My work

[doranchak]

The program is showing "Problems: 1" when I try to run it, but I can't find any other output that helps identify the problem. Nothing appears in the Results directory. Any ideas?

[Jarlve]

@doranchak,

Thanks for reporting. Either the cipher file has more than 10.000 characters/symbols, or the program can't find the specified cipher file. Could you share it with me? It could also be a bug with the new input routine.

[Jarlve]

@Quicktrader,

I've implemented the ability to lock letters/symbols in Examine (because you asked last time), which you can download from this thread: viewtopic.php?f=81&t=2432&p=33843#p33843 I've been wondering if it could be implemented with the automatic solver somehow, any suggestions?

[doranchak]

@doranchak,

Thanks for reporting. Either the cipher file has more than 10.000 characters/symbols, or the program can't find the specified cipher file. Could you share it with me? It could also be a bug with the new input routine.

I get the error without changing anything. I'm just running it with the built-in ciphers and all the defaults.

[doranchak]

@Quicktrader,

I've implemented the ability to lock letters/symbols in Examine (because you asked last time), which you can download from this thread: viewtopic.php?f=81&t=2432&p=33843#p33843 I've been wondering if it could be implemented with the automatic solver somehow, any suggestions?

Perhaps a "peek" button that shows the most recent best solution. Then you can mark the letters to lock. It'd be nice to be able to type in whole words and have the corresponding underlying cipher text locked. Even better would be for a list of close dictionary matches to appear in a list as you hover over different spots in candidate plaintexts. Then you can select a word that interests you and lock it in. You could produce a list of dictionary matches by scoring them based on how well they match that spot in the cipher. Exact matches would have the best score, and other matches could be sorted by Levenshtein distance or similar.

[doranchak]

I get the error without changing anything. I'm just running it with the built-in ciphers and all the defaults.

I fixed the problem. My Windows machine was confused about the folder I unzipped the program to. I re-unzipped to a different folder and it works now. Thanks!

[Jarlve]

I get the error without changing anything. I'm just running it with the built-in ciphers and all the defaults.

I fixed the problem. My Windows machine was confused about the folder I unzipped the program to. I re-unzipped to a different folder and it works now. Thanks!

That's strange, it was a special folder? I just downloaded the program on all 3 of my machines and everything worked fine.

[doranchak]

I get the error without changing anything. I'm just running it with the built-in ciphers and all the defaults.

I fixed the problem. My Windows machine was confused about the folder I unzipped the program to. I re-unzipped to a different folder and it works now. Thanks!

That's strange, it was a special folder? I just downloaded the program on all 3 of my machines and everything worked fine.

It's a Windows virtual machine running on my Mac. On the Mac side I had unzipped the program into a shared folder by simply opening it, causing it to automatically unzip to an AZdecrypt098 folder. On the WIndows side, I used Explorer to navigate to the shared folder, and was able to run the program but with that Problems message.

I think the problem must have been some combination of permissions and networking.

[Jarlve]

Perhaps a "peek" button that shows the most recent best solution. Then you can mark the letters to lock. It'd be nice to be able to type in whole words and have the corresponding underlying cipher text locked. Even better would be for a list of close dictionary matches to appear in a list as you hover over different spots in candidate plaintexts. Then you can select a word that interests you and lock it in. You could produce a list of dictionary matches by scoring them based on how well they match that spot in the cipher. Exact matches would have the best score, and other matches could be sorted by Levenshtein distance or similar.

These are very good ideas but mostly outside my intentions for the automatic solver. Perhaps at a later date I could start writing a new program that does just that.

Nice to know that the program is working through the VM.

[Quicktrader]

Hi Jarlve..

in fact I had a solution with score >16000, but sadly saw that in the moment when I cleared it . Similar happened with the old tool..so a log function would have been nice, but anyway. Some thoughts on the tool which is really great:

1.) Manipulation 'exclude' function doesn't work on mine. Good would be a possibilitiy to lock/include a variety of letters (e.g. all vowels aeiou or so). Same to exclude a variety of letters (e.g. the BCDFGHJKMNPQSTVXZ one position before any potential double LL letters).

2.) What does Mode 1/2 stand for? Same the FPT/Untransform/Render functions?

3.) If I replace the 5-gram file, does it lead the other data instead (e.g. dictionary) if I do rename the file?

Did some work on the :5FBc (or IoFBc) section. It consists of two trigrams repeating in line 5/13 and line 9/13. I therefore do assume that these frequent trigrams appear at least twice if not three times (with other homophones) in the cipher. Many of such trigrams do exist, though. Them to be combined is nothing else than a quintgram (or pentgram). These quintgrams, however, can be ordered according to their frequency, too. So what I did is to look for both trigrams with a frequency >3 in the 340 combined with the most frequent quintgrams consisting out of such frequent trigrams.

Following are the most frequent 403 quintgrams consisting of two trigrams with a frequency >3. Combining these with the + symbol as well as the W and the ) symbol, we can get a list of cleartext fractions such as LT_PHOTOLLTP etc. starting in line 17, with words extractable such as PHOTO. This fraction is somehow long enough to find or not find any content inside. In this case the PHOTO fractions can be ruled out (due to the LLTP nonsense), others actually do work quite well.

In fact, for each '+' (e.g. letter 'L') this is a way to cover the most frequent varieties and at the same time reduce the cipher to a minimum. IMO it's the first non-technical but logical approach to crack the 340. Although not perfect, it reduces billions if not trillions of varieties to a list of approximately 5,000 words that can to be found in the fraction of line 17 (by comparing with a dictionary, the Excelfunction in German is =ZÄHLENWENN(ZODIAC17;"*"&DICTIONARY&"*") with 'dictionary' being an intelligent table of the dictionary and 'zodiac17' being an intelligent table of artificially created cleartext fractions as considered above (left row quintgrams, top line AA,AB,..ZZ for W and (.

Imo the cipher in fact CAN BE SOLVED by the following method:

1. Set your ++ symbol, e.g. 'LL'
2. Take a list of the most frequent quintgrams consisting of trigrams with frequency >3
3. Expand the cleartext artificially by the W and ) symbol (using all, AA, AB,..ZZ)
4. Define one 'L' symbol after another as AEIOUYWR (letters possible before LL)
5. Extract all dictionary words from all fractions for each 'L' symbol (done..)
6. Check out the validity of the <5000 remaining fractions individually (partially done..)


Hints:
Step 4 takes 5-10 minutes of excel calculation
Use a small dictionary instead of a large one, e.g. 5,000 words covering most of the cipher

Therefore a function in the examine tool would be cool to load a variety of quintgrams in line 13 (starting from row 9). I've chosen all quintgrams with a frequency of at least 2, one may also choose a bigger number (approximately 2,000 with a frequency of 1, even more if choosing a frequency expectation of e.g. 0.5). Started with the top list due to lack of computer ressources.

Maybe then the tool will find a solution immediately (as 'ZZYGW' is a quintgram but neither a frequent one nor are its trigrams it consists of expected to show up at least 2-3 times).

Here you see what you can get as a cleartext in line 17, which is quite a long text to read/analyze:

temp.jpg

BTW, 'HOUGH' is a nice one (frequent quintgram of frequent trigrams) as it is very frequent and connects with the + symbol to 'ALTHOUGH'..

QT

WHICH
ATION
OUGHT
HEHAD
EOFTH
EVERY
HOUGH
THOUG
COULD
FORTH
ITHTH
RINCE
SOFTH
UNDER
TOFTH
HECOU
HOULD
OTHIN
SHOUL
TIONS
EDHIM
ESAID
ITHOU
NTOTH
WITHO
YTHIN
EANDT
SANDT
SHEHA
ULDNO
EDINT
FTHES
NCEAN
SHEWA
STILL
THOSE
THOUT
BUTTH
DTOTH
INTER
INTOT
UGHTH
ATTER
ECOUL
HEART
HINGT
NDERS
ONEOF
SSION
TERTH
TIONT
TTHES
VERTH
EDTOT
FTHEC
FTHEM
HADNO
HECON
HEMAN
HESAI
ISHED
RESSI
SHALL
TERED
TTHEM
TTHEY
AINED
ECOUN
ERSEL
ERYTH
HANDS
HEARD
HIMAN
OUTTH
OVERT
RINGT
STHEY
TANDT
DANDT
EARTH
ENERA
TINGT
FTHEP
HESTR
NCEOF
NEDTO
NINGT
OTHES
OUNTE
OUTOF
SANDS
STHES
BLETO
DERTH
EMAIN
SHESA
TEDTO
TTHEC
EANDS
ERSTA
ETOTH
EWASS
GHTTH
HEWHO
HINGA
NCESS
TANDI
DERED
DNOTH
ITHIN
NDERT
ONTIN
OUNDE
REDTO
STRAN
DINGT
EANDA
ECOME
ERSAN
ESSAN
FTHEF
FTHEI
HEHOU
INESS
ISHEA
OUSAN
RANDT
REALL
SANDA
TANCE
WEREA
CONCE
EARED
EHAVE
EWAST
GHTOF
HEHEA
HESTA
ATHEW
DANDS
EANDI
EDATT
EDONT
EHEAR
EROFT
ERSHE
ESSIN
ESSOF
ESTIO
EVERA
FTHET
HESHO
ICHTH
ISHAN
MENTO
NGTOT
OUNDT
RANCE
RTHES
STATE
STHEM
STHOU
STOTH
TEDHI
TINGA
TTHEP
WERET
IGHTH
OTHEC
STION
TEDAN
TTHEF
ASSHE
EARIN
EASAN
EATTH
ERSTO
ESSTH
EVERT
FTHEW
HECOM
HETHO
IONTO
NDSHE
ONEAN
REATE
RTHAN
SHEDI
SINCE
STHEC
TANDS
TERIN
THOUS
WERES
AIDHE
FORET
FTHED
HTHES
LEAVE
NTOFT
OTHEM
RTHEM
SHECO
STANT
AIDTO
ATEVE
DINTO
EATED
ECONT
EDOUT
ERINT
FRONT
FTHEH
GHTAN
GTHEM
HESTO
HICHA
ISHOU
MANDE
NINGA
ORTOF
OUNDA
REDAN
SHOUT
TTHEN
TTHET
WERED
BLEAN
EDONE
ENEDT
ERSTH
FTHEA
HEFOR
INEDT
ISTAN
OTHEP
SANDI
SHEDT
TEDIN
ENEVE
EVERS
FTHEL
GHTER
HECHA
ITHAN
NDINT
NOTTH
OTHED
RANDS
RINGA
SAINT
STHEF
TANDA
TERAN
TERES
TTERS
TTHED
TTHEI
TTHEW
ASTER
AVERY
DANDA
EARAN
ESTIN
HEYOU
NDALL
OMETO
OUNDS
REARE
RTHEC
RTHEL
STERS
STHEP
TINTO
VERED
WHOSE
YTHES
AREDT
ATEDT
ATHEH
ATIST
DHERS
ECONS
EHEHA
ERIGH
ERSOF
HANDT
IONIN
ISTIN
NTEDT
ONSOF
OUTIN
REATH
RTHEF
STHEN
STONE
ASTHO
ATHAD
CONTE
DHISH
ERSIN
FORES
HEDAN
ITHAD
NDSAI
NEDAN
NTESS
OFTHO
OUTAN
RTHEY
SINGT
STENE
TTERI
TTHEL
TTHIN
AININ
DERIN
EHEWA
EMATT
ESSHE
GHTIN
GTHES
HANDA
INTED
MANDT
NGATT
OMEAN
OTHEL
RANDA
RESTO
RTHEP
SHORT
TTERT
ANTIN
ASSIN
ATEDA
EANIN
EDATH
HTHEM
TEDHE
ANTED
ARTER
AVERT
EINTE
ERALL
ERYOU
NCETO
NDERI
NDEVE
NEDHI
ONSAN
OREHE
ORTAN
OTHEF
OTHEI
OUNDI
REDHI
REDIN
RESTI
SHAVE
SHEAR
SHEDA
SSIST
START
STERI
TTHEH
VERAN
HEDTO
LEAST
STHEL
TTHEA
ARTED
DANDI
DINGA
EANOT
EDIST
EINTO
ERATI
ESEEN
ESTAN
ESTED
ESTOF
EVERI
FTHEN
HADTO
HTHEC
HTHEI
INEVE
ISHIN
NDEDT
NEDIN
ONEHA
ONETO
OREAN
OTHEW
OVERA
RTHEI
RTHEN
STHEW
STOFT
TIONE
ULDER
YTHEY