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OntheFence
On the Fence
It is a sunny and warm spring day in Cipher, South Decoder. A rather dejected lad named Tim is whitewashing a fence and thinking of all the other things he would rather be doing.
His friend Hank comes over and asks, "Hey, Tim, why aren't you ready to go to the park? We need you for our baseball team."
"Oh, I'm having too much fun here whitewashing this fence," replied Tim. "It's too bad you have to play baseball, or you could have a turn."
"Ha! I'm not falling for that," scoffed Hank. "I've read that book five times already!"
"Oh, right," said Tim. "If you help me, though, I'll be finished sooner, and we can go play baseball."
"I'll get the whole team to help out - if you can decipher these quotes," promised Hank. "We need to decipher them or we forfeit the game."
"Only in Cipher," laughed Tim. "OK, go get the guys and I'll have these done by the time you get back!"
Help Tim decipher the codes. They are all encoded using the same method.
1) WOTH EDBDAASO TA IOEOONSA R YLTN YI FEBSBDC RS OT AII ODCS WVO NLTRKIFE BS GDPOTHED O IOYC SW VOO EOLNSAR YT GDP
2) OTSRO IRI CMAI OITFH SE JF AOUTRTG D TTETIUYDNSH DIEOOE LHS SAIATE ES TF GN EET TTT LO HR TRIR
3) TAH OTNCEIN SNANT HS EFHOO SNETEP GI ETAYCTMSTC RDEA MEI ROABPEOOASL TELCT UNER DO N IHOAA
4) RIHWI NA AOUSN NNN OAOTI ST RSGBI TSS G GHTR NWTG RAO WA ONNIDWWE IADSE HINNR NDTO NO RHAG NKBRTGDG ODY GBEIO EINTNEP
5) TWGNU EBA AI EASHNLI CDACUS LIS IDECNIHT BHAE GNSO CTNETO OGENOHNHAW AMT NTWO DNAHLES TADTR TTGTSN OWTGN ADV BAIP EGH AMAS TEERNTRTU NTA SMWLK HABAMS ALSNLAAE SMG TIBHE OIO H BFHKWEA YIIKANS ULEP SE LNR AAATNIY
Hint: "Look at the fourth word of the fourth quote. Is that right?" muttered Tim. ( highlight to view)
Answer:
Hank returned with the team to find Tim had finished the codes and had found eight extra brushes, so the fence was whitewashed in record time.
"How did you decipher those codes so quickly?" asked Hank.
"I thought it was a substitution cipher at first," said Tim, "but there were too many single letter words. Also, the 'word' NNN wouldn't work in a substitution cipher. I decided to try a transposition cipher, and I already had a fence handy. It turned out that it was encoded with five rails - the same as the number of quotes."
Sadly, Tim and Hank did not win their game. Their teammate K.C. kept striking out. But that is a tale for another time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The easiest way to decipher these quotes is to use the Rail Fence tool in the Codes & Ciphers section.
( see https://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/codes/railfence.php )
I'll show you how to do the first one manually.
1) WOTH EDBDAASO TA IOEOONSA R YLTN YI FEBSBDC RS OT AII ODCS WVO NLTRKIFE BS GDPOTHED O IOYC SW VOO EOLNSAR YT GDP
There are 90 letters in the code. Therefore, there could be 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 15, 18, 30, or 45 rails. Let's start with 2 rails of length 45:
WOTHEDBDAASOTAIOEOONSARYLTNYIFEBSBDCRSOTAIIOD
CSWVONLTRKIFEBSGDPOTHEDOIOYCSWVOOEOLNSARYTGDP
Reading vertically, we would have: WC OS... so this is gibberish. Let's try 3 rails of 30:
WOTHEDBDAASOTAIOEOONSARYLTNYIF
EBSBDCRSOTAIIODCSWVONLTRKIFEBS
GDPOTHEDOIOYCSWVOOEOLNSARYTGDP
This starts well: WE GO BDTSP... but quickly turns to gibberish again. Let's try 5 rails of 18:
WOTHEDBDAASOTAIOEO
ONSARYLTNYIFEBSBDC
RSOTAIIODCSWVONLTR
KIFEBSGDPOTHEDOIOY
CSWVOOEOLNSARYTGDP
And now we can read: WORK CONSISTS OF... so we've solved it!
1) WORKCONSISTSOFWHATEVERABODYISOBLIGEDTODOAND
PLAYCONSISTSOFWHATEVERABODYISNOTOBLIGEDTODO CRYP
Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.*
2) OFTENTHELESSTHEREISTOJUSTIFYATRADITIONAL
CUSTOMTHEHARDERITISTOGETRIDOFIT TOGR
Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.
3) THEELASTICHEARTOFYOUTHCANNOTBECOMPRESSED
INTOONECONSTRAINEDSHAPELONGATATIME A
The elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time.
4) RIGHTISRIGHTANDWRONGISWRONGANDABODYAINTGOTNO
BUSINESSDOINGWRONGWHENHEAINTIGNORANTANDKNOWSBETTER P
Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain't got no business doing wrong when he ain't ignorant and knows better. ~ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
5) THEREWASNOGETTINGAROUNDTHESTUBBORNFACT
THATTAKINGSWEETMEATSWASONLYHOOKINGWHILE
TAKINGBACONANDHAMSANDSUCHVALUABLESWAS
PLAINSIMPLESTEALINGANDTHEREWASACOMMAND
AGAINSTTHATINTHEBIBLE HY
There was no getting around the stubborn fact that taking sweetmeats was only 'hooking' while taking bacon and hams and such valuables was plain simple stealing – and there was a command against that in the Bible.
PS Did you notice? The filler letters that make even rails spell CRYPTOGRAPHY.
*All quotes are from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, unless otherwise attributed
It is a sunny and warm spring day in Cipher, South Decoder. A rather dejected lad named Tim is whitewashing a fence and thinking of all the other things he would rather be doing.
His friend Hank comes over and asks, "Hey, Tim, why aren't you ready to go to the park? We need you for our baseball team."
"Oh, I'm having too much fun here whitewashing this fence," replied Tim. "It's too bad you have to play baseball, or you could have a turn."
"Ha! I'm not falling for that," scoffed Hank. "I've read that book five times already!"
"Oh, right," said Tim. "If you help me, though, I'll be finished sooner, and we can go play baseball."
"I'll get the whole team to help out - if you can decipher these quotes," promised Hank. "We need to decipher them or we forfeit the game."
"Only in Cipher," laughed Tim. "OK, go get the guys and I'll have these done by the time you get back!"
Help Tim decipher the codes. They are all encoded using the same method.
1) WOTH EDBDAASO TA IOEOONSA R YLTN YI FEBSBDC RS OT AII ODCS WVO NLTRKIFE BS GDPOTHED O IOYC SW VOO EOLNSAR YT GDP
2) OTSRO IRI CMAI OITFH SE JF AOUTRTG D TTETIUYDNSH DIEOOE LHS SAIATE ES TF GN EET TTT LO HR TRIR
3) TAH OTNCEIN SNANT HS EFHOO SNETEP GI ETAYCTMSTC RDEA MEI ROABPEOOASL TELCT UNER DO N IHOAA
4) RIHWI NA AOUSN NNN OAOTI ST RSGBI TSS G GHTR NWTG RAO WA ONNIDWWE IADSE HINNR NDTO NO RHAG NKBRTGDG ODY GBEIO EINTNEP
5) TWGNU EBA AI EASHNLI CDACUS LIS IDECNIHT BHAE GNSO CTNETO OGENOHNHAW AMT NTWO DNAHLES TADTR TTGTSN OWTGN ADV BAIP EGH AMAS TEERNTRTU NTA SMWLK HABAMS ALSNLAAE SMG TIBHE OIO H BFHKWEA YIIKANS ULEP SE LNR AAATNIY
Hint: "Look at the fourth word of the fourth quote. Is that right?" muttered Tim. ( highlight to view)
Answer:
Hank returned with the team to find Tim had finished the codes and had found eight extra brushes, so the fence was whitewashed in record time.
"How did you decipher those codes so quickly?" asked Hank.
"I thought it was a substitution cipher at first," said Tim, "but there were too many single letter words. Also, the 'word' NNN wouldn't work in a substitution cipher. I decided to try a transposition cipher, and I already had a fence handy. It turned out that it was encoded with five rails - the same as the number of quotes."
Sadly, Tim and Hank did not win their game. Their teammate K.C. kept striking out. But that is a tale for another time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The easiest way to decipher these quotes is to use the Rail Fence tool in the Codes & Ciphers section.
( see https://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/codes/railfence.php )
I'll show you how to do the first one manually.
1) WOTH EDBDAASO TA IOEOONSA R YLTN YI FEBSBDC RS OT AII ODCS WVO NLTRKIFE BS GDPOTHED O IOYC SW VOO EOLNSAR YT GDP
There are 90 letters in the code. Therefore, there could be 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 15, 18, 30, or 45 rails. Let's start with 2 rails of length 45:
WOTHEDBDAASOTAIOEOONSARYLTNYIFEBSBDCRSOTAIIOD
CSWVONLTRKIFEBSGDPOTHEDOIOYCSWVOOEOLNSARYTGDP
Reading vertically, we would have: WC OS... so this is gibberish. Let's try 3 rails of 30:
WOTHEDBDAASOTAIOEOONSARYLTNYIF
EBSBDCRSOTAIIODCSWVONLTRKIFEBS
GDPOTHEDOIOYCSWVOOEOLNSARYTGDP
This starts well: WE GO BDTSP... but quickly turns to gibberish again. Let's try 5 rails of 18:
WOTHEDBDAASOTAIOEO
ONSARYLTNYIFEBSBDC
RSOTAIIODCSWVONLTR
KIFEBSGDPOTHEDOIOY
CSWVOOEOLNSARYTGDP
And now we can read: WORK CONSISTS OF... so we've solved it!
1) WORKCONSISTSOFWHATEVERABODYISOBLIGEDTODOAND
PLAYCONSISTSOFWHATEVERABODYISNOTOBLIGEDTODO CRYP
Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.*
2) OFTENTHELESSTHEREISTOJUSTIFYATRADITIONAL
CUSTOMTHEHARDERITISTOGETRIDOFIT TOGR
Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.
3) THEELASTICHEARTOFYOUTHCANNOTBECOMPRESSED
INTOONECONSTRAINEDSHAPELONGATATIME A
The elastic heart of youth cannot be compressed into one constrained shape long at a time.
4) RIGHTISRIGHTANDWRONGISWRONGANDABODYAINTGOTNO
BUSINESSDOINGWRONGWHENHEAINTIGNORANTANDKNOWSBETTER P
Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain't got no business doing wrong when he ain't ignorant and knows better. ~ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
5) THEREWASNOGETTINGAROUNDTHESTUBBORNFACT
THATTAKINGSWEETMEATSWASONLYHOOKINGWHILE
TAKINGBACONANDHAMSANDSUCHVALUABLESWAS
PLAINSIMPLESTEALINGANDTHEREWASACOMMAND
AGAINSTTHATINTHEBIBLE HY
There was no getting around the stubborn fact that taking sweetmeats was only 'hooking' while taking bacon and hams and such valuables was plain simple stealing – and there was a command against that in the Bible.
PS Did you notice? The filler letters that make even rails spell CRYPTOGRAPHY.
*All quotes are from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, unless otherwise attributed
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