GCHQ Royal Puzzle Question 5
"Many major events have happened in the Queen’s lifetime. Here are some headlines which could have been seen in the last 90 years – but in encrypted form. Can you work out who is apparently behind the encryption?
DJCJHGI KLHBAJ EGVKJK EFGNK BC OHBLGBC
JPMGHP WBBB GOPBEGLJK - DJNHDJ WB BK CJM ABCD
LHYDWJ IBJ BK GTTNBCLJP QBHKL KJEHJLGHY DJCJHGI NQ VC
KMBLZJHIGCP MBCK LFJ QBHKL JVHNWBKBNC KNCD ENCLJKL
JCDIGCP PJQJGL MJKL DJHSGCY BC MNHIP EVT QBCGI
PHNVDFL ENCLBCVJK BC OHBLGBC'K FNLLJKL KVSSJH
RJGC-EIGVPJ PVWGIBJH BK NWJHLFHNMC GK THJKBPJCL NQ FGBLB
OHJGALFHNVDF BC DJCJLBEK: PNIIY LFJ KFJJT BK EINCJP
TIVLN INKJK BLK KLGLVK GK G TIGCJL
UVJJC JIBZGOJLF EJIJOHGLJK CBCJLBJLF OBHLFPGY
- ABCDEFGHIJKLMN"
Well this looks like a cipher of some kind, but it doesn't take long to rule out a Caesar Shift. However it is only a substitution cipher and our way in was to look at that word WBBB on the second line. Triple letters are unusual, but since we are dealing with royals it stands a good chance of being VIII (or perhaps XIII, but that is unlikely with British Monarchs).
Using a Substitution Cipher Solving Website speeds up this process (click the Sort Alphabetically by Ciphertext Option when it becomes available) and we can slowly fill in words. Getting J as E by frequency analysis helps. Also notice that the word before the numeral on the second line probably refers to the Queen's father Edward VIII which gives you lots of letters. I'll let you finish the details, but the message becomes:
General strike causes chaos in Britain
Edward VIII abdicates - George VI is new King
Trygve Lie is appointed first Secretary General of UN
Switzerland wins the first Eurovision Song Contest
England defeat West Germany in World Cup Final
Drought continues in Britain's hottest summer
Jean-Claude Duvalier is overthrown as President of Haiti
Breakthrough in genetics: Dolly the sheep is cloned
Pluto loses its status as a planet
Queen Elizabeth celebrates ninetieth Birthday
Looking at the bottom of the message where it says ABCDEFGHIJKLMN this reads, KINGCHARLESTWO or Charles II.
