The Headline Puzzle is a monthly feature that was started in 1964 by Paul Derthick, a longtime research analyst in NSA’s Operations Organization, as an interesting way to keep his mind sharp outside of his cryptanalytic work. Each Headline Puzzle contains five headlines from recent daily newspapers. Each of the five is a different monoalphabetic substitution, and all five are derived from the same mixed alphabet at different settings against itself. A complete solution includes recovering the plaintext of each HEADLINE and three key words, the SETTING, the KEY and the HAT.
To see an example of a previous Headline Puzzle from October, click here for the Encrypted Headlines, here for the Decrypted Headlines, and here for the SETTING, the HAT, and the KEY.
Headline Puzzle: November 2024
This month marks the 60th anniversary of Headline Puzzles at NSA! On the special occasion of the 60th anniversary, check out a past publication about the history of the Headline Puzzle. In honor of the puzzle’s Diamond Jubilee, here is a special November Headline Puzzle, based on headlines from November 1964. Each of the five is a different letter-for-letter substitution. All five are derived from the same mixed alphabet at different settings against itself.
1. IPGMCPM DQDFSDJ LM QWMJCQLJD; YPODYS HDMMDJB ALFSPY; CWQLMNDY JDKDWSDJ
2. DLELUULU AWHRLZSXELC YHEW ZX UVHG EXGZO IL. UZHWAEZU
3. PYLPQDC' OWRDY MWXDJ QDWNRD'C XWMWNDY PK SGD BDWY
4. LMDFL NDQML LIGQUL DL WALI MBXL OAPMX; JGGWJGFIR LIFGBY
5. UMBYXUHKUI, TSIIKHSBB KI HWICWI, KB PHWRI DWLS KI OXUYS, O.W.C.
Interested in other puzzles? Head to NSA.gov/Puzzles for the latest cryptologic challenges from NSA's puzzling community. Email puzzles@uwe.nsa.gov for help solving our puzzles!