Cemetech Contest #15: Crypto Golfing

u/Yuki December 22, 2015, 05:51:36 AM

Yay another challenge~

u/KermMart̕ian December 26, 2015, 02:53:09 PM

Quote from: jonbushIf you haven't figured out Challenge 2 yet, here's a hint:

%26

I'm Kerm Martian and I approve of this message.

Good luck, everyone. I notice we haven't quite gotten as many entries as for the first challenge, so I hope everyone who is stuck on this one (or forgot to enter so far this week) will redouble their efforts.

u/c4ooo December 26, 2015, 09:18:24 PM

[spoiler=Cancer Causing All-Caps and Smily abuse

]
OMG O MY cING OMG O I GOT IT I GOT IGOTIGNUNVIRNGINRUVNIRQMVIDNCIMEOCNIM!!!!!

THANKS FOR THE HINT!!!
[/spoiler]

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO CEMETECH AND KERM! (not the solution btw)

Edit: 35 bytes in axe, although the IO is via stdIn / out and not ans

Edit: stdIn stdOut hehe XD

Last Edit: December 30, 2015, 10:04:30 PM by c4ooo

u/Dream of Omnimaga December 28, 2015, 07:31:02 AM

c4ooo not to nitpick, but all-caps and smiley abuse (can probably cause cancer and) should be avoided. <.< I'm glad that you got the solution, though. Good luck for future challenges.

I wonder if anyone else on CW is still participating and how well they are doing so far?

Last Edit: December 28, 2015, 07:32:54 AM by DJ Omnimaga

u/c4ooo December 28, 2015, 03:10:04 PM

Yea its abnoctus and best not abused

It reminds me of my favorite MC PvP server avicus (avic.us iirc). They have good players / maps ect but when ever anyone uses one capital letter all the mods yell at him

So after a long haitus i joined and shouted out something in caps about being excited to come back, i was greated by like 3 "Watch the caps please" messages $:-\$

u/KermMart̕ian December 30, 2015, 04:46:38 PM

c4ooo: Please try to avoid posting hints about the cipher. Note that the rules posted for the last challenge specify that things like constants should be changeable in the source.

For the past two Tuesdays, we have announced increasingly difficult challenges as part of Cemetech Contest #15: Crypto Golfing. This five-part contest tasks programmers with solving cryptography puzzles, then creating programs that can decode messages in the cipher used for each challenge. We received an overwhelming number of entries written in many different calculator and computer languages for Challenges 1 and 2, although the field has started to thin. Since another Tuesday is upon us, Challenge 3 of Cemetech Contest #15 is here! If you haven't started entering the contest yet or if you haven't completed one of the existing challenges, you still have time, and the only thing you'll lose is the (up to) 5 bonus points you get by submitting your solutions quickly. Challenge 3 is the last pure-text cipher, and if you're still stuck with it on Friday, we'll be publishing an extra hint on Friday afternoon at 5pm, Eastern Time.

Challenge 3: OEEJCYKL WK AU LTMY L WXOJWN

Good luck! To repeat the incentive, besides prestige and glory: a TI-Nspire CX and a TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition await the top two contestants.

u/c4ooo December 30, 2015, 05:00:53 PM

" I GOT IGOTIGNUNVIRNGINRUVNIRQMVIDNCIMEOCNIM!!!!!" is random text and i clearly stated that "HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO CEMETECH AND KERM!" was not the solution.

If you mean what i said in IRC to juju, i can understand, although to me it seemed basically a restatement of your "%26" hint

Edit: conflict solved over PM's

Last Edit: December 30, 2015, 10:10:09 PM by c4ooo

u/Dream of Omnimaga December 31, 2015, 09:08:58 AM

I would agree that we should keep hints to a minimum. The challenge is the fun part of this contest so if someone posts the solution online, then for this particular kind of contest it might ruin the fun.

u/KermMart̕ian January 01, 2016, 10:13:28 PM

*bump* Contest #15, Challenge #3 hint time:
You wouldn't put calculators on your salad

u/KermMart̕ian January 04, 2016, 08:36:08 PM

*bump* Noting how much people are struggling with Challenge 3 and with jonbush's agreement, we have decided to release one additional hint at this time: Challenges 1 to 3 have all used ciphers that can be found in the "Classical Cryptography" template on Wikipedia. A special congratulations to the >=2 contestants who solved the challenge before this hint!

u/novenary January 04, 2016, 08:40:00 PM

I'm a little late on this but it sounds like a fun challenge, I'll see if I can take a try at it.

u/c4ooo January 04, 2016, 08:41:11 PM

@KermMartian you should probably note that said wiki page does not render all of its content in mobile

u/p4nix January 04, 2016, 08:44:52 PM

@KermMartian so I guess I can get a senseful answer with OneTime-Pad?

u/Dream of Omnimaga January 04, 2016, 10:55:45 PM

Quote from: KermMartian on January 04, 2016, 08:36:08 PM
*bump* Noting how much people are struggling with Challenge 3 and with jonbush's agreement, we have decided to release one additional hint at this time: Challenges 1 to 3 have all used ciphers that can be found in the "Classical Cryptography" template on Wikipedia. A special congratulations to the >=2 contestants who solved the challenge before this hint!

Will contestants who solved the challenge before the new hint was given get bonus points?

u/KermMart̕ian January 05, 2016, 04:26:00 PM

DJ_O: As noted at the beginning of the thread, solving the challenges closer to the announcement of the ciphertext gives you up to 5 extra points.

The second-to-last challenge is here, and I think it's one that you guys will have fun with. Instead of providing a ciphertext for Challenge 4, we are providing a 95x63-pixel monochrome image (of an Enigma machine!) in three formats: .8xi, .8ci, and .png. Solutions must take at least one of those formats and produce a plaintext (not image) output from the image. Programmers working on the color calculators can assume that any .8ci passed to the program will also only have black and white pixels in the top-left 95x63 pixels of the image, and those writing computer programs should only look at the top 95x63 pixels of any image passed to the program. As with the previous challenge, we will publish a clue on Friday afternoon at 5pm ET, but we encourage you to try to solve it before Friday to earn maximum points.

Challenge 4:

Download: