Codenames is a word game where players try to collect all of their team’s cards from a board, by having their Spymaster give one-word hints which describe one or more cards on the table. Which cards belong to which team is determined by a random draw of pre-printed game maps, showing which positions belong to Red, which to Blue, and which is the Assassin card (the black card – revealing this ends the game for both teams).
Jan 20, 2017 - 8500 Words -
It’s been a long time since I did a big puzzle solution post, and even longer since I played a crypto contest at ShmooCon. That’s about to change. :)
After winning three years in a row, and running the ShmooCon contest for four years after that, I finally stepped away from the fray in 2016. But I did help out a little, commenting on the puzzles they were putting together and generally offering advice. This year, though, about 2 weeks before ShmooCon started, it dawned on me: I haven’t heard a single thing about the contest. I CAN PLAY!
Jan 20, 2017 - 1400 Words -
Look Around
* pictures on con signs outside rooms *
/oneyamasoon
go to /oneymasoon, see text "Setec Astronomy".
114.81832.065231.03588140.11610215.9994
20.179740.07814.00674.00260239.948
88.9058515.9994238.028911.0079422739.0983
(link to “loom”, which presented this ASCII image:)
/--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
/ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
| 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
| 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
| 22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222
| 33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
| 44444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
| 55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
| 66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666
| 77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
| 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
| 99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
Also relevant was the result from solving #7:
Mar 27, 2016 - 2700 Words -
A few years back, after I won my first crypto contest, the contest author, G. Mark Hardy, suggested I read Between Silk and Cyanide. Written by Leo Marks, it’s a first-person account of the difficulties managing cryptographic communications with field agents in Europe during World War II.
Much of the story centered on the “poem codes” used by the agents, but the technical details were kind of obscure and not clearly explained. So I thought I’d do my best to document how I think it worked. This probably isn’t the exact method they used, but hopefully it’ll be close enough that you can get the general idea, and understand some of the difficulties these agents faced.
Aug 25, 2014 - 600 Words - Last Wednesday, the security company Praetorian released a new set of crypto challenges as a recruitment tool and fun challenge for the community.
I sprinted through the first 5 (of 8) levels in less than 24 hours, then got totally stuck on Level 6 for over two days. Finally, late Saturday night I managed the intuitive leap I was missing, and by early Sunday morning I’d finished level 6. Some hours later (after, you know, sleeping) I finished level 7, and level 8 fell in under 15 minutes, making me the first person to solve all 8 levels. (No prizes, but I enjoy the bragging rights, and, well, the pressure makes sure I actually try to finish them all….) Congratulations also to @TheJEversmann for “coming in a close second.”