Hi Beo :D

Can you check Puzzle One for me, please?  Unless you've made it harder than puzzle 2, I think there may be a typo in the first two groups at least?  Or, is the Agatha Christie Quote in Belgian?

Or I could just be stupid, in which case feel free to tell me to shut up! :p

First two code groups in puzzle 1 are confirmed, I re-enciphered the text and it came out the same way.

Happy hunting,

Puzzle 1.

An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her.

Ok, if that is the answer I am going to throw things, thats one of the few Agatha Christie quotes I actually know !

Beowulf please tell me Le_Donage is incorrect ! :(

Also kindly note that answers should be send in mobmail and not posted in here untill Beowulf has confirmed it's correct and you're the winner.

Nice contest and all, but quiet frankly I don't get the techniques or purpose of Cryptograms. Good luck with this everyone.

Le_Donage's solution is incorrect. Puzzle 1 is still open for grabs, as is the original method used to encipher Puzzle 2.

For puzzle's twos method, I simply need the cipher alphabet and keyword.

Banzai, the purpose of cryptograms is to hide information. The techniques require time and training, but anyone can learn them :-)

As it has been 48 hours without a solution to Puzzle 1, I am posting a hint: ihnt

Good luck all :-)

Dear god these puzzles are killing me. damn beowulf you must be a smart one to have created these.

Hades goes back to scribbling possible answers on a paper

Attention all! BoabyWanKenobi has successfully figured out the original method used to encrypt Puzzle 2 and has been awarded the other half of the money. Puzzles 1,3,4,5 are still up for grabs!

Puzzle 2 Keyword: IzzyCreamCheese

Keyword seen below in this alphabet:

a-i b-z c-y d-c e-r f-e g-a h-m i-h j-s k-b l-d m-f n-g o-j p-k q-l r-n s-o t-p u-q v-t w-u x-v y-w z-x

Is there any progress? Many days have passed and puzzle one is still open.

I've had no new guesses to puzzle 1, I'm very disappointed. Especially after the HINT (nith)

The Xs are a big hint as well.

Can't believe I'm saying it after this long, but Puzzle 1 was just solved of Chich!

Your accountant makes note that $100,000 has been wired to chich from your account.

The solution is: "Too much mercy often resulted in further crimes which were fatal to innocent victims who need not have been victims if justice had been put first and mercy second."

100k is still open on this puzzle for the method :-)

I think I know a little bit to puzzle 5 but it took me a full 2 weeks and I'm still a long way from finished....but if in a couple of years I do finish how do you know if its correct Beowulf since nobody has ever made any progress on it in the last 12 years!!!??

They would look at your method and mach it up I would say. And the man whos made the code is still alive and he has the answer in a deposit box. He will check it.

Toni --

I work with a lot of cryptanalysts, we'll take your solution and check it for validity.

You know what, because I'm such a sport, I'm going to put up 50 million for the answer to the fifth puzzle. The stipulations being that if you DO break it, and get the 50 million, MafiaReturns gets equal credit. (free advertising, you know?)

That's freaking awesome. God damned I wish I was sm3rt like Anubis.

That's a cheap bump right there.

I do a lot of cryptograms just for fun. As I was reading through all these post I went and tried to match the answer for puzzle 1 with the cryptogram and it doesn't match. In a cryptogram each letter is supposed to stand for 1 letter only and it can never stand for the same letter. For example, THE SMART CAT would become MRX DGYUM LYM. Ms would equal Ts, so on and so forth but puzzle 1 has letters that don't fit together. When deciphered to match the letters they don't come together like they should.

Never mind I got it but this is giving me quite the headache. Don't think I'm gonna try to do the others since there seems to be no set pattern. I like it when there is order to my chaos.

PaigeStanislopolous.

I'm Canislupus Beowulfson. The puzzles above are all regular cryptograms. Your background of solving cryptograms sounds like it is limited primarily to those commonly found in books and magazines which are commonly referred to as "Monoalphabetic Substitution Ciphers"

As Beowulf is no longer around, the contest is not currently ongoing (Other than Puzzle 5 which Anubis has staked new prize money on!!! Awesome Anubis!)

Puzzle 1 was not a substitution cipher at all as you seem to believe, it was encrypted using a straight columnar Transposition method and thus was totally ordered (No chaos -as you call it- at all).

Puzzle 2 was a monoalphabetic substitution cipher (The type you apparently are familiar with)

Puzzle 3 was a Quagmire III variant polyaphabetic substitution cipher

Puzzle 4 was encrypted with Enigma

Prize money is still out for Puzzle 5 -- so feel free to give it a try.