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CP #2: Gronsfeld's Glory Mystery Cache

Hidden : 11/5/2006
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Cipher Progression #2: Gronsfeld's Glory
Second in a series of caches designed to be solved using ciphertext in the puzzle below.

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The co-ordinates above are not for the cache, but for suggested parking for this and Cipher Progression #1.

The Caesar Shift held firm for centuries, but eventually Islamic scholars found a weakness. In their studies of the Qur'an, they had noticed that some letters of the alphabet occurred more often than others; a fact which holds true for any written language.

This means that using a technique called frequency analysis, someone could decipher the message without needing the key. To obviate this, Leon Batista Alberti (1404-72) proposed alternating two keys, which would half the frequency distributions and make the cipher harder to crack.

This idea was then extended in the Gronsfeld cipher, which could use a key of any length, further smothering the frequency distributions.

You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Xrl Uvag - Jung jnf gung qngr ntnva? Pnpur Uvag - Zntargvp, haqre pbeare bs oevqtr qba'g yrg vg snyy va!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)