Ars Paradoxica 25: Absence - Blue and Yellow

Ok, the numbers station is truly on a roll with this one. Our favorite nemesis has decided to mix her colors, using a series of high and low voices. I've labeled them 'Man' (M) and Girl (G) for clarity in the text. Trying to write them down for the podcast was nigh unto impossible for me, BUT in this case you cannot trust the transcript for the episode. It's missing a 19, and the colors are inverted from what you need to solve the code.

08 12 06 26 08 12 26 06 13 10 14 06 (19) 02 12 12 20 16 11 12 21 26 26 17 26 01
WEATHER: humid

While the chart approach is handy, it's cases like this that the math approach I detailed on Episode 1: Hypothesis comes in handy.

First, we know that we need both BLUE and YELLOW methods to solve this.

A quick refresher:

BLUE method

• A=01 alphabet for cipher text: H L F Z H L Z F M J N F B L L T P K L U Z Z Q Z A
• A=01 for passphrase: HUMID

YELLOW method

• A=01 alphabet for cipher text: H L F Z H L Z F M J N F B L L T P K L U Z Z Q Z A
• A=01 for passphrase: HUMID
• Yellow method is to encode the cipher text, rather than decode - add, rather than subtract, the passphrase.

The voice at the beginning, stating "Blellow" or something similar, doesn't tell us which voice, Man or Girl, is which color. For simplicity, I've saved you the trouble of running it the other way first. The Man's voice is YELLOW, the Girl's voice is BLUE.


KEEP IN MIND THAT FOR SOLVING VIA MATH, WE HAVE TO SUBTRACT 1 FROM EACH OF THE NUMBERS IN THE PASSPHRASE (A=00, Z=25). This is actually pretty easy to do when you use dCode. HUMID becomes 07-20-12-08-03. So, going through, you add or subtract based on the color. This might be clearer in a table.

Ciphertext	08	12	06	26	08	12	26	06	13	10	14	06	19	02	12	12	20	16	11	12	21	26	26	17	26	01
Plaintext	H	L	F	Z	H	L	Z	F	M	J	N	F	S	B	L	L	T	P	K	L	U	Z	Z	Q	Z	A
Pass	H	U	M	I	D	H	U	M	I	D	H	U	M	I	D	H	U	M	I	D	H	U	M	I	D	H
Voice	M	G	G	M	G	M	M	M	M	G	G	G	M	G	M	G	M	G	G	M	G	G	M	G	M	G
Color	Y	B	B	Y	B	Y	Y	Y	Y	B	B	B	Y	B	Y	B	Y	B	B	Y	B	B	Y	B	Y	B
Add or Subtract?	+	-	-	+	-	+	+	+	+	-	-	-	+	-	+	-	+	-	-	+	-	-	+	-	+	-
Pass value	07	20	12	08	03	07	20	12	08	03	07	20	12	08	03	07	20	12	08	03	07	20	12	08	03	07
Math Result	15	-08	-06	34	05	19	46	18	21	07	07	-14	31	-06	15	05	40	04	03	15	14	06	38	09	29	-06
mod 26	15	18	20	08	05	19	20	18	21	07	07	12	05	20	15	05	14	04	03	15	14	06	12	09	03	20
A=01 Solution	O	R	T	H	E	S	T	R	U	G	G	L	E	T	O	E	N	D	C	O	N	F	L	I	C	T

OR THE STRUGGLE TO END CONFLICT

Many thanks to www.tablesgenerator.com for the quick table.

Note that, without the 19, as in the transcript, this makes absolutely no sense. Don't ask how many hours I spent trying to make the blasted thing work without it. It's painful. Then I went back and listened to the episode again, and dangit, there that 19 was!