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, click here for the Encrypted Headlines, here for the Decrypted Headlines, and here for the SETTING, the HAT, and the KEY. Visit NSA.gov/Puzzles to learn more about this and other cryptologic challenges from NSA's puzzling community.
Headline Puzzle: August 2024
The following are all headlines from recent daily newspapers. 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. OZKMSZ UB JHSDL PSDPD SNBPH XUDHYIBUAO NZUOLBD, LKDIUBSZD SAX BHSXUAO
2. DWKOIHV QZYHQB KJ VHDMHJ VHMRZDH GKDZQZJB ZO QKTMHQ
3. DCZV WZJJRDPNRVZ YZWPZQ YRZP 'AE-ARRS!,' IRFZVP RK NRMQBPNP QMV
4. YEMKK NR AZ KZSEJZ KJEY AZEQZQ KRQ MPE
5. BETGING FCUB BETPSKSEX TLENG DJ NKNRESCZ USZ NWACBNB MSBRCZENZE
Ready to check your work and see if you decrypted the headlines? Click here for the SETTING, the KEY and the HAT.
Interested in other puzzles? Head to NSA.gov/Puzzles for the latest cryptologic challenges from NSA's puzzling community.