16
$\begingroup$

My friend is studying Maritime technologies. He was given a logical test, where there was the following question:

A paper message was found lying on the street near shop AKVAPLUSS with such content:

NFITJMDSMNFCVHMNMBSERFYWVELUEKCQSJ

Decrypt the code to discover the secret message.

  • The test ended a week ago, we are simply interested in the way it can be decrypted, because all the ways we tried didn't work.
  • The question was 4th in the test if it helps.
  • Finally the teacher answered the e-mail, but he didn't give the answer to the puzzle, however he gave a hint (how we should find out that ourselves I don't know):

    Place under the message the word "akvapluss"

EDIT: Clarified puzzle and found out that teacher was made unique puzzles for each student, and my friend is from

Latvia

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
20
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ Did the test allow computer access? in other words, should this be solvable by hand? $\endgroup$
    – Ivo
    Nov 15, 2015 at 21:10
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I'm not sure if the first 3 questions can give clues on this one since it is the 4th. Sometimes it is based on continuity from previous questions. $\endgroup$
    – Mekalikot
    Nov 17, 2015 at 2:50
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I'm guessing that maybe it cannot be solved in English. You are from Latvia, right? Any chance that the message can be in Latvian? $\endgroup$
    – cinico
    Nov 23, 2015 at 18:46
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @cinico No chance for Latvian, it could be in Finnish, because friend is studying in Finland. $\endgroup$
    – Somnium
    Nov 23, 2015 at 18:56
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ Akva Pluss is a bathroom furnishing store in Latvia $\endgroup$
    – Morgan G
    Jan 11, 2016 at 20:22

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
3
$\begingroup$

Pretty sure the decrypted text is:

mumstaiztmugurastirtveikalsttobago - obtained as a Vignere using the key provided (but shifted one forward; a = 1, b = 2)

Which according to google translate is:

Latvian

Unfortunately I couldn't decipher the actual message, not knowing the language, but putting spaces in random places did give me some English when put through the translator.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Actually, if you replace letters "t" by space, you get normal sentence in that language so I wil consider that you cracked it. $\endgroup$
    – Somnium
    Jun 9, 2016 at 20:48
0
$\begingroup$

Tried using the Vigenere cipher with Finnish alphabet (I googled for it). If I did not do any errors in moving in the Vigenere cipher and if the alphabet I used was correct, the answer should be: npaawyyhbnpyvxyehtsojfjgmxauobccaa Unfortunately I am Italian so I don't know if the answer is reasonable (and I hope it does not contain any bad words :) ). If it is not maybe you should try rearrange the letters in order to form Finnish words. Otherwise you can try adding or subtracting 4 (the number of the question) to each letter and see if the result is reasonable.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
-2
$\begingroup$

4

Cryptic code is 4

4th question also supports that

Also, NFITJMDSMNFCVHMNMBSERFYWVELUEKCQSJ AGOPXZ 1 7 15 16 24 26 6 , 8, 1, 8, 2 -2, 7,-7, 6

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say here. The cryptic message is "4"? $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Jun 7, 2016 at 20:03

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.