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Wonderful! Thank you!
I see that on day 0 there were no cards shown. Does that mean that on the first day
of the challenge, contestants could only work from the faded note under the deck? Or
were the day 1 cards released at the same time as the ciphertext? Thanks again.I really can’t remember, but I guess that might have been it. Alternatively we published a teaser before the challenge went live, but I don’t remember that either! Anyone else know?
Harry
Hey, Harry,
So… you know how you post PNGs of the ciphertexts on twitter? I created an account just
now to see if you posted any from previous years. After about ten minutes of looking at
your posts from 2018 and 2019, twitter blocked my account for suspicious activity. Now
they are demanding that I give them personal information and pass some stupid test to
get unblocked. Anyway, I got 2017 1, 2, 3 before I was booted.This is why I hate corporate tech.
Got 2015, 2016, and 1,2,3 of 2017. It was possible as an anonymous user without logging in.
But your twitter feed ends in 2015. Just stops. Maybe I’m just not allowed to see it.Anyway, a suggestion: put the last challenge this year on computer punchcards.
Harry, do you notice how, on the first challenge 1A, the cipher wheel jumps after each decrypt (also the affine bar in 2A) this happens because the text-space alters. I believe the reason for this is due to the font used, Arial in this case. What is needed is a fixed width font (where the letter I takes up as much space as an M) the font I use is Courier New, ciphers cry out for good alignment!
It would be so much better if you could get the web page makers to use this font for your ciphers and for the forum entries. In my ‘Free time cipher challenge’ post I had the alphabet lined up with the numbers – it does not look so nice on the forum.
This site would be 100% perfect if it could use a fixed font in the right places.
What do you think? Maybe next year, eh?
PS I do not see any credits as to who chooses and/or makes the ciphers and the very good story lines each year, surly they need a mention.
This is a very good point. We allowed style to lead function here and it might have been a mistake! We were keen to use fonts that were in keeping with the theme, but a good fixed width would have worked better. Might not change it for this year, though will keep it under review and will try to remember the lesson for next year’s site!
As for the other questions, what do you think Harry does, other than help you lot solve the mystery?!
I have also had problems with edge on 4 different computers, making the site stop responding regularly. It seems to reload the background/images very often or something?
Apologies – a small bug bit us in the marker. Fixing it now and will remark later. Hope no-one is too worried.
If you are try submitting again and you should see the correct mark for the new submission, but let us know if there still appears to be a problem.
Harry
Yes, I see it is fixed. Can you retroactively rescore my original submission? The time difference is about 45 minutes, which can make a big difference in the leader board. I know it really doesn’t matter, but it’s a question of computational pride. Thank you!
Will do once the dust has settled. Need to give the Elves time to lie down in a darkened room for a while! Thanks to everyone for pointing out the error and apologies for the worry.
All the best,
Harry
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