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Challenge #165: KRYPTOS!!!

TerryT
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

OK, @cplewis90, this time we are tackling KRYPTOS!!!
(https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/headquarters-tour/kryptos)

 

There are 4 Sections to KRYPTOS, 3 have been solved.

 

We will attack Sections 1 and 2.

 

(The rest are beyond Advanced and are just for fun:)

 

Extra credit to those who can solve Section 3.

 

EXTRA EXTRA credit if you can solve Section 4!!!

 

(The start_file has been corrected for Section 3 as of 2019-05-21 -- Thank you @JohnJPS!) 

 

NicoleJohnson
ACE Emeritus
ACE Emeritus

And this is why I love Mondays.

 

Spoiler
Part I-IV solved! Will tackle the "I Dare You" section next, since I am certainly not going to let a dare go unanswered.

Part I through III: RegEx and Record IDs were definitely my friends here. 

WeeklyChallenge165_Part1-3.JPG

Part IV: Copied Part I-III and re-ran with second set of data. WeeklyChallenge165_Part4.JPG

This might be my favorite challenge ever, purely because it's a REAL one. SO COOL @TerryT!

 

Cheers (and I'll be back once I solve your dare, DO NOT WORRY, it will consume me until solved...),

NJ

 

EDIT: Finished Section III! :) Rather pleased with myself until I considered that I basically had the answer to begin with... and would have had no idea where to begin had I started without any clues. Also, I have definitely gone down the rabbit hole of Kryptos theory. CANNOT. STOP. ANALYZING.

 

Spoiler
WeeklyChallenge165_SectionIII.JPG
TerryT
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@NicoleJohnson,

 

Thanks!  But I'm giving @cplewis90 all the credit / blame for the sleepless nights that may result from this challenge!

 

cgoodman3
14 - Magnetar
14 - Magnetar

Here's my solution for parts 1 - 4

Spoiler
Spoiler

Two bits I like in this challenge, which I've learnt from other weekly challenges:
1) Using the generate rows to create numbers and then using CharFromInt to then convert to a letter
2) Using Regex to tokenize and parse to rows
3) Using the modulo function to cycle through the wheels and then loop back to the start
Challenge 165.PNG
Chris
Check out my collaboration with fellow ACE Joshua Burkhow at AlterTricks.com
RolandSchubert
16 - Nebula
16 - Nebula

My solution for Parts I-IV ... it's really a challenge, great!

Spoiler
21-05-_2019_11-42-58.png
Hannah_Lissaman
11 - Bolide

Here's my solutions for Section 1 and Section 2.

 

Spoiler

I used iterative and batch macros throughout to make my solution flexible for different inputs, which made Section 2 a breeze! The only change was to add a Data Cleansing tool to remove the pesky punctuation. 
Capture.PNG

 

 

JohnJPS
15 - Aurora

@TerryT, Unless I'm missing something or perhaps cheating, from the starting point given, it's trivial to obtain the results desired for Section III.  (The first two parts were excruciating and I cheerfully just studied other spoilers in order to learn the landscape; but Section III just seems to be sitting there plain as day... are we supposed to start from a different spot than the "Section III" text input provided?)

 

A-ha... I think the starting point needs to be that given here... then it's hard again.  :-)

 

Spoiler
section3.png

  

patrick_digan
17 - Castor
17 - Castor
Spoiler
Capture.PNG
danilang
19 - Altair
19 - Altair

Excellent challenge @TerryT 

 

Here's a spoiler free solution to sections I and II

 

Main.png

 

 

The 3 outputs of Macro are

W=Vigenère Wheel Answer to Part I

T=Vigenère Table Answer to Part II

D=Decrypted text Answer to Part III

 

Spoiler
Macro.png



Section III will have to wait until I get a little more free time

 

On an unrelated note: the original version of my macro fell afoul of the issue raised by @cmcclellan here.  Essentiallly, the generate rows tool had an initialization expression of "A" used Char<="Z" (uppercase Z) as the Condition Expression, while using the CharFrom\ToInt functions to increment the Char.  When I ran this version, the loop stopped not at "Z" but at "z", implying that lowercase "z" was used to test the condition.  Anyone else have this issue?

 

Dan

NancyS
8 - Asteroid

Fun Challenge!

 

Solved Part I and Part II.