cryptograms

[+tarbal]

OK I give.

I need to learn cryptograms. There are many caches in my area that are cryptograms. I can not have a cache that close that I have not found. It just bugs me.

 

Are there any good resources to figure out cryptograms.

How do I start to decipher this type of cache?

 

Thanks

 

tarbaL

[+CYBret]

Cheat away

[+Chuy!]

It's not cheating - it's making use of the resources available to you.

 

I like The Black Chamber. However, applets don't work well in Netscape; haven't tried Firefox.

Edited August 6, 2007 by Chuy!

[+CYBret]

It's not cheating - it's making use of the resources available to you.

 

I like The Black Chamber. However, applets don't work well in Netscape; haven't tried Firefox.

 

I agree.....it's how I solve those Sudoku caches too.

 

There are downloadable cryptogram programs too, rather than applets. I don't have any links with me, though.

 

Personally, I enjoy a good cryptogram. It doesn't take too long for patterns to start to emerge.

 

That is...unless they don't space the words correctly.

[+Thrak]

Sudoku and cryptograms (depending on the complexity) I can likely solve on my own. It's the ones that either don't show any puzzle at all or have a picture that I have no idea what to do with that make me crazy. I recently saw a link to one that was just some kind of a thermal image. I can't find the link at the moment but it was crazy. I don't know how folks even begin to figure out stuff like that. The same thread had a link to a puzzle cache that I couldn't even tell what/where the puzzle was...........

Edited August 6, 2007 by Thrak

[+tarbal]

Sudoku and cryptograms (depending on the complexity) I can likely solve on my own. It's the ones that either don't show any puzzle at all or have a picture that I have no idea what to do with that make me crazy. I recently saw a link to one that was just some kind of a thermal image. I can't find the link at the moment but it was crazy. I don't know how folks even begin to figure out stuff like that. The same thread had a link to a puzzle cache that I couldn't even tell what/where the puzzle was...........

 

I agree some are pretty ridiculous until you have some type of clue. I did one a while ago that just showed a image of a computer board. The board had 2 rows of resistors on it. If you had knowledge of resistors you would know that each resistors value is displayed by the color bands on the resistor. These values were the coordinates.

 

I have another one that is a bunch of cards with dogs on them facing in different directions left or right. I have no idea where to start. As for the thermal image is there a heat index on it to tell the degrees in heat of the image? Just a thought.

[+DocDiTTo]

There are downloadable cryptogram programs too, rather than applets. I don't have any links with me, though.

 

My favorite... available online or offline as a standalone app.

[+TrailGators]

My favorite anagram solver was created by a geocacher. You can read about it here.

[+J-Way]

Sudoku and cryptograms (depending on the complexity) I can likely solve on my own. It's the ones that either don't show any puzzle at all or have a picture that I have no idea what to do with that make me crazy. I recently saw a link to one that was just some kind of a thermal image. I can't find the link at the moment but it was crazy. I don't know how folks even begin to figure out stuff like that. The same thread had a link to a puzzle cache that I couldn't even tell what/where the puzzle was...........

I drive by that one every day; it's A Mystery Cache by AB4N. He's the local champ on puzzle caches, and I've been staring at that image off and on since it came out. Another one he has listed on another site requires downloading a .wav file that sounds like crickets chirping, but I think I know the secret to that one.

 

As for the ones where you can't find the puzzle, try looking at the page's background image (if there is one) or in the HTML code of the description (in IE Explorer, click View -> Source in the menus).

[+Kiwi Nomad]

As for the ones where you can't find the puzzle, try looking at the page's background image (if there is one) or in the HTML code of the description (in IE Explorer, click View -> Source in the menus).

 

Thanks for that tip I didn't know how to look at eh HTML code.

 

If you want to work out the cryptograms yourself, and they are strange symbols. Give each symbol its own letter.

For example would become ABACD instead of 'meaningless'. The longer the code the easier it is to decrypt as you can pick the patterns out. E is the most common letter, the is the most common three letter word.

Just in case you wanted to know the above 'word' was cache.

[CoyoteRed]

My favorite anagram solver was created by a geocacher. You can read about it here.

Thank you! This is a brilliant piece of work. I've got links to a couple or better, very powerful, anagram solvers, but as the author to which you linked said they produce unwieldy results. His solution is very powerful with the incremental solutions.

 

...then I saw who created and wasn't surprised at all.

[+DudleyGrunt]

Thank you! I've finally been able to solve one of JFigel's Puzzle Cache Revenge caches . BTW, I used the Black Chamber site. And I definitely don't feel like I cheated since he told me that he didn't even know how to solve the puzzle and had used a site like this to create it.

[Mag Magician]

Can I throw another question onto this thread? Too late, I'm already doing just that.

What do you call the cryptogram where the co-ord numbers have been replaced by letters? I need to figure that out before I can start on a puzzle cache here.

[+GreenMountainTreasureHunters]

If you are interesting in learning HOW to solve cryptograms, try some of these resources:

 

http://www.egge.net/~savory/chiffre7eng.htm

http://www.jimloy.com/puzz/cryptogr.htm

 

I really enjoy solving them. Look for patterns, look for common letters, and have fun.

[+Kiwi Nomad]

.

 

As for the ones where you can't find the puzzle, try looking at the page's background image (if there is one) or in the HTML code of the description (in IE Explorer, click View -> Source in the menus).

 

Oh my goodness talk about perfect timing read this yesterday morning (NZ time) and then last night new puzzle cache listed. Was really tired about to go to bed and then I remembered this thread and bingo I had the coordinates!!!

 

Thanks so much

Unfortunately can't get a smily for it as it is about 4 hours drive one way and there is no way my husband would let me ( Especially since I broke the indicator on the car today going geocaching by myself!

[+DudleyGrunt]

I have a problem just figuring out what type of cipher it is, if not pointed in the right direction by a clue of somekind. For instance, I have one that looks like ALALHGLFHLHEUxJHLAJDEFULxOOIELGEFIUUNxBN. I made up the letters used here but there are various lengths of text seperated by lower case x's as shown here. I've tried in a Ceasars cipher solver and a rail and fence, but nothing seems to work. The hint refers to the word "revenge", but I've come up empty searching for "revenge, cipher" on google, so I guess it's not a type of cipher. Neither does the cipher seem to contain a pattern of letters that would match "revenge", assuming a one to one substitution. Does the use of the x's or anything else give anyone a clue?

Edited August 9, 2007 by DudleyGrunt

[+GreenMountainTreasureHunters]

I have a problem just figuring out what type of cipher it is, if not pointed in the right direction by a clue of somekind. For instance, I have one that looks like ALALHGLFHLHEUxJHLAJDEFULxOOIELGEFIUUNxBN. I made up the letters used here but there are various lengths of text seperated by lower case x's as shown here. I've tried in a Ceasars cipher solver and a rail and fence, but nothing seems to work. The hint refers to the word "revenge", but I've come up empty searching for "revenge, cipher" on google, so I guess it's not a type of cipher. Neither does the cipher seem to contain a pattern of letters that would match "revenge", assuming a one to one substitution. Does the use of the x's or anything else give anyone a clue?

 

The presence of a keyword suggests that you may be dealing with something like this:

Vigenere Cipher

 

The x's would have led me to think about a fence-post cipher of some kind as well. Are they too far apart to be word dividers?

[+Thrak]

I drive by that one every day; it's A Mystery Cache by AB4N. He's the local champ on puzzle caches, and I've been staring at that image off and on since it came out. Another one he has listed on another site requires downloading a .wav file that sounds like crickets chirping, but I think I know the secret to that one.

 

As for the ones where you can't find the puzzle, try looking at the page's background image (if there is one) or in the HTML code of the description (in IE Explorer, click View -> Source in the menus).

 

I've done that and still found nothing! I've seen some links in threads like this one where I've looked at the source code, tried highlighting for hidden text or pictures on the page, etc. and STILL didn't find anything to work with. It really made me feel stupid. Fortunately, none of them are in my area so I don't have to beat my brains out trying to solve them. I'm dreading the day someone local comes up with a horrid puzzle like that. Of course, if *I* knew how to do it I might be tempted to drive the local cachers insane by placing one myself.......

 

As for A Mystery Cache, I realize that the key is the temperature indicator next to the picture but...........

[+DudleyGrunt]

Got it! It was not a Vigenere Cipher or a Rail and Fence. It as a monoalphabetic. I studied it some more and found some patterns and was able to figure out the key. Feels really cool to have solved it and not had to plug it into a tool. I plan to hit it his evening. Only two more in this series to tackle.

 

The clue was more a reference to the cache name and a sort of taunt than an actual clue.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[+MtnGoat50]

<snip>

Of course, if *I* knew how to do it I might be tempted to drive the local cachers insane by placing one myself.......

<snip>

I was thinking the same thing. I'd like to wait until this one's found before I do it though.

[+boulter]

Thank you! This is a brilliant piece of work. I've got links to a couple or better, very powerful, anagram solvers, but as the author to which you linked said they produce unwieldy results. His solution is very powerful with the incremental solutions.

 

...then I saw who created and wasn't surprised at all.