Now we know the rules, but this seems hard! How can you decipher a message if the whole point of using this cipher is to prevent you from knowing the message.

It will take a lot of practice to master the skill of code busting. To get started, here are some simple tricks

<aside> 💡

Use letter frequency table. The letter with the highest count is likely e. The top 10 most used letters are: e t a o i n s r h l …

</aside>

<aside> 🦄

If it’s aristocrat, those single letter words must be “a” or “I”

</aside>

<aside> 🔤

If you have a three letter word where the first and the last letter both appear frequently, it is probably “the”

</aside>

<aside> 4️⃣

If there is a four letter word in the form of ABCA, maybe it’s “that”

</aside>

<aside> 6️⃣

If there is a six letter word in the form of ABCADB, likely it’s “people”

</aside>

<aside> 7️⃣

If there is a 7 letter word in the form of WXYYZWW, likely it’s “success”

</aside>

<aside> 🔑

Get familiar with the rules of K1 and K2, even if you don’t know the keyword, if you know one mapping, often you can guess the mapping next to it, eg for K1 if cipher letter P maps to E, then you can guess that Q maps to F because the chance that Q appears in the keyword is quite low

</aside>

<aside> ❓

Don’t hesitate to make guesses. It’s ok to be wrong and then walk back the last few guesses and try again, better than getting stuck with no progress

</aside>

<aside> 2️⃣

Most two letter words start with “i”. Try to memorize all the common two letter words like “it”, “is”, “if”, etc. If there is a two letter word starting with “t”, it has to be “to”

</aside>

<aside> 🔒

A lot of encrypted messages are attack plans inspirational quotes such as advice; words like “success” are not so common in day to day usage but super common in these puzzles.

</aside>

<aside> 🧠

Use the author as a hint for the genre of the message. If it’s from Aristotle, Nietzsche, or Buddha, expect something deep and philosophical.

</aside>