I ranted about this very recently. I solved it, but not without some help! Big thanks to Dan and Micheal who cracked it way before me and gave me very useful tips! Also thank’s to Ben for the valiant attempt (and spectacular failure) at cracking this thing! :)
So let’s recap – the ciphertext:
ptgpz ggprf bdkrg pequt tngtf ggpzf
zfqgp tukrw wkzfg kquyd qxwzu ltuet
zfrfl ptgpz ggprf bdkrg pequt dhmgw
tgokr wwdtt bxqug tuedq xequt fraty
rdaur erfzg rqfot gjzfr gorfa wrftd
hdgqx rfyxz hwqdz fokpt utuzg ptugp
zfrfq hudtw jtdpt gpzgu tzydz fyluq
kdfqk rdtud hdcta gdfqg prdqk fytxr
artfa omhga qecwz rfdqx pzuyk quydz
fyqmd ahutd tfgtf atdzf yzdbd kpomq
qbdzu tkurg gtfkp rapaz ffqgm thfyt
udgqq y
And the plaintext (I added spacing and punctuation for readability):
HE THAT THINKS WITH MORE EXTENT THAN ANOTHER WILL
WANT WORDS OF LARGER MEANING. HE THAT THINKS WITH
MORE SUBTLETY WILL SEEK FOR TERMS OF MORE NICE
DISCRIMINATION. YET VANITY INCLINES US TO FIND
FAULTS ANYWHERE RATHER THAN IN OURSELVES. HE THAT
READS AND GROWS NO WISER SUSPECTS NOT HIS OWN
DEFICIENCY BUT COMPLAINS OF HARD WORDS AND OBSCURE
SENTENCES AND ASKS WHY BOOKS ARE WRITTEN WHICH
CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD.
I used this applet, and a very painfull process of “trail, failure and ask other’s for advice” :P
So there you have it :)
When I first looked at the ciphertext I thought it was a transposition cipher combined with a substitution cipher. The arrangement of the ciphertext suggest transposition, and the frequency of the p’s indicated substitution.
Since it’s just substitution, that rearrangement makes cracking it harder becuase the i’s and a’s won’t stand out.
Emacs actually has a decipher mode for cracking these things. Here is a screenshot.
Yeah, emacs has mode for everything. Maybe I should spend more time with it instead of my dearest friend Vi. :P
Hi guys, precise solution (7 years of launching the cipher after) is here