Headline

History

The Headline puzzle was created by Paul Derthick in the 1960s and first published in the NSA monthly newsletter. Each puzzle consists of five headlines from newspapers It is a special case of the Aristocrat cipher and uses the K3 type where a keyed plain alphabet and a keyed cipher alphabet use the same keywords.

Description

Headline puzzles consist of five headlines from newspapers all enciphered using a simple substitution method like the Aristocrat with the same mixed alphabet but using different settings.

To create the mixed alphabet a keyword is chosen and from it a keyed alphabet is created by removing repeated letters and adding unused letters from the alphabet. For example using the keyword PIRATE produces a keyed alphabet of PIRATEBCDFGHJKLMNOQSUVWXYZ. This keyword is known as the key. Another keyword is used to create a transposition block determined by the alphabetical order of this second keyword. This key is known as the hat. Using AHOYMATE as the hat produces the following transposition block:

A H O Y M A T E Y

1 4 6 8 5 2 7 3 9

P I R A T E B C D

F G H J K L M N O

Q S U V W X Y Z

Columns of letters are taken off in the order determined by the hat to produce the mixed alphabet.

PFQELXCNZIGSTKWRHUBMYAJVDO

A third keyword is next used to determine the starting position of the mixed alphabet for each of the five headlines. This keyword must be five letters long and is known as the setting. In this case the word LINGO is used.

P F Q E L X C N Z I G S T K W R H U B M Y A J V D O

C1 L X C N Z I G S T K W R H U B M Y A J V D O P F Q E

C2 I G S T K W R H U B M Y A J V D O P F Q E L X C N Z

C3 N Z I G S T K W R H U B M Y A J V D O P F Q E L X C

C4 G S T K W R H U B M Y A J V D O P F Q E L X C N Z I

C5 O P F Q E L X C N Z I G S T K W R H U B M Y A J V D

The three keywords (key, hat and setting) are all related to help in the solving.

Each of the five alphabets in the table is used to create the ciphertexts for the five headline texts.

1. KURDISH FORCES TRY TO PUSH BACK ISIS

1. UAMQKRY XEMGNR HMD HE LARY JOGU KRKR

2. ENERGY STOCKS, BEER HELP STEM MARKET LOSSES

2. THTDME YAZRJY, FTTD OTKI YATQ QLDJTA KZYYTY

3. A HIGH-PROFILE GAME OF FROZEN TAG, FOR ALS AWARENESS
3. Q VHUV-NJCZHSG UQPG CZ ZJCRGW MQU, ZCJ QSB QAQJGWGBB

4. NIGHT OF THE DRAGONS: MO'NE'S TEAM A HIT ON TV
4. UMYPJ IS JPK ZOXYIUA: EI'UK'A JKXE X PMJ IU JN

5. ROLLERCOASTER BECOMES STUCK MID-RIDE STRANDING PASSENGERS
5. WDEEQWXDYGSQW UQXDBQG GSHXT BZV-WZVQ GSWYCVZCI OYGGQCIQWG

Ciphertexts:

1. UAMQKRY XEMGNR HMD HE LARY JOGU KRKR

2. THTDME YAZRJY, FTTD OTKI YATQ QLDJTA KZYYTY

3. Q VHUV-NJCZHSG UQPG CZ ZJCRGW MQU, ZCJ QSB QAQJGWGBB

4. UMYPJ IS JPK ZOXYIUA: EI'UK'A JKXE X PMJ IU JN

5. WDEEQWXDYGSQW UQXDBQG GSHXT BZV-WZVQ GSWYCVZCI OYGGQCIQWG

Examples created by Bob Bogart, Sep 2014 from The Phoenix Society.

Solving

This uses a dictionary keyword search or a hill climbing algorithm.

If a Dictionary keyword search is selected the keyword type is set to a K2 type.

After solving using the genetic algorithm the keyword can be sought by selecting the Keyword Finder function in the Tools tab.