Kryptos Variant Beaufort by Zac S

September 20, 2013, 11:34 am

≫ Next: NSA Kryptos FOIA Response

≪ Previous: Timescape and KryptosFreak

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Could everyone take a look at Zac’s work with Kryptos and give him some feedback?

I’m trying to get it to embed properly so there might be some changes to this post over time.  The Excel file doesn’t want to fit so that you can see it all.  What he’s trying to show is conveniently on the left of the table and can actually be seen this way.

Here’s the excel file, his original copy was much neater:

Zac

STEP ONE: THE MATRIX – Rearrange the existing matrix of K1-K3 cipher text to equal rows of 30 and do the same for the plain text matrix.

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STEP TWO: STEGANOGRAPHY / PALIMPSEST – Start by looking at the new plain text matrix. Starting form the “U” in “buried” from K2 and then work your way down 3 additional letters. Then start from the “C” in “seconds” (five se”C”onds north) and work your way down 3 additional letters. You’ll see the words USSR CITY.

STEP THREE: COORDINATES (ABSCISSA) – Now find the exact same letter positions in the cipher text matrix.  The characters should be YFICXUEI.

STEP FOUR: VARIANT BEAUFORT – Apply the letter sequence as a partial OTP pass key to solving K4 using the Vigenere encryption method BUT instead of decoding you need to encode K4. This is also called Variant Beaufort cipher.

ALPHABET KEY: KRYPTOS
PASS KEY: YFICXUEI
PARTIAL K4 FRAGMENT: FBNYPVTT (includes the NYPVTT clue plus 2 additional letters)

SOLUTION: HQ BERLIN

STEP FIVE: If this is the method then find the remaining hidden text within the PT matrix and figure out where to apply it in the K4 sequence. Solved?

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: Beaufort, Berlin, kryptos, NYPVTT, Variant, Zac S

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NSA Kryptos FOIA Response

October 1, 2013, 11:55 am

≫ Next: Jim Sanborn’s TNG Talk

≪ Previous: Kryptos Variant Beaufort by Zac S

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The NSA finally responded to my Kryptos FOIA (2 years later) and it wouldn’t have been possible without Pamela Phillips so rag on the NSA all you want but their FOIA/PA office was wonderful to work with.  Not only did they answer my emails but served my FOIA request in the midst of this summer’s surveillance kerfuffle.

Follow the picture link to start:

Or, if you like text links: click here to start at page 1 of the NSA’s response to my Kryptos FOIA.

I put everything up so no one wondered if I kept anything significant back, there’s some duplication between memos.  Keep in mind that they basically just handed me the same sheets they gave to Elonka but these were mine so I get to post them.  If you haven’t seen them and/or are just starting out with Kryptos, they make for some interesting reading.

I included the cover letter because I’d like to send an appeal for more information.  Everything they sent us is 20 years old!  So as you read through, please make any observations in the comments but also include any questions you think might be worth putting in the appeal.  I put little page links under each jpeg to take you back and forth between pages.

Thanks!  Happy reading!

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: FOIA, kryptos, NSA, Response

Jim Sanborn’s TNG Talk

October 8, 2013, 12:14 pm

≫ Next: Seneca on Kryptos K4

≪ Previous: NSA Kryptos FOIA Response

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A little late with this Kryptos talk, but if you follow this link you can watch the 1 hour talk that Sanborn gave for Big Techday 6 hosted by TNG on the course of his work with some mentions of Kryptos, the CIA and the NSA.  I highly recommend it if nothing more than to show how much work he puts into his different projects and how one will often transition into another.

I enjoyed his sour grapes over Dan Brown as well.

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: Big Techday 6, kryptos, sanborn, TNG

Seneca on Kryptos K4

October 15, 2013, 12:19 pm

≫ Next: I was wrong about K3′s origins

≪ Previous: Jim Sanborn’s TNG Talk

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The day will come when, by study pursued through several ages, the things now concealed will appear with evidence; and posterity will be astonished that truths so clear had escaped us.  -Seneca

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: k4, kryptos, Seneca

I was wrong about K3′s origins

October 25, 2013, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Kryptos Notes From the ACA Convention

≪ Previous: Seneca on Kryptos K4

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What a moron I am!  Kryptos K3 is paraphrasing the book Carter wrote, not his journal.

Time to go back and make a note on some previous pages.

How come no one ever said anything?  I thought we were fake online friends guys?  Seriously?  Guys?

Hey, where did everyone go?

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: book, howard carter, journal, K3, Tut.ankh.amen

Kryptos Notes From the ACA Convention

October 27, 2013, 6:53 pm

≫ Next: Sanborn’s K3 Chart

≪ Previous: I was wrong about K3′s origins

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Hello,

 

Here are some things that were covered at the American Cryptogram Association convention. Questions were asked to both Jim Sanborn and Ed Scheidt at a dinner, I believe after that actual convention where Scheidt was a speaker.
Apparently someone was video taping a portion of it but I haven’t come across it yet.

This was asked right out of the gate…

“how about another clue?” to which Jim replied (paraphrasing) “you’ll maybe find out about that in a couple of weeks or so”.

 

It was asked again if the letters BERLIN were the city of Berlin to which Jim confirmed again that it is.

 

It was asked if N decodes to B, Y decodes to E, etc, etc. and Jim confirmed it does. Emphatically. 

Jim Sanborn rattled through the entire crib:

N = B,

Y = E,

P = R,

V = L,

T = I,

T = N

When the same question was asked to Ed, Jim cut in and said “I’m the only one who knows.”

 

It was asked if N decodes to B or encodes to B, and Jim stated “decodes”.

 

It was asked if K4 was a “one-off”. Some discussion ensued about the definition of “one-off”, but Ed looked to Jim and said “well Jim, how are we going to answer that one?”. To which Jim simply replied “we don’t answer it”.

 

Elonka jumped in to remind Ed that he once told her that Kryptos uses a system unknown to anyone on the planet. Ed stated he didn’t recall that conversation, and back-pedaled out of saying anything more.

 

Someone asked if anything was buried on the CIA grounds relating to Kryptos and Jim said YES and went on to explain how a USGS marker was buried somewhere but was removed later. 

Klauss:Was something placed by kryptos that we need access to to solve kryptos?

Jim: Yes, there is something buried adjacent to Kryptos. Jae and I went back to visit a couple of years ago, and they had removed it, but it is important.

Donna: Well, since it is not there anymore, can you tell us what it was or do you want to wait for that?,

Jim: The thing that was buried is a bronze USGS marker. It was half buried. It had little cross hairs on the top of it.

Jim went on to say that he still believes there’s something to be gained if we study his encryption charts that he released to the New York Times. He talked about how he released those in the context of we all wondered if the misspelled words were really mistakes, but he didn’t elaborate past that. JS was also involved in some smaller group discussions where individuals said he brought up his K1/K2 matrix and seemed mystified no one has gotten any thing more from it.

 

Unknown: can we solve K4 without solving k1-k3 first? 

Jim: Yes,  but K5 cannot be solved without K4.

I’m sure more was discussed and/or asked but what I’ve included are what most people that were there are declaring as the meat and potatoes of the Q&A. I’ve been searching for what was said about K4 being a “one-off” and what was meant by it but I haven’t found much. Quite a bit of the debate at this point has been focused on JS’s encryption sheets, the USGS marker, and what theories or systems can be thrown out based on the information provided. If I come across more I’ll send it your way.

Thanks,

Z

Tagged: ACA, Berlin, Convention, ed scheidt, jim sanborn, k4, kryptos, NYPVTT, USGS

Sanborn’s K3 Chart

October 29, 2013, 12:36 pm

≫ Next: More about Ed Scheidt’s ACA Talk

≪ Previous: Kryptos Notes From the ACA Convention

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Thank you to Zac for this!

Some folks were curious to see an image of Sanborn’s chart for part 3 of Kryptos which he included in his talk.

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: Big Techday 6, chart, K3, kryptos, sanborn, TNG

More about Ed Scheidt’s ACA Talk

October 30, 2013, 12:37 pm

≫ Next: Tracking Sanborn’s Bronze Marker

≪ Previous: Sanborn’s K3 Chart

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This was a very generous response to some questions sent to our friends at the American Cryptogram Association.  Hopefully this will continue to help those of us who weren’t able to be there.

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Hello Kryptosfan,

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We did, in fact, have Ed Scheidt as our banquet speaker.  To the best of my knowledge, there is no recording of his talk.  One of our members from across the pond had asked ahead of time if we could record it and place the recording on the web.  I was not particularly in favor of the idea, but I did run it by Ed and he did not want his presentation recorded.  So I have not made a recording.  I have no idea if any of our members secretly made one.  I would doubt it, but you never know.

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The first part of his talk was on medieval cryptography.  It was actually very interesting.  I think they could make a half hour to an hour PBS show on it, and I’d like to watch it several times over.  I only had four hours of sleep the night before Ed’s talk, so I might have missed a few points.  From what I remember, the guilds would use cryptography to protect their trade secrets and processes for alchemy or distilling or whatever.  They would use code circles/rings, but the rings would be fixed in place.  There were keywords involved, and if you were a member of the guild and knew the keywords, you could read the books, otherwise not.

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The second part of his talk was on Kryptos.  A lot of the background information he presented you already know.  He also had a few pages of a recently declassified NSA document that Elonka had obtain via an FOIA request.

-

During the question and answer phase there were two items I thought were interesting:

-

(1) After part IV is decrypted, the next thing to figure out is how the receiver’s identity is kept hidden.  Ed said that this was built into the process, but gave no clues as to how it is done.

-

(2) The ID BY ROWS / LAYERTWO error may not have been a mistake after all.  Sometimes in spycraft you deliberately do these things.

-

Hope this helps,

   Regards,

       ENDEAVOUR

-

Thank you again so very much ENDEAVOUR!

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: ACA, American Cryptogram Association, IDBYROWS, k4, kryptos, layer two, sanborn, Schedit

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Tracking Sanborn’s Bronze Marker

October 31, 2013, 12:48 pm

≫ Next: Tim’s New Kryptos Blog and Happy Birthday Jim Sanborn!

≪ Previous: More about Ed Scheidt’s ACA Talk

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Buried thingy at Kryptos site?

So this effort to verify came from a Kryptos conversation following Ed Sheidt’s presentation to the ACA recently:

Klauss:  Was something placed by Kryptos that we need access to to solve Kryptos?

Jim:   Yes, there is something buried adjacent to Kryptos.   Jae and I went back to visit a couple of years ago, and they had removed it, but it is important.

Donna:   Well, since it is not there anymore, can you tell us what it was or do you want to wait for that?

Jim:   The thing that was buried is a bronze USGS marker. It was half buried. It had little cross hairs on the top of it.

Sooo, I sent an email to USGS:

Hi guys, Jim Sanborn was answering questions after an American Cryptogram Convention and mentioned a USGS marker.  He claims it was bronze with a crosshair at the top and was half-buried in the courtyard of the CIA’s headquarters.  The GPS coordinates in his sculpture were 38° 57′ 6.5″ N 77° 8′ 44″ W if that helps at all.  We’d like to confirm this and find out some more details on how it was buried there, why it was removed and where it is now if that’s okay.  Any information will be pretty informational as most of us don’t know much about USGS markers.  We run a humble blog that serves as a discussion board for this sculpture and anything you can tell us will be disproportionately appreciated to normal requests about USGS markers.  Thank you over and again!

And they responded:

 For geodetic information, contact the office that covers your area of interest. The Denver Science Information Services office (at the address shown below) has information on USGS geodetic control (bench marks and survey control) in the following areas:Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, American Samoa, and the Trust Territories; is available from:Denver- Science Information Services
U.S. Geological Survey
Box 25286, Building 810
Denver Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225

Phone: 303-202-4200
Fax: 303-202-4188
E-mail: infoservicesatusgsdotgov

For all other U.S. areas, contact the Rolla Science Information Services

U.S. Geological Survey
1400 Independence Road, MS 231
Rolla, MO 65401-2602

Phone: 573-308-3500
Fax: 573-308-3615
E-mail: mcmcesicatusgsdotgov

Regards,

U.S. Geological Survey

Science Information Services

Office of Communications and Publishing

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 507

Reston, VA  20192

888-ASK-USGS (275-8747)

Cynthia Manuel

So I re-sent the email to Rolla.

And they responded:

Hello,

After some research we have determined the “Benchmark” disk actually belonged to the USC&GS. Now the agency is under NOAA and is known as NGS or the National Geodetic Survey. They have markers all over the DC area.  The word from them is the ”marker is DESTROYED no other information can be found”.

The agency does have a nice online database if you want to check it out: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/NGSDataExplorer/

USGS-Rolla, MO

Office of Communications and Publishing

Science Information Services

888-ASK-USGS (275-8747)

Follow @USGS on Twitter

Find USGS on Facebook

Follow @USGS on Instagram

Circle USGS on Google+

So at long last we know what it was and what it looks like.  I’ll try and get in touch with NGS at NOAA and update this post if they ever respond.  Now that we know what it was, what does that mean for Kryptos?

-

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: ACA, bronze marker, kryptos, NGS, NOAA, sanborn, USGS

Tim’s New Kryptos Blog and Happy Birthday Jim Sanborn!

November 13, 2013, 8:45 pm

≫ Next: If Your K4 Solution Sounds Like This:

≪ Previous: Tracking Sanborn’s Bronze Marker

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There’s a new and upcoming Kryptos blog to peruse:

A fellow Kryptos aficionado named Tim has opened up Kryptosblog.com on James Sanborn’s birthday with some new posts for folks to consider.  Please stop by to mull over his offerings and possibly give some words of encouragement.

So good luck to Tim!

And Happy 68th Birthday to James Sanborn!

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: 68, Happy Birthday, kryptos, kryptosblog, Kryptosblog.com, sanborn, Tim

If Your K4 Solution Sounds Like This:

November 20, 2013, 11:38 am

≫ Next: The Kryptos Clue Site is Down, Is It Solved?

≪ Previous: Tim’s New Kryptos Blog and Happy Birthday Jim Sanborn!

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“We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multidimensional machinic catalysis.  The symmetry of scale, the transversality, the pathic non-discursive character of their expansion: all these dimensions remove us from the logic of the excluded middle and reinforce us in our dismissal of the ontological binarism we criticized previously.  A machinic assemblage, through its diverse components, extracts its consistency by crossing ontological thresholds, non-linear thresholds of irreversibility, ontological and phylogenetic thresholds, creative thresholds of heterogenesis and autopoiesis.  The notion of scale needs to be expanded to consider fractal symmetries in ontological terms.”  -Félix Guattari

Then you have lost your map and your way.

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: Felix Guattari, gnosticism, k4, kryptos, postmodernism, relativism, solution

The Kryptos Clue Site is Down, Is It Solved?

November 22, 2013, 8:50 am

≫ Next: Frank’s Theories on Kryptos K4 and K5

≪ Previous: If Your K4 Solution Sounds Like This:

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UPDATE:  NO

A few weeks ago Sanborn implied some Kryptos news was coming and now his solution submission site is down (thanks for the update Tim!).

So we have to ask ourselves if it is significant.

Is it solved?

Is he sick of paying to keep the site up?

Was he just forgetful?

Does anyone know?

UPDATE:  We’re all very grateful for the people who have commented or emailed.  The universal verdict is: It’s down because he let the domain registration expire. He said he was getting too many ridiculous submissions from people. I spoke with him about his comments at that dinner. He said he has no upcoming news about Kryptos.  Thank you anonymous donor for that update!

Thank you again and again for responding so quickly!

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: is it solved?, kryptos, Kryptos Clue, sanborn

Frank’s Theories on Kryptos K4 and K5

November 24, 2013, 10:22 pm

≫ Next: The Most Amazing Non-Kryptos Video I’ve Seen All Year

≪ Previous: The Kryptos Clue Site is Down, Is It Solved?

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Frank Schneider has generously uploaded his Kryptos ideas in one location.  You can follow this link or click on the picture to go check it out.  Take a look at his ideas, make some comments, lend some support to a fellow fan…

Thank you Frank for putting that up for us and you’ve certainly put a lot of work into hammering away at Kryptos which is awesome.

Once again: click here to see Frank Schneider’s Kryptos K4/K5 Theory!

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: Frank Schneider, k4, K5, kryptos, morse code

The Most Amazing Non-Kryptos Video I’ve Seen All Year

December 3, 2013, 11:07 am

≫ Next: When Working on K4 Of Kryptos

≪ Previous: Frank’s Theories on Kryptos K4 and K5

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Dear Kryptos Fans, I’ve been working my way through spy movies past and present in the hopes of setting aside some time in the future to present the genre post by post.  This means I’ve seen some really great films and some really terrible movies and a lot in between.  As we close out 2013, this is an amazingly edited summation of the year in film.

And as we wind down one year and get closer to the start of a new one, feel free to suggest movie titles for one and for all.  Espionage and spies, intelligence and covert action; if you like Kryptos – you’ll like these.

Happy Holidays and good luck with K4!

-Kryptosfan

When Working on K4 Of Kryptos

December 25, 2013, 11:59 am

≫ Next: Happy New Year Kryptos Fans!

≪ Previous: The Most Amazing Non-Kryptos Video I’ve Seen All Year

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“The concept of “truth” as something dependent upon facts largely outside human control has been one of the ways in which philosophy hitherto has inculcated the necessary element of humility.  When this check upon pride is removed, a further step is taken on the road towards a certain kind of madness – the intoxication of power which invaded philosophy with Fichte, and to which modern men, whether philosophers or not, are prone.  I am persuaded that this intoxication is the greatest danger of our time, and that any philosophy which, however unintentionally, contributes to it is increasing the danger of vast social disaster.”
-Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy (1961, p. 782)

Good luck!

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: Bertrand Russell, k4, kryptos, reason, Stephen Colbert, truth, truthiness

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Happy New Year Kryptos Fans!

December 31, 2013, 5:31 am

≫ Next: No Transposition in K4 of Kryptos

≪ Previous: When Working on K4 Of Kryptos

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Happy New Year Kryptos Fans!

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: Does the Red Skull work in US Intelligence?, hydra, k4, kryptos, Kryptos Fans, NROL-39

No Transposition in K4 of Kryptos

January 1, 2014, 8:46 am

≫ Next: The Question of the ? Mark in Kryptos

≪ Previous: Happy New Year Kryptos Fans!

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So thanks to Jasmine, we know confidently that there is no movement in K4 of Kryptos, at all.

-Her message and emails reposted with permission after removing email addresses and last names, I included some dashes to break the messages apart a little-

Hi Kryptosfan, I’ve been slogging away at Kryptos for a couple months without much luck.  Last May I’d noticed that people were still considering transposition as the 1st or 2nd component of K4 even though the NY Times article said that NYPVTT=BERLIN.  I had thought maybe I was misunderstanding the clue so I had emailed the NY Times author and James Sanborn for clarification.  Then I sort of forgot about the email until cleaning out my inbox recently.  I included my last response to Mr. Sanborn which he never responded to so I think it’s fair to say that transposition is out for K4.

-Jasmine

——————————————————————————————————–

Okayyyy…  I haven’t followed all of her links but it says pretty clearly on her website that NYPVTT becomes BERLIN which rules out my idea that things were moved around.  

Thank you so much for getting back to me!  It looks like she has a lot of info on her site but also links to other people’s sites and news.  I’m a little discouraged there are so many other folks are already so far ahead but I think I’ll poke around a little and see if I can maybe see something they’ve been missing.  Worth a shot!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

-Jas

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From: -Sanborn’s email from his art website-
Subject: Re: Just a quick tiny clarification about NY Times article?
Date: Sat, 25 May 2013 15:57:21 -0400
To: -removed to keep her inbox empty-

see Elonka Dunins Kryptos website, best, j

——————————————————————————————————————

On May 25, 2013, at 3:36 PM, Jasmine B- wrote:

I asked John Schwartz but he said he never clarified the difference.In the November 20th, 2010 article in the NY Times (which was awesome!), is the clue to the fourth part that the 64th-69th letters in the message are BERLIN or that the letters NYPVTT (#64-69) become BERLIN?Sorry to bug you on the weekend but the weather here is terrible and everyone is busy so I thought I’d dig into this whole Kryptos mystery a little.  Looks like I’m a couple of years behind everyone else so I’m playing catchup.  I’m a big Jennifer Garner fan (she’s awesome!) and have been re-watching old ALIAS episodes on my netflix account and re-visiting fan message boards and kind of stumbled into your sculpture (random right?).  She’s gotten me back into running – seems like every episode has her jogging through a mission but I don’t think I can do the wigs – and since I will never actually work for the CIA it seemed like fun to try and solve their mysterious message.  Okkkk, so it’s a little escapist but I don’t plan on actually telling anyone what I’m working on (keeping secrets already…).  I haven’t read a Nancy Drew for probably twenty years but it’s kind of the same feeling of trying to crack the mystery.  I almost need a wrinkled suit, trenchcoat and gross cigar and be all Bogart with the black and white (or was that Columbo?).  You should probably re-read my question but imagine we’re in a movie and I have that awesome accent.  I’m rambling, should probably cut it short!  It probably sounds dumb for a girl to be trying but I’m going to anyways – wish me luck!Oh and have an amazing weekend!  I know for some folks it’s sad but it’s always meant barbecues to me, weird right?

-Jas

—————————————————————————————–

Thanks very much! I’m really looking forward to being able to write the story when this puzzle is finally cracked!

 

John

On May 24, 2013, at 3:40 PM, Jasmine B- <email removed> wrote:

Thank you for responding and so quickly.  =)

In case no one has said it before, you’re a good guy John and there’s at least one more person out there who really appreciates you.  Thank you.

I’m off to consider things a little more.  Have a good holiday weekend!

-Jas

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From: jswatz-at-nytimes-dot-com
To: -email removed-
Date: Fri, 24 May 2013 15:12:32 -0400
Subject: Re: Just a tiny clarification request?

thanks for your note. 

 

 

 I do not believe that we discussed that possible distinction.

 

Best wishes,

 

John Schwartz

 ———————————————————————————————

On May 24, 2013, at 2:57 PM, Jasmine B- <email removed> wrote:

Hi John!  I promise it’ll be quick, I’m sure you’re super busy.

In the article from November 20th, 2010: “A Crack In The Code Kryptos Is Keeping”, did Sanborn specifically say that the 64th-69th letters in the final text are BERLIN or that the letters NYPVTT (#64-69) are BERLIN?

The only reason I ask are that the difference would mean dramatically different possibilities for efforts at deciphering it (i.e. transposition vs. substitution).

Thank you!

Jasmine Baenver

—————————————————————————————————

What this means is that there is no transposition at all in K4, not after or before an additive.  Which sucks for me because that was my fondly held idea for what it was.  So this means that the two pieces to K4 are solely substitution effects.

I suppose it’s nice having confirmation of a sorts.  Yes, he could be playing it cagey to not release too many details but Elonka’s site doesn’t mention letter numbers of the message being BERLIN but that the actual CT letters NYPVTT are BERLIN.  If I remember rightly, he said something similar in the post-presentation talks after an ACA talk that Ed Scheidt gave last year.

So just to clarify, no transposition in K4.  At least almost pretty absolutely mostly sure there isn’t.

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: Berlin, k4, NYPVTT, transposition

The Question of the ? Mark in Kryptos

January 7, 2014, 12:55 pm

≫ Next: How to add or subtract Kryptos from K4

≪ Previous: No Transposition in K4 of Kryptos

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And just what are we to do with that pesky ? mark at the beginning of K4 of Kryptos?

So here’s the thing, we already know from eons ago via the James Sanborn question and answer session that we are to look at K4 as both 97 and 98 letters.  That has always bothered me in the past when people suggested it in the past because the ? mark is clearly the end of K3, why would it be part of K4?

Well, thanks to the past efforts of Jas, we now know that there is no transposition in K4.  This means that you could set up the K3 transposition to not have to worry about that pesky ? mark.  You could simply paste it to the front of K4 because it will stay a ? mark through any substitution.  It’s a fairly clever and yet very simple way to confuse people as well.  K4 is 98 characters but only translates to a 97 letter message in the end.

Doesn’t mean you can’t use the 98 letters to do a polybius-based substitution however.

A nice, matrix-based substitution method that would fit wonderfully into the other methods used in Kryptos…

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: ?, K3, k4, kryptos

How to add or subtract Kryptos from K4

January 14, 2014, 1:26 pm

≫ Next: Attempted Removal of Kryptos Additive

≪ Previous: The Question of the ? Mark in Kryptos

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So if the 4th part of Kryptos is 98 characters after all, then what is the most likely candidate for a superenciphering additive?

Well, 98 factors into several sets but 7×14 is the most logical to me simply because KRYPTOS is 7-letters long.  What could be easier than adding (or subtracting) kryptos mod26 from the ciphertext of K4 to mask the linguistic characteristics?

I even included your very own spreadsheet with K4 and KRYPTOS as numbers if you wanted to do it yourself!-Kryptosfan

11	18	25	16	20	15	19		additive or subtractive
11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15
?	15	2	11	18	21	15	24	15	7	8	21	12	2	19	15	12	9	6	2
11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15
19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20
2	23	6	12	18	22	17	17	16	18	14	7	11	19	19	15	20	23	20	17
19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20
15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16
19	10	17	19	19	5	11	26	26	23	1	20	10	11	12	21	4	9	1	23
15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16
20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25
9	14	6	2	14	25	16	22	20	20	13	26	6	16	11	23	7	4	11	26
20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25
16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19
24	20	10	3	4	9	7	11	21	8	21	1	21	5	11	3	1	18
16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19	11	18	25	16	20	15	19
?	O	B	K	R	U	O	X	O	G	H	U	L	B	S	O	L	I	F	B
B	W	F	L	R	V	Q	Q	P	R	N	G	K	S	S	O	T	W	T	Q
S	J	Q	S	S	E	K	Z	Z	W	A	T	J	K	L	U	D	I	A	W
I	N	F	B	N	Y	P	V	T	T	M	Z	F	P	K	W	G	D	K	Z
X	T	J	C	D	I	G	K	U	H	U	A	U	E	K	C	A	R

Tagged: additive, k4, kryptos, subtractive, superencipherment

Attempted Removal of Kryptos Additive

January 21, 2014, 12:42 pm

≫ Next: Is Kryptos the Mayor of Foursquare?

≪ Previous: How to add or subtract Kryptos from K4

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If Kryptos goes into the 98 characters of K4 14 times by addition or subtraction, what is the underlying ciphertext after removal of the additive?  What’s the worst possible way of showing how I did that?

Oh, wow, I don’t even want to look at that spew of numbers and letters.  Here’s what I did in a nutshell

1. Turned the 97 characters of K4 into their respective numbers, leaving ? and A=1, B=2, etc.
2. Turned KRYPTOS into numbers (11-18-25-16-20-15-19)
3. Put them onto an overly complicated spreadsheet that let me add or subtract them.  We don’t know which way they were originally – added or subtracted so you have to consider both.
4. Take the remaining sum and convert it back into letters
5. Post another horrific picture of the result

So now, hopefully, I have removed the masking technique which was a simple and classic super-encipherment involving an additive being added or subtracted from the primary cipher-text.

And now we can hopefully move on to consider how to remove the remaining substitution to get to the plain-text.

This is all hopeful, I have no guarantees that I’m doing it right.

Here’s the text in copy and paste-able format:

SUBTRACTING:

?WCUX-FVMWH-RAWIH-WMSLMILNMB-BBXEZ-OQQDZ-DBXDW
DQFAT-OQKGL-IUTQW-BSQBG
OYMQV-ZZBEA-BHGPQ-HNSSA
HZUJS-QHUAS-BPCFU-ILY

ADDING:

?GAAL-JHIGF-XOASD-GKYZQ
UHXKH-PFJAJ-MWEHL-ZLVJK
HCBKR-UEOSH-SSZEA-NOAZM
CCYMF-XFPIM-XREFE-LZOCYNNYVO-AFAOW-NLMDA-WPK

Good luck!

-Kryptosfan

Tagged: additive, k4, kryptos, masking technique, subtractive, superencipherment