Good to see so many of you signed up already, and delighted to see some familiar faces and some new ones on the Forum.
The first challenge will be posted at 3pm on 8th October, but there is plenty to do before then. You can take a look at the books in our Library, which includes several you can download for free and which you might find helpful. A good place to start is with the official guide to breaking codes and ciphers, the BOSS Cryptanalyst Guide. If you are running a Codes and Ciphers club, you might like to take a look at our First Steps guide. six slide decks we provide on the BOSS Resources page, and you will find some really useful tools to help you get started on our BOSS Deciphering tools page.
If you have any suggestions for things we should host here then let us know in the forum. Everyone can read the posts there and once you are registered then you can start threads or reply to posts yourself. If you need to get in touch with us directly then you can email Harry, Jodie and the Elves* at cipher@soton.ac.uk.
If you want to know more about how we will mark the competition then head over to our Find Out More pages, specifically here! Scores for the Part A challenges don’t depend on how fast you crack them as long as you do it before the end of each round. For part B we reward speed AND accuracy and the points schedule is listed for each round on the part B challenge page. Just click on the Schedule link.
Have fun!
*The Elves are our official helpers. They work on the website, organise the prize giving and moderate and post on the Forum. Unfortunately they are on loan from the North Pole, so they have other important duties at this time of year, and as we get closer to the holidays you may find them a little busy and slower to respond. Please be patient. We wouldn’t want you to end up on the wrong list for Christmas!