Challenge "Modified Caesar Cipher" ¶
By: admin on Sept. 2, 2011, 1:03 p.m.
The Caesar Chiper is rather simple. But in this challenge it is used with a different alphabet and a modified way of shifting the letters.
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By: admin on Sept. 2, 2011, 1:03 p.m.
The Caesar Chiper is rather simple. But in this challenge it is used with a different alphabet and a modified way of shifting the letters.
Read more...
By: DarkFibre on Sept. 3, 2011, 12:46 a.m.
Why can't the solution be a codeword or something simple to type in? Why does it have to be 230+(!!!) characters? Especially for a level I? I solved the code, but I can't solve the format that the solution server wants.
Anyway, if you could give me a hint as to which of the 230 or so characters I am entering wrong that would be great. I'll keep guessing.
By: Veselovský on Sept. 3, 2011, 11:55 p.m.
I think it was clearly stated what form should the provided solution have.
It needs just a look at the given example in description of challenge.
…but I see you have solved it now
By: Veselovský on Sept. 4, 2011, 12:21 a.m.
…and the reason why the solution wasn't simple codeword is because there already were such challenges with Caesar cipher
…and now solvers have to realize every step they did (I mean shifting of letters)… because otherwise people would put it in some software and made few clicks with mouse to get the cleartext (without realizing how shifting is performed)… so nothing more to do compared to previous challenges with Caesar cipher… so that is why
By: Veselovský on Sept. 4, 2011, 10:12 a.m.
Anything which can be solved by hand can also be solved by computer… that is true
the other way around is not always true
By: fretty on Sept. 4, 2011, 10:48 a.m.
But you say that you made the solution harder to input so that people using a computer would have to think more. It doesn't have that effect at all, it just makes it more tedious when entering the solution.
I solved this in the same way that I would solve any Caesar cipher, basically because the alphabet used in the challenge had a lot of patterns in it. Maybe you can make another one with a more jumbled alphabet?
I had the correct solution but it wasnt until the 4th entry that it was accepted due to small typos.
It is quite annoying, having solved the cipher 15 mins earlier, to go back through checking every words shift in order to find the one digit you mistyped. I think this is the point DarkFibre is making.
By: Veselovský on Sept. 5, 2011, 12:48 a.m.
I do not understand how you could have done small typos, when you were solving it with software?
Does your computer make typos? ;-)
Anybody who has problems with entering the solution, feel free to send me a PM with your solution and I will guide you.
By: fretty on Sept. 5, 2011, 9:18 a.m.
Typos in the shifts, not the words.
Either way, it is still very cumbersome to enter an entire 200+ string into a solution box and hope for the best. It is much easier to make the solution a single codeword that only a solver can know.
By: Veselovský on Dec. 12, 2011, 12:39 a.m.
Are the first and last letter upper- or lowercase?
You have enough trials to check both, but it is a sentence, so it was written as would be written any other sentence.
Can I send sombody my solution to check it?
I have already mentioned in this thread that you can feel free to send me a PM.
By: Veselovský on Jan. 9, 2013, 5:24 p.m.
A frequent mistake is using shifts greater than 51 in your solutions.
Shifts should be in the interval [0,51]. Say, a shift 73 is same as 21 because there is 52 letters in the alphabet.
By: Veselovský on June 17, 2013, 10:21 p.m.
Another frequent mistake is using shifts towards left instead of shifts towards right.
Indistinguishable characters "l" (small "L") and "I" (big "i") in the font used in PDF are another source of mistakes especially for users that solve the challenge manually. To avoid this mistake you can copy the alphabet and ciphertext from PDF to different application (text editor) with better fonts.
By: Veselovský on June 18, 2013, 11:38 p.m.
Here is the alphabet along with ciphertext in different font. Hope it helps to distinguish "l" and "I".