[Brandonb]

It's pretty straight forward. Decode the message, each letter is consistently-(always) replaced-(maybe) by a different letter in the alphabet.

And don't forget the spoilers!

-This puzzle is what I call a level - 2

Which means that this puzzle is - A short quote cryptogram. Possessing no conjugations. Also includes all letters and the name of the quoted person.

Good Luck!

L GCW CGME JKS PMM WDS YFPLGK WDPW L DPOS, YJW PMM WDPW L IPG YCFFCT. ~TCCNFCT TLMKCG

[Guest]

I saw you posting, figured it was this. Now to see if I can do it...

Man I'm bad at these...not really sure where to start. Oh well.

Edited July 25, 2008 by Frost

[Guest]

I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow. ~Woodrow Wilson

The first words to get are "L" "PMM" "WDPW" and "WDS".

[Guest]

It's pretty straight forward. Decode the message, each letter is consistently-(always) replaced-(maybe) by a different letter in the alphabet.

And don't forget the spoilers!

-This puzzle is what I call a level - 2

Which means that this puzzle is - A short quote cryptogram. Possessing no conjugations. Also includes all letters and the name of the quoted person.

Good Luck!

L GCW CGME JKS PMM WDS YFPLGK WDPW L DPOS, YJW PMM WDPW L IPG YCFFCT. ~TCCNFCT TLMKCG

I NOT ONLY USE ALL THE BRAINS THAT I HAVE, BUT ALL THAT I CAN BORROW. ~WOODROW WILSON

[Brandonb]

Well done lytefoot and Ben Law! 2 kudos to each of you! And some encouragement for Frost. It takes a few attempts to learn the tricks to start these things. I know this was a short quote, but there were plenty of clues to get this started.

As lytefoot said - The first words to get are "L" "PMM" "WDPW" and "WDS".

PMM, a three letter word with the second two letters matching. The only thing I can think of is "all", "too", "zoo", and "ill". "All" would be the most common, and since the letter A is already used, then the single encoded letter "L" must be the only other letter that could be alone... "I"

Next, look for the other most common three letter words, "and" and "the". If you look at both "WDS" and "WDPW" You will notice the WDS could now be "and" b/c then the other word would be "AN_A" which there is no letter that could fit in the blank. So then you know the 3 letter word is "The" and the other word is "Th_t." Meaning that the blank must be the letter "A." Which matches up with the "A" in "ALL". So either way those 4 words work in many different ways to create a very effective starting point.

[Guest]

The first words to get are "L" "PMM" "WDPW" and "WDS".

L GCW CGME JKS PMM WDS YFPLGK WDPW L DPOS, YJW PMM WDPW L IPG YCFFCT. ~TCCNFCT TLMKCG

i understand to look for 1, 2 and 3 letter words. 1 letter have to be i or a, 2 letter are most likely it, is, in, on, in, an, as, etc. and the 3 letter words i look for "the" to fit. then i put in ms word and do [ctrl]+f and replace to make sure that i am getting all the letters changed.

this is what my 3rd attempt at this puzzle looked like

"I GCT CGME OKE AMM THE NFAIGK THAT I HAVE, NVT AMM THAT I IAG NCFFCT. ~TCCNFCT TIMKCG"

is there any other clues as to how to make these work better.

sorry brandonb, i posted before i read your help.... thanks

Edited July 25, 2008 by finance_it

[Guest]

Bb,

I started timing my work, to see if the criteria you set for each level are appropriate. While 2 is far from being a sufficient sample size, take a look at this:

Translator 14 (level 1) 12 min

Translator 15 (level 2) 4 min

I think the only current reqirements to go from level 1 to level 2 are: shorter; no contractions

But this puzzle has so many other clues (discussed in previous posts), that I found it much easier than T-14.

that, the, a, & all without any effort.

I think this one is level one. But what should the requirements be for level 2? Definitely short (though that didn't pose a problem with this one). But how to define "few obvious words"? I don't know.

[Brandonb]

Bb,

I started timing my work, to see if the criteria you set for each level are appropriate. While 2 is far from being a sufficient sample size, take a look at this:

Translator 14 (level 1) 12 min

Translator 15 (level 2) 4 min

I think the only current reqirements to go from level 1 to level 2 are: shorter; no contractions

But this puzzle has so many other clues (discussed in previous posts), that I found it much easier than T-14.

that, the, a, & all without any effort.

I think this one is level one. But what should the requirements be for level 2? Definitely short (though that didn't pose a problem with this one). But how to define "few obvious words"? I don't know.

You also need to take into consideration that the lvl 1 was very long. So it took longer. I do however see what you mean that this one had so so so many of the typical starting points that it was just easy to get going, then b/c it was a short quote it was over in no time. Hmm, should I also ban double letter from the Level 2? That's the only halfway point I can think of right now. What do you think?

[Guest]

You also need to take into consideration that the lvl 1 was very long. So it took longer. I do however see what you mean that this one had so so so many of the typical starting points that it was just easy to get going, then b/c it was a short quote it was over in no time. Hmm, should I also ban double letter from the Level 2? That's the only halfway point I can think of right now. What do you think?

Yeah, I thought about the longer quote takes longer thing...guess I forgot to mention it. But it wasn't three times longer. And, the point I was trying to make is this one was not any more difficult than #14 - I actually found it easier because it had more starting places. I was well into it before I used the double letter thing (that, the, and I were already done). I guess it has to be a judgment call on your part. A contraction is ok, a double letter is ok, liberal use of the, a, or I may be ok, but to many of the aforementioned items in one puzzle as a no-no for it to be level two. In your intro, you could say it has "few obvious starting points" or something like that.

[Brandonb]

Yeah, I thought about the longer quote takes longer thing...guess I forgot to mention it. But it wasn't three times longer. And, the point I was trying to make is this one was not any more difficult than #14 - I actually found it easier because it had more starting places. I was well into it before I used the double letter thing (that, the, and I were already done). I guess it has to be a judgment call on your part. A contraction is ok, a double letter is ok, liberal use of the, a, or I may be ok, but to many of the aforementioned items in one puzzle as a no-no for it to be level two. In your intro, you could say it has "few obvious starting points" or something like that.

It's difficult to judge when I make these things. It would be much easier to try them for myself in order to rate it, but I don't think I could really do that accurately. The only other option is to have someone else solve it after I make it, and give it a rating, but that is inefficient to get it posted. So I'm just gonna stick with the outlines given. Except rule out the double letters from the level 2 category. It's not like it make that big of a difference until you hit level three anyways. Maybe I could just knock out level 2 all together and have it on a 1-4 scale (though I really don't want to do that, b/c I had a Mon-Fri plan in mind).

[itachi-san]

Brandonb, i would like to thank you for getting me into these! i never tried them before. i'm getting pretty good at them, but when i first see them posted they are always solved (which is why i haven't posted on these topics before).

i not only wanted to post my thanks, but i also have a question for anyone reading this: can anyone solve these just by looking at them? i would be very interested to know if that is a feasible goal.

[Brandonb]

Thank you Itachi, your thanks is very much appreciated.

As for the "looking at them and instantly reading them... When I read them in the St. Petersburg Times, I was able to recognize patterns in the letters very quickly. At that point I had to plug in the letters to the rest of the puzzle. I was able to read certain words accurately, but never able to just read the whole message off the page though.

However, after you gave me the name of these things (cryptograms) I found another website ending in .org that times them, and has average solving times around 2min for most of them (they are long). This leads me to believe that there are people out there that can do it, but I have always had the same question that you brought up.