I want to congratulate Strapped-4-Cache on a really nice cache, "Beale's Box". The cipher has a lot of historical significance, and even the location of Beale's original "cache" is familiar to me (I grew up an hour or so from Bedford.)

Decrypting the two Beale-enciphered messages, however, seemed like it was going to take hours. So, I wrote a simple little c program that did it for me. That way I spent more time hunting the cache, and less time at my desk looking up numbers.

My moral dilemma is whether or not to post the deciphering tool for everyone to use. On the one hand, it's kind of a cheat, and S4C might not appreciate that. On the other hand, it does save an awful lot of time, and I'd like to share it -- might make the difference between someone actually hunting the cache, or deciding it's too much trouble. It's not quite like posting the actual answers -- one still has to decipher the message, and even the deciphered message needs some touch-ups to be readable.

So, let me hear from you folks. If S4C or anyone else thinks it ought not be available, then into the bit bucket it goes. If there are no objections, I'll put it on my web server and post the URL.

Scott

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

I have to vote no.

My assumption is that if he wanted it to be a simpler puzzle, he would have made it simpler.

By the way it only takes 10 lines of Perl to decode it, how lines of C did it take?

I agree with Allen on this one. I would vote NO. I hacked through this one and it didn't take that much time.

Though you are very right.
I probably won't do the deciphering, so I probably won't do the cache.

I would have to vote "no" also. It might be nice to supply it to the cache owner so that if someone is handicapped with a short attention span he can give it to them. We do want caches to be as handicapped accessable as possible.

~erik~

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Originally posted by AllenLacy:
By the way it only takes 10 lines of Perl to decode it, how lines of C did it take?

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Could have done it in perl or php too, just felt like using c that day, nostalgia I guess. The program is about 14 lines, but could have been shorter if I didn't use so much whitespace ... I like clarity.

I also didn't use the list of words from the Beale pamphlet, but a transcript of the actual Declaration, which seemed more fun to me. In the process I discovered that many transcripts of the declaration differ in a couple of words... "meantime" vs. "mean time", etc.

Didn't realize there was another codesmith among us, good to know...

Scott

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

[This message was edited by ScottJ on October 07, 2003 at 01:35 PM.]

You all make good points, I won't post my cheat. Thanks for all the input, that's what forums like this are great for.

Scott

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Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

my Algebra II class

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We do want caches to be as handicapped accessable as possible.

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Eye wood vot not to put thee cheet on line, two. How wood a handykapt casher get thee anser if hee kant dew it?


"Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when it cries, and you'll have a fine pig and a bad child." -Proverb

That this cache would spawn a thread of its own. I just happened to look in on the forum a few minutes ago and noticed the header.

I appreciate everyone's responses, not only about the cache itself, but also about releasing a 'decryptor' for the code.

I've sent out some basic directions to a few people so that they could use Excel and a word processor to decrypt the code. (Unfortunatlely I'm not a programmer, so I have to use the tools I know how to use.) If someone's having a problem, I'd rather they have an opportunity to hunt it than to just write it off entirely.

I know that this one will make your eyes cross and your hand cramp if you have to do it by hand, so I don't have a problem with having a machine do the work for you. That's what we have them for, right? I'd just prefer that they be passed around quietly rather than be made public. The reading of the history of the cache was intended to be part of the fun.

If anyone wants my instructions on the Excel/word processor solution, feel free to email me. I'll be happy to point you in the right direction or give you explicit directions. If anyone has the correct compilers, contact ScottJ or AllenLacy for their solutions. As I said, I'd rather it be visited than passed over just because of the effort involved. And anyway, it's a pretty nice place to visit.

I've discussed another idea with ~erik~ regarding another historical code cache, but I'm still wrestling with the logistics. He has given me some great advice - I just have to find a way to implement it. Hopefully I'll be able to place it soon, once my work and home schedule lets up a bit.

Thanks again for the encouragement!

S-4-C

I struggled through about half of Paper1 by hand, till Maggie came in and showed me how to use the find feature in Word. Really not a whole lot faster, but now have the shorter of the two papers decipherd. Anyone willing to share a quicker solution for deciphering Paper2? Can you please email me before I go blind? -JB

jbzhow:

I'm sending some information to you now. Hope this helps out.

S-4-C