Sunday Morning Puzzle # 78: Significant Symbols?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A knock on the door and once again you are greeted by Agent Jones of the CIA. Jones usually comes to you for help on important decoding matters. But today he seems more relaxed than usual.

“I do not mean to bother you with what is most likely a trifle,” says Jones. “But my nephew claims that spies are operating in his neighborhood!”

“That’s your 11-year old nephew?” you ask. You vaguely remember meeting a sort of mousy youngster at last year’s CIA Christmas party.

“Yes,” says Jones. He proceeds to tell you his story.

Jones informs you that his nephew has noticed strange behavior at the home of his new next-door neighbor, a certain Mr. Scott. The kid claims to have seen mysterious men in trench coats passing notes on the street corner in front of Scott’s house, all the while making furtive glances. Unsavory characters have been going in and out of the Scott house at night…and the lad has heard whispers in foreign tongues.

Last night the young sleuth went through his neighbor’s garbage and found two wadded up cryptic notes, which he brought to Jones.

"Did you show these notes to your expert CIA decoders? You ask Jones.

“No,” Jones replies. “With all the problems in the world today, our men and women are too busy for foolishness. Why, just this week we have to guard a meeting of some of the world’s top nuclear scientists. The Agency is spread so thin that we’ve even had to hire extra private security for that event. No, we don’t have time for the fears of a schoolchild— even if he is my nephew. I thought I’d bring these supposed codes to you. I figured you’d get a kick out of them.”

Jones hands you two crumpled papers. “Looks like a lot of nonsense to me,” he laughs.

You, however, are not so sure. You feel a certain uneasiness.

“I’ll get back to you soon,” you promise Jones as he exits.

Can you figure out what is going on with these codes?

“”""""""""

&=(91)&(51)%(81)~^(81)+~(52)@^(02)&(80)%(90)~!@+(91)&~~(90)!(91)=!+(10)+@=(80)@*(51)~%(10)+!@^(42)+(02)$++(80)+&^(50)^&^(91)!(52)~/

+@!=(31)+(20)/+(51)@~^#(21)(91)@!(31)@(50)&(10)+(41)#(41)@!&^(51)@(02)@(80)@^(90)!@#(41)~+~(70)@@^(32)^(50)@(10)%(81)+(50)*(01)~+(12)@!(91)?+(02)#(61)^~^(21)/+&(10)@+

~?~+(52)^(90)++(41)(70)=!+(10)$&^(81)+&^(51)/&=(12)*(41)&%(40)@

“”""""""""

“”""""""""

#(91)~=(02)@/&=*(90)=(21)~^(21)&=+(41)+!(51)@+(50)#(22)@!&^(90)@(21)@*(91)@^(50)!@#(30)~%(81)%(50)&^(02)^&^(31)!(50)~/^&*(91)^(91)^(10)#

!(70)+#=+@+(50)#(40)@=(51)~^(41)~+~~(51)~%@*(02)/!(61)@%(10)=(52)@*(10)/=(02)@#(02)!%(50)@

&=*(41)^@^(02)?%(90)%(51)~(41)*(91)^(90)#&=+(21)+(21)#(52)@
+!@^(30)+(51)++(40)+~+(50)!(02)~?^(51)

+(60)~%@+(51)#(51)@^+(21)&+(11)#(90)@+~@(40)@#(91)&=+@

“”""""""""

2

Damn, Biotop. nice to see you at work again.

I just finished a paper regarding pseudo-random encoding, so give me an hour or two here.

3

A different Agent Jones greets you this Monday morning. He is obviously quite agitated.

“Jones, what’s the matter?” you ask with concern.

Jones tells you:

It seems that several of the top nuclear scientists disappeared early this morning just after they arrived at the convention hall. A number of the members of the private security team were found napping inside the building. They possibly had been drugged.

Nothing suspicious was noted and there were no clues…save for a half-eaten doughnut found just inside the entrance to the cafeteria kitchen.

Worse, it turns out the missing scientists have secretly been working together on some huge new weapon based on modern string theories of physics. That weapon must not fall into enemy hands.

“It’s possible the scientists just wandered off together to see the city.” Jones declares. “Maybe nothing untoward has happened. Still, the CIA has had numbers of successes recently. We *must not *reverse those numbers!”

“I’m sorry I have not had any luck with your nephew’s codes,” you tell Jones. You hope to change the subject and help the CIA man feel better.

“Oh, that reminds me…” Jones fishes into his jacket and pulls out a folded paper. “My nephew stole this off Mr. Scott’s desk last night. He went over there pretending to borrow a cup of sugar, and while Scott was in the kitchen, he spotted this note and pocketed it.”

You tell Jones: “There’s probably nothing to worry about with the scientists. The security team was most likely out late last night at a Washington area club and so the scientists were able to give them the slip this morning for a day of fun. Check out the museums…I bet you find them there.”

As Jones leaves you wonder to yourself if everything is really OK.
“”""""""""
?@^=++(31)@(90)&*(91)!@+(21)#(50)@+!@^(10)+(40)++(90)++(41)&~(70)=$%(10)!(41)~!(40)&&^+!(30)~/~(81)&^~(10)

+(62)#(52)@^(61)?@!~^(10)#(61)&%(50)!(81)+(91)#(10)@?&*(81)%(50)!(51)#(41)&++(21)~#@

%(52)@+(10)+(11)#(90)@~(40)*(91)~^(02)?~+#(81)^(90)#~(30)@#$^(11)

“”""""""""

4

And sure as can be, at noon Jones returns with word that the missing scientists were just out at the local museums. You’re about to dismiss the whole episode as an unexplained mystery, but then you take one more look at the fragments of code in your pocket.

You find the nearest keyboard and begin to type…

@%(90)^^(60)*&(52)^^%#@(51)!(12)&&(11)^(90)*(40)*%%(91)(50)&(22)#%%(50)@&(81)**(61)

(12)(21)%%(21)@#(10)@#(91)(02)^(12)!!(41)^#(02)&*^(21)#(90)@#@(11)!(50)@^##(02)(80)(90)*&(91)

(10)@#(70)$$(10)%*!@(90)#(41)(52)#(51)#%%!(12)@(32)#@(90)(21)^@(21)(10)(21)(21)!@(70)(51)?(02)?!(51)@(01)(10)(90)(21)

“Hey Jonesy! I’ve got a message for your nephew to deliver to the Scotts.”

Heh, heh…

5

An alarming development…

It’s late and a very haggard Agent Jones comes to your door.

He tells you the following shocking news:

  1. The scientists really are missing. The cover story given to you and the press about the scientists being at the museum was to hopefully trick the villains into making a mistake. In fact, the scientists have most certainly been kidnapped, and there are no clues (unless you want to count the doughnut).

  2. Jones’ young nephew has also disappeared. He told his friends at school that he “was onto something really big and had to check it out.” The lad left school at about 10am this morning…and has not been seen since.

“I know I should be spending time on the scientist caper,” says a worried Jones. “But I am so concerned about my nephew, it is hard to focus. I have a feeling this Scott fellow may be mixed up in what is going on. The police talked to him earlier and he said he knew nothing.”

“What can I do?” you ask, putting an arm around your old friend.

“Nothing.” says Jones. “I’m going to try and talk to Scott myself.”

You wish Jones the best and he starts to leave. Then he turns and asks:

“There’s no way you missed anything in those codes, is there? Please give them another look for me…just in case.”

Jones exits and you ask yourself: “Is there more going on with those sneaky symbols than meets the eye?” You vow to find out.

6

I give Jones a call. “Boss, the doughnut is a clue. We’re looking for a van disguised as a bakery delivery vehicle. I’m sorry I don’t know where to look for it. The note said that the scientists were to be taken to the ‘safe house’, or maybe it’s the ‘Taff house’; it’s hard to tell–the code is kind of half-baked. One thing we now know for sure–your nephew’s coded messages are mixed up with the other case. Find the scientists, and you’ll most likely find your missing nephew. Just don’t turn your back on Scott, whatever you do.”

7

Good news this morning from Agent Jones. All the scientists have been rescued as well as Jones’ little nephew Percy.

Agents discovered a secret room in the Scott basement. Inside were the half-brainwashed scientists and a half-completed doomsday machine.

Scott has been captured, and several members of the private security team are also in custody. However, the mastermind to this criminal enterprise is still on the lam…so it’s likely we are still not done with the evil spies.

“The significant key was really in those mysterious numbers,” You tell Jones. “They served two purposes. One: the numbers created a spurious cover message in case the code fell into the wrong hands. Two: They actually indicated which letter the preceding symbol was supposed to be so that the real message could be easily deciphered by the spies.”

“Damn clever.” Jones replies. “Now the only numbers those spies are going to be interested in are the numbers across the back of their striped prison outfits!”

You share a laugh and a toast with your friend. Victory again.

8

Later, of course, I reflect on lessons learned. I think I’ve set a new record for clues missed.

Clues I had:

Messages are often reversed (an old lesson I try to keep in mind at all times).

The numbers were restricted to those with low second digits.

There were, in the first two notes, twenty-four different numbers–enough for an alphabet minus a couple of seldom-used letters.

[Why did I not put this together immediately? It was not until Jones said, “We must not reverse those numbers!” that the answer became clear.]

There were 13 symbols–exactly half an alphabet.

These spies leave nothing to chance; there should be a way to tell exactly which letter is meant.

When I removed the numbers to get a better look at the symbols, I marked their places in case they had an effect on the second message. [And then completely ignored them when I needed them.]
I’m tempted to blame it all on this stupid head cold, but a good cryptologist never makes excuses. I’ll just have to pull myself together and focus better on the next problem.

9

I should know better. I should really know better.

10

Don’t fret. It wasn’t nice of Agent Jones to make reference to the false code, even if he did tell you not to reverse the numbers.

Keep a chin up. After all, the spies were stopped and once again the world is safe…for a while.