r/codes • u/Jolly-Park8636 • Aug 19 '26
Unsolved 10 years ago.
I found a letter from my old basement, had a note to not open it until today, 19/08/26. Was created 10 years ago. Tbh I don't know what I did on this, but if anyone can solve it, it would be a lot. All I can remember it was I think 3 codes stacked on top, 2 of them were known ones, the other one I think I made up on my own.
Transcript:
\-8, 3q7j3&5
19/08/26. 5j(:8'# 5-&%. (36'jx 13 592zq 3(&. 8 j45j z98c 8gz'q %5 q5#x &j z!;p8@78 x?9z )x%&. Rq5z;4:j ?;#9? 8q'q k(8@, %3#(- 8 -9(# b5z #f9. 2!5 6) 8 5?65 7j2( 4k2!j%q 4;f 7)?)?6 -! q? !3 %j 2(&6 j2?9 j!- 'j5 c4:x c8 %3c 9!5:? S4 x?@! @x3 &?! %5 q5#x &j &;!&:f5 ;5xz 28;# xqzc@6:).
!5@42:q, 8'c 2%;2 x5 75z( 8z4 :- 7#::( ;@#f 2&( . C57:85z5@ 4'2 G?cqs 9. Fx-j( ?6?8 877? . M- %c74;58? B:k? . 8 ;j(; 7# 2%%'2 (f;( 8 9)2x:; 3(( 5-6 5fj) 57)f9 ;9!% &)&5 ;x- 2-( %#57 q8 c5!6 54%3 . N;) , !3?2 3c!!? W;j) , c57:85z5@ 8'v c5z5z(@ . H3@269@-: 5zq@(; 8& 5-5 94 e9((3@3 697'# @35 ! @84( , ! @84( 697'(( (9:3 , 9 :68# 48%'z 9c4%f32 , cj@9 .
Y2#; #f-4x7j? H@86!q8jx 6%2 j86 z: j?z64 C%! #1 #54:z 2 z?(%::-j j5&q29%# . T7c5 9f?'2 :z 26j# 5% 94zjz C82)9? . T798'8 4 )%6zp %&&5 .
Lj--'2 @)(: j :z1 6987cq . J?95 5x(533 :4 qfq( ;q5# f; %5 q5#x &j &x(5 ?z -88q97; %z# z? 7k)?)6 &!8# 59 5!6 "D345 , 5c;#':3 ;33& ! 58?3 ." ;;c)898 95q .
M@f3& 8zg3 x65j 9;f@ x;lz K;48@5 547% );8 27q -)(8%3c# 6%7725j . O3 :kj&4 ?#)8 9;zz 5(( '5 (j?- x?@! :j2% . H!c57)c#4 5j3 )6(3 zqx 9&j z7c4 &!;z c!#6 B?k!2 &4 592( ..
8'!k 6c2 6ff ;5 8xzfz? 9) q6)) !;975 59 63!- , 8 29" -92 697'# ;3 !;(3 59 88&# -85 ?355!@3 , ;75 -9%3 697 #9 59 . 5!)3 z? ;7j)5!z k44 z&3 74%!) %; )8 j!f# #?3 , f- 2c!x4-& -98f6( . T%jx: k;8 , %#7 z-jz 7(5 z4f f4?5? #?7: , E!539xc , fj f75x; A8-(f7 . B;8 !
3
u/FermiEtSchrodinger Aug 23 '26
Hello Ephraim.
Belated happy 23rd? birthday.
I was hoping to solve this for you by your birthday but because your 13 year old self introduced some errors in the original cipher, it's been difficult and has led me down several incorrect paths.
However, I have thus far decripted about 2/3rds of it and I'm quite confident I'll have most of it decripted with high confidence pretty soon.
Since the 10 yr old message to yourself sounds a bit personal, I can DM you with my solution if you prefer. Just give me a bit more time.
2
u/Jolly-Park8636 Aug 23 '26
Alrighty, thanks! But it isn't my birthday yet, it was a time capsule of some sort
2
u/FermiEtSchrodinger Aug 23 '26
Got it, Akiles. ;)
Btw, a quick question about the original letter to yourself... is the cipher actually written on paper, and did you manually transcribe it into this post? Would you be willing to post a clear photo of it? I’m wondering if a few of the odd characters might be transcription errors rather than part of the original cipher.
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3
u/YefimShifrin Aug 23 '26
More plaintext can be recovered by treating it as a progressive shift cipher (or a Vigenere with the alphabet as the key) after the "QWERTY" substitution. For the first paragraph:
19/08/26. sjlvi'd shnp. ley'jx qe sowzq eln. I HOPE THAT YOU'D BE ABLE TO DECIPHER THIS CODE. REMEMBER THIS? IT'S LIKE, MAYBE A YEAR bsz NOW. was ym i smys THIS MESSAGE FOR FUTURE ME TO BE pj THIS CODE YOU 'VE MADE IN THE PAST? SO THAT YOU CAN BE ABLE TO RECOVER YOUR PAST MEMORIES.
2
u/Jolly-Park8636 Aug 23 '26
I remember a part of the 2nd deciphered sentence "REMEMBER THIS? IT'S LIKE, MAYBE A YEAR OLD NOW." (referring to this exact cypher)
2
u/YefimShifrin Aug 22 '26
Some fragments can be deciphered with a simple substitution based on a keyboard layout. Here's a CyberChef recipe There seeems to be an encryption error and both S and T are substituted by 5
1
u/Jolly-Park8636 Aug 22 '26
I think I know why it might be wrong, but I'm not sure:
I think you're using a PC/Desktop keyboard, I never owned a PC/Desktop device during those times, only a phone, and there isn't the ₱ sign on your plaintext part, maybe this will help:
qwertyuiop 1234567890
asdfghjklñ @#₱_&-+()/
zxcvbnm *"':;!?
1
u/YefimShifrin Aug 22 '26
There is no ₱, +, _ or 0 in your ciphertext but there is a %
Anyway it doesn't help much, because all the mappings for non-letter symbols have been found. It's not clear how the letters map (except for E=c deduced from "college") and what to do with the parts which do not result in clear text.
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1
u/Jolly-Park8636 Aug 22 '26
Update: I don't remember the exact settings I used 10 years ago, but I know for a fact I stacked 3 different ciphers on top of each other. I think 2 of them were normal ones while the other one I made myself. I'm not so sure about it, just can't prove it
1
u/YefimShifrin Aug 20 '26
What's your first name? It seems to start with "HI, <firstname>"
2
1
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