Challenge 10B
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[Edited by Harry]
Harry, censor as much as you want from this (but please don’t censor all of it)
Ho ho ho! Is that what you meant? Harry
AGHGHAGHGAHGAHGHGHGHGHGHHHHHH
No Harry, I didn’t mean it like that, please do not do that again.
What should we do if we have conjectures which are too hard to test due to big search space?
I think I have an idea about how this works, but there is no way we are finding the key using a Python attack.
Do the Case Files clues start very obvious or do they already assume you have made nontrivial progress?This would be telling! Harry
HELP ME
aedrotborlikbwntloeifdgnoliknhwolikdfhogikbwokbheorfigbouwbroeutgbo
i have been banging my head on the keyboard for the last 24 hours trying do try doing 10b cos we did 10a in a couple of minutes and gave 10b a go… and still giving it a go… and eroifgbnouwbhoruejdbogujrbwolrutfbouvbwroltnf this happens
There is NO way that my team is solving this without a good hint or two…
Well luckily …. (though the good hints will follow some less good ones I’m afraid). Harry
I’m going insane over here AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH
As someone who usually wakes up at 12pm the time bands are Not helping :/
One of the most difficult things I find with Challenge 10B every year, apart from the cipher itself, is taking a break. In the midst of chaotic, spiralling ideas on how to crack the final cipher, it’s so easy to fall into that trap of “I’m so close… just a bit longer…” and then 4 hrs later your eyes hurt, brain’s fried, and you’re resisting the urge to throw your laptop out the window.
It feels completely counterintuitive, but stepping away really does help. And even though I know that, I still find it hard to move away when I’m in the zone. I just wanted to write this post because I’m sure a lot of you out there can also relate to this feeling, so I thought I’d share a few things that have helped me reset and come back with an insight for 10B, and maybe they might help you too:
– Write down what you know – every hour or just pick a timeframe, jot down everything you’ve figured out about the cipher, even the obvious stuff, especially the obvious stuff. Key lengths/repeated n-grams/ letter positions/cipher text arrangement/cribs, etc. It’s easy to feel like you’re not making much progress, but when you see it on paper, it’s surprising how much you’ve actually uncovered, and it helps track progress
– Have a snack/remember to eat – the brain burns a ridiculous amount of energy when you’re problem-solving, and as I’ve been told many times in training: food is fuel.
– Check in with your team if you have one – it’s easy to disappear into your own rabbit hole of ideas so it’s always useful take a moment to sync and share weird hunches, and remind each other to take breaks as well.
– Setting expectations at home if need be – my family is always made well aware that I will be busy during cipher challenge season, especially at the end so know what to/not to expect from me. I find that this definitely does reduce some background stress
– Slightly unconventional, but I have a special hoodie I only wear when working on the cipher challenge (sadly it doesn’t have any actual powers, but having a dedicated codebreaking hoodie does make me feel extra geeky). When I take a break, I physically change out of it. It sounds silly but that very act of changing the hoodie helps me switch mental gears and actually rest. As much as we all love the challenge, I’m sure we all have other things (including food and sleep) that need getting done and I just found that having a physical reminder helped me compartmentalise
This is my fifth year doing the challenge, and honestly, my only real regret was not sticking with 10B till the end in my second year. I gave up too early and convinced I was going nowhere after working on it for just over a day, only to see others break through with just a bit more persistence. What I’ve learned since then is that hints do come, but you’ve got to have patience. They’re mostly be subtle or buried under obscure forum comments, or phrased in a way that only makes sense after you’ve cracked it.
It’s funny but I think that if you’re annoyed at this cipher, that’s kind of amazing in itself. It means you’ve found something that you care about, something that’s gripped your attention so much you’re still here, thinking and trying, and that’s rare. Most people go through life bored by what they do because let’s be real, if a bunch of weirdly spaced letters and numbers are making you want to throw your keyboard across the room, maybe that’s just be a sign you’ve found something worth fighting with (and for), and that’s a great thing!
Well done to anyone who’s cracked 10B, and equally well done to anyone who’s still going on because it is genuinely tough. And remember that the feeling of finally solving it is always worth the storm of frustration and patience and mild existential crisis or whatever mix of emotions it takes to get there!
As myself and my team can also hopefully attest to, this year’s final challenge has been a humbling experience. Hats off to the code setters!
asdfgdhfjDf! I think I’ve figured out the first part of the encryption, but there are so many things I could do with it and I’ve been trying for so long, I’ll get halfway through something and realise I’ve already tried that. The ‘aha’ moment better make all this worth it (I’m sure it will!). Hope you guys are doing better than us right now! Good luck 🙂
Same! For us at least, 10A was fairly straightforward but 10B… honestly… HELP
After data mining and collating it I know what the ciphertext has and does not have
but to put it to use is awaiting a eureka moment.
@Harry, as a truth teller, is 10B based on 1, 2 or 3?
1 A known classic cipher
2 A variation of a known classic cipher
3 A new, as yet unknown, made up cipherI am pretty sure you will have already guessed my answer: Yes! Harry
Important question – does the exclamation mark make it more true, or does it invert the truth value? And do we assume Harry is a knight or a knave…?
We’re thinking perhaps hex of some sort that converts to letters then morse code then text somehow?
@Crackerjack_404 eloquently put and I very much agree with everything you said. I love the codebreaking hoodie, might steal that idea!
I’ve also found that writing my thoughts down is very useful. I do this continuously, writing down what I try and crucially why, and then what I can determine from the outcome (visual inspection, single and multiple letter frequencies & alphabet lengths, IoC, periodic IoC, repeats, letter placement). This includes all observations and patterns: obvious or subtle.
I then use what I think of as the scientific method; for example: make a hypothesis about how the text was encrypted, use that to make a prediction about some statistical properties of the ciphertext (sometimes I try encrypting a corpus with my hypothesized cipher so I can compare various stats), and see how well this explains the properties of the ciphertext I have noticed.
The most important thing is to keep coming up with possibilities, because eventually you will come up with something that clicks with the information you’ve gleamed from the ciphertext. If you can’t think of anything else to try, that’s a sign that you need a break: do some household tasks, make yourself a snack, explain to someone (even, and perhaps especially, if they are not involved in the cipher challenge) what you know about the cipher, and then come back with some fresh ideas to try.
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