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Challenge cipher I came across recently
Topic Started: May 15 2015, 07:57 AM (470 Views)
mosher
Super member
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About a month ago I came across a booklet with columns of writing in an unknown alphabet. I was intrigued as to what it could mean, and eventually found out what it is. I scanned two pages of the booklet as a challenge cipher for Crypto Forum readers. It is a real cipher which is within the reach of any capable cryptanalyst.

I apologize for being so cryptic and uninformative regarding where I saw it, who wrote the booklet, and the like. I fear that if I give any details whatsoever, given the power of the Internet, readers would have too big of a hint.

So, with no further ado, I'm attaching a PDF with scans of the first two pages of the booklet, the challenge being to decipher what it says.

If and when the cipher is solved, I will gladly give details about the cipher, etc.

Good luck!

Moshe Rubin
Attached to this post:
Attachments: Cipher_Challenge.pdf (300.26 KB)
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George4096
Just registered
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Can you post a transcript, with a computer-readable equivalents of those symbols. Manually transcribing this would be tedious, boring and error prone :-)

The fun is in the cryptanalysis....

Thanks
George
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mosher
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Hi George4096,

I just read your post from 27 May 2015. Although the challenge was an artistic form itselfI will try to do so automatically if I can -- stay tuned <g>.

Moshe
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mosher
Super member
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Hi George4096,

It turns out there are 37 different symbols in the 24 messages I had posted, so I have transcribed the messages using the characters A-Z, 1-9, $, and @. I did not use the symbol zero ('0') so as not to cause confusion with the letter 'O' ("oh"). All spaces are retained as spaces.

Here are the 24 messages:


( 1) FJGW LW5NOTD EHHBD CNO@5WL 3PJ@SWD CPOKN5W VJTTWV5OJ@
( 2) J3ZWV5D EHB8D XJJLD CNO@5WL CJTAGJPCF
( 3) 6JLLJ6 3PNYY $@9V$TWYD B22BD 3PJ@SW
( 4) QT9OL QT95WD B27ED GO4WL GWLON
( 5) YJ9@L LP9GD B22RD GN@OC9TN5WL LP9G
( 6) TJKW L93 LW5NOTD B22RD CNO@5WL 3PJ@SW
( 7) 9@5O5TWLD B272D XJJLD 5O@D Y5WWTD CNO@5
( 8) FJCW GNVFO@WY LW5NOTD EHHREHHUD GO4WL GWLON
( 9) Y@JX3JNPLD B27ED CWPQJPGN@VW J3ZWV5
(10) 9@5O5TWLD B272D GO4WL GWLOND VJTTWV5OJ@ JQ JLWL YFN5OT N@L NKO $N5Y
(11) FNGGWPD YFNYFN3N3AD B228D NT9GO@9G VNY5
(12) QPOW@LYFOC JQQWP 5PO395W 5J XNT5WP LW GNPONY 5FW KWP5OVNT WNP5F $OTJGW5WPD B2U2D GO4WL GWLON
(13) 3JJ$ O@ 3PNOTTW XPO5O@6D EHHBD YOTOVJ@D CNCWP
(14) FN@@9$NF GJ@WAD EHBHD VJO@Y
(15) JP@NGW@5D B22HYD 6JTL
(16) FJGW LW5NOTD EHHBD CNO@5WL 3PJ@SWD VTJ5F VJTTWV5OJ@ JQ OPO5 3W@ZNGO@O
(17) VNPL 5N3TWD EHH7D 3TJJL LPNXO@6YD GO4WL GWLON
(18) FJCW GNVFO@WY LW5NOTD EHHREHHUD GO4WL GWLON
(19) FWNLD EHHED CNO@5O@6 J@ 3PJ@SW VNY5D VTJ5F
(20) FJGW LW5NOTD EHHBD CNO@5WL 3PJ@SWD VTJ5FD VJTTWV5OJ@ JQ 5FW OYPNWT G9YW9GD ZWP9YNTWGD NV19OYO5OJ@ 5FPJ96F 5FW 6W@WPJYO5A JQ NP5KOYOJ@D OYPNWT
(21) @N@J OOOD EHBEEHBMD CTNY5WP
(22) CNOP JQ YFJWY N@L FN5D B22ED XJJLD NT9GO@9G VNY5
(23) VFNOPD EHHMD CNO@5WL 5O@D CPOKN5W VJTTWV5OJ@
(24) PJTTO@6 CO@D B27HD J3ZWV5NV5OJ@


Good luck!

Moshe
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mosher
Super member
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To get people started, I parsed all 24 messages into individual "words" and sorted the results:


$@9V$TWYD
$N5Y
$OTJGW5WPD
3JJ$
3PJ@SW
3PJ@SW
3PJ@SW
3PJ@SWD
3PJ@SWD
3PJ@SWD
3PNOTTW
3PNYY
3TJJL
3W@ZNGO@O
5FPJ96F
5FW
5FW
5FW
5J
5N3TWD
5O@D
5O@D
5PO395W
6JLLJ6
6JTL
6W@WPJYO5A
9@5O5TWLD
9@5O5TWLD
@N@J
B228D
B22BD
B22ED
B22HYD
B22RD
B22RD
B272D
B272D
B27ED
B27ED
B27HD
B2U2D
CJTAGJPCF
CNCWP
CNO@5
CNO@5O@6
CNO@5WL
CNO@5WL
CNO@5WL
CNO@5WL
CNO@5WL
CNO@5WL
CNOP
CO@D
CPOKN5W
CPOKN5W
CTNY5WP
CWPQJPGN@VW
EHB8D
EHBEEHBMD
EHBHD
EHH7D
EHHBD
EHHBD
EHHBD
EHHBD
EHHED
EHHMD
EHHREHHUD
EHHREHHUD
FJCW
FJCW
FJGW
FJGW
FJGW
FN5D
FN@@9$NF
FNGGWPD
FWNLD
G9YW9GD
GJ@WAD
GN@OC9TN5WL
GNPONY
GNVFO@WY
GNVFO@WY
GO4WL
GO4WL
GO4WL
GO4WL
GO4WL
GO4WL
GWLON
GWLON
GWLON
GWLON
GWLON
GWLOND
J3ZWV5
J3ZWV5D
J3ZWV5NV5OJ@
J@
JLWL
JP@NGW@5D
JQ
JQ
JQ
JQ
JQ
JQQWP
KWP5OVNT
L93
LP9G
LP9GD
LPNXO@6YD
LW
LW5NOTD
LW5NOTD
LW5NOTD
LW5NOTD
LW5NOTD
LW5NOTD
N@L
N@L
NKO
NP5KOYOJ@D
NT9GO@9G
NT9GO@9G
NV19OYO5OJ@
O@
OOOD
OPO5
OYPNWT
OYPNWT
PJTTO@6
QPOW@LYFOC
QT95WD
QT9OL
TJKW
VFNOPD
VJO@Y
VJTTWV5OJ@
VJTTWV5OJ@
VJTTWV5OJ@
VJTTWV5OJ@
VJTTWV5OJ@
VNPL
VNY5
VNY5
VNY5D
VTJ5F
VTJ5F
VTJ5FD
WNP5F
XJJLD
XJJLD
XJJLD
XNT5WP
XPO5O@6D
Y5WWTD
Y@JX3JNPLD
YFJWY
YFN5OT
YFNYFN3N3AD
YJ9@L
YOTOVJ@D
ZWP9YNTWGD


Here's the symbol frequency count:

$ 6
1 1
2 21
3 20
4 6
5 62
6 9
7 6
8 2
9 21
@ 57
A 4
B 21
C 22
D 66
E 20
F 28
G 36
H 29
J 69
K 6
L 49
M 2
N 69
O 80
P 41
Q 11
R 4
S 6
T 46
U 3
V 30
W 87
X 7
Y 31
Z 5
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