Cipher Cross-off List

From Derek
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Purpose

Previous studies into the Tamam Shud case have concluded that the mysterious code left behind is not just random letters; it is in fact a code. This raises the question: What code was used in encrypting this code? This page is aimed at addressing this question. The Cipher Cross-off list is a place where cipher schemes are listed that have been identified as potentially being used in creating the Somerton Man's code. As part of our project, we will be methodically investigating many of these listed ciphers to see if we can rule them out as being used in the encryption of the code.

Cipher Cross-off List

  • Anagram/Transposition Cipher
  • Initial letters of an unordered list
  • Initial letters of a sentence
  • Random Sequence of letters

Substitution Ciphers

  • Playfair Cipher
  • Trifid Cipher
  • Bifid Cipher
  • Vigenere Cipher
  • One Time Pad
  • Two-square Cipher
  • Four-square Cipher
First Order Substitution Ciphers
  • Alphabet Reversal Cipher
  • Caesar Cipher
  • Affine Cipher
  • Book Cipher
  • Null Cipher

Stream Ciphers

  • Auto-Key Cipher

Substitution and Transposition Ciphers

  • ADFGVX Cipher
  • VIC Cipher

Reasoning

The following section contains the explanations and/or proofs behind the ruled-out ciphers.

Anagram/Transposition Cipher

By looking at letter frequency plots of various languages against the code, and by identifying other anomalies such as the existence of a 'Q' but no 'U' in the code, the Honours students in 2009 concluded the code did not use a Transposition Cipher alone. The relevant section of their report can be seen here.