# The Great SDMB Cipher Challenge **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563 "2002-03-11T13:24:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/1 "2002-03-11T13:24:58Z")
I’ve been waiting for the new Board to be up so I could post this: _E_GUP UP kqDRfqkGqR’P Pj_R_n kA **m** SEWHAqSGm kGqDDfoHf. UP UE kDfqA IGqE UP HWUoH Wo? oWE **W** oDm UP EGfAf q PfkAf_E_ RfPPq_H_f GUjjfo Uo EGUP qSSqAfoEDm GqSGqeqAj _O_ **M** R_n_Df Wg DfEEfAP, EGfAf qAf qDPW PfLfAqD gqDPf RfPPqHfP. EGf Efa_E_ mWM qAf oWI Afq **j** UoH, _g_ **W** A f_a_qR_S_Df, UP fRSGqEUkqDDm **o** W **E** EGf AfqD **G** Ujjfo RfPP **q** Hf. GUjjfo IUEGUo EGUP EfaE , Uo q **L** qAU **f** Em Wg IqmP, qAf EGAff WEGfA gqDPf RfPPqHfP. RfPPqHf EGqE kWMoEP UP fokWjfj GWDWHAqSG **U** kqDDm, PW **E** Gq_E_ fLfo q gfI E **m** SWP IWo’E SAfL **f** o **E** mW_M_A gUojUoH UE. Once you get through it, it should be obvious what to look for _next_. Note to Moderators: There’s nothing obscene, offensive, or illegal encoded in the above. Have fun! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/2 "2002-03-11T13:30:00Z")
Those of us who aren’t … er, cipherists…can we ask questions to make this easier for us? It’s been a WHILE since I did anything related to codes and I’m **really** rusty. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/3 "2002-03-11T13:37:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Those of us who aren’t … er, cipherists…can we ask questions to make this easier for us? It’s been a WHILE since I did anything related to codes and I’m really rusty. 1. Yeah, but I won’t necessarily answer them. 😃 2. The first stage (at least) of this will be relatively easy. There are only so many combinations and possibilities. Try 'em out. 3. None of the possible messages are “Hi, Opal!” ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/4 "2002-03-11T13:39:23Z")
Getting there, give me a couple more minutes… ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/5 "2002-03-11T14:02:22Z")
Dammit - with your hidden messages you are taunting us! got a false message (full of taunting), now looking for the real one. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/6 "2002-03-11T14:47:11Z")
I have it translated and am now trying to make sense of the bolded and italicized letters. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/7 "2002-03-11T15:02:01Z")
done that already, hit wall (see above re taunting). feel stupid now. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/8 "2002-03-11T15:15:16Z")
Yeah. So now … you tackle the capitals and I’ll do lower case, okay? ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/9 "2002-03-11T15:19:32Z")
**Cal** , you weren’t screaming when you wrote the lowercase letters, were you?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/10 "2002-03-11T15:21:48Z")
Dunno if that’ll work. Taking out the caps from the cyphertext takes out a lot of letters. Migth be interesting to see what letters are coded by caps and which by lower case. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/11 "2002-03-11T15:31:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Cal, you weren’t screaming when you wrote the lowercase letters, were you? No. Keep at it. All will be made clear. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/12 "2002-03-11T15:47:55Z")
I’m quitting for a while. This damned thing is giving me a headache. All those letters and things all in the wrong places, and looking for hidden messages. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/13 "2002-03-11T16:39:43Z")
Grrr…I must go to work. If anyone figures thus out, please don’t post the answer right away. Sooner or later one of the messages I find won’t be another false one…I hope. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/14 "2002-03-11T18:14:57Z")
To all: Don’t give up hope. The solution is really not very difficult, just obscure. It’s trivially easy to make up a puzzle that’s too complex to solve – but where’s the point in that? The goal of the puzzlemaker is not to have the puzzle solver (when the solutionm is finally uncovered or revealed) to say “Well, it’s no wonder it was so hard to solve!” You want to have the puzzle-solver smack themselves in the forehead and say “Argh! How could I have missed that?/Overlooked that for so long?” On the whole, maniacal cleverness is better than maniacal complexity. For reasons that will be clear later, I can’t tell you if anyone has correctly solved this until I’m home in the evening. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/15 "2002-03-12T00:38:19Z")
BUMP! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/16 "2002-03-12T01:00:29Z")
Well, it’s evening and you’re home and I long-since gave up. So give:) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/17 "2002-03-12T02:43:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, it’s evening and you’re home and I long-since gave up. So give Not yet. **Biotop** has requested that we not spill it yet, and **tansu** might still be at it, not to mention folks who haven’t responded. I’ll give it a little time yet. ---
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/18 "2002-03-12T06:40:01Z")
Uh-oh. It’s telling me to do something. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2002, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/19 "2002-03-12T07:32:11Z")
Okay, It’s a quarter after two in the morning and I’ve got to put this down and go to bed. I found the other 3 falsies, but no luck yet with the one that “counts”. **Peregrine** …you discovered something didn’t you. Maybe I should be looking for 3 “D’s”…and what’s with all the "it"s…and why are there no b,c,x,y, or z…but extra a, e, g, m, o…a typo irrelevant solution…how is that possible…? I’m getting too sleepy. Damn those capitol letters! _next_ is bed. That’s obvious. I will continue to wrestle this tomorrow if I can fool my staff into thinking I’m working on quarterly reports. “Get through it…” what does that mean? “It”, of course, is the last word. Does that mean through “it” literally?? My mind swirls. Maybe I’ll have holographic dreams… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563/20 "2002-03-13T03:03:54Z")
It sounds as if **Peregrine** is close, but I haven’t seen the sign that indicates P has solved it. **Biotop** , I see from you profile that you’re a puzzle-solver. You should be able to do this, and you’ll like the solution. All the info you need is there in the original message. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-sdmb-cipher-challenge/97563.md?page=2)