+surteb Posted August 19, 2007 Posted August 19, 2007 Yes, coreynjoey, please explain how you did it! Quote
+coreynjoey Posted August 19, 2007 Posted August 19, 2007 Thanks again to moscow32 for the fun challenge! We're going to go caching to clear our heads now! It was really a group effort to solve, so we decided to auction the coins on ebay for someone in the forums. We'll work out the details later and post more info then! A few people don't want the answer yet...maybe moscow32 will explain the answer later! Quote
+surteb Posted August 19, 2007 Posted August 19, 2007 What! Don't want the answer!? I sure do. This thing has been driving me nuts. Looking forward to hearing how it got cracked. Congrats CoreynJoey! Quote
+GPX Navigators Posted August 19, 2007 Posted August 19, 2007 Thanks again to moscow32 for the fun challenge! We're going to go caching to clear our heads now! It was really a group effort to solve, so we decided to auction the coins on ebay for someone in the forums. We'll work out the details later and post more info then! A few people don't want the answer yet...maybe moscow32 will explain the answer later! Kudos to CnJ. Many smart folks worked on this - but not me - lol. Glad to chat a bit with some of you today. Thanks moscow for the brain tease - keeps the ol' grey matter fresh. And both moscow and CnJ - love the generosity! Thanks! Woo-hoo! Quote
+sillygirl & jrr Posted August 19, 2007 Posted August 19, 2007 Hey Congrats to CnJ! I really wanted to stick around in chat but I had to take sillygirl to the airport. Anyway, at least now I have the chat link maybe I can come by and visit more often. jrr Quote
+MommyFinder Posted August 19, 2007 Posted August 19, 2007 Darn, sorry I wasn't around today to join in the chat. Congrats to CnJ! And thanks to moscow32 for working our brains so much -- good exercise! Quote
+ByrnedFish Posted August 19, 2007 Posted August 19, 2007 darn!!! had to leave teh chat for a going away party that took three times as long as i expected, so i missed it all!!! Quote
+Mr.Explorer3 Posted August 19, 2007 Posted August 19, 2007 Wow, congrats on finding the solution. I have spent more than a few brain cells on this and I will miss them. Thank you for the cointest Moscow32. Quote
+moscow32 Posted August 20, 2007 Author Posted August 20, 2007 As the group in chat figured out, this wasn't the first time I used this puzzle. I first posted it a few weeks ago on my other favorite site www.tweleve.org (the mispelling is intentional). In case other people are still working through the puzzle, I won't post the answer here for a little bit, but I did just put up my solution over there. I think you have to register for an account to get to the answer, but its free and simple: Start Here: www.tweleve.org Then once you're registered, you can click The Solution to go straight to my post there. Thanks to all who played! I'll post the solution here eventually, but if you want instant gratification, use the above links to get to Tweleve. It's a family friendly site. Congrats again to Coreynjoey, and thanks to all who played along. It just as much fun for me as it was for you, except my brain didn't explode. I suppose I'm not allowed to lurk anymore!?!? Quote
+ByrnedFish Posted August 20, 2007 Posted August 20, 2007 very nice. not sure i would ever have figured this out. it is ingenius. im planning my own cointest puzzle, so keep your eyes wide Quote
+GPX Navigators Posted August 20, 2007 Posted August 20, 2007 OK Byrne but give us a bit of recovery time - say 12 weeks. Quote
sslug Posted August 20, 2007 Posted August 20, 2007 It's nice to see that the brain-exploding turned into a charity event. Very nice. Way to go, moscow! Quote
+MommyFinder Posted August 20, 2007 Posted August 20, 2007 Ugh! So close, and yet so far! I had the right cipher from the start, got the moscw, got the 32, played around with horizontal vs. vertical -- but just couldn't let go of the need for a keyword! Also noticed your t-shirt in your picture in your profile, and found the site! Just didn't find the contest over there. LOVE how the moth played into it all! Thanks again for a fun and interesting puzzle (though I can't say I'm not glad it's over)! Yes, Byrned, please wait a good 12 weeks for your puzzle! Quote
+Trucker Lee Posted August 20, 2007 Posted August 20, 2007 Looks like we have a winner. congrats to coreynjoey! Way to go Coreynjoey!!! With the grandkids over, best I could do was pop in and out, and play at this a few moments at a time. I had worked with substitution and even converted to base 6 once to explore that. Even held it to a mirror and tried reading it and a couple of trial runs that way. This was a fun puzzle, raised the standard for a cointest certainly. Kudos to Moscow32 for the puzzle. Quote
+ByrnedFish Posted August 20, 2007 Posted August 20, 2007 OK Byrne but give us a bit of recovery time - say 12 weeks. too late, mine just started!!! i needed to get it started this week, because i'll be gone all of next week, so hopefully you'll have it solved before then. Quote
+keewee Posted August 20, 2007 Posted August 20, 2007 Hmmm... CIA have taken an interest in this thread... They are asking why would geocachers be passing encrypted messages around... they think it's a plot. Wow, that was al very interesting and had I had the time I might have started to get a handle on it, but not this time. Well done CnJ - awesome job. And a big Good On You for wat you are doing with the prize!! Quote
+moscow32 Posted August 20, 2007 Author Posted August 20, 2007 Ok all- The prize has been placed up for auction on eBay. I will distribute the funds as CnJ has asked me to do. thanks again to all who played! Brady (moscow32) Quote
+coreynjoey Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Ok all- The prize has been placed up for auction on eBay. I will distribute the funds as CnJ has asked me to do. thanks again to all who played! Brady (moscow32) They're live! No linky though, since only 1 of the coins is trackable, but you're all smart enough to know how to find them! The four coins are as follows: #1- moscow32 Delicious Cache Regular Edition: Black Nickel with orange and white hard imitation enamel. Trackable on gc.com, unactivated, unique icon. No longer available for sale. #2- moscow32 Delicious Cache Limited Edition- Glitter: Black Nickel with Glitter. Not trackable. Serial # 007. Never available for sale. Only 50 made. #3- moscow32 Delicious Cache Limited Edition- Glow: Black Nickel with Glow. Not trackable. Serial # 091. Only available in caches. Only 50 made. #4- moscow32 Delicious Cache Limited Edition- Gold: Gold Plating with Transparent enamel. Not trackable. Serial # 121. Only available in caches. Only 50 made. All coins are about 1" wide and about 1.5" long, 3mm thick. To date, there is only one person, other than myself, who has a complete set of these coins. You could be the next! Quote
Son of Cyclops Posted August 22, 2007 Posted August 22, 2007 Congrats on solving it! I will want for Moscow32 to drop each one of these coins. Quote
+moscow32 Posted August 25, 2007 Author Posted August 25, 2007 Here's the solve: The cipher was a modified AFGVX cipher. The letters were, as was quickly guessed MOSCW. The grid was standard with no Q, like this: M O S C W M a b c d e O f g h i j S k l m n o C p r s t u W v w x y z To make things a little more difficult, I did a small transposition. (Actually a standard AFGVX does the same transposition.) To get the letters in the right order, you should have put them into 32 rows of 4 letters. MMOO CCCS OMMM CMMW OWOC OCOM CWCS OSOO MSMM MWMM CSCS MCMC OMOM SWSW CSSC SSCC OSMO OWMC MSSC WWSC CSMS CCWW COSC CSCO OMMM SMMO MCSO WSSC OMMC CMWC CMCC OCCS You should then read down the columns to get the cipher text in the correct order, which you can break into digraphs (using a method similar to a polybus square: MC OC OO CO MM CM OS CS OO MW CC CC OS MW OC CO MC MM WC WS SW SC MW SS SW SW SC OS MM CS MM MC OC MM OO CO MM CM OS SC MM SS MW SC MM SS MW CC OS MW CM SO MM SC MW CC OC CC SW CO MO OC CC CS The digraphs decoded read: DIGRAPHSGETTHEIRDAYXONEMOONHASADIGRAPHNAMENAMETHEPLANETITORBITS or in plain text: Digraphs get their day! X One moon has a digraph name. Name the planet it orbits. The X, of course, is just there to make the cipher the right number of letters long. The name of the moon is Io, which is the same type of moth in the background. (How's that for confirmation that you are right, and for the answer practically staring at you from the start!) The name of the planet it orbits is, of course, Jupiter, which was the answer. The hints: #1- Chapter 32 of Vanity Faire. That was to reinforce the vanity of the puzzle. The puzzle used both parts of my name to solve (Moscow = MOSCW and 32 rows) #2- The key was Lex Parsimonaie. Sorry to make you anagram in Latin. I know, it sucks. Lex Parsimonaie, or Occam's Razor, reminds you to keep it simple. The grid required no keyword. No wacky columnar transposition was needed, etc. Quote
+LadyBee4T Posted August 25, 2007 Posted August 25, 2007 It was a cool puzzle and these are great coins. The ebay auctions ends today. The money goes to a good cause so let's all get in there and bid! Quote
SCYoli Posted August 25, 2007 Posted August 25, 2007 It was a cool puzzle and these are great coins. The ebay auctions ends today. The money goes to a good cause so let's all get in there and bid! The coins were all mine, mine I say...up until the last 6 seconds when I was outbid. Well as long as its going to a good cause, it's okay. Congrats to the winner. I'll get mine one day! Quote
+moscow32 Posted August 28, 2007 Author Posted August 28, 2007 Auction is over, coins on their way to the winner, funds on the way to the person selected. All around a great experience. BTW- I am still trading for the RE and the Glitter LE, if anyone was interested. Just make me an offer! Thanks to all who played! Quote
+GPX Navigators Posted August 28, 2007 Posted August 28, 2007 Thanks moscow for all the fun, to all the puzzlers for your great minds and to CnJ for helping out a fellow coin nut. Great job everyone! Quote
+Damenace Posted August 28, 2007 Posted August 28, 2007 Hey, I believe that was the direction I was going with the puzzle , Yeah right!!!! Thanks for an interesting twist on a cointest! Quote
Son of Cyclops Posted August 28, 2007 Posted August 28, 2007 I have 3 of these coins and am trading for the 4th so I can wait to be in the club of having them all! Quote
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