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 September, 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: October 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. XMXV YIEB ID J.R. YIZRAHAJAHIZ DIJZW HZ Z. YMXISHZM SHCVSB KIXAT FHSSHIZR
2. LGFO QJ MQCNVF TGKGEK VFFVIQWGK, UHHEK ZGEP UVCRWVFN OQT. UQQCH
3. QAZN CAP DLJJNPBWPN BWGR'D NRALUF DA GWZN MD CPAK TWROPLJDIH
4. WSPAPS KBAPL VG YOQ TQTOJ OJ KZOJKIOJQ DOJ
5. ZQXAP GODG-VXWOD XAGOWZRAGXAOAGPF SPFFXDGXZ EXDDXFO XA GQO BPZXVXZ
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. Email puzzles@uwe.nsa.gov for help solving our puzzles!