# It is an enigma .

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 2, 2009, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466 "2009-06-02T07:05:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Here\_Come\_Dots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cc9497/32.png) [@Here\_Come\_Dots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Here_Come_Dots)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/61 "2009-06-08T17:10:44Z")

</div>

ImangineAnew has replied to questions from myself and **CMYK** , but I’m not clear on how to decrypt them:

> [@](#):
>
> HereComeDots: Any hints?  
> ImagineAnew: ¶56 VXXC EV26 TQJ3 5RIP PUPY ZI63 KCC2 GYB2 6Y2Y 0CB5 H67B 9YZC IH7H 7GYM GHCA MG30 474Y ZC2M 1YB5 3HYB MH67 B5H6 3MDF YM4C

> [@](#):
>
> CMYK: Vigenere cipher? 56th paragraph from the book Huck Finn? If so, start from Introduction? Chapter Markers count? Or, wrong path?  
> ImagineAnew: ¶585 OZC2 U4F0 SWN3 IFWX PUP5 XZBH 3FBG CF07 56HB 7B5Z I5GG C63G 3H2C KBY5 Y7BY B2K3 BHHC KYH1 67B5 GYA3 YGZ3 4CF3 87AG Y727 HAY2 367A

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/62 "2009-06-08T17:30:28Z")

</div>

> [@Here\_Come\_Dots](#):
>
> ImangineAnew has replied to questions from myself and **CMYK** , but I’m not clear on how to decrypt them:

Your message decrypts to something that starts “message received.” I haven’t bothered to decrypt the whole message or CMYK’s message. To do so, do what I did in my example above. Go to paragraph 56 of the Gutenburg Huck Finn. Write the cipher text above, and write the text that starts on paragraph 56 below. I’m not going to work the whole thing out (you need to learn this for yourself if you want to solve further ciphers), but I’ll give you a start:

```auto

VXXCEV26TQJ3
isetdownonet
MESSAGERECEI

```

To decode, here’s your character set:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890

The way this person is doing it, “a” means go back one position when decoding. “b” means go back two. “c” means go back three. And so on.

V-i = M (go back 9 positions from V to get M)  
X-S = E (go back 19 positions from X to get E)  
X-E = S (go back 5 positions from X to get S)

And so on. If you get to the beginning, as in the next character:

C-t = S (go back 20 positions)

you just wrap around and continue counting from the “0” character. So, if I need to be clearer, you’re counting like this:

“B,A,0,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,Z,Y,X,W,V,U,T,S” when you’re going back 20 positions from C.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ClintPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@ClintPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintPhoenix)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/63 "2009-06-08T18:10:13Z")

</div>

Here’s a table for reference - encrypted text on the left, Huck Finn (encryption key) across the top. Hopefully it’s readable this way. If not, take the text and put it into another document and pretty it up. I did one in Excel.

It should be relatively easy to write a script to take the encrypted message and the key and spit out an answer, but I’m not going to do that.

```auto

  **ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890

A** 0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba
**B** a0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcb
**C** ba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedc
**D** cba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfed
**E** dcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfe
**F** edcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgf
**G** fedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihg
**H** gfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjih
**I** hgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkji
**J** ihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkj
**K** jihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlk
**L** kjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponml
**M** lkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqponm
**N** mlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqpon
**O** nmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqpo
**P** onmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrqp
**Q** ponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsrq
**R** qponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvutsr
**S** rqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvuts
**T** srqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvut
**U** tsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwvu
**V** utsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxwv
**W** vutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyxw
**X** wvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zyx
**Y** xwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321zy
**Z** yxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321z
**1** zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654321
**2** 1zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba098765432
**3** 21zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba09876543
**4** 321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987654
**5** 4321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba098765
**6** 54321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba09876
**7** 654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0987
**8** 7654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba098
**9** 87654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba09
**0** 987654321zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcba0

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/64 "2009-06-08T18:45:29Z")

</div>

> [@ClintPhoenix](#):
>
> Here’s a table for reference - encrypted text on the left, Huck Finn (encryption key) across the top. Hopefully it’s readable this way. If not, take the text and put it into another document and pretty it up. I did one in Excel.
> 
> It should be relatively easy to write a script to take the encrypted message and the key and spit out an answer, but I’m not going to do that.

As an intermediate step, it’s not too hard to use Excel CODE and CHAR functions, along with some simple nested IFs, to decrypt by subtracting ASCII values.

Anyway, seems to me the next obvious step is to apply the leftover bit of the Huck Finn cipher to the unused portion of the Fibonacci string. I tried that with no luck, but then again I suck at decryption.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/65 "2009-06-08T20:04:38Z")

</div>

Here’s one way of doing it in C (warning, I am not a programmer, so there’s probably a more elegant way of doing this. I hope I’ve included enough error checking. If anyone sees any blatant bad coding, please point it out so I can learn.):

```auto

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>

int main(int argc, char * argv[]) {
    char cipher[] = "iwz3tbi5xajt1yvcu1fgn7osu2sux1pu992v31ydc9zzdmu9hxd2fdz9fj0nprvsw6300h300mcigc63fg304g6g630cc9yhh6yhy7ff";
    char sequence[] = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890";
    char key[] = "theverywordsiwasasayinnolongeragothnthisminutetosisterutterbacknshelltellyousoherselfshshelookatthatairr";

    int cipherlen = strlen(cipher);
    char * index;
    int ciphervalue;
    int keyvalue;
    int decodevalue;
    int i;

    if (strlen(key)<strlen(cipher)) {
        printf("Key is shorter than ciphertext!
");
        return 1;
    }

    for (i=0; i<cipherlen; i++) {
        index = strchr(sequence, cipher*);
        if (index == NULL) {
            printf("Invalid character in ciphertext!
");
            return 1;
        }
        ciphervalue = index - sequence;
        index = strchr(sequence, key*);
        if (index == NULL) {
            printf("Invalid character in key text!
");
            return 1;
        }
        keyvalue = index - sequence;
        decodevalue = ciphervalue - keyvalue - 1;
        if (decodevalue<0) {
            decodevalue += strlen(sequence);
        }
        printf("%c", sequence[decodevalue]);
    }

    return 0;
}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/66 "2009-06-08T20:11:07Z")

</div>

Missed the edit:

You might want to add

```auto

printf("
");

```

before the “return 0;” at the end for cleaner formatting.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/67 "2009-06-08T20:22:24Z")

</div>

OK, I ran Here Come Dots’s cipher through my program and got:

MESSAGE RECEIVED NO REPLY XXXXXXXXX (etc…)

Same with cmyk’s message.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ClintPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@ClintPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintPhoenix)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/68 "2009-06-08T22:17:01Z")

</div>

I just tried doing the Fibonacci spiral backwards and got “smiteangina”. This leads to [http://twitter.com/smiteangina](http://twitter.com/smiteangina)

There is Wuthering Heights as the picture and another code. Decoded, the message reads: YOU FOLLOWED THE RIGHT PATH IN THE WRONG DIRECTION A FIBONACCI SPIRAL RADIATES OUT FROM THE CENTER

So, a dead end. But it reinforces that the ImagineAnew account is the right spot to be in.

Also of interest (maybe it’s obvious), but Three out of four is an anagram of “route thou offer” and SmiteAngina is an anagram of “it’s an enigma”. What are anagram candidates for ImagineAnew? Maybe that’s the next path.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/69 "2009-06-08T22:45:54Z")

</div>

> [@ClintPhoenix](#):
>
> I just tried doing the Fibonacci spiral backwards and got “smiteangina”. This leads to [http://twitter.com/smiteangina](http://twitter.com/smiteangina)
> 
> There is Wuthering Heights as the picture and another code. Decoded, the message reads: YOU FOLLOWED THE RIGHT PATH IN THE WRONG DIRECTION A FIBONACCI SPIRAL RADIATES OUT FROM THE CENTER
> 
> So, a dead end. But it reinforces that the ImagineAnew account is the right spot to be in.
> 
> Also of interest (maybe it’s obvious), but Three out of four is an anagram of “route thou offer” and SmiteAngina is an anagram of “it’s an enigma”. What are anagram candidates for ImagineAnew? Maybe that’s the next path.

Nice work. I had been wondering whether the characters at the end of the Fibonacci spiral had any meaning, and it looks like they do, for people decoding the Fibonacci puzzle in the wrong directions. I hadn’t thought of that. Hmm… I wonder what further clues the Fibonacci puzzle holds.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/70 "2009-06-08T22:50:12Z")

</div>

> [@ClintPhoenix](#):
>
> Also of interest (maybe it’s obvious), but Three out of four is an anagram of “route thou offer” and SmiteAngina is an anagram of “it’s an enigma”. What are anagram candidates for ImagineAnew? Maybe that’s the next path.

Let’s see. IMAGINE ANEW also contains all the letters of “enigma,” leaving us with the letters IANEW, if that helps.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/71 "2009-06-08T23:10:12Z")

</div>

[http://twitter.com/enigma](http://twitter.com/enigma) ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Saffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saffer/32/6440_2.png) [@Saffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saffer)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/72 "2009-06-09T08:22:38Z")

</div>

Has anyone else noticed the straight lines in the background of the fibonacci picture. They are in amongst the smaller spirals and look as though the picture could be folded or cut along these lines.  
Perhaps this has something to do with the other dimension to the puzzle.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Here\_Come\_Dots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cc9497/32.png) [@Here\_Come\_Dots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Here_Come_Dots)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/73 "2009-06-09T13:42:24Z")

</div>

> [@Saffer](#):
>
> Has anyone else noticed the straight lines in the background of the fibonacci picture. They are in amongst the smaller spirals and look as though the picture could be folded or cut along these lines.  
> Perhaps this has something to do with the other dimension to the puzzle.

Looking at the PDFs again, I don’t see the lines you’re talking about, but I did notice that the pages are titled 0N3, 7W0, 7HR33 and F0UR.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/74 "2009-06-09T13:56:36Z")

</div>

ImagineAnew = A new image in

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/75 "2009-06-09T14:34:46Z")

</div>

> [@Here\_Come\_Dots](#):
>
> Looking at the PDFs again, I don’t see the lines you’re talking about, but I did notice that the pages are titled 0N3, 7W0, 7HR33 and F0UR.

The lines are there if you zoom in on the pdf–it’s a pixel overlay at the edge of therepeat pattern in the background.

The 0N3, 7W0, 7HR33 and F0UR thing are the original four locations, which at least ties in with the Huck Finn code use of numerals.

If this is a properly designed puzzle, we’d need some bit of information obtained by _solving_ the Huck Finn puzzle in order to complete the next step (or, rather, we’d need the information at _some_ point). Otherwise solving the Huck Finn puzzle is just a red herring.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Here\_Come\_Dots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cc9497/32.png) [@Here\_Come\_Dots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Here_Come_Dots)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/76 "2009-06-09T22:41:40Z")

</div>

HOLY S@#T! I CRACKED IT.

It helps to print the pages out and then tape them together—except discard page 3 (out of 4). Then fold pages 2 and 4 so they meet and form three sides of a cube. (The missing dimension.) The spiral aligns exactly, and the new code name is [ImagineAnts](https://twitter.com/ImagineAnts)!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/77 "2009-06-09T23:02:14Z")

</div>

> [@Here\_Come\_Dots](#):
>
> HOLY S@#T! I CRACKED IT.
> 
> It helps to print the pages out and then tape them together—except discard page 3 (out of 4). Then fold pages 2 and 4 so they meet and form three sides of a cube. (The missing dimension.) The spiral aligns exactly, and the new code name is [ImagineAnts](https://twitter.com/ImagineAnts)!

Rock on! Let’s see if this next cipher is the same as the last.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/78 "2009-06-09T23:06:14Z")

</div>

Could you upload Dracula using the same numbering technique you used for Huck Finn?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/79 "2009-06-09T23:27:23Z")

</div>

Nevermind. I got the numbering down and the same decrypting algorithm works for this piece. Let me get back to you in a few with the decoded versions.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-is-an-enigma/498466/80 "2009-06-10T00:05:05Z")

</div>

Here it is. Some of my paragraph numbering was off, so I had to try a few surrounding paragraphs to find the right keys, but here they are:

P652 –  
BEGINRIDDLETEXTXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

P1119 –

IANGAITSMENISNOTMYREALNAMEBUTWEALLCOULDUSEAGOODPSEUDONYMEVERYNOWANDTHENTOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

P578 –  
KEEPEVERYONEGUESSINGTHATSAIDWHENYOUAREPREPAREDTODECIPHERTHENEXTRIDDLEIXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
P75 - SUGGESTYOUWRITETOTHEGENUINEEMAILADDRESSIMAINTAINANDALWAYSCHECKATGMAILDOTCOMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

P1962 –

ENDRIDDLETEXTXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
P915 –  
PSIRECOMMENDUSINGTIMESNEWROMANANDPROPERPUNCTUATIONXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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