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And then the problems start - the question wording combined with the web
page instructions are REALLY unclear. It must have taken me about 30 attempts at different interpretations (plus I realised I had overlooked something in my first attempted answer). Frankly, for a web-site like
this the challenge is supposed to be in the encryption/decryption,
right?
Not in spending half an hour working out by trial/error what format text string the answer page is coded to accept... :/
On Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:49:46 +0000, Mike Terry wrote:
Well, I haven't decrypted anything yet.
Then again I've not made a really serious effort - I saw that it looked
like one of those "permuted block" cyphers where you write the text into
a block in one order and extract it in a different order. I tried a
couple of obvious possibilities then got discouraged when they didn't
work out. There are literally hundreds of possibilities I could try, but
don't really have the time right now...
Yes, it's all just for fun. The clue provided may help a bit with the particular permutation.
"M: Groan. This one will get you in a spin. If you get mixed up. Take a
deep breath and count to three"...
Although based around ciphers and cryptography, the competition presents
the questions as puzzles and may be of interest to some here. It has
just started, so Chapter 1 is available now.
https://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/cryptography/
On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 09:43:42 -0000 (UTC), David Entwistle wrote:
Although based around ciphers and cryptography, the competition presents
the questions as puzzles and may be of interest to some here. It has
just started, so Chapter 1 is available now.
https://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/cryptography/
If anyone is trying these puzzles, The clue and answer to the Chapter 4 question have been corrected this morning.
?? It looks exactly the same as before to me. What was changed?
(I have not found the answer to this one yet.)
On Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:51:44 +0000, Mike Terry wrote:
?? It looks exactly the same as before to me. What was changed?
(I have not found the answer to this one yet.)
I'd give it another go with any answer you may have tried previously...
I couldn't find an answer that was accepted, despite having the decrypt
for more than a week, so got in touch. They replied "Apologies. We had a
typo in our solution and in the clue. These have now been corrected and
your (correct) answer should now work".
You'll also see on the web page "19th February 2025: Answer corrected".
Not sure how the problem was solved in ten minutes of going live, if they didn't have the right answer themselves. I guess that was just a fluke.
The clue was just a bit mangled and read "M: Groan. This one is more will
get you in a spin. If you get mixed up. Take a deep breath and count to three". It has now been corrected to read correctly.
The maths element is more difficult than the cipher - for me anyway.
Well, I haven't decrypted anything yet.
Then again I've not made a really serious effort - I saw that it looked
like one of those "permuted block" cyphers where you write the text into
a block in one order and extract it in a different order. I tried a
couple of obvious possibilities then got discouraged when they didn't
work out. There are literally hundreds of possibilities I could try, but don't really have the time right now...