BT JPX RMLX PCUV AMLX ICVJP IBTWXVR CI M LMT’R PMTN, MTN YVCJX CDXV MWMBTRJ JPX AMTNGXRJBAH UQCT JPX QGMRJXV CI JPX YMGG CI JPX HBTW’R QMGMAX; MTN JPX HBTW RMY JPX QMVJ CI JPX PMTN JPMJ YVCJX.
I used to tell myself I wasn’t a nerd, I was just a geek. Geeks are infinitely less hopeless. As it turns out, when you spend 45 minutes on the couch deciphering the relatively simple but laborious monoalphabetic substitution cipher in the sentence above, you’re actually a massive nerd.
Click on if you want to see our deciphering process, which was fairly methodic. Again, because we’re nerds. Or, if you’re like us, go ahead and unravel it without cheating.
And yes, we’ve been reading Cryptonomicon, WHY?
[Methodology N.B.: We reprinted the cipher-in-progress each time with the assumptions informing it above each layer of deciphering. We used lower case for the "plain" letters and left the cipher in upper case. Basically, given the frequency of JPX, we decided it might be "the" and started from there. We were proved happily correct.]
assuming JPX is the
J=t
P=h
X=e
BT the RMLe PCUV AMLe ICVth IBTWeVR CI M LMT’R hMTN, MTN YVCte CDeV MWMBTRt the AMTNGeRtBAH UQCT the QGMRKeV CI the YMGG CI the HBTW’R QMGMAe; MTN the HBTW RMY the QMtV CI the PMTN thMt YVCte.
MTN is and
M=a
T=n
N=d
B=i
in the RaLe PCUV AaLe ICVth IinWeVR CI a Lan’R hand, and YVCte CDeV aWaBnRt the AandGeRtiAH UQCn the QGaRKeV CI the YaGG CI the HinW’R QaGaAe; and the HinW RaY the QatV CI the hand that YVCte
R = s
L = m
in the same hCUV Aame ICVth IinWeVs CI a man’s hand, and YVCte CDeV aWainst the AandGestiAH UQCn the QGasKeV CI the YaGG CI the HinW’s QaGaAe; and the HinW saY the QatV CI the hand that YVCte
W = g
in the same hCUV Aame ICVth IingeVs CI a man’s hand, and YVCte CDeV against the AandGestiAH UQCn the QGasKeV CI the YaGG CI the Hing’s QaGaAe; and the Hing saY the QaVt CI the hand that YVCte
V = r
in the same hour Aame forth Iingers of a man’s hand, and Yrote oDer against the AandGestiAH uQon the QGasKer of the YaGG of the Hing’s QaGaAe; and the Hing saY the Qart of the hand that Yrote
C = o
U = u
I = f
G = l
A = c
Y = w
D = v
Q = p
H = k
in the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
[We think this is perhaps something from Arabian Nights? Turns out it’s from Daniel, in the bible. This is only the first full sentence of a full-page cipher, so we picked out words to help us decode the last five or so infrequent letters. The remaining decipherings are:
E = y
F = b
K = q
O = z
S = j
Z = x
OK, now that you’ve told everyone that “we’ve been reading Cryptonomicon,” maybe you should start the book.
You KNOW, I very clearly explained to Stuart that since he’d just finished it and I was just about to start it, we had an average of having read it.
I wonder at his not CONVEYING THAT LOGIC TO YOU.
The guessing gets easier if you start with the alphabet sorted by frequency in which the letters appear in the English language. Then you count how many times each letter appears in your ciphertext, do some matching (there will be some errors), and then you’re on your way to cleartext goodness!
Why yes, I am a geek, and I used to teach crypto.
Gopi, frequency analysis was going to be our next step if JPX didn’t equal THE like we suspected it did.