Friday, July 17, 2009

CRYPTOLOGIC HISTORY

Hi all,
The following is a snippet from Cryptologic History:
............................................
The story may be apocryphal, but the following cable, filed in New York by a reporter from a foreign newspaper, came to the attention of the U.S. telegraph censors early in World War I.

Was this a case of English text written by a non-native speaker, or was some sort of code involved?

"PRESIDENT’S EMBARGO RULING SHOULD HAVE IMMEDIATE NOTICE. GRAVE SITUATION AFFECTING INTERNATIONAL LAW. STATEMENT FORESHADOWS RUIN OF MANY NEUTRALS. YELLOW JOURNALS UNIFYING NATIONAL EXCITEMENT IMMENSELY. "
........................................
What do you think?

Dave Israel
at

6 comments:

  1. The NutmeggerJul 17, 2009, 8:44:00 PM

    David:

    When I read the word
    CRYPT right away I
    thought GREAT. Dave is
    going to test my brain
    but I was wrong.
    It is definitely a CODE.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UCO PresidentJul 17, 2009, 9:09:00 PM

    Hi Nut,
    Jul 17, 2009 8:44:00 PM,

    That will not do Grasshopper! if it is a code as you claim; what does it decode to?

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  3. The NutmeggerJul 18, 2009, 10:57:00 AM

    David:

    It took a little brain
    work but patience prevailed.

    ANSWER:

    Pershing sails from NY
    June 1.

    The secret??

    First letter of every word.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UCO PresidentJul 18, 2009, 11:22:00 AM

    Hi Nut
    Jul 18, 2009 10:57:00 AM,

    You are, of course, correct.
    You get one gold star.

    This method of concealment is a variant of "Steganography"; I leave it to our BLOGGERS to research this term.

    Perhaps I shall put a few more Cryptologic History items in the BLOG.

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  5. LannyJul 18, 2009, 9:04:00 PM

    Please do give us some more puzzles, Dave, but don't make them too hard and don't publish the Nutmegger's actual solution (unless it is wrong) till we mortals have had a chance. Enjoyed the exchange between the two of you as always—I think maybe more than the puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The NutmeggerJul 19, 2009, 9:52:00 AM

    Being a Gemini according
    to astrology I am a twin
    within myself. I have a
    smart side but I also have
    a DUMB side. It was the
    dumb side of me who gave
    the solution of breaking
    the code. After I posted
    it I said "nut...that was
    really STUPID."

    ReplyDelete

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