Summer Cipher Challenge Solution
It has been about a month since I posted a cipher puzzle after reading an article about the Kryptos exhibit at the CIA headquarters. The solution is posted below, looking back at the answer the puzzle was actually quite difficult to anyone except people who study cryptology. The major hints in the post was the reference to the Kryptos exhibit and the accompanying Wikipedia page. This page talked about the basic ciphers and translations used on the panels which have been solved already. I used two of the basic ciphers.
Here is the original text once again.
E887p OhyRg bnEgv rNd80 NeA
ZJbgR y9Fhe IpbvZ aenDr rUM
Remove spaces and line breaks
E887pOhyRgbnEgvrNd80NeAZJbgRy9FheIpbvZaenDrrUM
Apply rotation, start top right and spiral clockwise
JbgRy9FheIpbvZaenDrrUME
ZAeN08dNrvgEnbgRyhOp788
Combine two line post into one line
JZbAgeRNy098FdhNerIvpgbEvnZbageRnyDhrOrpU7M8E8
Apply ROT13
WMoNtrEAl098SquAreVictoRiaMontrEalQueBecH7Z8R8
Add Line breaks
WMoNtrEAl
098SquAreVictoRia
MontrEalQueBecH7Z8R8
Inverse the numbers…0 goes to 9, 1 goes to 8, etc.
WMoNtrEAl
901SquAreVictoRia
MontrEalQueBecH2Z1R1
Fix case and add spaces
W Montreal
901 Square Victoria
Montreal, Quebec H2Z 1R1
There you have it, we are staying at the W Hotel in Montreal. You could have solved the puzzle a couple of different ways, the two major tricks used were the Post Rotation and a simple ROT13.