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Alice and Bob shared a secret key using the following story.

Williams is a handsome boy. He is calm and brilliant. He lost his parents in an accident when they went on an uphill drive. One day, he went swimming with his five friends in a nearby river. It was autumn. His friends had gone deeper into the river but he stayed at the bank. Suddenly he heard the voices of his friends, shouting for help. He saw a large crocodile attacking them. He took a knife from his bag and jumped into the river to save them. He started fighting with the crocodile. He was wounded in the leg and wrist. The crocodile was also wounded severely by him. After a long fight, the crocodile left him and his friends brought him to the bank. All of his friends hoped that he would recover soon. Later he was rewarded for his courage by the government. The award was presented by a colonel of the US army. The colonel signed a cheque of $200 and handed it over to Williams.

Alice send to Bob another message "Keep calm to decipher it".

An intruder intercepted the message and tried to decipher it, but failed. Perhaps he is not calm. Can you decipher it?

Hint 1

Keep silent while reading the story.

Hint 2:

Remove unwanted things.

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  • $\begingroup$ Please edit it if any mistakes found.. $\endgroup$
    – KSR
    Sep 28, 2016 at 11:57
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    $\begingroup$ Does the rather big amount of grammatical mistakes have anything to do with the solution? $\endgroup$
    – Peter
    Sep 28, 2016 at 12:08
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    $\begingroup$ I think the answer is much simpler than what I think it is. $\endgroup$
    – ABcDexter
    Sep 28, 2016 at 16:21
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    $\begingroup$ @ABcDexter If you think the answer is simpler than you think then it's even simpler because you think it's simpler which means that it's simpler than that which means... $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Sep 28, 2016 at 18:05
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    $\begingroup$ can you define what "silent letters" mean? standard english silent letters? what about the l in "williams"? Also in your second hint, can I assume I need to reassemble the answer based on some kind of pattern? or it is random? $\endgroup$
    – Jeffrey04
    Oct 27, 2016 at 6:22

2 Answers 2

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Partial answer

As hinted heavily, hidden throughout the story are

words with silent letters:

Williams is a handsome boy. He is calm and brilliant. He lost his parents in an accident when they went on an uphill drive. One day, he went swimming with his five friends in a nearby river. It was autumn. His friends had gone deeper into the river but he stayed at the bank. Suddenly he heard the voices of his friends, shouting for help. He saw a large crocodile attacking them. He took a knife from his bag and jumped into the river to save them. He started fighting with the crocodile. He was wounded in the leg and wrist. The crocodile was also wounded severely by him. After a long fight, the crocodile left him and his friends brought him to the bank. All of his friends hoped that he would recover soon. Later he was rewarded for his courage by the government. The award was presented by a colonel of the US army. The colonel signed a cheque of $200 and handed it over to Williams.

Some of these are debatable, but they don't really seem to spell out a message or anything - not sure where to go from here.

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    $\begingroup$ I would argue that some of those letters are not really silent. For example, the L in calm? $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Sep 29, 2016 at 3:15
  • $\begingroup$ @greenturtle3141: Yeah, I wasn't sure about that one either - it depends on your accent. I've heard it both ways. (That's one of the reasons I added the disclaimer at the bottom.) $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Sep 29, 2016 at 3:16
  • $\begingroup$ maybe after this you should use calm as key to decipher $\endgroup$
    – Naeem Shaikh
    Sep 29, 2016 at 12:07
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Partial answer

What I have currently

d e l h e e e i a n i e a e e c k e e g h e o w e l o e g h e i g h i e l e o o g h u e

And the silent letters are bolded for each sentence

Williams is a handsome boy. (handsome = d,e [1])

 

He is calm and brilliant. (calm = l [1])

 

He lost his parents in an accident when they went on an uphill drive. (when = h [1]; drive = e [1])

 

One day, he went swimming with his five friends in a nearby river. (one = e [1]; five = e [1]; friends = i [3]; nearby = a [3])

 

It was autumn. (autumn = n [1])

 

His friends had gone deeper into the river but he stayed at the bank. (friends = i [3]; gone = e [1])

 

Suddenly he heard the voices of his friends, shouting for help. (heard = a [3]; friends = i [3])

 

He saw a large crocodile attacking them. (large = e [1]; crocodile = e [1]; attacking = c [1])

 

He took a knife from his bag and jumped into the river to save them. (knife = k,e [1]; save = e [1])

 

He started fighting with the crocodile. (fighting = g,h [1]; crocodile = e [1])

 

He was wounded in the leg and wrist. (wound = o [4]; wrist = w [1])

 

The crocodile was also wounded severely by him. (crocodile = e [1]; also = l [1]; wounded = o [4]; severely = e [4])

 

After a long fight, the crocodile left him and his friends brought him to the bank. (fight = g,h [1]; crocodile = e [1]; friends = i [3]; brought = g,h [1])

 

All of his friends hoped that he would recover soon. (friends = i [3]; hoped = e [1]; would = l [1])

 

Later he was rewarded for his courage by the government. (courage = e [1])

 

The award was presented by a colonel of the US army. (colonel = o [2])

 

The colonel signed a cheque of $200 and handed it over to Williams. (colonel = o [2]; signed = g [1]; cheque = h [1]; cheque = u,e [3])

References:

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3
  • $\begingroup$ Answer is based on silent letters.. Please identify the correct silent letters and remove unnecessary ones to get the answer. The answer is a single word. $\endgroup$
    – KSR
    Oct 26, 2016 at 8:50
  • $\begingroup$ erm, am I finding the right silent letters? $\endgroup$
    – Jeffrey04
    Oct 26, 2016 at 9:40
  • $\begingroup$ also are two identical letters in sequence (williams, brilliant, took) considered silent? $\endgroup$
    – Jeffrey04
    Oct 27, 2016 at 6:17

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