Code-breaking Competition

The British Council and Travlos Publications invited Simon Singh, author of the best-selling Fermat's Last Theorem and The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Code-breaking, to Athens to present the Greek translation of his new book Big Bang.

To celebrate Simon's visit to Athens, we asked him to devise an encrypted message for us. Congratulations to everyone who entered the competition! The five winners are:

			Christina Bellou
			Nikolaos Dakos
			Gavriilidis Laokratis
			Achilleus Manakatas
			Savvoula Rigana

All five have won books of their choice worth €200 from Travlos Publications.

Encrypted Message:

GPJDB, SB MDJTP, DOJ DQWP PO HTDOG UPDMJTOHW, D MDSST, DO DJNTMDQ OPGPMTPKW ZPM UTW QTOYW GP NDWPOMB, D GMTP PZ IDMJTODQW, D GMTP, GPP, PZ TOWTHOTZTIDOG VPQTGTITDOW (SPKHUG DOJ VDTJ ZPM SB D MTIU DOJ IPMMKVG DOHQP-IDODJTDO SDOYTOH IPMVPMDGTPO) TOZPMN KW DQQ PZ UPF PKM IPKOGMB OPF MTWYW JBTOH PZ WGDMXDGTPO. D MKNPKM, GUDGW NB TOTGTDQ GUPKHUG DW T WFTGIU PZZ NB MDJTP, MKNPKM PM VPWWTSQB D UPDL.

This message has been encoded with a simple substitution cipher, which means that each letter in the original message has been substituted for a different letter. This form of encryption is fully explained on my website.

You can crack this code using frequency analysis, which is also explained on the site. In short, the most common letters in the message below should represent the most common letters in English. However, in this particular message there is a twist that might confuse you.

There is an online code-breaking tool that you might find helpful.

Good luck and happy cracking!

Simon Singh

SOLUTION

TODAY, BY RADIO, AND ALSO ON GIANT HOARDINGS, A RABBI, AN ADMIRAL NOTORIOUS FOR HIS LINKS TO MASONRY, A TRIO OF CARDINALS, A TRIO, TOO, OF INSIGNIFICANT POLITICIANS (BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY A RICH AND CORRUPT ANGLO-CANADIAN BANKING CORPORATION) INFORM US ALL OF HOW OUR COUNTRY NOW RISKS DYING OF STARVATION. A RUMOUR, THATS MY INITIAL THOUGHT AS I SWITCH OFF MY RADIO, RUMOUR OR POSSIBLY A HOAX.