Your clue is “5”
Here travel code pie war wagon the is similar to civil figure help president a a what the it can abe secret using was during out you lincoln elephant message river used rocky and
…
Now that you’ve got it, let’s try another:
….
Your clue is “4”
One baseball living plastic to pony of about in able meet people the things Brattleboro being so interesting tower best birds is chocolate many.
Take you mind off the election
… and give the puzzles a try. It will distract you!
I will supply answers, later
As with the last one, I’ll give a bit of time for people to work on solutions, then I’ll reveal the codes if no one cracks ’em.
Hmmmm.
I was able to create two logical sentences from the first string of words, but only if I omitted a lot of words including “elephant, wagon, help, travel, pie and rocky river.” Then I ran out of verbs.
So I know that sounds like I got nowhere, but, the two sentences were directly related to each other, and to the challenge at hand. They read so well, and seem so tempting, that it is hard to accept that I wasn’t on the right path.
But, I am apparently no closer to a solution, and have no idea what the number 5 has to do with anything.
This is like wandering in a town you lived in briefly, as a child. Everything seems familiar and easy, but nothing really is familiar or easy.
A for effort
You are very close, and deleting is part of the solution.
But, but ???
If I am very close, then, is it even necessary to know the meaning of the code word “5′ for example ?
The first one consisted of two sentences, and they made perfect sense together.
Likewise the second one, I mean, I was able to construct a very true statement about a certain town, without knowing what “4” means . . .
Is it possible to find the meaning without knowing the meaning of the code number?
one more clue
The clue does help. You may have a sentence, but the clue will get you the right sentence. (though, lotsa rearranging plus the deleting might get you there, too).
Here’s another clue: down and up
Clearly
I need to read up on Lincoln and his codes.
I have tried finding references on this, but so far have failed.
Oops
Ack! In writing up the solution I realized I made a mistake.
First one should read (and I’m correcting it above…):
“Here travel code pie war wagon the is similar to civil figure help president a a what the it can abe secret using was during out you lincoln elephant message river used rocky and”
The 2nd one remains correct.
I found a reference, but fail to see how to apply it
I found a reference that explained a lot but was unable to apply it.
I remain, sir, highly interested in this puzzle.
How I made the code
Here’s how I got to it. The original message is:
Here is a secret message using a similar code to what was used during the Civil War. Figure it out and you can help the President Abe Lincoln.
1. Every 5th is nonsense… so we add nonsense words:
Here is a secret elephant message using a similar travel code to what was river used during the Civil pie War. Figure it out rocky and you can help wagon the President Abe Lincoln.
2. Then lay it out going down then up 5, to get:
Here travel code pie war wagon the
is similar to civil figure help president
a a what the it can abe
secret using was during out you lincoln
elephant message river used rocky and
3. Then write back out like a sentence again, and you get:
Here travel code pie war wagon the is similar to civil figure help president a a what the it can abe secret using was during out you lincoln elephant message river used rocky and
Now that you’ve got it, let’s try another
Original: One of the best things about living in Brattleboro is being able to meet so many interesting people.
Every 4th is nonsense: One of the tower best things about baseball living in Brattleboro birds is being able plastic to meet so chocolate many interesting people pony
Into columns of 4:
One baseball living plastic to pony
of about in able meet people
the things Brattleboro being so interesting
tower best birds is chocolate many
Leaves the code: One baseball living plastic to pony of about in able meet people the things Brattleboro being so interesting tower best birds is chocolate many
…..
In the real code, they also used substituiions – code names for locations and people. They also had a null entry to designate some blank spaces to make it an evenly arranged grid ox X across and down.
I was able to get to the sentences without the methodology
I mean, it wasn’t necessary to know the decoding method to arrive at the sentences. The first one had some errors in it, but not much. The second one, I got exactly.
It was the whole word equivalent of doing an anagram or word scramble. I omitted the right words, kept the remainder, and switched their order, and created likely phrases.
I am suprised Abe used such a simple sentence scrambler, when there were more complex ones available way before the 1860s.
the code
Again, if I had done the full code and had substitutions and battle plans, I doubt you would have deciphered as easily. They also used more words and a larger grid. I tried to make it simple to allow successful cracking.
Here is some more on the original.
Give it a try….
Thanks !
That is great. Very interesting. Thanks for explaining. It gives me some great ideas for new codes.