Tuesday, November 25, 2014

For my Linguist Daughter: a Cryptoquip

I have this urge to explain things that I learn. Yesterday's “Crypt-quip” gives me that opportunity.

The “cryptoquip” is a substitution cipher, where each letter stands for some other letter. For example, they gave us this clue: “W equals L”—which means that throughout the puzzle, every W stands for an L. Our job is to figure out what the other letters stand for, to reveal a groaner of a pun…

R U   J   A M S I P T   I A P E M   J

L M W Z R L   W J T B X J B M   C R Z F   J

Z F R L E   U S M T L F   J L L M T Z,   R   C P X W Q

L J W W   R Z   B J W W R L   B J M W R L.

Okay, the first thing to notice is that we have two one-letter words, represented by “J” and “R”. These have to be “I” and “a”, in either order. If “R” were “a” then the quip would begin “A_ I blah blah I …”; maybe “As I was walking I noticed…”

To tell the truth, though, I didn't even think of that; I just assumed that it began “If a blah blah a …”; it might also be “In a...” or “Is a…”; I didn't think it started off “It a…,” which isn't grammatical. But let’s go with R⇒I and J⇒A and defer the U for a while.

The clue tells us that “W” represents “L”, so that “LJWW” on the last line is “_ALL”. Experience with these groaners suggests the part after the comma, which so far we know is “I ___l_ _all i_…”, most likely will represent “I would call it….” But even without that knowledge, you could probably guess that LJWW means “call”; it's probably not ball, fall, gall, hall, mall, pall, tall, or wall.

If L⇒C, then what does LMWZRL on the 2nd line mean? C_L_IC—too short for “garlic,” besides starting with the wrong letter; C_LBIC? C_LDIC? Wait, didn't I guess that “LJWW RZ” was “CALL IT” (last line)? If so, then Z⇒T and LMWZRL is C_LTIC.

H'm, Not CALTIC (J⇒A hence we can't have M⇒A). CELTIC maybe? One thing about ALL-CAPS in the cryptoquip is that nothing marks proper nouns (or adjectives in this case). I suppose LMWZRL could also be COLTIC (is that a word?) or CULTIC (still possible).

Suppose it were CELTIC (M⇒E). Then our puzzle would look like this:

 I _   A   _ E _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ E   A
 R U   J   A M S I P T   I A P E M   J

 C E L T I C   L A _ _ _ A _ E   _ I T _   A
 L M W Z R L   W J T B X J B M   C R Z F   J

 T _ I C _   _ _ E _ C _   A C C E _ T,   I   _ _ _ L _
 Z F R L E   U S M T L F   J L L M T Z,   R   C P X W Q

 C A L L   I T   _ A L L I C   _ A E L I C
 L J W W   R Z   B J W W R L   B J M W R L.
I see “Celtic” in line 2 and “_aelic” in line 4. Gaelic? If B⇒G then we'd have:
 I _   A   _ E _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ E   A
 R U   J   A M S I P T   I A P E M   J

 C E L T I C   L A _ G _ A G E   _ I T _   A
 L M W Z R L   W J T B X J B M   C R Z F   J

 T _ I C _   _ _ E _ C _   A C C E _ T,   I   _ _ _ L _
 Z F R L E   U S M T L F   J L L M T Z,   R   C P X W Q

 C A L L   I T   G A L L I C   G A E L I C
 L J W W   R Z   B J W W R L   B J M W R L.
Gallic? As in French? Maybe the first word really is “If”, in which case the _ _ E _ C _ really could be “French”? Then U⇒F, S⇒R, T⇒N and F⇒H and we have
 I F   A   _ E R _ _ N   _ _ _ _ E   A
 R U   J   A M S I P T   I A P E M   J

 C E L T I C   L A N G _ A G E   _ I T H   A
 L M W Z R L   W J T B X J B M   C R Z F   J

 T H I C _   F R E N C H   A C C E N T,   I   _ _ _ L _
 Z F R L E   U S M T L F   J L L M T Z,   R   C P X W Q

 C A L L   I T   G A L L I C   G A E L I C
 L J W W   R Z   B J W W R L   B J M W R L.
OK, lines 2 is “Celtic language with a”—right? Then X⇒U and C⇒W. Turning to line 3, a THICK French accent, yes? So E⇒K. Let's see how that looks now.
 I F   A   _ E R _ _ N   _ _ _ K E   A
 R U   J   A M S I P T   I A P E M   J

 C E L T I C   L A N G U A G E   W I T H   A
 L M W Z R L   W J T B X J B M   C R Z F   J

 T H I C K   F R E N C H   A C C E N T,   I   W _ U L _
 Z F R L E   U S M T L F   J L L M T Z,   R   C P X W Q

 C A L L   I T   G A L L I C   G A E L I C
 L J W W   R Z   B J W W R L   B J M W R L.
Line 3: “…I would”, yes? P⇒O, Q⇒D and line 1 reads
 IF A _ER_ON __OKE A
“If a person spoke…”? That's it! A⇒P, I⇒S and we're done:
 I F   A   P E R S O N   S P O K E   A
 R U   J   A M S I P T   I A P E M   J

 C E L T I C   L A N G U A G E   W I T H   A
 L M W Z R L   W J T B X J B M   C R Z F   J

 T H I C K   F R E N C H   A C C E N T,   I   W O U L D
 Z F R L E   U S M T L F   J L L M T Z,   R   C P X W Q

 C A L L   I T   G A L L I C   G A E L I C
 L J W W   R Z   B J W W R L   B J M W R L.
Wasn’t that fun?

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