UPDATE
The first hint for challenge 8B will be published here at 3.15 Friday 21st Dec.
So once more we reach the final round (actually that doesn't quite make sense, but I hope you see it from my perspective) with over 270 schools still in the challenge!
We have had 1784 teams attempt at least part of the competition this year with 723 schools involved. There are still 129 teams in joint first place vying for one of the major prizes this year and it all comes down to the last Challenge! Good luck to all of you. Do be extra careful to check your submission! Accuracy is still king. On the other hand speed is important too and I know a number of you have been practicing and preparing for this moment. We have developed a custom cipher for Challenge 8B that we hope will slow you down a bit! You will have four two weeks to crack it and we will not give out any information about when (or even whether) it has been done until the final deadline on January 4th, so please don't ask.
We will publish hints here on the news page as messages to Charles so if you are stuck check back here for updates.
We never cease to be amazed by the skill and enthusiasm of our participants, it has been a real pleasure watching from on high as you tackled the competition this year. Sorry I couldn't spend so much time in the forum with you all, but I was following and enjoying your conversations.
It would be good to meet some of you and the Prizegiving at Bletchley on April 12th would be a good opportunity. There will be talks, poems and a tour of the Park and we have a small number of free tickets to award.
If you would like to be considered for some then you can register online at https://www.cipher.maths.soton.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_cipher&controller=tickets.
Harry
