Here is a random cryptogram from Cryptograms.org. If you find a solution, please post the aprox. amount of time it took you and/or any things that tripped you up. If you can't figure it out (probably me) let us know what you did get, etc. If you need help on how to try and solve cryptograms, check out your local paper, the website or wikipedia it.
Sorry if the image doesn't turn out. There isn't anyway that I could find on there site to reference a particular game so I had to do a screen shot. I will probably email them since it looks like a nice resource for recurring weekly puzzles. Plus, the interactive version allows you to type in letters and it will fill in all of the rest for you with the same letter.
If anyone figures out how to reference a puzzle from outside, possibly using there Javascript Script ... let me know and I will replace this one with a new one.
In verifying Pat Sajak's name for the post's title, I looked up "Wheel of Fortune" on wikipedia. If you believe them (mom, I know you don't ;-) ), it says that Vanna White and Pat have been doing the show since '83. Could that be possible? She looks real good for having been on TV all of my life ... granted spending most of that time being filmed from across a sound stage probably helps.
6 comments:
I'm not making any progress yet on this crypto, but re: Vanna. She got that gig very young, she was some kind of beauty queen, like Miss America or something. I figure she's been laughing all the way to the bank for a lot of years 'cause she must make a ton of $$ for easy work. Not sure if the '83 start is true, but it does seem like it's been forever.
just checked on the net. she was only a contestant in the Miss Georgia pageant, but she did debut on the Wheel in Dec 1982 and has been there since, so she preceded you by 1/2 a year. Also, she was born in the same year as me, so she's currently 50.
I wanted to let you guys know that I have been "lurking" since the beginning and I enjoy solving the puzzlexors. I get disappointed when they are programming related or you need remainders (who uses those damn things after 3rd grade anyway?! Programmers apparently, who knew?)
Anyway . . . This was my first time ever attempting a cryptogram. I looked at it at lunch today, but ran out of time and just finished solving it tonight. It took me 30 min at work and 5-10 min just now. I had almost everything figured out, but the the 4th word from the beginning and the 6th and 7th words from the end had me stumped for awhile.
Its great to hear that your enjoying them ... what kinds of puzzles do you like the best? I(we) can try and keep a healthy mix of each.
Thats crazy that you were able to solve it in that amount of time. I have spent probably almost an hour on it and haven't gotten very far (although that has been spread over a few days in small chunks).
I am not great at spelling or words (my dad is way better) but figured I could figure it out but I am having real trouble. If you would like to let us know how you solved it (what method or things did you try) that may help the rest of us.
thanks for the comment
I worked on this with mrsLee and finally came up with what might be the answer.
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Our intial observations went like this:
There is only one single one-letter word in the two sentences, so the substitute letter 'E' must either be an 'A' or an 'I'.
Three words occur twice each: LPH, LNJLP, and DC, so if you guess at one, you should plug it in in both places at once.
The word, QTTQCDLH, has a pair of letters bracketed by a different pair, so try to think of words that can have such a pattern. For example, ALLAy, PEEP, and APPArition have such a beginning.
There are no question marks in the punctuation, so question words like WHY or HOW are less likely to begin the first sentence.
There is a word in the first sentence that appears with a two-letter prefix added in the second sentence. UEOEYVH and JYUEOEYVH. This suggests that the two sentences compare or contrast the two words, so maybe the prefix would be like re- or in-.
Letter frequency might help a little, although with cryptograms, the length and focused topic means the puzzle's letter frequency may not be very close to the natural occurence of letters in the english language. Nonetheless, it can't hurt to consider that the top 9 letters in english are often: ETAOINSHR, and in this puzzle the top substitution letters are HLPEDQYCJ.
With no ! or ?, and assuming the sentences are grammatically correct, they should be two declarative phrases. Often short words that begin declarative phrases are subject pronouns (SHE, HE, YOU, etc), possessive adjectives (MY, HER, YOUR), or articles (THE, A). Note that the first sentence begins with LPH which also occurs in the second sentence.
There are no appostrophes, so contractions and possessive forms are not involved. This means that if any negation exists, it would have the isolated word NOT.
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Our actual solution process then worked like this:
Assume LPH = THE. Plug in the T, H, and E's throughout.
The cryptoword LNJLP then becomes T__TH. Teeth? Tooth? No, because the missing letters are different. Finally mrsLee helped me see the TRUTH. Plug in R and U for N and J. Note that TRUTH would then appear in the second sentence too.
Guess that the next cryptoword DC would likely be a verb, so assume DC=IS and sub those letters.
PQIHRHN becomes H__E_ER. HOWEVER popped in to mind by luck. Assuming true, plug in Q=O, I=W, R=V.
Now QTTQCDLH = O__O_ITE. Opposite popped in to mind. Plugged in T=P and D=I.
IPDVP = WHI_H. Probably WHICH. Plug in V=C.
E cannot turn into I for the single letter word, because we found out that D=I, so E=A.
YQL=_OT. Guessed as NOT. Plug Y=N.
Now UEOEYVH=_A_ANCE, so guess BALANCE, which suggests JYUEOEYVH=UNBALANCE.
The puzzle becomes "THE TRUTH IS BALANCE. HOWEVER THE OPPOSITE OF TRUTH, WHICH IS UNBALANCE, _A_ NOT _E A _IE."
Seems like "MAY NOT BE A LIE".
Not sure we fully get the meaning or like the quip, but that's what we think it is. It would sound better with IMBALANCE, but that would mess up other words and letters.
Anyone have a different solution that makes more sense?
I never could figure it out
Good work ladytiger and lees
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