9
$\begingroup$

hqtfsylnwtfsyxz,
ftqbq mnjxw js,
jjf hqmj yqynjywy q,
xbm tfzuquij fswt,
f wwjj fditdz?
wyfmhjj jysti ,
'nhimj xh ttrkn srlf w,
xwj jknwsnljdstiz?

xsu wyjmfnih pnqyd t,
fji ix qfn hsjn h,
syt bv zgnnhypjq dn,
iyw di zisjjxxj w,
blm nthsm glwqtntirn s
nqszxsnhimj wytmtjr ,
htmjzxy sbjjdq ql,
mkftazjs id tnzy ?

Your mission:

Decode the very easy riddle and solve it to get the answer, which will explain the title. You have to post the decoded message in your answer and explain the solution.

Notes:

  • I said the riddle was easy, not the decoding.
  • You will know when you have found the answer, there is no guesswork involved.
  • The punctuation was added after encoding
  • The whitespace is important, be careful to keep it intact

I really want to see how easy it is to crack the code, so I am reluctant to give hints, but here are some to get you going:

Hints:

  1. The title and tag together give a clue as to the methods you must use to decode it

(non-spoiler)

  1. The method you must use follows simple rules

(little tip)

Have fun!

Edit: I have decided to give a full explanation; first have a look at ImongMama's correct answer.

The answer is:

Caesar's sandwich, formed by the first letter of each line

Which explains the title:

Julius Caesar is the unfortunate Roman; the other part refers to the Earl of Sandwich. The title is also a clue to the decryption method, because the secret message is a Caesar ciphered sandwich code (where every second letter is read, returning to the beginning of a line from the end)

And the poem:

Congratulations,
All is now here,

You have broken the code

Each little letter,
Should now appear,

You should be looking for stand-alone letters to make up the answer.

Are you ready?
Race to the end,
'ides of march coming,

Julius Caesar was killed during the Ides of March

Seeing your friend?

A clue that a person fits the clues in this half of the poem.

Spread it on thickly,
Add a nice slice,
Now bite it quickly,

Making and eating a sandwich

Dry desert dunes, Which gliding on broom

Dunes are sand, and a homonym of witch —> sandwich

Inside the lunch room,

Common item for lunch

Chutney goes well,

Chutney goes well with many sandwiches; also the Earl of Sandwich and the Earl of Chutney

Have you found it?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
10
  • $\begingroup$ Something to do with Earl of Clarendon or Donald earl? $\endgroup$
    – Duck
    Sep 22, 2018 at 17:43
  • $\begingroup$ @Duck: Nope! : ) $\endgroup$
    – hat
    Sep 22, 2018 at 18:19
  • $\begingroup$ ...so the decoding is hard then? $\endgroup$
    – u-ndefined
    Sep 23, 2018 at 2:29
  • $\begingroup$ @u_ndefined: I really don't know how difficult it will be for all you geniuses around the site, but it could be challenging. We'll see how long it takes to crack. $\endgroup$
    – hat
    Sep 24, 2018 at 4:17
  • $\begingroup$ Decoding Caesar’s square? $\endgroup$
    – Omega Krypton
    Oct 6, 2018 at 13:12

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
6
$\begingroup$

Partial:

By using Caesar cipher (shift 5) we get another scrambled up riddle:

cloantgiroantsu
aolwl hiesr en
elaec hl eltittetr
swh oauplpde anror
a rree aydoyuanror?
rtahcee etnod ror
'irdcehs coofm imnag
suere ifnrgi eynoda?
sopnr etahdi ciktl y
acded sal incie
nto wq ubiictkel yi
drrty dduensees yi
wnhgi cohn gblriodoim
haiidn isni gphltdoim
inc itnoga sotphltdoim
coheust nweeyl lgtdoim
hse rteh ec oemneddoim

Which we then

Have to find the anagrams for the actual riddle to solve.

All I got was something I am absolutely sure is wrong:

congratulations
inhale slower
recall teeth title
horns would appear
norra are you ready?
error not cheated
`acidic frogmen mosh
your deafening ires?

parched kitty lions
a sanded icicle
two bite quickly in
dirty undressed ye
bird mooching howling
inlaid midpoint highs
cad hitting monopolist
selected whom outlying
the emceed or hedonism


Should the number of letters in every word be the same?

EDIT

Kind of figured it out but still not sure about some of the letters:

congratulations
all is here now
each little letter
should appear now-r
are you ready norra?
race to the end ror
'ides of march coming
seeing your friend-a?

spread on it thickly
add a nice slice
now quickly bite it
dry dunesy desert-i
which gliding on broom
hid in plain sight-domi
icing on top stathl-domi
chutney goes well tdomi
here comes the end domi

AFTER FIX:

congratulations,
all is now here,
each little letter,
should now appear,
are you ready?
race to the end,
ides of march coming, (Will the apostrophe still start this sentence?)
seeing your friend?

spread it on thickly,
add a nice slice,
now bite it quickly,
dry desert dunes,
which gliding on broom
inside the lunch room,
chutney goes well,
have you found it?

So is the answer really caesar's sandwich?

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
6
  • $\begingroup$ Well it’s just alternating, but is not uniform on some lines, like, do I skip the spaces in counting? Or do I start counting from the first letter? Because on some lines it doesn’t fit. So I kinda just find the right words and arrange them to a sentence. $\endgroup$
    – ImongMama
    Oct 9, 2018 at 11:04
  • $\begingroup$ Example is in the first line, we just get the odd-indexed letters first then concatenate the even-indexed letters. But it doesn’t work for the second line $\endgroup$
    – ImongMama
    Oct 9, 2018 at 11:07
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Encoding problems fixed, and a few improvements made. Important to note: the whitespace is very important, and it got broken during encoding. (There were other issues as well) $\endgroup$
    – hat
    Oct 20, 2018 at 9:51
  • $\begingroup$ How did you know how much to shift by? $\endgroup$
    – JGibbers
    Oct 22, 2018 at 20:55
  • $\begingroup$ Tried every shift and when I saw the first word on this specific shift, immediately thought of the word congratulations lol $\endgroup$
    – ImongMama
    Oct 23, 2018 at 1:19
3
$\begingroup$

I believe the answer may be:

Caesar's sandwhich

which I discovered by:

doing rot21 on the encoded message and then reading the first letter of each line

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ First half completed, now you have to decode the entire riddle. Good luck! $\endgroup$
    – hat
    Oct 8, 2018 at 4:38
1
$\begingroup$

Partial Answer

The algorithm is either

Caesar box

or

Caesar shifting

Reason:

Julius Caesar was an unfortunate Roman being assassinated.

and

Earl Caesar tea.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ On the right track...but not there yet. $\endgroup$
    – hat
    Oct 8, 2018 at 5:33

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