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November 28, 2005
CHALLENGE 7B FIRST HINT
.... if this can be called a first hint given the amount of information leaking out in the comments.
If you haven't figured this out yet, Challenge 7B is encrypted with a Hill cipher. You should have enough of a crib to almost get this without too much work, but of course we haven't made it too easy.
The clue in part 7A was the reference to "steep'. Not much of a clue but it was there and professionals work with less!
Knowing this you could this worse than read the comments from the over the weekend looking for info about how to tackle this cipher. There seems to be a concensus that you are better off trying to solve the simultaneous equations using the obvious crib, together with a bit of brute force and common sense. Good luck.
Posted by Harry at 09:46 AM | Comments (62)
November 27, 2005
Lots of posts
Here is another place to post.
Posted by Harry at 07:01 PM | Comments (16)
November 26, 2005
Another thread
Just to give more room for comments.
Posted by Harry at 05:20 PM | Comments (46)
November 25, 2005
A new thread
The other one is getting crowded, so feel free to use this one.
Posted by Harry at 10:38 AM | Comments (60)
November 24, 2005
Winners for Challenge 6, Honours Board and Timing for Challenge 7
Lots to cover here:
We have emailed the winners for Challenge 6 part A and we will post the details as as soon as the winners get in touch to confirm their details. We have had to delay posting the honours boards for this week. I hope to get them up tonight or tomorrow. I hope you can be patient, though at this stage I can guess it will be hard.
We have decided to keep the timing for Challenge 7 the same as for Challenge 6. Maximum points for a submission before 8pm today, then dropping every four hours by one point with the exception that the period from 8pm to 8am each day counts as four hours for this calculation! (Who says 1 can't equal 2, or even 3?)
Good luck with Challenge 7!
Posted by Harry at 02:12 PM | Comments (58)
November 21, 2005
Think cryptic
The challenge is double encrypted. The old European cipher is French (now does the V help?) and has been combined with a "twist" i.e., some sort of transposition cipher. I can't give much more than that away. Good luck,
Posted by Harry at 05:07 PM | Comments (37)
November 18, 2005
Don't lose sleep over it
If you are still completely stuck on Challenge 6 don't despair. We will give a big clue on Monday with time for you to try again. Why not take a break this weekend and do something else? Read a book, go for a walk, anything other than banging your head against a brick wall. You might even get an inspiration if you let yourself forget about it for a while. There are still five days to go, so you have plenty of time.
Posted by Harry at 06:26 PM | Comments (17)
November 17, 2005
Comments and Challenge 6
Finally got round to letting throuh some of the more oobcious hints for Challenge 6b, though by now they are probably not needed. Anyway, if your masterpiece of a cryptic clue is still missing it just means it gave too much away. It might be worth trawling back through the comments if you want to see what you have been missing.
Posted by Harry at 02:04 PM | Comments (11)
November 16, 2005
HINT 2 FOR CHALLENGE 6
How did the Romans denote a five? What sort of cipher might that signify?
Posted by Harry at 07:44 PM | Comments (19)
November 15, 2005
Winners for Challenge 5
Congratulations to the following. We will be emailing you with a request to confirm your details and to give us the name of the payee for the cheque.
Rob Crackles from Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith
Tom Cullis, Kit Morris, Sam Rushworth from Bishop Wordsworth's Grammar School, Salisbury
James Plumley from Elizabeth College, Channel Islands,
Hannah Merve, Jody & Catherine from Valentines High School, Ilford
Michael Page and Joe Newton from Therfield School, Leatherhead
Jeremy and George Coulon from Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, Tunbridge Wells
Laura Blatherwick, Becky Hughes, Harriet Williams from Derby High School, Derbyshire, Derby
Emily Kleveleine from South Wilts Grammar School for Girls, Salisbury
Alasdair Routh from Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield
Vicky Simons from The Cedars Upper School and Community College, Leighton Buzzard
Posted by Harry at 10:55 AM
November 14, 2005
HINT 1 FOR CHALLENGE 6
The structure of the cipher text is not at all accidental. Of course it is morse, and the transcription machine hasn't changed all that much so it should it be easy to guess how to get characters out. All the characters count. Count them. Harry.
Posted by Harry at 04:38 PM | Comments (64)
November 13, 2005
Comments and Challenge 6
Apologies to everyone whose comment on Challenge 6 has been blocked. There have been loads of hints but I don't want to give too much away too early so have decided not to publish many of them. If we get time later on we will go back and post them. Thanks for all your posts, we do read them all.
Posted by Harry at 09:26 AM | Comments (27)
November 09, 2005
Scoring for Challenge 6
We will split the next two weeks in four hour intervals, with 8pm to 8am counting as one of them (so your mothers don't complain we are keeping you too late).
So, a correct solution between 4pm and 8pm on Thursday 10th November wins the maximum 54 points, a correct solution between 8pm on Thursday 10th and 8am Friday wins 53 points, between 8am and 12pm Firday wins 52 points and so on. Clear?
Posted by Harry at 10:43 PM | Comments (130)
November 01, 2005
November
The new month is upon us so the front page has been spring cleaned. Old messages can be seen by clicking on the links to the right (including the calendar) All the best,
Posted by Harry at 03:11 PM | Comments (25)