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◳◰ ◓◨ ◨◧◕ ◎◌ ◱◯◱◯ ◍◌○ ◉◉ ◇◔◓◕ ◐►◓◒ ◒◑ ◈◑ ◆◆◓ ◉◉◉

Administrative details (not part of the puzzle):

  • The answer is a clue to The Security to the Party [12] (now with party soundtrack!)

  • For the benefit of anyone without a Unicode-capable browser, the puzzle should look like this (image of the puzzle text): ◳◰ ◓◨ ◨◧◕ ◎◌ ◱◯◱◯ ◍◌○ ◉◉ ◇◔◓◕ ◐►◓◒ ◒◑ ◈◑ ◆◆◓ ◉◉◉

  • The answer is written text in the English language. The puzzle is: "◳◰ ◓◨ ◨◧◕ ◎◌ ◱◯◱◯ ◍◌○ ◉◉ ◇◔◓◕ ◐►◓◒ ◒◑ ◈◑ ◆◆◓ ◉◉◉" is the cyphertext. What is the plaintext?

  • This type of puzzle is called a Cryptogram. The Google search "How to solve a cryptogram" leads to all kinds of useful resources, hints and tips.

  • The puzzle is not case-sensitive (see question below).

  • The plaintext does not contain any slang or acronyms (see question below).

  • Chat about this question is here: http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/18659/discussion-on-question-by-a-e------------- (contains spoilers!)

  • There are no proper nouns (names) in the plaintext. (question from chat)

  • The plaintext does not contain roman numerals. (question from chat)

  • There is no punctuation in the plaintext. (question from chat)

Thank you @Kevin for providing a list of names of the symbols, for anyone who's having trouble with fonts (also good from an accessibility point of view, I guess). So everyone's on a level playing field, I've copied it below:

WHITE SQUARE WITH UPPER RIGHT QUADRANT
WHITE SQUARE WITH UPPER LEFT QUADRANT
SPACE
CIRCLE WITH UPPER HALF BLACK
SQUARE WITH RIGHT HALF BLACK
SPACE
SQUARE WITH RIGHT HALF BLACK
SQUARE WITH LEFT HALF BLACK
CIRCLE WITH ALL BUT UPPER LEFT QUADRANT BLACK
SPACE
BULLSEYE
DOTTED CIRCLE
SPACE
WHITE SQUARE WITH LOWER LEFT QUADRANT
LARGE CIRCLE
WHITE SQUARE WITH LOWER LEFT QUADRANT
LARGE CIRCLE
SPACE
CIRCLE WITH VERTICAL FILL
DOTTED CIRCLE
WHITE CIRCLE
SPACE
FISHEYE
FISHEYE
SPACE
WHITE DIAMOND
CIRCLE WITH UPPER RIGHT QUADRANT BLACK
CIRCLE WITH UPPER HALF BLACK
CIRCLE WITH ALL BUT UPPER LEFT QUADRANT BLACK
SPACE
CIRCLE WITH LEFT HALF BLACK
BLACK RIGHT-POINTING POINTER
CIRCLE WITH UPPER HALF BLACK
CIRCLE WITH LOWER HALF BLACK
SPACE
CIRCLE WITH LOWER HALF BLACK
CIRCLE WITH RIGHT HALF BLACK
SPACE
WHITE DIAMOND CONTAINING BLACK SMALL DIAMOND
CIRCLE WITH RIGHT HALF BLACK
SPACE
BLACK DIAMOND
BLACK DIAMOND
CIRCLE WITH UPPER HALF BLACK
SPACE
FISHEYE
FISHEYE
FISHEYE
Improve this question
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  • 3
    $\begingroup$ So I took each of these characters' hex value and converted them to decimal. And I'm nowhere. imgur.com/lWEDhW2 $\endgroup$
    – Raystafarian
    Nov 14, 2014 at 14:17
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @Victor re your fisheye, the pattern becomes 16/2/15/3 - or 18/18 $\endgroup$
    – Raystafarian
    Nov 14, 2014 at 14:43
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I feel like the double fish eye symbol is the separator. The it makes an even 16 symbols. I dont think simple substitution works here because the words are too small. it may be a block cipher since 16 is a square number. $\endgroup$
    – stackErr
    Nov 14, 2014 at 15:47
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @stackErr but the second set is 15, not 16 $\endgroup$
    – Raystafarian
    Nov 14, 2014 at 15:54
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @Raystafarian Theres three fisheyes at the end. I am considering one to be in the ciphertext and the double fisheye as the separator. I could be totally wrong as well :/ $\endgroup$
    – stackErr
    Nov 14, 2014 at 15:57

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
42
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MAGICSIBLINGS
It's morse code, with every circular symbol representing a dot and every other symbol representing a dash. The content of the symbols is a red herring.

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3
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ CORRECT! Well done! $\endgroup$
    – A E
    Nov 14, 2014 at 18:04
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I cannot begin to imagine the thought processes that led user 5352 to the right solution. It sends shivers down my spine! $\endgroup$
    – augustin
    Nov 15, 2014 at 14:37
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @augustin you might like the mutilated chessboard problem. It's a similar "projection" problem, where the answer comes about pretty quickly if you can figure out which information to ignore, and which information to keep (project). $\endgroup$
    – Joshua Taylor
    Nov 15, 2014 at 16:05

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