Sherlock Ciphers to Tackle

Last updated on: January 11, 2014 at 1:44 pm by Leah Libresco

Sherlock Ciphers to Tackle 2014-01-11T13:44:34-05:00 Leah Libresco

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This weekend, I’m hosting friends for the season finale of Sherlock. Inspired by Lemony Snicket, I sent out the invitation with a simple hidden message for close readers and promised them that I’d cook them something blackmail related at the party. Now, I’ve chosen what to make for them to eat, and I need somewhere to put the new ciphertext revealing the answer. I figured I’d put it here and you all can play along, if you’d like.

Both blocks of ciphertext encode the same plaintext. The first one is considerably easier to decrypt than the second, so if you want, you can tackle the first one, and then use the revealed plaintext to help you figure out how I encrypted the second block. Or you can jump straight for the challenge. (And no complaining I didn’t use one time pads or that I left the punctuation in, this is supposed to be a game, not secure). So here comes the ciphertexts, each with its own hint:

I tossed this one together quickly, according to a traditional recipe.

D’H XJQZMZY PK, WPO WPWWGDIB VRVT DINDYZ. D’H NZGYJH NKDXT, WPO V GDOOGZ CJO OJ CVIYGZ. VIY DO’N CVMY IJO OJ WZ V GDOOGZ NPNKDXDJPN RCZI OCZMZ’N NJHZOCDIB V GDOOGZ AJMZDBI, JM NJHZ RJPGY NVT MJOOZI VWJPO HZ. (IJ, IJO YZIHVMF). WPO HJNO KZJKGZ GDFZ OJ DIYPGBZ DI HZ, ZSXZKO OCZ ZSKJNZY JM DIOJGZMVIO (OJ GVXOJNZ, OCVO DN).
WZ NZZDIB TJP.

One hint about the food, the ingredients don’t include anything as acidic as lemons or vinegar, though I can’t quite say the same for the text below. And don’t ask for another hint, I’m not your housekeeper!

p’g fgjryyg md, obn emposcqy ojhs lfgvky. l’e grsxre gcpwb, tig h fllhyl brl hb ouqvzr. hhg ah’f ouuv bba nr ts n scwlzr zovhwppixk kulh wzsel’m vgarablfu n scwlzr miuwwtu, iu kczl qrmzq zub jcgayq spbbn pw. (bb, uiw vsatuuc). pha grkh clisds ypeh lc vuxxdur ph pw, skjysl hul yahcflx rj waaiowfnun (wg znjnrks, gouw ag).
ol mhwwan srm.

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