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A message has been intercepted in Morse code coming from one unidentified station to another, but the radio operators couldn't make any sense of it. Later, another message was intercepted. Here are the two messages in their original Morse code. See if you can decode them, then figure out what sort of group was sending them and from what part of the world.

The First Message -.. .. .-. . -.-. - / ... .--. . -.-. .. .- .-.. / .- - - . -. - .. --- -. / -.-. .... .- .-. .-.. . ... / -.-- --- -.- --- .... .- -- .- / ..- .-. --. . -. - .-.. -.-- / --. --- .. -. --. / --- -.. -.. .-.. -.-- / ... .-.. --- .-- / .. ... - .- -. -... ..- .-.. / - . -. / -. .- ... - -.-- / --. .- .--. ... / .. -. / ... .- - ..- .-. -.. .- -.-- / -- . .- -. ... / - .. -... . - .- -. / -- . -.. .. -.-. .. -. . / . .- ... .. .-.. -.-- / -.-. .... .- -. --. . ... / .-- . ... - / . -.- --- -- -... .

The Second Message .-- .- - . .-. / - -.-. .... .- .. -.- --- ...- ... -.- -.-- / .... --- ..- .-. / ..- - . .-. ..- ... / ..-. --- ..- -. -.. / .-. .--. --. / --- .-.. -.. / .. -.-. .. -.-. .-.. . ... / . --- -. ... / -. .- - .... .- -. / -.- .. .- / - .- .-.. .-.. --- .-- / -.-. --- ..- .-. - / .- ... .--. .- .-. - .- -- . / -

Note that "." stand for dots, "_" stand for dashes, and "/" stand for spaces. Good luck!

(Thanks to the good writer Herge for basis of this riddle)

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2 Answers 2

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Doing the unnecessary busywork of decoding the morse code, we get

DIRECT SPECIAL ATTENTION CHARLES YOKOHAMA URGENTLY GOING ODDLY SLOW ISTANBUL TEN NASTY GAPS IN SATURDAY MEANS TIBETAN MEDICINE EASILY CHANGES WEST EKOMBE

and

WATER TCHAIKOVSKY HOUR UTERUS FOUND RPG OLD ICICLES EONS NATHAN KIA TALLOW COURT ASPARTAME T

This is a simple code: we can just

read the first two letters of each word

to find out the real conversation:

Dispatch your goods. Listen again same time each week.

Watch out for police on Akita coast.

Which probably means we are dealing with

Smugglers in Japan.

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  • $\begingroup$ Nice job, the morse code was to throw you off $\endgroup$
    – Zobrothian
    Commented Nov 10, 2019 at 4:49
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Partial answer: just decoding the Morse code, the first passage is:

DIRECT SPECIAL ATTENTION CHARLES YOKOHAMA URGENTLY GOING ODDLY SLOW ISTANBUL TEN NASTY GAPS IN SATURDAY MEANS TIBETAN MEDICINE EASILY CHANGES WEST EKOMBE

And the second passage is:

WATER TCHAIKOVSKY HOUR UTERUS FOUND RPG OLD ICICLES EONS NATHAN KIA TALLOW COURT ASPARTAME T

Searching for the first passage on Google found a copy of

The Blue Lotus (Le Lotus bleu)

which contains this passage:

page 19

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  • $\begingroup$ Ah, silly me for not using Google. Got the answer a couple of seconds faster though. ;-) $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Nov 10, 2019 at 4:46
  • $\begingroup$ Congratulations, you can Google Search $\endgroup$
    – Zobrothian
    Commented Nov 10, 2019 at 4:48
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    $\begingroup$ @Zobrothian you should probably edit your question to attribute the puzzle to Herge (see plagarism policy) $\endgroup$
    – 2012rcampion
    Commented Nov 10, 2019 at 4:59

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