The Sphinx's Lair

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Forklift

8:03 PM

dumb question but why does 13 molds imply rot 13?

thecoder16

well, 13!

rot13 is just kinda a meme

Forklift

is it simply that 13 itself implies rot13 then?

thecoder16

yes

rot13 is memey enough for that to work

Mithrandir

@Forklift mold is kind of like decay, so rot...

but rotate...

8:05 PM

haha

are there any other "obvious" cipher hints?

manshu

There actually was a question which listed some common ciphers

Forklift

@Mithrandir that's a hard gap to jump for me, but I definitely see how you got there.

manshu

Q: Guide to Codes and Ciphers

Note: This is a Guide not a Puzzle ciphers are quite common now on puzzling, and at first can seem quite confusing. But ciphers are bigger than this site, used worldwide by companies and secret services to encrypt data. But what is a cipher, and what's the difference between a code and a cipher...

Mithrandir

8:10 PM

@Deus ^^^^free info to add to your answer if you want that tick ;)

Sphinx

Q: Where am I(the unlucky)?

I am very unlucky. Can you guess where I am? Forever do I find myself victim of the most queer and cruel ruses. The devil's jest will forever nag me and me. Yet until my Xebec crashes back perpetually into the sea, endlessly I'll fight the notorious fumes of the unlucky. Puzzling but not perfect...

riddle cipher steganography

Beastly Gerbil

19k :)

And @Rubio still hasn't caught me :P

Forklift

@manshu so what you're really saying is "let someone else solve ciphers" :)

Beastly Gerbil

@Forklift I wrote that guide for new users interested or confused about ciphers. Feel free to take a look (and maybe add to it, I need someone to add a few to the community wiki) :)

Forklift

it has good information, but it implies commitment to the solution and I'm a bit more casual

Rubio

8:16 PM

@BeastlyGerbil If @Randal'Thor would accept some answers I'd have you beat. ;)

Beastly Gerbil

@Forklift my best advise would probably be to make a puzzle where you can play with a few of the ciphers in that case. Solving ciphers is definitely hard work to start with

Forklift

I guess I get stuck on "why did you take all of the first letters" and "why did you pick that cipher" when there doesn't appear to be a logical reason to do so

thecoder16

@Rubio or maybe if you'd come back from alaska :P

@Forklift those are basic first steps to try when you don't know what to do.

Rubio

But Anchorage is lovely this time of year.

Chicago's all hot and muggy.

thecoder16

that is indeed true-went there last summer

you live in chicago?

Forklift

8:20 PM

chi-town's pretty sweet. I've spent a little time in wrigleyville area.

Beastly Gerbil

@forklift common stego is to hide first letters. Those first letters looked suspicious so I tried rot13 and got lucky

A lot of cipher solving is based on luck on guessing the right cipher, though the letters in the ciphertext can give some indication

Gareth McCaughan

(oops, had out-of-date page because of dodgy internet and replied to something pages back)

Beastly Gerbil

that aspect of ciphers is covered here

lol

Forklift

@BeastlyGerbil I guess that's what bugs me. the luck and guessing. I like a puzzle whose solution can be deduced

G_as_in_Gnome

Anyone down for a game of either spyfall or codenames?

Forklift

8:22 PM

@BeastlyGerbil that's a good link!

Beastly Gerbil

Well a good cipher should also have come hint as to the cipher

It shouldnt be 'solve this'

I also don't like ciphers requiring quessing. I don't think anyone does

n_palum

8:35 PM

@Rubio Rochester is the epitome of bipolar weather

Mithrandir

@G_as_in_Gnome I can play a round of Spyfall, although I'm on mobile so I might duplicate myself again

Picard to transporter room 4. Transport me to Spyfall.

ffao

it seems to me NY as a whole is either too hot or too cold

Beastly Gerbil

8:51 PM

Night all

Mithrandir

ffao

night, feral rodent

Sphinx

9:33 PM

Q: Three encoded nights

Long long ago there was a wise knight or the name Deepthought the First with the grand title of Sir. For long had he sought the answer to life. When he asked God for the answer, God replied, "With your title you already should have part of your answer. I will help you complete it." In addition, G...

riddle steganography

2 hours later…

ffao

11:10 PM

I really like that wrap-ups are an intermediate point between "I like this puzzle, +1" and "I love this puzzle, let me spend my own rep to reward it"

Rubio

Heh, I never thought of it that way.

I just wanted to talk about how it felt making that - it really felt like I was just discovering a puzzle already out there, cuz - like - every single thing I thought I'd like to find to put in, voila, it was there. :)