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Challenge "The Einstein Enigma"  

  By: admin on Feb. 7, 2018, 11:40 p.m.

The hero of the book has to decode a manuscript — seven lines of it are here for you. These lines were encoded with a mixture of classic methods — anagrams, two position-dependent monoalphabetic substitutions and Atbash. Can you help him?
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 Last edited by: admin on Oct. 31, 2021, 2:55 a.m., edited 1 time in total.

Re: Challenge  

  By: Veselovský on Feb. 8, 2018, 1:50 a.m.

Neither of the two mono-alphabetic substitution tables seems to be MONO-alphabetic.

AB CD EF GH IJ KL MN OP QR ST UV WX YZ
FZ BV KJ XA YM EP LS DH GO RG NQ CU TW

AB CD EF GH IJ KL MN OP QR ST UV WX YZ
GO XB FW TH QJ LA PZ GD ES VY CR KU HN

I submitted 13 times my best guessed format of solution with no luck.

 Last edited by: Veselovský on Feb. 8, 2018, 5:53 p.m., edited 1 time in total.

Re: Challenge  

  By: Yokozuna on Feb. 8, 2018, 4:26 a.m.

Please can somebody check this challenge.

Re: Challenge  

  By: Yokozuna on Feb. 8, 2018, 4:47 a.m.

Why is this a level 2 challenge? In my eyes it's a level 1.

Re: Challenge  

  By: helmi on Feb. 8, 2018, 7:42 p.m.

I could solve the challenge by substituting one erroneous character
in the ciphertext of the additional line.

I hope this was not an intentional error to make the challenge
more difficult!

Re: Challenge  

  By: AnLeRo on Feb. 8, 2018, 8:13 p.m.

You are right, there is an error in the additional line, which is not intended. The correct additional line is:
AAXPWHLRXPWWM

We are going to fix the error in the template as soon as possible.

Remark:
The substitution table is indeed not totally "mono-alphabetic", but this should have no impact on the decryption of the challenge ciphertext.

Re: Challenge  

  By: be on Feb. 8, 2018, 8:53 p.m.

Neither of the two mono-alphabetic substitution tables seems to be MONO-alphabetic.

Thanks a lot for your helpful comment. You are right – I also noticed this and I asked the author. He assumes that this was done by will – as the book describes that everything was done manually and so errors often occured in historic methods. Nevertheless, the letters in the according ciphertext can be revealed uniquely.

Re: Challenge  

  By: be on Feb. 8, 2018, 9:25 p.m.

Why is this a level 2 challenge?

Thanks for asking – I think this is what the forum is there, too.
First, let me say, I understand your concerns. There are often challenges where the difficulty is somewhere at the border and then it's hard to decide. After some dicussions we put this one in level 2 (besides it can be solved purely by hand): The reason was that 3 different methods are used and 7 different small ciphertexts had to be decrypted.

Re: Challenge  

  By: Veselovský on Feb. 8, 2018, 11:30 p.m.

The substitution table is indeed not totally "mono-alphabetic", but this should have no impact on the decryption of the challenge ciphertext.

Nevertheless, the letters in the according ciphertext can be revealed uniquely.

I do not agree.
In the ciphertext there is "H" at even position. So the second table applies. But in the second table letter "H" maps to "H" or "Y". So it is not unique. Unless I am missing something.

…nevertheless, I spent all 15 attempts

Re: Challenge  

  By: Sgt. Pepper on Feb. 9, 2018, 2:49 a.m.

I'm also having problems submitting the solution in the right format. I'm pretty sure I got everything right, but nothing is accepted…

Re: Challenge  

  By: be on Feb. 9, 2018, 1:36 p.m.

I do not agree.

You are right. The ciphertest in line 7 is not unique, the one in line 6 is. What alternative is correct in line 7 can be determined considering the context.

I spent all 15 attempts

We'll take care on that.

Re: Challenge  

  By: be on Feb. 9, 2018, 1:39 p.m.

I'm also having problems submitting the solution in the right format. I'm pretty sure I got everything right, but nothing is accepted…

I saw you entered the correct solution in the meantime – maybe you could help the others in the forum a bit by writing how you overcome the problem (without telling the solution).

Re: Challenge  

  By: AnLeRo on Feb. 11, 2018, 11:22 p.m.

For clarification:
The substitution table is not totally mono-alphabetic.
In the seventh line you therefore have to think about if there has to be a "b" or an "s" at a certain position in the plaintext.

Re: Challenge  

  By: rcll0891 on Feb. 12, 2018, 12:34 p.m.

I have the same problems as Sgt. Pepper …

Re: Challenge  

  By: AnLeRo on Feb. 12, 2018, 2:22 p.m.

I have the same problems as Sgt. Pepper …

Please send me a PM and I'll check your solution.


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