hacker.org

I can't create the discussion afterwards yet because it says 'challenge not valid' so I'll say it here

Very nice challenge - Thanks teebee.

sabretooth

Ok, then let's start the discussion NOW ;-).

Could anyone give me a hint? I'm thinking about it in some different ways, but I can't find any sense in this collection of numbers and chars.

I tried the obvious: moving right and left the number of steps beside the character. This would leave one letter each combination. Unfortunately the result is gibberish. Any other approach?

I think the title is ambiguous. The second meaning is:"After doing something - do you now have the right key left?"

There are 7x7 = 49 keys....if they are combined pairwise, there will be ONE key left. But is it the RIGHT key? The author says "indeed".

Any hint? PLS.
I thought that challenge name could be interpreted as right, key, left. so the char in center of each triplet is some key... but I havent found any solution like this... (sry for english....)

It's in the crypto-category. Is it a common encryption or a self-invented one?

moose wrote:It's in the crypto-category. Is it a common encryption or a self-invented one?

I would guess it is self invented, but the title is pretty indicative for how to decode this (which is necessary with so little data).

If moving around in a linear fashion doesn't give the answer, then maybe try in a non-linear fashion?

It's pretty obvious about the right and the left part, but what about the key? Try thinking harder and get ready to slap yourself when you work it out

laz0r wrote:Try thinking harder and get ready to slap yourself when you work it out

I had more the reflex of bashing my head on my keyboard, but slapping was also an option

Ha, right now I thought it must totally be the [This was seemingly a spoiler, removed upon request by bsguedes] instead of the normal alphabet. But that's not it, e.g. 4C1 wouldn't work out I guess.

Also, I have no clue what "non-linear" is supposed to mean. I mean, I do know what linear is as in y = m*x+b, but non-linear can mean so many different functions/things...

To mean, non-linear means something straight. So if you would told you stop thinking so non-linear, you'd have to jump around the board in a non-straight way.

AMindForeverVoyaging wrote:Ha, right now I thought it must totally be the [This was seemingly a spoiler, removed upon request by bsguedes] instead of the normal alphabet. But that's not it, e.g. 4C1 wouldn't work out I guess.

Also, I have no clue what "non-linear" is supposed to mean. I mean, I do know what linear is as in y = m*x+b, but non-linear can mean so many different functions/things...

Linear means straight, and in this context ABCD... Non-linear is not straight, so possibly DABC etc...

Should this be solved manually or by some programming?

horst wrote:Should this be solved manually or by some programming?

You can program something to solve this challenge, but doing it manually is much faster in this case.

is it a well know cipher?
or a new invented one?