Good luck trying to break this one!

[fayanora]

Don't be fooled by appearances!

13-35-13-35-24-7-20-12-6-51-30-20-12-20-8-24-23-8-15-30-25-38-1-24-5-20-18-7-4-25-52-28-12-28-52-28-15-2-26-30-20-7-8-12-
7-4-15-29-15-1-24-8-38-3-20-17-52-28-31-52-35-2-17-23-17-26-3-51-3-24-19-6-43-11-52-28-24-7-17-30-20-1-24-17-4-19-21-
31-24-28-30-20-7-38-3-20-14-8-15-30-25-52-2-24-2-20-17-29-20-24-32-12-8-15-30-

Comments

[brockulfsen]

The use of numbers 1-52 inclusive implies a deck of cards cipher, however the distribution is not even, glyphs 27-52 make up only about 1 in 4 characters, and their distribution is patchy. There are no 10s or16s in the lower group, but no 27,33,34,37,39,42,44,45,46,47,48,49,50.

The 5 commonest glyphs are 20 (x18); 24 (x14); 08 (x13); 12 (x11) and 28 (x10).

Counts

[brockulfsen]

01 3
02 6
03 8
04 7
05 1
06 4
07 7
08 13
09 1
10 0
11 2
12 11
13 4
14 3
15 7
16 0
17 7
18 3
19 4
20 18
21 4
23 6
24 14
25 3
26 6

28 10
29 2
30 9
31 2
32 2
35 5
36 1
38 5
40 1
41 1
43 1
51 5
52 8

[fayanora]

Hmmm... card deck cipher, never thought of that before. Neat idea!

*Giggles* Have luck cracking it! You'll need it. :-D

[brockulfsen]

A card deck crypto-system is a key element of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon

The system is called Pontifex in the book, but Solitaire in RL.

BTW, it is an awesome book.