The lunatics have taken over the asylum…
You can now call Jones and tell the CIA where to find Barlow! Way to go, **hammos1 **! Brilliant work yet again! Really happy to see you avert Halloween tragedy.
I will post an end-of-puzzle write up this weekend! Hurrah, the forces of good win again!
I for one would like hammos1 to explain before then, if at all possible, because this has been driving me a little bonkers.
I’ll post a spoilered solution soon- but in the meantime, some hints:
[ul]
[li]The codes are genuine acrostic puzzles[/li][li]The word lengths in the sentences are accurate[/li][li]The clues are genuine in the sense that they lead to answers of the length indicated- so for example, the answer to ‘Former Name of Transylvania’ has 13 letters, no more, no less- but you should ignore the literal meaning of the clues[/li][li]The code is susceptible to a plaintext attack- in other words, try to construct a plausible version of the first message, based on what we know of how the escape happened. What would the spies likely be saying to Barlow at this point? With a little thought, and a little luck, you can guess enough of the sentence words correctly so that, when you plug the letters back into the clue answers, you’ll see how the code works.[/li][/ul]
Solution to the code, with some notes on how I got there:
[spoiler]I first tried ignoring the clues completely and looking at the numbers, thinking that there might be something encoded there mod 26, but no luck.
Brown’s comments about the clues being unusual interested me, so I spent some time looking for anything notable about the letters, words or clue lengths. Again, nothing.
Next, I considered the sentences #1 to #5 in the first coded message. The word lengths seemed like reasonable English, so I decided to trust them and make a guess at what the message might have contained. This message was one of many that Barlow had received in prison, so I assumed that it would mention:
[ul]
[li]a status update on the escape plan[/li][li]what the means of escape would be[/li][li]where the means of escape was located[/li][li]when the escape would take place[/li][/ul]
Thus, I considered TUNNEL, CAFETERIA and WEDNESDAY likely to turn up in the message somewhere. CAFETERIA and WEDNESDAY both have 9 letters, and the only unhyphenated 9-letter word was at the end of sentence #2. I was unable to come up with a plausible way of ending a sentence with WEDNESDAY given that the preceding word only had three letters. But CAFETERIA fit with no such problem, and so my guess for sentence #2 was:
Sentence #2 (45-75) 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 2, 3, 9
--- --- --- ---- room by the cafeteria
TUNNEL, with 6 letters, would have to appear in sentence #1 if it appeared at all. I tried various placements but the following looked most likely:
Sentence #1: (1-44) 3, 6, 4, 3, 6, 6, 2, 6, 8
the tunnel into the prison stores is nearly complete
almost finished
With ‘ROOM BY THE CAFETERIA’ and ‘IS NEARLY COMPLETE’ in place, I could see that I was on to something. This is how the clue answers were taking shape:
Former Name of Transylvania: F-------S----
Reptile House Occupant: RE----H----A-
Nightmare Feature: N----MA–F-
Clearly, the clues themselves were the answers! However, it was not quite that simple. The ‘H’ of ‘Reptile House Occupant’ was one position to the left of where it should be, while the ‘S’ in ‘Former Name of Transylvania’ was way out of position. After some experimenting I realised that only the unique letters of the clues should be retained, in order of appearance. So the answer to ‘Former Name of Transylvania’ was FORMENATSYLVI, while ‘Nightmare Feature’ was solved by NIGHTMAREFU.
The first message decodes to:
THE TUNNEL INTO THE SUPPLY CLOSET IS NEARLY COMPLETE.
GET THE KEY FROM JUDY IN THE CAFETERIA.
SHE IS IN LOVE WITH YOU SO SHE WILL HELP.
WE WILL HAVE A CAR WAITING.
OUR HIDEOUT IS BELOW THE TRANS-ALLEGEHENY LUNATIC ASYLUM IN WEST VIRGINIA.
[/spoiler]
The plans have been set and now and Walrus Team 19, an elite group of marines, has surrounded the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Shadows of the evening stretch across the grounds. When the asylum was closed under new management several months ago, no one paid a lot of attention. The building was not much of an economic attraction anyway, accept for the ghost tours. As far as anyone knew, the place had remained shuttered and empty since last February.
But now, thanks to You, the CIA knows better. Jones and Brown have been invited to the raiding party. Because of your incredible solving work, You were asked along. And despite the danger, You agreed. Best to see this through to the end.
As You wait for the “Go” signal from the team leader, You look at the brooding old building. What horrors once occurred within those walls? What horrors are still to come? The remaining rays of sunlight disappear and dusk deepens.
There is the signal. Time to move in.
With a resounding series of crashes, barred and shackled doors are burst open. Soon the raiding party finds itself inside. Hollow empty walls and cobwebs greet the team. And then quiet. The cold and stony building somehow seems to be breathing silence. The leader of the raid points and guides the team. “Clear” comes a call from one direction. “Clear” comes a call from another. And then the door to the basement is reached. The latch turns, unlocked. There is a sonorous CREAK as the door is pulled open.
Slowly the team descends the winding stairs. Now from somewhere down below there is a rustle and a scrambling of voices. The panicky sounds mean that surprise has carried the day. Ahead two spies try to raise their pistols, but Walrus Team 19 is swift and talented. These spy guards are apprehended without bloodshed. Now another door is opened to a large room. There are nearly a dozen spies inside. The spies realize the game is up and arms are raised in surrender. On a table to the left of the defeated group, a pile of papers is discovered. It is all the stolen Government plans! The spies must have not had time to sell them yet. The secrets will be safe!
At first there is no sign of Barlow, but then an old wooden door in the rear suddenly bursts opens. The madman stands defiantly with a look of sheer hatred on his face. “Get them, get them now!” he screams. From behind Barlow an army of large rats seems to materialize out of the darkness. But they are not rats. No. Hands, hundreds of severed hands, come skittering out of the void behind Barlow. They scurry across the floor. Some leap through the air. You see one hand grasping Brown around the throat! At least four are now crawling up the Team 19 raid leader. He shakes off one or two, but the horrible scene seems to be turning to a nightmare.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” The marines begin shooting. Hands that take a direct hit almost burst like balloons, oozing a reddish slime. The Team leader has managed to pull out his knife and begins slashing the severed hands crawling up his body. Fingers that are cut writhe around on the floor like giant anguished worms. You rush to Brown’s aid and try to pull off the hand around his neck. Brown has fallen to the floor and is obviously choking. Using all your might You wrench the loathsome hand free from Brown. How can that thing, a severed dead man’s hand, have so much power? But somehow it does. You feel a cold creature crawling up your back. You smash backwards against a wall crushing the hand and it falls free.
Bang! Bang! Bang! More shots and the team of Marines soon have the situation in control. The enraged Barlow is dragged upstairs and placed in a van. At the last moment our deranged scientist turns to You. “Revenge will be mine, I promise You. Some day, revenge will be mine!”
“Happy Birthday!” You respond.
As the CIA begins final “mop up” operations, You notice a desk in a small room to the side. Barlow’s office? Amongst this new pile of papers You see an envelope addressed to You. Inside You find an acrostic. With a chill You read the first letters of the puzzle clues:
PREPARE TO DIE
Was this acrostic meant to arrive at your door within the next few days? Were You to be the next victim of Barlow’s insane plans?
You give a shudder. Ugh. Time to get out of this basement. Time for Halloween to be over. Time for all the horrors to go away.
Time for coffee.
I’ve been very remiss. Biotop – even though this puzzle was frustrating, and I ultimately missed the solution by a wide margin, I still had a great deal of fun thinking about it. Thanks for going through the effort to put puzzles like this together, especially with the engaging color text around them. I look forward to the next one.
Thanks, ebb! I enjoyed this one very much. Thanks to everyone who participated!
You have asked Jones and Brown over to review the case and relax. The stress of dealing with another Barlow Halloween code has been relieved. You are glad to have such good friends, and it is always enjoyable to discuss cryptology in a genial atmosphere. When Jones and Brown arrive, you are surprised to see Agents White and Cooper in tow. Ah well, maybe those two have come along to make peace and offer congratulations.
After a series of friendly handshakes and greetings, You offer your guests some fresh brewed coffee, As everyone settles in to their chairs, the mood is good.
“Glad you all could come,” You say. “I meant to invite everybody for a post mortem a couple of weeks ago, but this is a busy time of year. It is good to see you Agents White and Cooper as well. It was a tough case, but I am sure we are all glad that we are free of Boris Barlow and his cursed killing dismembered hands.”
Everyone nods in agreement.
“Yes,” says Agent White, “It was a tough case. Thank goodness for my excellent analysis of the clue answers. Once I was able to determine that none of the multitude of possible clue answers could possibly match the acrostic, it must have been child’s play for You solve the rest. I even gave You the stellar insight that the puzzle titles and clue first letters were of no importance. Yes, I really did an exceptional job this time.”
You can see Jones shake his head and roll his eyes, but White is too full of bravado to notice.
“Wait a minute,” stammers Brown. “I don’t think…”
But Agent Cooper cuts him off. “Yes, we really hit a home run this time, Agent White. I suspected the answers didn’t go in normally, and boy oh boy was I right. While my program didn’t quite pick up the exact trick, I am sure it was critical in helping You see that there was no straightforward way to enter the answers. Yes sir, Agents White and Cooper surely earned their reputations as the best cryptographers in the land this time!”
You eye Jones, who keeps a diplomatic silence.
Agent Brown, however, is quite perturbed. “Now see here, you both shouldn’t be taking the credit for…”
“Tut, tut, Brown” smirks Agent White. “Don’t feel bad. I am sure with more practice you will get to where you can be a decent code breaker. I am sorry this time you got all worried about counting things and unimportant details like how the clues were worded and their first letters. Such a waste of time. You’ll learn.”
You can stand this no longer.
“If I can have a word,” You say, “I would like to defend our friend Agent Brown. He talked about counting things, and he was right to do so. Every clue in each acrostic contained more letters than the answer. Now that is not completely unusual, but it is still an anomaly. In addition, had any of us counted the number of different letters in each clue, we would have seen that the “answers” to each clue always had the same number of letters as there were different letters in the clue. So while it was hard to notice, counting could have provided the biggest hint.
“Brown also was right in looking at the wording of the clues. Why ‘Aquatic Sea Demon?’ Because Barlow needed a ‘Q.’ And why ‘Island with dinosaur eggs’ instead of ‘Island with Dinosaurs?’ Because ‘Island with Dinosaurs’ contains no ‘E.’ Brown was right that the clues were odd. They were written for surface sense, but also with a need for certain letters.
“Once Barlow had his message to encode, he had to find the letter that was used most in that message. So if his message had, say, 29 ‘e’s, then he would need at least 29 clues.
“Barlow also wanted the first letters of his clue answers to spell out a Halloween message. That’s how real acrostic puzzles work. The first letters of the answers spell out something in a real acrostic. It is generally the author and the title of the source.
"But Barlow only wanted a Halloween theme. The thing is, Barlow’s coding method automatically meant that the first letters of the clues themselves would also necessarily spell out the same message. I bet Barlow never thought we’d see the significance.
“Brown was right in just about everything he speculated.”
You see glossy-eyed bored looks from both White and Cooper. But Jones is smiling and Brown is absolutely beaming.
You refill everyone’s coffee and the talk turns to more pleasant things and the holidays ahead. The game is over…for now.