Help me solve a murder!

[W3H5]

Currently detectiving and have become really stumped on this code. With your help we can find the killer!

The first cutting was found in the suspected victim’s things, along with the code wheel. The second was posted in the paper a week later.
This is the 12th case I’m on. The others have been successfully solved. This is the first time I’ve had to ask for outside help to solve the murder.

 

[Famine]

Currently detectiving and have become really stumped on this code. With your help we can find the killer!
View attachment 1061907View attachment 1061908View attachment 1061909
The first cutting was found in the suspected victim’s things, along with the code wheel. The second was posted in the paper a week later.
This is the 12th case I’m on. The others have been successfully solved. This is the first time I’ve had to ask for outside help to solve the murder.

You can solve code wheels with Excel. You simply put the code wheel letters in one column, and the alphabet in the next column twice, then perform a VLOOKUP in a fourth column on the code in a third column. If you don't get any sense, move the code wheel letters down one row.

If that's not helpful enough, I can give you a clue: the two codes use a different setting on the code wheel, but the first word in both cases is the same - and it's a word or phrase that makes no sense to me, but I assume that it's a keycode that's known to all parties so that they can set the code wheel correctly and interpret the rest of the message.

If that's not helpful enough, I can just blurt out the answer 😁

 

[W3H5]

My Excel skills are severely lacking. I’m on the verge of mocking up a recreation of the wheel. Would that Excel trick work on Google Sheets?

All parties involved would know the key code.

So you’ve solved it? I’ll give it more work until the weekend then I may come back begging for the answers if I haven’t cracked it yet.

 

[Famine]

So you’ve solved it?

Yep

All parties involved would know the key code.

It's a six-letter key code that doesn't actually make a word, but it replaces the first six letters in both codes. Once you know what NVWMVO and GIBRIV are, everything else just pops out.

Would that Excel trick work on Google Sheets?

Yes, absolutely. In fact that's where I did it

If you don't want to wait:



Just copy the text in the first column and move it down a line at a time (or Insert Cell, Shift Down) until everything but the first word makes sense.

 

[W3H5]

Cheers, Big Perpal. The word that makes no sense might make more sense in the overall scope of the case. I’d hazard a guess it might be “Irvin” or something related to banks.

Edit: I just looked at your sheet, seems you got the same output I got doing it manually. I have a feeling that the decoder isn’t aligned properly, or did I miss something there? You’ve been able to shift the key dial around and get something that makes sense, or is it all gobbledygook?

 

[Famine]

Cheers, Big Perpal. The word that makes no sense might make more sense in the overall scope of the case. I’d hazard a guess it might be “Irvin” or something related to banks.

Edit: I just looked at your sheet, seems you got the same output I got doing it manually. I have a feeling that the decoder isn’t aligned properly, or did I miss something there? You’ve been able to shift the key dial around and get something that makes sense, or is it all gobbledygook?

The first six letters are gibberish, but identical gibberish in both - hence my assumption it's a keycode. Everything else makes sense, although there's something in the first one that I'm pretty sure can only be someone's name.

 

[daan]

 

[W3H5]

The first six letters are gibberish, but identical gibberish in both - hence my assumption it's a keycode. Everything else makes sense, although there's something in the first one that I'm pretty sure can only be someone's name.

Does that imply that given enough elbow grease on the shifting of the dial, something will align and make sense? I haven’t yet found any further evidence that there is a unifying letter combo that would produce a coherent text. I don’t think I have the time to brute force it, but I shall delve deeper into the clues to try to sis out if there’s a key for aligning the code wheel. It did strike me as odd initially that the southwest sector of the wheel wasn’t properly aligned.

 

[Famine]

Does that imply that given enough elbow grease on the shifting of the dial, something will align and make sense? I haven’t yet found any further evidence that there is a unifying letter combo that would produce a coherent text. I don’t think I have the time to brute force it, but I shall delve deeper into the clues to try to sis out if there’s a key for aligning the code wheel. It did strike me as odd initially that the southwest sector of the wheel wasn’t properly aligned.

Not so much "imply" as "states".

By moving the input column down a cell at a time, you are effectively doing the same action as turning the code wheel to generate new letter combinations. There's 26 possible positions, and it takes about 45 seconds to look at them all - that's the point of doing it in Excel (Google Sheets/Open Office/Lotus 1-2-3/Whatever).

The two messages each have a different combination on the code wheel, so that in both messages the first six letters translate to the exact same individual phrase, which is the keycode. This would be how people would translate coded messages to send to each other - everyone in the circle knows the keycode, so you just set the code wheel to whatever you feel like, then write your message with letter substitutions, starting with the keycode. Then the receiver only has to set their code wheel so that the coded message translates the first six letters back to the keycode and the rest of the message pops out.

When you have the right keycode you can then read any mesage which starts with the keycode by setting the codewheel so the keycode is translated properly. The keycode here appears to me to be six characters in a gibberish order, but it is identical in both messages. That's why I think it's a keycode.


Just move the first column down until everything except the first six letters makes sense; one of the messages will pop right out at you. Then move the first column so that the first six letters are identical to the first six letters in the other message, and that'll pop out too.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I felt we already had a codes and ciphers thread? Perhaps not...

It's a subject that always intrigued me. A friend and I used to leave notes around for each other (stuffed inside car door handles, silly stuff like that). His were always a lot easier than mine, though once he got the hang of some of the 'rules' I used often, he got better. The last one he did was a simple sequence of numbers, I didn't solve it at the time and he moved away. I forgot about it, until he mentioned it again last year... sadly, he's dead now, and I don't have the solution... It's dead man's riddle I'd like to solve... really should get on to that.

 

[Famine]

I felt we already had a codes and ciphers thread? Perhaps not...

Maybe, but this one's a murder. Potentially at Burger King.

It's a subject that always intrigued me. A friend and I used to leave notes around for each other (stuffed inside car door handles, silly stuff like that). His were always a lot easier than mine, though once he got the hang of some of the 'rules' I used often, he got better. The last one he did was a simple sequence of numbers, I didn't solve it at the time and he moved away. I forgot about it, until he mentioned it again last year... sadly, he's dead now, and I don't have the solution... It's dead man's riddle I'd like to solve... really should get on to that.

Post it up 😁

 

[W3H5]

Not so much "imply" as "states".

By moving the input column down a cell at a time, you are effectively doing the same action as turning the code wheel to generate new letter combinations. There's 26 possible positions, and it takes about 45 seconds to look at them all - that's the point of doing it in Excel (Google Sheets/Open Office/Lotus 1-2-3/Whatever).

The two messages each have a different combination on the code wheel, so that in both messages the first six letters translate to the exact same individual phrase, which is the keycode. This would be how people would translate coded messages to send to each other - everyone in the circle knows the keycode, so you just set the code wheel to whatever you feel like, then write your message with letter substitutions, starting with the keycode. Then the receiver only has to set their code wheel so that the coded message translates the first six letters back to the keycode and the rest of the message pops out.

When you have the right keycode you can then read any mesage which starts with the keycode by setting the codewheel so the keycode is translated properly. The keycode here appears to me to be six characters in a gibberish order, but it is identical in both messages. That's why I think it's a keycode.


Just move the first column down until everything except the first six letters makes sense; one of the messages will pop right out at you. Then move the first column so that the first six letters are identical to the first six letters in the other message, and that'll pop out too.

It’s at this point I feel like you should be solving these murders instead of me lol. I kind of get what you mean in theory, however in practice I have a long way to go before I make sense of the code.

Thanks for the pointer though, I’m sure they’ll lead me to the culprit of the murder at 221b Baker St.

Edit: Not sure BK was a thing in 1898.

I felt we already had a codes and ciphers thread? Perhaps not...

It's a subject that always intrigued me. A friend and I used to leave notes around for each other (stuffed inside car door handles, silly stuff like that). His were always a lot easier than mine, though once he got the hang of some of the 'rules' I used often, he got better. The last one he did was a simple sequence of numbers, I didn't solve it at the time and he moved away. I forgot about it, until he mentioned it again last year... sadly, he's dead now, and I don't have the solution... It's dead man's riddle I'd like to solve... really should get on to that.

Sorry about your bud.
When I left China, fearing what would become of communication monitoring both in and out of the country (it was worse than I could ever have imagined), I left a random number-letter code for my father in our favourite book for emergencies. Now he’s back in the UK it might not be so necessary but at least it’s still there, and completely indecipherable to anyone outside of us.

My former work-wife and I used to compete in creating and solving each other’s riddles that were not so much coded, but more the kind of thing found that was like a logic puzzle or based on the language used. Those were fun times.

 

[Famine]

I kind of get what you mean in theory, however in practice I have a long way to go before I make sense of the code.

Go to cell A2. Right click, Insert Cells, Shift Down. That solves the second code - the first six letters are a nonsense phrase which make a keycode.

Now look at the keycode - the second message has it encoded as GIBRIV, but the first as NVWMVO, so you need to turn the code wheel to put the N where the G is. Look at where the G is on the input column. Work out where you need to put it so the N is there instead of the G. Keep inserting cells until the N is in the right place. That solves the first code.


I assume that you're actually supposed to solve the first code first, it's just the second code pops first because of the code wheel's position. Had you solved the first code first, you'd do the same thing, but the other way round - moving the wheel to generate the keycode from the first G instead of the N.

The actual answers, if you'd prefer:

LIOPIS. DANGER. ON TRAIL. IF PROBLEMS SEE IMHOFF AT BETHLEHEM.

LIOPIS. BEWARE. HIDEOUT MAY BE KNOWN. PROBLEM GO TO SEVEN NEWCOMEN

 

[Blitz24]

I think our murderer is hiding in hedges.

 

[W3H5]

I think our murderer is hiding in hedges.

Or…bear with me here… the privits.

 

[daan]

Maybe, but this one's a murder. Potentially at Burger King.

Is there a curly wurly involved?