940)
DEFGHIJKMOPQRTUVWXYZCASBLN Casablanca (1942)
SPRACDFGJKMNOQUVWXYZBLITHE Blithe Spirit (1945)
YBCEFGJKPQSTUVWXZROMANHLID Roman Holiday (1953)
ITNESFORHPCUABDGJKLMQVXYZW Witness For The Prosecution (1957)
ZSOMELIKTHABCDFGJNPQRUVWXY Some Like It Hot (1959)
FGIJKLOQSUVWXYZTHEAPRMNBCD The Apartment (1960)
UVWXYZGOLDFINERABCHJKMPQST Goldfinger (1964)
VGNLBCEJKMPQTUXYZWHOSAFRID Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
UVXYZTHELIONWRABCDFGJKMPQS The Lion In Winter (1968)
VWYZMURDEONTHIXPSABCFGJKLQ Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
ZSTARWBCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQUVXY Star Wars (1977)
OPQRSTUVWXYZALIENBCDFGHJKM Alien (1979)
GJKLPQSTVWXYZTHERMINAOBCDF The Terminator (1984)
FGHJKLMOPQRUVXYZWITNESABCD Witness (1985)
RUVWXYZTHESILNCOFAMBDGJKPQ The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
NFIDETBGHJKMPQRSUVWXYZLACO L.A. Confidential (1997)
ZMOULINRGEABCDFHJKPQSTVWXY Moulin Rouge (2001)
CFGHJKLOQTUVWXYZSPIDERMANB Spiderman (2002)
MPQUVWXYZLOSTINRABCDEFGHJK Lost In Translation (2003)

By reading the diagonal, we retrieve the quotation:

"Here's looking at you, kid." - Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942)

~ Bruce


I worked on this with hmrpita. As with you, Peter was the key. Then she started figuring out the names of others in the lists while I figured out the keys and found other names.

Once we had all of the names and relationships, I started playing with different ways of sorting and other ways to figure out the quote. I actually even had a chart in my spreadsheet that is identical to the one you spoilered above, but I didn't even think to look diagonally.....

drat.

oh, p.s. you are FAST! one day to the solution...wow. Good one. Sorry it doesn't appear that you got a copy of the book. You certainly deserved one.

Cheers!
_________________
"It says, 'Let's BEE friends'...and there's a picture of a bee!" -Ralph Wiggum
When the Apocalypse comes, it'll be in base64.

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:15 pm
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growfybruce
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Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Posts: 81
Location: London, UK

 		Unfortunately, the day after my submission, someone Slashdotted the challenge and the solution was posted in the comments. I imagine a lot of people submitted it without ever having looked at the problem.
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Bruceł ~ I have a fridge full of Red Bull that says insomnia will get me first

PostPosted: Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:43 am
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