Puzzles/Clues

The Bucket

Old/Crypto Words

Cryptology is the study of encoding an decoding messages as well as the mathematical foundations of cryptographic messages, the word cryptology originates from the Greek word kryptos which means hidden.

Cipher refers to an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption, the word originates from the Arabic word sifr which means the digit zero.

A pangram is a sentence containing each letter of the alphabet at least once.

Trust is the basis for all cryptosystems and for secrecy in communications. Trust requires verification mechanisms. Secrecy does not exist in the absence of trust.

A prime number has no factors other than one and itself. Large prime numbers are an important element of modern cryptography.

Cryptanalysis is the art of breaking, or decrypting, the message without the use of the appropriate key. Code-breakers are individuals who intercept or retrieve information not intended for them.

Steganography is the practice of concealing information within another message or image.

Kludge refers to a temporary fix to a problem. It is typically messy and ugly but if it works it works. Often found in code.

The Enigma machine was a complex electromechanical encoding device with 15 billion billion possible settings. It was originally designed for banks then used by the Nazis and cracked by Alan Turing.

Treppenwitz, or staircase wit, refers to the phenomena wherein excellent and witty comebacks for a conversation occur not during the conversation itself but on the staircase on your way out.

Pangrams

Grumpy wizards make toxic brew for the evil Queen and Jack.

The public was amazed to view the quickness and dexterity of the juggler.

A mad boxer shot a quick, gloved jab to the jaw of his dizzy opponent.

About sixty codfish eggs will make a quarter pound of very fizzy jelly.

Quotes

It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years. - John Von Neumann

In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them. - John Von Neumann

For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. - JFK

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - Sherlock Holmes, A Scandal in Bohemia

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. - Richard Feynman

I was provided with additional input that was radically different from the truth. I assisted in furthering that version. - Colonel Oliver North, from his Iran-Contra testimony.

The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein. - Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.

I don’t mind authority, but not authoritarian authority. After all, the bus driver is allowed to be the boss of the bus. But if he’s bad at driving, he’s not going to be a bus driver anymore. - Terry Pratchett

Mathematics is an empirical science much as Newtonian mechanics. It is correct only to the extent that it works and when it does not, it must be modified. it is not a priori knowledge even though it was so regarded for two thousand years. It is not absolute or unchangeable. - Morris Kline

We made too many wrong mistakes. - Yogi Berra

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice there is. - Walter J. Savitch, Pascal: An Introduction to the Art and Science of Programming (1984)

Number Facts

54 can be written as the sum of three squares in three different ways.

518 = 5 cubed plus 1 cubed plus 8 cubed

836 squared is a palindromic number 836*836 = 698896

1729 is a taxicab number, a number that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different ways

Story

See Puzzles/Crypto_Level_1/Puzzle_1#Story

Solution

The Tokens

Mersenne

The Procedure

Caesar shift cipher