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Can you crack it?

JedExodusJedExodus
edited December 2011 in General Chat
Super-sleuthing/snooping arm of the UK government GCHQ has posted a code for potential employees to crack. If you're a smart cookie you might wanna consider giving it a whirl. As with all jobs in defence and security/espionage you'll however have to completely erase your online presence if your application is successful.

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Source

Comments

  • puzzleboxpuzzlebox Telltale Alumni
    edited December 2011
    JedExodus wrote: »
    Super-sleuthing/snooping arm of the UK government GCHQ has posted a code for potential employees to crack. If you're a smart cookie you might wanna consider giving it a whirl.

    Aw man... I'll be thinking about this all night now.

    Thought it would be a good idea to
    convert the hex to ASCII characters, but that doesn't seem to work. Nor does converting them to binary and looking for a pattern of letters in the 0s and 1s.
  • RetroVortexRetroVortex
    edited December 2011
    Those look like color codes to me...

    Probably way off there... XD
  • puzzleboxpuzzlebox Telltale Alumni
    edited December 2011
    RetroVortex wrote: »
    Those look like color codes to me...

    Probably way off there... XD

    I thought of HTML colour codes as well, but you need 6 letters in each code and the sets don't match up (vertically or horizontally)...
  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited December 2011
    I'm not having much luck either. I've tried converting it into every format I can think of, and either i'm missing something or i'm just on the wrong track altogether.

    Might be a little outside the box, I can't help but think i'm getting bogged down in computer jiggery pokery. Gonna have a look at some old school coded messages from the 40's, see if that prods any inspiration.
  • TomPravetzTomPravetz
    edited December 2011
    There are lots of consecutive 41's, 42's, ff's, and 00's. Do with that what you please.
  • MikeMike
    edited December 2011
    Just cracked it. It says:
    Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.
  • VainamoinenVainamoinen Moderator
    edited December 2011
    I just read the thread title only and thought I had to delete this thread at once. Phew, that was close. Don't you shock me like that! :D
  • RibsRibs
    edited December 2011
    D'aww, I was waiting for a new thread, so I could be the first to respond with a flat 'Six.'
  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited December 2011
    I'm thinking this might be x86 machine code. Which means it's way over my head. I shall persevere regardless, maybe learn a thing or two.
    Vainamoinen wrote: »
    I just read the thread title only and thought I had to delete this thread at once. Phew, that was close. Don't you shock me like that! :D

    You should know better, the JedEx name is a seal of quality and grammar errors.
  • Chyron8472Chyron8472
    edited December 2011
    JedExodus wrote: »
    You should know better, the JedEx name is a seal of quality and grammar errors.

    a seal indicative of many grammar errors or of none?
  • puzzleboxpuzzlebox Telltale Alumni
    edited December 2011
    Michael Parks wrote: »
    Just cracked it. It says:
    Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.

    Whoa! Did you really, or are you being an awful tease? Are we even remotely close?
  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited December 2011
    Chyron8472 wrote: »
    a seal indicative of many grammar errors or of none?

    You're missing your captial letter at the start of that sentence there grammar-pants.
  • MikeMike
    edited December 2011
    puzzlebox wrote: »
    Whoa! Did you really, or are you being an awful tease? Are we even remotely close?

    Just use your Secret Society decoder pin.
  • GuruGuru214GuruGuru214
    edited December 2011
    puzzlebox wrote: »
    Whoa! Did you really, or are you being an awful tease? Are we even remotely close?
    You need to see A Christmas Story. Luckily, there's a station that runs it on a loop for 24 hours every Christmas.
  • Chyron8472Chyron8472
    edited December 2011
    JedExodus wrote: »
    You're missing your captial letter at the start of that sentence there grammar-pants.

    I know it. I decided not to edit my post this time, though.
  • WarpSpeedWarpSpeed
    edited December 2011
    This is not a solution but has spoilers.
    It apparently is x86 machine code. Some people have disassembled it. If you figure it out, it apparently leads to part 2 of the puzzle, which may be at www . canyoucrackit . co . uk / 15b436de1f9107f3778aad525e5d0b20.js and involves virtual machines. If you're not a skilled computer programmer, you're not going to get this. For me, it seems like too much work to bother, considering I'm not a British citizen and wouldn't get a job there anyway.
  • puzzleboxpuzzlebox Telltale Alumni
    edited December 2011
    Michael Parks wrote: »
    Just use your Secret Society decoder pin.
    GuruGuru214 wrote: »
    You need to see A Christmas Story. Luckily, there's a station that runs it on a loop for 24 hours every Christmas.

    Ohhh, this is one of those US things that confuse the foreigners. Funnily enough, I have heard of that movie... but only because of the leg lamp in ToMI. :p
    WarpSpeed wrote: »
    This is not a solution but has spoilers.
    It apparently is x86 machine code. Some people have disassembled it. If you figure it out, it apparently leads to part 2 of the puzzle, which may be at www . canyoucrackit . co . uk / 15b436de1f9107f3778aad525e5d0b20.js and involves virtual machines. If you're not a skilled computer programmer, you're not going to get this. For me, it seems like too much work to bother, considering I'm not a British citizen and wouldn't get a job there anyway.

    WHAT?! That is crazy obscure. You'd have to be like some kind of professional code breaker to... oh.

    I've never been particularly interested in learning
    virtual machines
    , but now I kinda want to try it just to see if I can.
  • HaydenHayden
    edited December 2011
    JedExodus wrote: »
    You're missing your captial letter at the start of that sentence there grammar-pants.

    *capital
    *there, grammar-pants.

    Muphry's Law.
  • JedExodusJedExodus
    edited December 2011
    puzzlebox wrote: »
    I've never been particularly interested in learning
    virtual machines
    , but now I kinda want to try it just to see if I can.

    I had a muck about with it last-night, but it ended in confusion and dead-ends. It was that kind of frustration where you're making up fantastic new swears on the spot.
    Hayden wrote: »
    Muphry's Law.

    That's rather excellent!!
  • der_ketzerder_ketzer
    edited December 2011
    Just entered the solution. This will be the last you see of me.

    Anybody else that feels reminded of "Mercury Rising"?
  • JohroJohro
    edited December 2011
    they should have just posted it on the arkham city UK forums :P A guy there decoded the complex sequence in just over a day. The others, the community figured out in minutes.
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