Codebusters C

User avatar
jimmy-bond
Member
Member
Posts: 418
Joined: January 8th, 2018, 11:25 pm
Division: Grad
State: OH
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Re: Codebusters C

Post by jimmy-bond »

dragonfruit35 wrote:Which way did you write the DREW BREES matrix? With the letters readable horizontally or vertically?
Idk how to put a matrix but I did

D R
E W
B R
E E
S
PCHS, HI '21 | CWRU, OH '25
Code(16), DD(40), FQ(39),4&6(36), WQ(27)
CriB(26), DP (11), FF(1), MM(14), P&P(6)
CriB(36), DD(35), FF(2), MM(20)
User avatar
Longivitis
Member
Member
Posts: 47
Joined: February 17th, 2018, 7:19 am
Division: Grad
State: TX
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Has thanked: 17 times
Been thanked: 45 times
Contact:

Re: Codebusters C

Post by Longivitis »

jimmy-bond wrote:
dragonfruit35 wrote:Which way did you write the DREW BREES matrix? With the letters readable horizontally or vertically?
Idk how to put a matrix but I did

D R
E W
B R
E E
S
It's supposed to be
D
R
E
W
B
R
E
E
S
(Z)

and then multiply by the 2x2 matrix keyword
University of Texas at Austin '23
Cypress Lakes High School '19

Chemistry Lab, Codebusters, Game On, Science Word, Towers, We've Got Your Number
UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F
Exalted Member
Exalted Member
Posts: 1597
Joined: January 18th, 2015, 7:42 am
Division: C
State: PA
Has thanked: 6 times
Been thanked: 15 times

Re: Codebusters C

Post by UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F »

Longivitis wrote:
jimmy-bond wrote:
dragonfruit35 wrote:Which way did you write the DREW BREES matrix? With the letters readable horizontally or vertically?
Idk how to put a matrix but I did

D R
E W
B R
E E
S
It's supposed to be
D
R
E
W
B
R
E
E
S
(Z)

and then multiply by the 2x2 matrix keyword
You can't multiply those two matrices. They don't line up. It's supposed to be
the VEAR matrix multiplied by
and then the VEAR matrix multiplied by
etc., etc., I believe.

Although annoyingly, it's not evenly split into chunks of 2 so you'd have to insert an extra letter at the end.
User avatar
Longivitis
Member
Member
Posts: 47
Joined: February 17th, 2018, 7:19 am
Division: Grad
State: TX
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Has thanked: 17 times
Been thanked: 45 times
Contact:

Re: Codebusters C

Post by Longivitis »

UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F wrote:
Longivitis wrote:
jimmy-bond wrote: Idk how to put a matrix but I did

D R
E W
B R
E E
S
It's supposed to be
D
R
E
W
B
R
E
E
S
(Z)

and then multiply by the 2x2 matrix keyword
You can't multiply those two matrices. They don't line up. It's supposed to be
the VEAR matrix multiplied by
and then the VEAR matrix multiplied by
etc., etc., I believe.

Although annoyingly, it's not evenly split into chunks of 2 so you'd have to insert an extra letter at the end.
Yeah, that's what I meant guess I really wasn't clear enough.
University of Texas at Austin '23
Cypress Lakes High School '19

Chemistry Lab, Codebusters, Game On, Science Word, Towers, We've Got Your Number
User avatar
dragonfruit35
Exalted Member
Exalted Member
Posts: 296
Joined: February 28th, 2015, 7:49 am
Division: Grad
State: VA
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Has thanked: 7 times
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Codebusters C

Post by dragonfruit35 »

Longivitis wrote:
UTF-8 U+6211 U+662F wrote:
Longivitis wrote:
It's supposed to be
D
R
E
W
B
R
E
E
S
(Z)

and then multiply by the 2x2 matrix keyword
You can't multiply those two matrices. They don't line up. It's supposed to be
the VEAR matrix multiplied by
and then the VEAR matrix multiplied by
etc., etc., I believe.

Although annoyingly, it's not evenly split into chunks of 2 so you'd have to insert an extra letter at the end.
Yeah, that's what I meant guess I really wasn't clear enough.
Yeah, UTF is right, it should be multiplied by the encryption key, in whichever orientation they gave it to you, to be clear.
tjhsst '20
virginia tech '24
2x codebusters national medalist

"it's not a pen, it's a principle!" - annie edison
SpicyCurry
Member
Member
Posts: 2
Joined: February 17th, 2018, 4:48 pm
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Codebusters C

Post by SpicyCurry »

So quick questions. Around how many questions are there on a code busters test at the various levels (regionals, state, nationals)? Also I know I depends on the type of cipher, but what is a good average time per cipher?
User avatar
l0lit
Member
Member
Posts: 48
Joined: July 30th, 2018, 12:20 pm
Division: C
State: FL
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 12 times

Re: Codebusters C

Post by l0lit »

SpicyCurry wrote:So quick questions. Around how many questions are there on a code busters test at the various levels (regionals, state, nationals)? Also I know I depends on the type of cipher, but what is a good average time per cipher?
You can expect ideally 15 questions per test, and a good solve time ranges from like 1 min (a caesar or something) to like 10 mins (no hint patristo?). Again, those times depend completely on what you're comfortable with.
Any opinions stated on this site are not official, the only official information can be found at soinc.org

University of South Florida '25
Carmel SciOly Alumni, Captain 2019-21
Tests written
User avatar
jimmy-bond
Member
Member
Posts: 418
Joined: January 8th, 2018, 11:25 pm
Division: Grad
State: OH
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Re: Codebusters C

Post by jimmy-bond »

l0lit wrote:
SpicyCurry wrote:So quick questions. Around how many questions are there on a code busters test at the various levels (regionals, state, nationals)? Also I know I depends on the type of cipher, but what is a good average time per cipher?
You can expect ideally 15 questions per test, and a good solve time ranges from like 1 min (a caesar or something) to like 10 mins (no hint patristo?). Again, those times depend completely on what you're comfortable with.
Agree. An extremely well-rounded person should average 5 minutes/cipher, with patristocrats balancing out stuff like decryption matrix and affine.
PCHS, HI '21 | CWRU, OH '25
Code(16), DD(40), FQ(39),4&6(36), WQ(27)
CriB(26), DP (11), FF(1), MM(14), P&P(6)
CriB(36), DD(35), FF(2), MM(20)
ducharmezac
Member
Member
Posts: 1
Joined: February 26th, 2019, 10:37 am
Division: C
State: MI
Has thanked: 0
Been thanked: 0

Re: Codebusters C

Post by ducharmezac »

Does anyone have any tricks on how to do xenocrypt without knowing spanish? I feel like there's gotta be a trick somewhere that I'm missing.
User avatar
Longivitis
Member
Member
Posts: 47
Joined: February 17th, 2018, 7:19 am
Division: Grad
State: TX
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Has thanked: 17 times
Been thanked: 45 times
Contact:

Re: Codebusters C

Post by Longivitis »

ducharmezac wrote:Does anyone have any tricks on how to do xenocrypt without knowing spanish? I feel like there's gotta be a trick somewhere that I'm missing.
Well the thing is that E and A are the most frequent letters, but they have relatively the same frequency. It's better to target the two letter words, because there is only so many two letter spanish words. The message itself should not be that difficult, with using spanish words that are similar to the english translation. If you have somewhat decent spanish experience, you can solve them pretty easily, just know the common words and frequencies.

Or get a spanish-speaking person on your team like I did and not worry about that too much.
University of Texas at Austin '23
Cypress Lakes High School '19

Chemistry Lab, Codebusters, Game On, Science Word, Towers, We've Got Your Number
Post Reply

Return to “2019 Lab Events”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests