- 3 - 2-7 SOLVING CIPHER SECRETS Edited by M. E. Ohaver CONTAINLNG A CIPHER, WITH PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS, TAKEN FROM THE BIBLE—ALSO, A MEW CIPHER OF INTEREST TO " DETECTIVE STORY READERS " T is not so well known, perhaps, that a Hebrew language. Vowels were supplied number of ciphers are believed to exist by the reader, no doubt from memory. I in the Bible. The consonants were also written continu• One instance of these ciphers occurs in ously, without any spaces between words; Jeremiah, chapter xxv, verse xxvi, and in and the direction of writing was from right chapter li, verse xli, where the prophet, to left, instead of left to right, as in English. to conceal the meaning of his predictions In deciphering an example in the athbash from all but the initiated, is supposed to system, the vowels would thus be disregard• have written Sheshach instead of Babel— ed. Consonants would be substituted ac• Babylon—the intended word. cording to the cipher alphabet, and the The cipher used in this case, called ath- necessary vowels added to the resulting bash by Buxtorf from the first two inter• series. Slieshach—sheshak—for instance, changeable pairs, may be constnicted by stripped of its vowels, leaves the consonants writing the first eleven letters of the Hebrew sh-sh-k. Substituting b and / for sh and k, alphabet in regular order, respectively, respectively, gives b-b-l; by vocalizing above the last eleven in reverse order, form• which, transmutation into Babel is com• ing eleven pairs, either letter in any pair pleted. acting as substitute for the other letter. The athbash canon is even older than the Thus, the first letter, alepli, would be Jewish Kabbalah, of which it forms a part, used in place of the last, tav; and the last, having been employed in the synagogue and conversely, would be used for the first. in interpreting the Scriptures from time im• Similarly, the second letter would be used memorial. But there seems to be some for the next to last; and so on. In the doubt that it is as old as Jeremiah, or that accompanying table the names of the it was actually used by him. Hebrew letters are given with their English For example, Sir H. Rawlinson is said to phonetic equivalents: have advanced the explanation that the II 10 0 S 7 6 S 4 3 2 I caph yod teth chelh zayin van he daieth gimel beth aleph k y / kh 2 J' h d S b 'a I m n s 'a ss <1 r s, sh /, th lamedh mem nun samekh avin pe sad he koph resh sin tav 12 13 14 15 i6 17 rS 20 21 22 To better understand the athbash cipher, Sheshach of the Scriptures may possibly it must be borne in mind that only the have been used for the moon god, which consonants were used in writing the ancient might have read Shishaki in Babylon. 800 FLYNN'S WEEKLY DETECTIVE FICTION However, the decipherment of an un• diagonals throughout, EDIIH NFCOR . known specimen of this kind of writing Three word spaces are indicated with Q's. might be very difficult. For it is obvious The message: Confidence brings wonderful that a number of interpretations might be results; overconfidence may bring ruin." possible in many cases, depending upon the The first of this week's lot is another of vowels and word divisions used by the the question and answer cryptograms, con• translator. veying a text that should interest every In cipher No. 64, herewith, you will find reader of detective stories. Try to get it! an English counterpart of the athbash. See No. 63 is a clever numerical cipher, read• what you can do with it! And may the able at sight if you know the system. The spirits of your honorable ancestors guide first word of the message is JEWEL. Can you to the correct solution. you get the rest? Just as a suggestion, it might be a good CIPHER No. 62. idea to use only five slides with cipher No. Question: OFK MKHOVCCGI JLJOKY SS, published in the August 13 issue, en• GT BIOFHGDGYKOHVQBC VRKIOVTV- ciphering in groups of five instead of word QBOVGI VJ MBJKR QFVKTCL NDGI lengths. As used, however, the slides bore EFBO YKBJNHKYKIOJ GT OFK FNYBI the letters in the following order: MGRL? Answer: WCPS HCMVFW WCPS JGSFW MVJENQXFLYWITHDOZGRUBPACKS HCMVFW KU HCUF ZGSSHC UGMVCD Message: Imaginary evils soon become real HCMVFW KU HCUF UKKF PMS HCM• ones, by indulging our reflections on them; VFW KU HCUF UKDCPDZ UDKZ CHAKJ as he, who in a melancholy fancy sees some• FK COFDCZGFN KU ZGSSHC UGMVCD. thing like a face on the wall or the wainscot, CIPHER No. 63 (D. Maradei, Chicago, Illinois). can, by two or three touches with a lead 41-12-57-30-42-46-22-14-12-6S-30-SS-40-10- pencil, make it look visible, and agreeing with 83-12-01-30-12-43-24-17-11-10-82-30-20-14- what he fancied. 25-20-17-73-43-82-35-93-25-22-71-28-12-60- What did you do with No. S9, last week's 39-14-46-04-60-17-71-64-63-10-42-38-12-02- " question and answer " cryptogram? Here 10-82-03-14-29-12-82-22-35-36-35-10-43-20- is the solution: 02-71-24-60-10-72-19 Question: What is inductive reasoning? CIPHER No. 64. Answer: The process of reasoning from a SGXMVPMG J I MHMNMZHG part to a whole, from particulars to generals, LQPPPSHDXM GHCIGVMG or from the individual to the universal. GHCGMHJL JQ MSGDGSDM N J W H X M Let M. Walker tell you in his own words of the plans he laid for the undoing of Nos. 62 and 63 will be explained next the fans in his No. 60. week; No. 64 in three weeks. Did you " The interceptor will soon see that he make the " garden wall," No. 58 in the has a transposition cipher," says Mr. .August 20 issue, talk to you? See next Walker. " Finding sixty-four letters, he week's article, and find out all about it. will likely conclude that it is built in an And keep your answers coming, fans! eight by eight square. Wrong! The last let• And your new ciphers, too! But be sure ter is a null added to mislead. It is built on to send explanations and solutions with the a seven by nine rectangle, as follows: latter. CONFIDE E. W. H., Chicago, Illinois, asks: " How N C "E A C H I do you determine the type of a cipher? E V E S W O N Are there any special rules to be followed D E R F U L R to classify ciphers?" Our correspondent is E S U L T S Q O V E R C O N referred to the cipher article in the Septem• F I D E N C E ber 4, 1926, issue. Back numbers of Q M A Y B R I FLYNN'S WEEKLY DETECTIVE FICTION can N G Q R U I N be supplied at ten cents each, postpaid; or " Begin by taking letters out at the upper at twenty cents each, postpaid, if more than fight corner, and in consecutive down-right one year old. 10 F W .