5000xp Challenge - Epic finalé

[dawesbr]

Oh I'm having fun watching all this How far away and yet close you all are amuses me

[robotiod]

well the numbers must be representing letters surely so we need to try and replace them. but with what???

[robotiod]

a-\7q9a9q3a7a1\3a8

- (1)
\\ (2)
aaaaa (5)
qq (2)
77 (2)
99 (2)
33 (2)
1 (1)
8 (1)

[springs86]

I have no clue what that clue is about.

Does the - at the begining have something to do with a 6

looking at it backwards you get
3a8
3a7
a-

[robotiod]

I still find it strange that everything as a number is odd except for the number 8

[dawesbr]

robotiod I'm going to come straight out and say that's a coincidence, don't get hung about it, though I suppose it does have some relevance in terms of statistical frequencies.

[robotiod]

yey we got a big clue woop woop. it doesn't help in any which way or form LOL.

[dawesbr]

To anyone who knows the basic rules of cryptography it means a lot. I'm sure comphermc will probably pop on momentarily and solve it all in one go V_V

[Astrosimi]

This is a Cyphertext-only message, so, we must use frequency analysys. This of course has been said in simpler terms by dawesbr, but I just wanted to give you guys the wiki-links.

[mistervista]

My first guess:

WATER

[Syroc]

Hippopotomonstrosisquippedaliophobia

[mistervista]

Hippopotomonstrosisquippedaliophobia

Aargh, I can't believe I didn't think of that one first

[robotiod]

Ok i went crazy and figured this out this is for the first post i hope it helps someone.




! 3
" 2
' 3
( 3
) 3
, 17
- 2
. 12
0 9
1 1
2 2
3 2
5 5
7 2
8 1
9 2
: 1
? 1
A 6
B 2
C 4
D 1
E 6
F 1
G 4
H 4
I 6
L 2
N 3
O 4
P 1
R 6
S 7
T 9
Y 3
\ 2
a 49
b 7
c 16
d 20
e 70
f 13
g 12
h 29
i 47
k 6
l 49
m 10
n 46
o 52
p 15
q 2
r 35
s 37
t 55
u 19
v 6
w 19
x 6
y 16
z 1




I don't think each character is representing a letter in the overall answer because i went through the dictionary looking for words with that same amount of characters and i couldn't find a match.

[ARD•]

Thinking about patterns...the only characters that don't repeat are - and 1.

Hmmm...

[dawesbr]

*whistles* Wow, very lateral thinking robotiod. Hate to bring you down, mais c'est incorrect (Frenglish ftw). I would recommend looking at the clue on its own, nothing I have said is essential to cracking it, just provides hints. What repeating patterns do you notice, not just by which letters occur this often etc, but in format etc.

[CyberSora]

Hmm.. pattern. I'll post this up for those who don't want to go to the first page.

a-\7q9a9q3a7a1\3a8

[CyberSora]

Hey guys, maybe it's another post from dawesbr. Remember last time? Here's the way I think it would look on the address bar.

8a3/1a7a3q9a9q7/-a

[ARD•]

Hey guys, maybe it's another post from dawesbr. Remember last time? Here's the way I think it would look on the address bar.

8a3/1a7a3q9a9q7/-a

If it's a post...maybe the 8a3 is the forum, 1a7a3q9a9q7 is the tread, and -a is the post...

Although it probably wouldn't be reversed like that if that was the case.

[Shadowheaven]

Separating this in 3 symbols groups we get
a-\ 7q9 a9q 3a7 a1\ 3a8 (or 8a3 /1a 7a3 q9a 9q7 /-a)

I could be completely on the wrong way, but 3a7 and 3a8 look quite suspicious...

[BSprague]

I'm writing up a quick program to slowly cycle through different ASCII changes to see if I can get something coherent. It will be done in a minute.