Press enter after choosing selection

Secret Codes #4

You've already learned how to use the Caesar cipher from the badge Secret Codes #3. But UH OH, here's an enciphered text and we don't know the key! How will we solve it?

ZNKZKXXUXCNOINCUARJTUZKTJLUXGTUZNKXZCKTZEKOMNZEKGXYOLOZKBKX
JOJKTJHKMGTYULGXGYOQTUCUXIGTZKRRCOZNGHUGZSGJKLXUSGYNKKZULTK
CYVGVKXLRUGZOTMJUCTGMAZZKXYCURRKTCOZNXGOT

One way to solve it is by using frequency analysis! The graph below shows the most common letters in the ciphertext.

frequency analysis of the ciphertext

This badge has been awarded to 332 players

Sign in to see clues and check your progress on this badge

Comments

In case it's useful to future badge solvers: I tried figuring out this badge by using letter frequencies alone and got stuck, even though I have decrypted cryptic message puzzles that way in the past and know what to do. But the description of this badge says, "You've already learned how to use the Caesar cipher from the badge Secret Codes #3," -- and that may be helpful information.

Thanks for giving this a try! If you assume that the highest frequency letter in the original text is an E, and then compare that to the highest frequency letter in the ciphertext, K -- as given in the chart, you will find the key. Remember, the key is the number of positions each letter is shifted by. So if you shift each letter back by that number of spaces in the alphabet, you should find the original message. You only need to look at the highest frequency letter to find the key to the whole cipher.

And somewhere there was a hint about a Stephen King novel, so that's what I thought the first two words were, and was unsuccessful there...

You remember correctly! The hint to solve this cipher says that the game code is the first two words of a Stephen King novel. HINT: the badge might give you a clue as to which novel the text is taken from...

Badge Series
Winter Game's Secret Codes and Ciphers
Winter Game's Solve

Game
SummerGame2021

Difficulty
⭐️⭐️ Tricky 2 of out 4 difficulty

Badge Points
100

Back to play.aadl.org