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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 November 9, 2005 10:43 PM
Comments
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Have I missed something?
What on Earth has (or have) LEET SNAXORS got to do with the cipher challenge?
Also: can you use HTML tags in comments?
(like bold ?)
[It is the name used by one of the competitors. No, html, sorry. Harry]
Posted by: Alex at November 14, 2005 05:10 PM
What do I do?
Posted by: Kyle Richardson at November 14, 2005 11:00 AM
Well done Harry, did you have to look that up or did you know it? It refers more to the snacks that (I'll write it in comprehensible English) elite hackers eat, eg: "I'll finish my leet snaxor then finish hacking this program." If you want to make anything sound cool, stick a 'zor' or a 'xor' on the end. Byezors and keep goingzors!
Posted by: Richard (a 13375/\/4><0|2) at November 13, 2005 10:37 PM
Elite hackers... snackers? I've spent the past six weeks trying to work out what that actually said (you can tell I'm not the most computer-literate person on the planet, I'll leave that to that particular team, I think)!
Posted by: Jess at November 13, 2005 10:32 PM
What are LEET SNAXORS?
[it's a pun on LEET HAXORS which is read "elite hackers" referring to the best programmers (those who hack about with code, not to those who hack into systems). Harry]
Posted by: Jo at November 13, 2005 10:02 PM
Ruth,
Have you tried looking for repeating patterns?
What other factors cold be involved there?
Posted by: cipherbloke at November 13, 2005 09:32 PM
Dont worry charlie i think a lot of us are still trying here, just keep going but remember to take breaks ok, not worth doing your eyes in over!
Posted by: martyn compton at November 13, 2005 09:31 PM
i think i am going to cry... ive stared at this screen for so long my eyes hurt! i've tried frequency analysis, every different cipher i can put into a programme, and yet i still can't do b. people are saying it's really simple... someone said something about taking out line breaks... is that just to make it easier to put into programmes or is that one of the steps to solving it... if your supposed to be able to spot something from it by doing that then could someone give me a clue about what i'm suppoed to be seeing... i'm completely oblivious!
Posted by: charlie at November 13, 2005 08:52 PM
Is it 1024 = 32^2?
Posted by: Ruth at November 13, 2005 08:20 PM
Anything to do with 1024=1*1024=2*512=4*256=8*128=4*64=8*32=16*16 and 1+2+4+8+46+32+64+128+256+512+1024=2047=2*1024-1?
(i.e. the sum of the factors is 1 less than 2* the number.)
[Not really, Harry]
Posted by: Ruth at November 13, 2005 07:32 PM
OK 1024=4^5.
Posted by: Ruth at November 13, 2005 07:29 PM
Ruth - not sure if Harry will let this through, but what is special about the numbers 1, 4, 9 and 16? The same thing applies to 1024.
Posted by: Danny White at November 13, 2005 07:06 PM
I presume that Jack Medley meant "multilateral/unilateral".
Posted by: Clever Code Cracker at November 13, 2005 06:33 PM
Cecil, I had to think about it for ages and ages and ages and ages and ages and ages and ages and ages before I solved it. I just tried all the different ciphers and ways of using those ciphers that I could think of. You'll get it in the end, I think :)
Posted by: Jess at November 13, 2005 05:19 PM
has it got anything to do with multilaterak/unilatral alphabetic substitution
Posted by: Jack Medley at November 13, 2005 04:38 PM
To the guy who asked how i went about it,
Basically i did part A and then after that for 7 solid hours after they came out on thursday i just sat there looking at part B trying to think what was going on. I had dreams that night about numbers and letters flying around and taunting me. For the next few days i just kept looking at it (we created programmes to help us with frequencies etc) and then it clicked on the 3rd day. Challenge A helped a lot especially the less subtle hint ;) after that we were home free.
good luck again lollollolooloolll rofl rtfm rofl loloolloollool etc etc............
Posted by: Chris [13375/\/4><0|25] at November 13, 2005 03:25 PM
Ruth's fairly close - it is something to do with 2...
Posted by: Bryn at November 13, 2005 11:49 AM
2 is the only factor as far as I can tell. 2^5=1024 letters
[Errr, 2^10 maybe? Harry]
Posted by: Ruth at November 13, 2005 11:23 AM
I badly want to know, did anyone solve it before me? (4:40 on Thursday)
[You'll have to wait and see. Harry]
Posted by: Neel at November 13, 2005 11:20 AM
Can I check what I think people have been saying:
"Latin Five" is not the name of the cipher, but rather a hint of how to solve it.
Is this right Harry?
[Not quite, its more of a clue about the type of cipher, but it *IS* very cryptic. Harry]
Posted by: Clever Code Cracker at November 13, 2005 11:17 AM
Why the obsession with finding 'fialka' on google? I asked Jeeves, and there it was (very interesting too, Harry, I'm learning loads from this!!)
Posted by: Elaine at November 13, 2005 11:01 AM
Look very carefully at the number of letters in the plaintext (by which I mean the ciphertext that has the same number of letters as the plaintext). Yes, it's a power of 2, but it also has one very special feature which is when the bit in Digital Fortress I was talking about helps!
Posted by: Danny White at November 13, 2005 10:54 AM
p.s., i know it feels good to solve it urself, but it feels better being able to get to sleep :P
Posted by: Insane (FHS) at November 13, 2005 10:24 AM
Can some1 tel me
a) what i should do at all, im really stuck
b) is the first bit definately morse
c) is latin five the relavant clue
d) WHEN THERE WILL BE CLUES
i think harry can answer d) best, but any suggestions to the others would be gr8 plz
[ a) see d)
b) see d)
c) see d)
d) Tomorrow we will start to publish hints. Harry]
Posted by: Insane (FHS) at November 13, 2005 10:22 AM
By the way Harry,
In a playfair cipher where I/J are combined, when we decrypt it should we put J's where we think they should be in place of some of the I's, or leave all the I's as they are?
Posted by: Mike at November 13, 2005 08:51 AM
Personally I like having solved the cipher myself without any help. It may be really frustrating when you're trying to do it but it feels good once you have.
As some ciphers will take a long time to do, perhaps no clues should posted until after the first weekend?
However, here's a cryptic clue that Harry might let through:
[Nope, no clues yet! Harry]
Posted by: Mike at November 13, 2005 08:45 AM
how did all you people saying "woo i done it" actually go about it? i mean was it trying lots of different stuff, a flash of inspiration, websites pulled up by google, hints on this site, an extensive general knowledge or what?
Posted by: cecil at November 13, 2005 07:35 AM
Ruth,
What other factors are there?
Posted by: cipherbloke at November 13, 2005 07:33 AM
When trying work out some *lateral* way into 6B, I thought I had discovered a new cipher. Just realised it is just a different way of working out a really simple cipher.
Is the link to do with latin 5 something to do with that the key is arranged in a 5*5 latin square?
Posted by: cecil at November 13, 2005 07:25 AM
It's a power of 2. So what?
Posted by: Ruth at November 12, 2005 10:41 PM
Harry, I meant how would looking at how many letters there are in the plaintext/ciphertext help.
[Why not try it? Harry]
Posted by: Nick at November 12, 2005 10:28 PM
and how does it help anyway?
[How does what help? Harry]
Posted by: Nick at November 12, 2005 10:21 PM
"Everyone who's really stuck, look at how many letters there are in the plaintext."
Surely that would be the ciphertext?
Posted by: Jess at November 12, 2005 10:10 PM
Everyone who's really stuck, look at how many letters there are in the plaintext.
Posted by: Ian at November 12, 2005 10:04 PM
Five in latin is 'V'...is that part of the second hint?
Is Fialka a hint? I can't see how it could be, ther's no way it's encrypted with Fialka.
Please let people start commenting, Harry...I'm lost!
Posted by: I'm lost at November 12, 2005 10:02 PM
omg that took like 3 days till we worked out how to do it. Dont give up guys etc etc......
Posted by: Chris and Rich [13375/\/4><0|2z] at November 12, 2005 09:45 PM
are there any winners for challenge 5?
[We'll announce them on Monday. Harry]
Posted by: richard at November 12, 2005 09:38 PM
I can't believe it. I did the right thing at the start - I just didn't go that far in my frequency analysis. Now I'm 2 days late. :-(
Posted by: Feng at November 12, 2005 09:11 PM
If you can determine the length of the ciphertext, see if you can spot anything About that.
Posted by: Bryn at November 12, 2005 08:44 PM
In Word, if you do a find and replace of ^p (paragraph marks) then you can get rid of all line breaks from the text. Then you won't have to worry about the morse code being messed up.
I'm surprised no-one elese has shed any light on this.
Posted by: Simon at November 12, 2005 08:15 PM
The Fialka was not used to encrypt this message. The clue is later on in Part A.
Look at the frequency graph. What are the expected results? What type of cipher corresponds with this type of graph? What must have happened to get these results?
And Latin Five is a really obscure clue, even if you solve it you may not work out what it is. Probably I'd ignore it and stick with what you know. Just from experience, there really aren't that many ciphers they can use.
Posted by: Ian at November 12, 2005 07:32 PM
we have been doing this for THREE DAYS!!!! I've been losing sleep over it... i'm having nightmares about ciphers... i've tried everything i can think of... SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!
Posted by: charlie at November 12, 2005 07:20 PM
I am a bit worried that i will never crack this one. I know the plaintext are released after the deadline has passed, but do you post anwhere what cipher and keyword was used for each challenge. I could then learn a lot from my mistakes.
[Good idea, I'll see what we can do. Harry]
Posted by: Jason at November 12, 2005 05:51 PM
If you're stuck on part B, then I think we've seen this one before...
Posted by: Bryn at November 12, 2005 05:31 PM
I've found how these ciphers are made, just no help on how to crack them :(.
I so wanna get this, it's driving me mad.
Posted by: Jack at November 12, 2005 04:47 PM
GOT IT woooo!
roman numerals and 'an interesting TWIST' are important. sorry if this is too much (or not enough) of a clue.
Posted by: Rory at November 12, 2005 03:57 PM
Very clever harry. anyone who did last years challenge should be able to get it.
Posted by: seano at November 12, 2005 02:47 PM
Hi Harry
Someone has already mentioned this but the solution to challenge 5B is too small to read. I've tried print-screening it in word and enlarging it but it just goes blurry. Please could u either enlarge it on screen or place it under the original codes from that hyprlink thing.
Posted by: Jaccy at November 12, 2005 02:05 PM
Remember, if you use Word's Find and Replace feature to convert Morse codes into letters, remove all carriage returns from the Morse, or codes that are cut in half won't be properly converted, meaning you won't get very far...
[I removed some other good hints from this post. Harry]
Posted by: Alex at November 12, 2005 11:24 AM
I have tried just about everything and am not getting anywhere. plz help me, Harry. what does 'think laterally' mean? i'm really desperate now as i can't think of anything else to try and i need a hint slightly better than 'think laterally'. i've read through part a plaintext loads of times and all i'm getting is latin five, but i can't find any info on it. PLEEEEEEEEEEASE HELP ME.
[What have you tried? Frequency analysis? What special features are there in the ciphertext? Could they have a special meaning? Are there any patterns? Harry]
Posted by: lara at November 12, 2005 09:18 AM
I haven't cracked it yet but I thinking, polyalphabetic coupled with some type of transposition.
Julian Bhardwaj
Posted by: Julian Bhardwaj at November 12, 2005 09:11 AM
Latin Five? More like Roman Five!
And an interesting twist? Guess it is a bit interesting that the twist can be first or last, and it doesn't matter.
Posted by: The Wombats at November 12, 2005 07:34 AM
Are there any clues in 6A other than the Fialka and Latin Five references?
Posted by: Mr. Phil at November 12, 2005 12:42 AM
I cant believe people dont know, so i must guess there just not telling
[I'm not letting them yet. Harry]
Posted by: Insane (FHS) at November 11, 2005 11:34 PM
PLZ all i got is fialka, latin 5 and um....
thats the lot really
Wot r these clues that r staring me in the face in message 6a, i keep reading it, its really not helping much. The fialka seems to be uncrackable to an amateur so i must assume im doing it really wrong. PLZ give me a clue SOMEBODY?
Posted by: Insane (FHS) at November 11, 2005 11:29 PM
What clues?
And is laterally not, in a straight line?
or flat maybe?
sum 1 help plz!
Posted by: Insane (FHS) at November 11, 2005 11:09 PM
alrite 4 sum, i realy stuck, bin on a skule trip thurs/fri, get bak, solve part in in bou 20 seconds, then spent 2 hours goin nowhere on part B. Can ny1 help, i think i sort of understan the machine which coded the message, but stil havr no idea how to decode it! Any help PLZ!!!!????!!!???? (p.s., sry if posted this comment twice, not tried this b4)
Posted by: Insane (FHS) at November 11, 2005 10:32 PM
HELP US!!!! HELP US ALL!!!!
[All the clues are in part A. Harry]
Posted by: martyn compton at November 11, 2005 09:14 PM
when you say we need to think laterally, is it a clue IE another way of saying to think laterally is a clue??
Posted by: martyn compton at November 11, 2005 08:44 PM
can't figure out where to start... substitutio or transposition? freq analysis suggests neither... homophones perhaps?.. very intersiting goats eloping etc ??? 25 or 32??? oww my brain hurts...
Posted by: cecil at November 11, 2005 07:51 PM
Come on... one little hint? Just to get us started....?? Pretty please :-S
[Not yet! Harry]
Posted by: Katie at November 11, 2005 07:45 PM
And how many people solved it in the first time gap? I'm hoping not too many; I don't want to go down to 30th! Although there are some good names in the current 1= places.
If you haven't got past the numbers yet, think about it. Harry said he has a transcriber (for something) earlier. And what have every part B been in so far? What happened in the last two weeks? And for goodness sake how often does "22" appear in the ciphertext?!
P.S. Earlier in the week I asked Harry if a Latin five was like a Roman five.
P.P.S. Harry, feel free to edit anything to revealing out including this pps.
Posted by: Ian at November 11, 2005 07:34 PM
Very clever. Guys just think what a 'Latin five' actually is.
All im gonna say- don't want ot give the whole lot away
Posted by: Matt at November 11, 2005 06:43 PM
does challenge 6 part b involve substitution at all? Or is it purely transposition? Also, when does the first hint arrive?
Posted by: Jack Medley at November 11, 2005 06:38 PM
Harry, how many people solved 6B in the first time slot?
Posted by: Jess at November 11, 2005 06:29 PM
how many people got full marks for that challenge?
just wondering :P
chidders
Posted by: chidders at November 11, 2005 06:09 PM
is 6b really a latin five cipher. if so, what is a latin five cipher? there's nothing about it on google. pleeeeeeeeeease help as i am sooooooo stuck.
how is everyone else doing it? am i like the only person that still hasn't cracked it?
[Nope you are in the vast majority! Hints eventually, but keep trying, you'll be pleased if you get it without help. You all need to think laterally. Harry]
Posted by: lara at November 11, 2005 05:08 PM
You need to get to a certain point in breaking the cipher before the bit in Digital Fortress will help at all! Not sure if Harry will censor this, but the page reference would be 480-482. In my edition at least!
As I said before, don't get too sidetracked. The bit in the book will only help you halfway through breaking this cipher.
Posted by: Danny White at November 11, 2005 05:07 PM
very clever harry, very, very clever.
Posted by: jon at November 11, 2005 04:35 PM
are the 2's in 6b suposed to be slashes?
please help, i'm really stuck!!
[Don't ask me, just try it out and see!! Harry]
Posted by: chloe at November 11, 2005 04:16 PM
hey harry, how many people have solved b so far??
[35 at the last count, though some of those might have submitted twice. Harry]
Posted by: martyn compton at November 11, 2005 04:08 PM
Will there be any Cyrillic letters in later ciphers?
Posted by: Ben at November 11, 2005 02:29 PM
Oooh! This isn't fair I've not read digital fortress!!!!
HELP!
[Neither have I, so you probably don't need to! Harry.]
Posted by: Will at November 11, 2005 02:09 PM
how can dan browns digital fortress help ive looked through and all i can find is the atbash and the ceasar square ciphers??? page number please danny :)
Posted by: martyn compton at November 11, 2005 09:02 AM
argh!!!! so close!!
*note to everyone else*
when deciphers code at 1am make sure to check for differences between "i" and "ii" no matter how fuzzy the screen may be looking due to lack of coffee. If this rule is not followed you may end up missing the submission deadline by a matter of minutes due to the fact your plaintext will get returned with an error.
Posted by: Kieran Bhardwaj at November 11, 2005 08:19 AM
If anyone has read Sinkov's book, the chapter on Polyalphabets will give you some guidelines for solving part B (without having to know what Latin Five is!)
Posted by: cipherbloke at November 11, 2005 08:09 AM
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I DDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDD IT!
And 55 seconds before 8:00 :D
Posted by: Ian at November 11, 2005 08:01 AM
Done part B! And I would have done it before 8pm if it wasn't for those meddling kids...
Not sure if anyone will know what I'm talking about, but I found that reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress really helped in this one! Don't get too sidetracked though.
Posted by: Danny White at November 10, 2005 11:00 PM
didn't manage to get part be in the first interval, but got it in the second. Quite challenging, but I got there. Don't get carried away with Latin 5, you'll be better off looking outside the grid from a different perspective...maybe even before and after
Posted by: Martin at November 10, 2005 10:47 PM
Well, it was mildly irritating, and we didn't manage the initial 4-hour window, but we got part B in the end... nevertheless... next time, Harry... NEXT TIME!
*shakes fist*
Posted by: Chaos at November 10, 2005 10:21 PM
That was mean. All the other part B ones have taken between have taken less than 10 minutes to solve. This one has knocked us out of the running. Nice tricky code harry, we are looking forward to seeing the answer.
Posted by: Raoul at November 10, 2005 10:01 PM
I honestly can't believe it.
I had a programme to solve this kind of cipher, but for some reason it didn't output the answer at 4pm, only now at 9:30pm when I re-run it, out of shear desperation, does it for some reason give what looks to be a correct solution.
1 whole point, nevermind.
Posted by: tom at November 10, 2005 09:56 PM
Harry, is Luke right?
Posted by: at November 10, 2005 09:17 PM
perhaps latin five is a red herring. Also, it may be referring to a future cipher
Posted by: Luke at November 10, 2005 09:09 PM
FPSDoug, how is it possible to solve 6b so quickly? did you find info on latin five or didnt you need it?
Posted by: at November 10, 2005 09:07 PM
I think the missing Roman letter was U... like coins with "AVGVSTI" on them :P
Posted by: Ian at November 10, 2005 09:04 PM
has ne1 actually managed to find detailed info on the latin 5 cipher?
Also does ne1 know which letter the romans didn't use, cos I sure that their alphabet only had 25 letters.
Posted by: Clever Code Cracker at November 10, 2005 08:54 PM
Yay we did part b quite easy when you realise whats going on.
Posted by: Emma at November 10, 2005 08:52 PM
It's not a latin five
Posted by: Luke at November 10, 2005 08:52 PM
Harry, was that google result that Ian mentioned planned?
[How could I plan it? Harry]
Posted by: Jonathan at November 10, 2005 08:38 PM
come on them give us a clue pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease! where do we look for info on this "latin five"?
Posted by: at November 10, 2005 08:22 PM
Breezed though A as normal, B, well I'm making slow progress, little ideas and certain things are helping me work it out, but I've missed the first time limit, so no maximum marks this week :D. Should have it done soon though if my idea is in the the right direction.
Posted by: Jack Nicoll at November 10, 2005 08:08 PM
Hugh Bird, if you can get 6B in 10 minutes you deserve to win this competition!
[No one got it in ten minutes. Harry]
Posted by: Sian at November 10, 2005 07:51 PM
has anyone got any hints for challenge 6B cos I'm really stuck. just a few subtle ones pleeeeeeeease...
Posted by: lara at November 10, 2005 07:51 PM
how many people have actually submitted a correct answer for 6B withing the first time frame? (lucky, lucky people...)
[Not many! Harry]
Posted by: grrrr at November 10, 2005 07:24 PM
Hmmm.... ok!
Part A still took me around 20 mins or so, then part B - well! I'm not sure, maybe under an hour and a half. But it wasn't easy - lol! I kept trying to research what type of cipher that was, and eventually gave up and started trying to crack it...
My initial problem was trying to sort out the 0, 1, and 2s... took me a few minutes of panicking, and then suddenly seeing it.... tried a couple of combinations, and settled on the one which made most sense....
It's obviously in a square - so that must be for some reason.......... (that's a hint lol) But my advice is dont spend too long looking for that type of cipher - my big history of codes book and google couldn;t find anything... so will be interested to hear who did find anyhting based on that clue.
Anyway, painstakingly went through a load of manouveres in Excel, with a couple of macros, all the while hoping it WAS that transformation, not something else cos each time itd take me about 10 - 15 mins..... Pasted it into my already programmed _______________ cracker, and it worked straight away -thank goodness for that!
Now just hoping that it's right!
A note though: this new timing is WAY too tight - easpecially as by the time I get home I can't start on it till about 5 at the earliest normally..... and then noramlly i have to go out in the evening.... ah well!
Posted by: Nick Williams at November 10, 2005 07:19 PM
has anyone got any hints for 6b cos i don't know where to start!
thanks
Posted by: chloe at November 10, 2005 07:18 PM
Phew what a tough cookie! That was a real snorter what will the next one be like the mind boggles...
Good old flash of inspiration and it was solved
Just
Posted by: Tim Palmer at November 10, 2005 07:14 PM
Oooh, this is hard :S
And I'm quite scared... is it just co-incidence that the first result for "Latin 5 cipher" in Google is the Wikipedia entry for Fialka?
Posted by: Ian at November 10, 2005 06:56 PM
Harry, please help on part 6B. I've searched the internet, looked in loads of cipher books and i can't find anything about a latin 5 cipher or how to solve one. Please help. Yours desperatly Cara
[There will be hints later, but for now I will enjoy watching everyone struggle. You will thank me later. Harry]
Posted by: Cara at November 10, 2005 06:51 PM
I think it's called the Fuenfbuchstabenheft cipher, but this brings up one result in Google...the document I got it from in the first place!!
Tricky... and 1 hour, 28 minutes in counting :|
Posted by: harry de voil at November 10, 2005 06:32 PM
Is the ace of daimonds a hint?
[Sorry, no it isn't. harry]
Posted by: Ruth at November 10, 2005 06:31 PM
anyone got any clues on part b. We got part a in as soon as we looked at it. :P. Part b is ridiculus# !!
Posted by: Ashley at November 10, 2005 06:29 PM
why is it 0, 1 and 2 in B? Is 2 a slash?
[Why not try it and see? Harry]
Posted by: Ruth at November 10, 2005 06:13 PM
Why is the solution to 5b so so small that it's unreadable? Anyone else have this problem?
Posted by: Jo at November 10, 2005 06:13 PM
A is easy. Dunno what B is.
Is searching the web for help in vain??
I am a bit stuck
Posted by: 3v at November 10, 2005 06:11 PM
Does Challenge B have anything to do with a Base-3 number system (ternary)? It seems that because there are 26 letters in the alphabet, which is one less than a power of 3. Is this all a coincidence?
Posted by: Ned at November 10, 2005 06:11 PM
Anyone done it yet? What on earth is a Latin Five cipher? Anything to do with Latin squares? Or the playfair cipher?
Posted by: Ruth at November 10, 2005 06:10 PM
is it anything to do with francis bacon and 5-bit encryption?
Posted by: x at November 10, 2005 06:03 PM
Is the Ace of Diamonds reference a clue Harry?
[Nope, but it would have been good if it had been. Harry]
Posted by: droyal at November 10, 2005 05:56 PM
how?????
Posted by: sara at November 10, 2005 05:54 PM
Google's let me down :(
Posted by: Mike at November 10, 2005 05:50 PM
HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Hello! Harry]
Posted by: Hello!!!!!!!!!! at November 10, 2005 05:46 PM
please help harry!
[No clues for a while. It is a two week challenge after all. Harry]
Posted by: Need Help Now! at November 10, 2005 05:45 PM
part a in 10 minutes!!! we may as well just say you have won now!
[The overall championship only uses the scores for the part B ciphers, so don' t speak too soon! Harry]
Posted by: Julian Bhardwaj at November 10, 2005 05:42 PM
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Posted by: asdytssdvaascasdf at November 10, 2005 05:41 PM
is 6B a latin square or am I on totally the wrong vein...if it isnt (or in fact if it is) i have no idea wat to do! Please help!!
Posted by: stuck_fast at November 10, 2005 05:38 PM
Harry quick question, we have the solution, without saying too much about the cipher there was padding used but this padding then became a standard letter when we did the second bit of the code. Do we leave this padding in or not??
[I hope we have rigged the solution checker so that it doesn't matter either way. If we have made a mistake we will fix it and remark. Harry]
Posted by: FPSDoug at November 10, 2005 05:33 PM
Yes finally done it! OWNED!!!
Posted by: Dina Mite at November 10, 2005 05:30 PM
Wow, i got part A in only 10 minutes, my fastest for recent weeks. I hope i can get part b as quick.
Posted by: Hugh Bird at November 10, 2005 05:29 PM
i fee like a mouse this is hard....
Posted by: sara at November 10, 2005 05:28 PM
i can only view the 3 old comments on 'scoring for challenge 6' but it says there are 6 comments! are they giving any hints? i hope so 6B is nasty
Posted by: at November 10, 2005 05:19 PM
i don't know
Posted by: kalhsdag at November 10, 2005 05:16 PM
Why the spaces in 6a? And some of the spaces are missing in 5a (unless andIthinkIwill is a new word)
Posted by: Ruth at November 10, 2005 05:08 PM
what is a latin five cipher????
Posted by: at November 10, 2005 05:03 PM
WOW, this is hard!
[I know, great isn't it!!!! Harry.]
Posted by: Julian Bhardwaj at November 10, 2005 04:55 PM
The only information I can find on what "they" call the cipher in challenge B is a character set. Is this along the right lines?
Posted by: Ned at November 10, 2005 04:46 PM
Looking forward to 4 o'clock! I wonder what you have up your sleeve this time!
[Nothing but my arms and a spare Ace of diamonds. You never know when you might need it. Harry]
Posted by: Delph S.Paper at November 10, 2005 02:24 PM
Does this mean that the points will keep on decreasing after every four hour interval until the points get to 0, or will there be a limit on the lowest number of points a team can score?
The points keep on decreasing so that during the last four hours of the last day of this stage you can win 1 point. Harry]
Posted by: themadwacky_1 at November 10, 2005 01:01 PM
Nice to see things are starting to really heat up. This should sort out the mice from the men.
[Or women. Harry]
Posted by: Lou Zitt at November 10, 2005 10:52 AM