Hints:
1. "Entangled," "entwined," and "disorganized" are all good descriptions for this code, but the best description is "disorderly." Well... maybe second best!
2. Are you seeing double?
3. Only have half a sentence? What are the parentheses for, exactly?
Decryption:
Basically, each number is like a "goto" command. Whenever we come accross a number, for example, a 12, we should look for the other 12 and start reading again from there. There may be a little trial and error at first to figure out what the parentheses and asterisks mean, but not too much. As you should find out, the numbers in parentheses should be ignored for now, and that asterisks after the 'y' indicate the end of the message. When reaching a line break, you just go on to the next line.
When we untangle the order of letters, this is what we get:
T(h)IsENCryP(t)IOn(S)oLddEsCriPTiONonLy
With correct spaces, punctuation, and capitalization, this reads:
This encryption's old description only
This doesn't make much sense by itself, because it is only half of a sentence. To find the other half of the sentence, it might be a good idea to take a closer look at the code. Not only do all the numbers come in pairs, all the letters come in pairs too (not including things inside parentheses). The letter pairs, something I intended, probably accounts for the strange, rhyming words in the half-sentence.
All the clues seem to point towards repeating the same thing, but instead of getting a string of letters, you must get a string of numbers. Now, the letters are the goto commands. The very first number to read should be the 9 after the second 'T'. The string of numbers ends at the asterisks after the 5.
When we untangle the order of numbers, this is what we get:
9 14 3 12 2 14 5 4 20 85 19 91 (4) 7 12 51 6 81 81 19 51 91 6 1 7 85 20 2 (0) 9 3 1 (5) 4 5
The first thing you should try is to convert it to letters, alphanumerically (A=1, B=2, C=3...). Ignore spaces.
included the single phrase spaghetti code
So the full message, with punctuation, is the following:
This encryption's old description only
included the single phrase "spaghetti code."
What does this sentence mean? "Spaghetti code" was another title I previously had considered for this puzzle. Spaghetti code is a phrase that is used for overly convoluted computer programming code, often code that includes many goto commands. You may search the internet for "spaghetti code" for a more formal definition. |
