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Note: This question looks like spam, but it isn't. All the "spamminess" is intentional and crucial to solve the puzzle

I have received an email and this was attached to it: Puzzle

What does this mean? Apples? Oh you are here, can we be Friends so you can help me investigate? Agreed? I Really need to know what this means for my job portfolio. Please help me, wait you aren't my friend? Learn manners... Are you joking or not? You must be... Ever did you betray me like that... Don't say you aren't joking. No for real... anyways I am talking too much. Crying is the only solution to sadness, which will happen if you aren't my friend. Everyone was supporting me to crack this cipher but i can't... JOB is gone i guess..

i'm Hopeless... no cracking, no Portfolio.. if only Caesar was here to help me. the portfolio is DUE, yes... due... Because After Only 2 weeks (Gmt), Zack will take the job. Because i'm so hopeless please help... Caesar would be able to do this so easily.. If, just if, Life was easy, then You wouldn't be here, you would be in a castle and rich. Life Is not easy. Please help me crack it Because Zack will take it. Zack will ruin everything... Just help. In and Out i tried everything to crack it... Soon everything will change. Trust me about that. Again... only 2 weeks Gmt and i will Cry and You will be the reason.

NOT PART OF THE PUZZLE

It seems chrome has autocorrected some words that needed to be misspelled. I updated the post

Hint:

See the 2 answers already here by Maximillian and rm-vanda, they come quite close

Hint 2:

[X]dfp[YN]a[B]r[AAX]->[B]r[AAX]

Hint 3:

[DEFBCA]=[BCA]

Hint 4:

Pretend the first 3 capitals aren't capital (or depending on how you interpret it, the first 4 capitals)

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2 Answers 2

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Very Partial/incomplete:

Caesar cipher on the first string in the picture gives:
USE VIGENERE

But:

I haven't figured out what the key is, yet.
apple, applev, job, due, & jobdue don't work.
Neither does QUST

However,

Using QU as the Vigenére key yeilds :
C MATHZ MSWMGN
-- and using ST yields
ANY UFAK TUNE O

Which is likely just a coincidence, but at least worth a mention...

And:

all of the capital letters spell out:
W A O FAIR PLAYED NICE I JOB H P C D U E B A O G Z B C I L Y L I P B Z Z J I O S T A G C Y

But I haven't figured out what to do with that, yet. So far, seems like something of a red herring...

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  • $\begingroup$ Hi, can I ask how you rot13(tbg gra nf gur fuvsg sbe gur pnrfne pvcure) I've been trying but I can't figure it out. $\endgroup$
    – Maximillian
    Nov 8, 2018 at 11:19
  • $\begingroup$ Well, I often just rot13(whfg hfr oehgr sbepr jvgu n fvzcyr onfu ybbc) - but looking back, it appears that rot13(gur onfu pbzznaq pnrfne gevrf gb znxr na vagryyvtrag thrff nf gb jung gur xrl vf) $\endgroup$
    – rm-vanda
    Nov 8, 2018 at 15:22
  • $\begingroup$ Ah ok, rot(V jnf guvaxvat V unq zvffrq n pyhr tvivat gur ahzore fbzrjurer) $\endgroup$
    – Maximillian
    Nov 8, 2018 at 15:45
  • $\begingroup$ I discovered that rot(vs lbh pbaireg Nccyr vagb ahzoref naq qvivqr ol gur ahzore bs yrggref va nccyr lbh trg gra. Guvf pbhyq whfg or n pbvapvqrapr gubhtu ohg gung frrzf hayvxryl gb zr. Qbrfa'g uryc jvgu gur frpbaq fgevat gubhtu.) $\endgroup$
    – Maximillian
    Nov 8, 2018 at 16:08
  • $\begingroup$ @Maximillian Well you'd be wrong, there is a rot(pyhr gryyvat gur ahzore) $\endgroup$
    – kepe
    Nov 14, 2018 at 17:12
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I am not much closer than rm-vanda, but:

After reading the Guide to codes and cyphers page I realised that FAIR PLAYED must a be pointer towards using the Play Fair cypher in some way. I plugged in all the capitals excluding the words fair played nice job and, using NICEJOB as the key came out with this: XBBNGREATJOBNOWFINDTHEROYWUZNBRSOKEX.
Obviously I'm close but I am missing one or more letters or I have too many.

Also

Convinced Zack has something to do with it given the repetition of the name, I removed one of the duplicate Z's because of the line "Zack will ruin everything" but that didn't help.

I just realised there is something I forgot to address:

The list of capitals I used is: WA OI HP CD UE BA OG ZB CI LY LI PB ZZ JI OS TA GC Y. I accidentally included an I that the OP edited out because of a chrome error which weirdly gave a more useful result. The 'I' I included comes after the 'WAO' at the beginning of the list of capitals.

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2
  • $\begingroup$ So close, just used the wrong letters $\endgroup$
    – kepe
    Nov 14, 2018 at 17:05
  • $\begingroup$ rot("".fhofgevat(guerr)) $\endgroup$
    – kepe
    Nov 14, 2018 at 17:09

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