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I am a software engineer and an old-fashion person. I fell in love with a smart, beautiful girl I have known for years. Today, I finally asked her out for a date, but she did not give me her response immediately. Instead she gave me this:

****-/*---- /----*/****-/****-/*----/---**/*----/****-/*----/-****/***--/****-/*---- /----*/**---/-****/**---/**---/***--/--***/****-/

She said this is a five-layer encryption code, and this represents her answer. The only hint she gave me is: "I use these a lot in daily life".

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    $\begingroup$ Looks like she's swearing at you :) $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Commented Feb 28, 2017 at 20:36
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    $\begingroup$ "Stop following me you creep!" $\endgroup$
    – FrodCube
    Commented Feb 28, 2017 at 20:42
  • $\begingroup$ @BeastlyGerbil Really? $\endgroup$
    – william wang
    Commented Feb 28, 2017 at 20:43
  • $\begingroup$ @FrodCube I think I am pretty charming $\endgroup$
    – william wang
    Commented Feb 28, 2017 at 20:43
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    $\begingroup$ @williamwang welcome to puzzling btw! I have a feeling I know the first step, it gives me '4194418141634192622374' but don't know what to do with that $\endgroup$
    – Beastly Gerbil
    Commented Feb 28, 2017 at 20:44

1 Answer 1

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Step 1:

Convert from Morse code to numbers, to get 4194418141634192622374

Step 2:

Split the numbers into groups of 2, then dial the first number on a cell phone dial pad the second number of times, converting 41 94 41 81 41 63 41 92 62 23 74 to G Z G T G O G X N C S

Step 3:

Convert the alphabet from querty keyboard layout QWERT... to a regular alphabet ABCDE... to get O T O E O I O U Y V L

Step 4:

Split it in two parts and interleave to get OTOEOIOUYVL = OTOEOI OUYVL = OOTUOYEVOLI

Step 5:

Reverse and separate into I LOVE YOU TOO

Disclaimer: I've seen this puzzle before a couple times, would have been neat if you had encoded something other than the traditional result :)

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for sharing the answer. The first step is okay, but how could anyone get the rest without any proper clues? And all intermediate results are gibberish, so you have no way of knowing whether you are on the right track. (That's obviously a criticism of the puzzle, not of your answer.) $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 19:21
  • $\begingroup$ Yeah I'll be honest the first time I saw this puzzle I didn't get it and felt cheated when I was told the answer. I just checked and if you google search the number sequence from the step 1 you'll get some full solutions in the results. If he had encoded something other than the standard paintext google wouldn't have helped but then probably the only people who could hope to solve it would be those who had seen it before. $\endgroup$
    – Mike Ball
    Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 19:24
  • $\begingroup$ @M Oehm - I have added the link to original puzzle in the comments. $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 19:38
  • $\begingroup$ The reason why I put 'software engineer', 'old fashion' and 'use these daily' is to point out -> 'computer' and 'old-style cellphone' $\endgroup$
    – william wang
    Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 19:47
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    $\begingroup$ @williamwang: How are any of these good clues? They are too vague to be useful. The first step can be guessed because the pattern of numbers in Morse code is familiar. The second step could be guessed by observing that the first digit is always 2-9 and the second is always 1-4. The substitution cipher based on the QWERTY keyboard and splitting and interleaving the string are ideas that have been pulled from thin air. There's really no way to guess them. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 20:20

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