This website may have been quiet-ish of late, but the lights here at Cipher Mysteries Mansion have been burning into the night. Yes: once again, I find myself hot on the trail of one of the ‘classic’ unbroken historical ciphers.
Intriguingly, what I’ve found is that there is some hugely useful information out there relating to that particular cipher that almost nobody knows about. The only (minor, piffling, inconsequential) practical challenge is that what I need to know about is located on the opposite side of the Atlantic from me (in the Baltimore / Washington area, in fact).
To be precise, I believe that this extra information (if I’m correct) would lift up my chances of cracking this specific cipher from a miserable 0% right up to the dizzying heights of 1 in 5040 (i.e. ~0.02% chance of success).
But that’s not the point of doing it: which, rather, is to try to recategorise this whole challenge from impossible to possible. If I can demonstrate that this is doable, then I think all manner of doors will open up… and hopefully the other 5039 chances too.
So: will anyone in the Baltimore-Washington area with an interest in crypto history please kindly step forward and offer their assistance? I need someone to take a couple of hours out to have a look at this in person. Thank you so much! 🙂
I live in the DC area and I’d be happy to help you crack an old puzzle. Feel free to email me with any details you can share.
I live closer to Annapolis and can also help. However, if it’s about visiting the NSA Cryptologic History Museum, it’s closed due to covid.
All I know… Is on the radio. “one headline why believe it “. Tears for fears. You say Beale I say Bewley. You say tomato I say 🍅
I live in Maryland, just outside of DC, and could also help.
Nick –
Thought this the easiest way to let you know (in case you haven’t seen it) that academia.edu is allowing us to download Ralph Mathisen’s chapter on Palaeography and Codicology, which is Chapter 7 from
D. Harvey, S. Hunter, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008), 140-168.
Cheers.