Posted on 12/24/2023 7:35:05 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets
NMRL NQK PVQP LTLB ‘ZQXHNP PVQP NLQNMH FMRLN
UVLBLXH MCB NQTXMCB’N OXBPV XN FLWLOBQPLY,
PVL OXBY MS YQUHXHZ NXHZLPV QWW HXZVP WMHZ:
QHY PVLH, PVLK NQK, HM NJXBXP YQBL NPXB QOBMQY;
PVL HXZVPN QBL UVMWLNMRL; PVLH HM JWQHLPN NPBXIL,
HM SQXBK PQILN, HMB UXPFV VQPV JMULB PM FVQBR,
NM VQWWMU’Y QHY NM ZBQFXMCN XN PVL PXRL.– VQRWLP, QFP 1, NFLHL 1.
The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram).
Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated, you’ll be solving them all within a few days. If you’re stumped, take a break and return to it.
PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general comments, but DO post your time and how you made out.
You can certainly send your solution to my private reply, or if you need a hint for today’s Cryptogram ASK THE GROUP FOR HELP!
I suggest printing these out and work them on paper. If you need a little help you can copy and paste it to Hal’s Helper below.
You can then work on the puzzle without using pen and paper, but I recommend that you do NOT look at the letter counter.
HAL'S CRYPTOGRAM HELPER
One last request. Feel free to post a fun or clever clue, the more tangential to the quotation the better, but please don’t put the actual words of the quote in the clue.
If you need a clue ask the group to send you a letter to your private reply.
4 minutes good
3 minutes excellent
2 minutes exceptional
90 seconds superior
CF O QOUOIXHE KXTOIPFCI IXGYYOUW? PXCP OFYBOHI PXCP O XCDH IPCTPHE. - JGVT KTJYPGWTCF AVEEJSolution to previous puzzle (select the yellow text with your cursor to read):
Am I finished Christmas shopping? That implies that I have started. - Your Cryptogram Buddy
HAL'S CRYPTOGRAM HELPER
Spoiler Alert: MERRY CHRISTMAS
All I can think of is a town in Connecticut. Not much of a clue, I know.
Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1832
You ‘made me look’, but I admit I’m stumped. I don’t see the Walter Scott connection, though I admit to not being familiar with him besides what I just googled on Wikipedia.
Just for fun. Chat gpt solved it in the time it took to print the answer. It was immediate. I wonder how it would do with some more complex codes.
Sir Walter Scott is the author of the quote you cited.
No surprises. Any reasonable cryptographic software can crack a monoalphabetic cipher in English containing more than about 20 characters, about 99% of the time. More characters, the easier it is to cracker. Cryptograms also have the weakness that no letter can replace itself (as did the Enigma cipher) which makes it easier to break.
Bummer, my clue is not a clue at all today (hangs head in shame). You are correct, yet it is commonly and wrongly attributed to Macbeth. I wonder how that came to be.
I never said most of the things I said, either.
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