USPuzzle Contest: 4 – Cipher spelled with an i
This week’s puzzle is a code. The code from the fall semester’s puzzles ( http://uspblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/uspuzzles-answer-2/ ) may provide some pointers for how to go about this one, although this one’s subject matter is less meta and more like part of a traditional mystery. Scoring is 1 point for an attempt, 2 points for mostly correct, or 3 points for everything but the quotes complete and correct.
PK ROQJK, O APG AOGGCH KAC KQCPJXQC XHGCQ KAC JKPOQJ. O JTTH YCFPDC JXJNOFOTXJ TR KAC YXKICQ, JT O FAPHLCG KAC ITFPKOTH KT JTDCNIPFC DTQC JCFXQC PHG ICRK P KQPOI TR FIXCJ. KATJC JCCUOHL KAC KQCPJXQC JATXIG ITTU OH P SXOCK FTQHCQ TR KAC PKKOF. EXJK YCHCPKA P RITTQ ETOJK, KACQC OJ P ITFUCG JPRC KAPK ATIGJ PHTKACQ FIXC. KAC FTDYOHPKOTH KT KAC JPRC OJ “BZVMW”. LTTG IXFU, RQOCHGJ.
BONUS POINT! If you can correctly translate the five letters inside the quotes, there is a rare and fabulous BONUS POINT waiting for you! (Also a small quantity of undying respect.) It may help you (or it may not) to know that the unused code letters from the fall puzzle translate as follows (CODED->decoded):
P-> j, J-> q, C-> v, M->z
As always, solutions go to usp.blogmatters@gmail.com Bonus point submissions can arrive under separate cover, just don’t try to brute force the solution. Bonus points represent a higher-order tiebreaker and will not be timed, so you may work on that part at your leisure. Good luck!
