Today's Cryptogram

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

ZJBRLZY, ORFS YBJPY, JPS SZBRBOSE BL SAORXYS. JOO RY CSOO, XPLQRESE BWS ORVWB PSBNPZY JZE BWS SAORXYS ELSY ZLB HSALIS SZEOSYY ZRVWB. EJCZ JZE PSYNPPSABRLZ JPS YGZLZGILNY. BWS PSJXXSJPJZAS LK BWS ORVWB RY BWS YJIS JY BWS YNPQRQJO LK BWS YLNO. - QRABLP WNVL

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

You can find this fun quotation puzzle, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. I challenge us with the best ones out there.

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.## ping list message

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

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

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Previous puzzle, Friday, April 5, 2024

MT QKM SA KM SAVKMW,
RMJSGR TE SJARVE;
RHRGI QKM SA K LSRPR TE JBR PTMJSMRMJ,
K LKGJ TE JBR QKSM.

SE K PVTW OR YKABRW KYKI OI JBR ARK,
RXGTLR SA JBR VRAA,
KA YRVV KA SE K LGTQTMJTGI YRGR:
KA YRVV KA SE K QKMTG TE JBI EGSRMW'A
TG TE JBSMR TYM YRGR.

KMI QKM'A WRKJB WSQSMSABRA QR,
ORPKXAR S KQ SMHTVHRW SM QKMDSMW.
KMW JBRGRETGR MRHRG ARMW JT DMTY ETG YBTQ JBR ORVV JTVVA;
SJ JTVVA ETG JBRR.

- UTBM WTMMR

Solution to previous Puzzle: (select the yellow text with your cursor to read):

No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were.

Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

-John Donne

HAL'S CRYPTOGRAM HELPER

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

[SaveFerris]

Got it

Would have been faster if this mouse wasn’t such a problem

Need to buy a new one

[RoosterRedux]

I sometimes submit your cryptograms to AI chatbots (Claude and ChatGPT) to test them. Usually they can solve them...but not today.

[ComputerGuy]

JOO RY CSOO is a gimme.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

This one had no problem with it: https://www.quipqiup.com/

I test all my posts there first. Sometimes, like yesterday, I failed to catch problems when proofing the solutions. What happened yesterday was the quote was too long for: http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/p/cryptmaker1.shtml so I used my DIY Octave script that puts in line breaks without keeping words (delimited by spaces) together, and you get what happened yesterday. It’s a bug I should fix. (Actually, output to a text file with line feeds replaced by < p>< lf>< cr>)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

YUP.

[Baldwin77]

[ComputerGuy]

Or not, if you are a Patriot.

[A_perfect_lady]

I hope he’s right, or we’ll be the miserable.

[Steven Tyler]

Bonnie Tyler

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Try this one, same author. https://www.quipqiup.com/ had no problem with it. (Made with upgraded cryptogramMaker.m)

RVXYG, PV WHY QIHOR, YGHOCG MHUV GXNV FXZZVR YGVV
UDCGYK XWR RIVXRSOZ, SHI YGHO XIY WHY MH;
SHI YGHMV JGHU YGHO YGDWE’MY YGHO RHMY HNVIYGIHJ
RDV WHY, QHHI RVXYG, WHI KVY FXWMY YGHO EDZZ UV.
SIHU IVMY XWR MZVVQ, JGDFG POY YGK QDFYOIVM PV,
UOFG QZVXMOIV; YGVW SIHU YGVV UOFG UHIV UOMY SZHJ,
XWR MHHWVMY HOI PVMY UVW JDYG YGVV RH CH,
IVMY HS YGVDI PHWVM, XWR MHOZ’M RVZDNVIK.
YGHO XIY MZXNV YH SXYV, FGXWFV, EDWCM, XWR RVMQVIXYV UVW,
XWR RHMY JDYG QHDMHW, JXI, XWR MDFEWVMM RJVZZ,
XWR QHQQK HI FGXIUM FXW UXEV OM MZVVQ XM JVZZ
XWR PVYYVI YGXW YGK MYIHEV; JGK MJVZZ’MY YGHO YGVW?
HWV MGHIY MZVVQ QXMY, JV JXEV VYVIWXZZK
XWR RVXYG MGXZZ PV WH UHIV; RVXYG, YGHO MGXZY RDV.

[Magnum44]

[RoosterRedux]

As someone who follows AI very carefully, I was shocked that both Claude and ChatGPT got it wrong today. I carried on quite a long conversation with both of them about it.

I will try quipquip, but I am thinking of contacting the developers of Claude (Anthropic) and ChatGPT (Sam Altman) to warn them of the problems. Good AI systems should be able to make easy work of cryptograms.

I didn't mention it but I had the same problem with Co-Pilot, which is the Microsoft AI. It was completely confused with today's cryptogram and tried to fool me by providing the answer to the MLK quote from earlier in the week.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The language is archaic, admittedly. But AI is basically just pattern recognition. Programs specifically tuned to solve cryptograms should be able to beat the bejesus off pattern recognition programs. I hope the superficiality of my understand is clear to you. I have worked with AI, specifically the matlab AI toolbox when I was assigned to perform target recognition at BAE. It was an assignment that I approached with significant trepidation, but it went better than I had hoped.

[RoosterRedux]

Yes. It is pattern recognition, but the most advance AI uses neural networks to recognize an almost unlimited number of patterns on a vast amount of data. And, as you know, it doesn't just recognize patterns, it builds algorithms (it self-programs) to link all tokens, words, mathematical relationships, descriptions, definitions, and patterns in its training data.

Some people have said that the most advanced AI knows more about our language than we humans do AND, as we know, our culture--perhaps even the way we think--is built on our language.

I use it every day for developing algorithms to analyze stock market patterns and it is amazing in its capacity. And, BTW, I am not even subscribing to the good stuff...yet. ;-)

[absalom01]

The language is archaic,

It's not so much that, but the author's trademark lugubrious prose.

It's no better in the original French.

[gundog]

Trump 2024