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The telegram:


23224 17726 15411 27251 01812
13135 22166 14192 18209
[/code]

was sent by a mysterious personage

believed to be a secret agent

codenamed Alex. Some time later

the telegram: "My client cannot

meet stated terms, considers twelve

percent excessive. Also skeptical

of broker's ability to pay current

rates on speculative stocks,

prefers advance payment without

interest." was sent to the same

addressee.

The telegraph clerk became

suspicious and put two and two

together, thus averting a disaster.

How?

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The telegram:


23224 17726 15411 27251 01812
13135 22166 14192 18209
[/code]

was sent by a mysterious personage

believed to be a secret agent

codenamed Alex. Some time later

the telegram: "My client cannot

meet stated terms, considers twelve

percent excessive. Also skeptical

of broker's ability to pay current

rates on speculative stocks,

prefers advance payment without

interest." was sent to the same

addressee.

The telegraph clerk became

suspicious and put two and two

together, thus averting a disaster.

How?

[spoiler=A very small hint for a place to start:]Why do you suppose the digits of the first telegram have such a strange frequency distribution?

[/spoiler]

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Why do you suppose the digits of the first telegram have such a strange frequency distribution?

That was also my first thought when I started counting. I would assume that 1's and 2's, which are in abundance (13 & 11 respectively, and compose over 53% of the total amount) are somehow supposed to be used with the remaining numbers. Still working on the how.

Next thoughts include that the 45-number sequence could be divided into at least 9x5, 5x9, 15x3 and 3x15 matrices, but I'm still working on it

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I would say that Alex "Prefers Client Advance. Considers without ability. Meet also Interest. Payment Excessive. Current(ly) Skeptical Of my Cannot Stated Stocks. To Terms: Broker's Rates Speculative, Twelve on Percent!"

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Why do you suppose the digits of the first telegram have such a strange frequency distribution?

The frequency distribution of the digits of the first telegram

is consistent with it being an ordering of the numbers from

1 to twenty-something just jammed together. This would make

things slightly ambiguous because, for example, the stream

2632156... could either be 26 3 2 15 6 ... or 26 3 21 5 6 ....

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The frequency distribution of the digits of the first telegram

is consistent with it being an ordering of the numbers from

1 to twenty-something just jammed together. This would make

things slightly ambiguous because, for example, the stream

2632156... could either be 26 3 2 15 6 ... or 26 3 21 5 6 ....

26? There are 27 words in the second 'gram.

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Like ljb said, the second letter word count was what i went on as well.

If you take the 45 numbers from the first message, you can arrange them and

use all numbers only once.

 

23 2 24	

17 7 26	

15 4 11	

27 25

10 18 12

13 1 3 5

22 16 6

14 19

21 8 20	9

If you then
"beale"
them, you get the following message:

p c a p c w a m	a i p e	c s o m	c s s t	t b r s	t o p

Next thing was to

Ceasar with a shift of 12 (from the second letter),

i.e. p -> b, c -> o etc. and lo and behold, the first word was BOMB. Next ones didn't make sense.

However, I'm drawing blanks as what to do next. Could someone please solve it, or give more hints. :)

Edited by walla
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Like ljb said, the second letter word count was what i went on as well.

If you take the 45 numbers from the first message, you can arrange them and

use all numbers only once.


23 2 24
17 7 26
15 4 11
27 25
10 18 12
13 1 3 5
22 16 6
14 19
21 8 20 9
 
If you then
"beale"
them, you get the following message:

p c a p c w a m a i p e c s o m c s s t t b r s t o p

Next thing was to

Ceasar with a shift of 12 (from the second letter),

i.e. p -> b, c -> o etc. and lo and behold, the first word was BOMB. Next ones didn't make sense.

However, I'm drawing blanks as what to do next. Could someone please solve it, or give more hints. :)

The permutation of the 27 numbers is right with the possible exception of how you broke up the 1313 part (it could be 1 3 13 instead of 13 1 3). I don't know what you meant by "beale" them. So, I don't know how you got the sequence "p c a p....". Perhaps you need to use the sequence on the second telegram somehow. After all, the second telegram is needed for the solution. Anyway, you seem to be trying a lot of good things. When you solve it, you will feel a real sense of accomplishment. In the meantime, please explain "beale" to me.

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The permutation of the 27 numbers is right with the possible exception of how you broke up the 1313 part (it could be 1 3 13 instead of 13 1 3). I don't know what you meant by "beale" them. So, I don't know how you got the sequence "p c a p....". Perhaps you need to use the sequence on the second telegram somehow. After all, the second telegram is needed for the solution. Anyway, you seem to be trying a lot of good things. When you solve it, you will feel a real sense of accomplishment. In the meantime, please explain "beale" to me.

Walla used a Beale cipher where you take the first letter of the Nth word of the second telegram

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Thanks to all the hints:

Using superprismatic's last hint and the sequence provided earlier, w/ superprismatic's adjustment, permute whole words. I.e. put the first word in the 23rd spot, the second in the second, etc. Then take the second letter of each word (I guess you could do that in the first place, but it's easier to read if you use words first).

Using that, you get:

Blow up tanker at one Friday Alex

Of course, the telegraph clerk would have to know what was going on to figure out the details.

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You don't think the clerk had superprismatic coaching him over his shoulder?

It's a distinct possibility for figuring out the code, but superprismatic would have to know about the...

tanker

in order to help with preventing the actual event.

Edited by AnapesticTetrameter
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