Mysterious Messages: Substitution Ciphers

A substitution cipher is probably the simplest

The Secret World of type of cipher to create. Here, letters are

Codes and Ciphers

substituted for something else. One of the most
famous examples is the Caesar Shift Cipher,
For thousands of years, people have been named after Julius Caesar, who used it for
trading secrets, both personal and political. secret communications. It was said to involve
And one of the best ways to ensure a secret shifting each letter of the alphabet three places
stays secret, is to put it into a code or cipher. to the right (so, A becomes D, B becomes E,
That way, only the recipient of the message etc). Of course, this can be varied by changing
can unlock it – or at least, that’s the theory! the number of places or the direction that the
But what’s the difference between a code letters shift so with this cipher, the key is the
and a cipher? In common parlance, not a lot. number of spaces the alphabet is moved.
Most of us use the terms interchangeably. But
if you’re a cryptologist (a person who studies
cryptography – the science of codes and
Caesar Shift Cipher
ciphers), then you might be a little more picky
Give it a go:
about the terms you use. To cryptologists, a
can you solve this message,
code substitutes letters, numbers or symbols
where the key is four?
for the meaning of the message. A cipher
uses a process, known as an algorithm, to XLMW MW E GEIWEV WLMJX GMTLIV
transform a message into something else.
Knowing the key to the cipher is important
when trying to solve it.

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 Another example of a substitution cipher is the Here’s an example of a key – although you can
Dancing Men Cipher Dancing Men, which was created by Arthur easily create your own:
Conan Doyle for his Sherlock Holmes story,
The Adventure of the Dancing Men, in 1903. He A B C J K L
drew a series of stick men in different poses,
D E F M N O
A B C D E G with each pose representing a letter. If the stick
man was holding a flag, that meant the end of G H I P Q R
the word was reached. Because Conan Doyle
didn’t use all the letters of the alphabet in his
H I L M N O S W
message, some letters have no known symbols.
T U X Y
The key to this cipher is simply the sheet which
V Z
shows the equivalent letters for each stick man.

P R S T V Y A popular cipher that’s easy to decode is the

Pigpen Cipher. Of course, because it’s popular Pigpen Cipher
Give it a go: and easy, it’s not often entrusted with serious Give it a go:
communications! It’s thought to be many
centuries old, and was even used during the
Crusades. The cipher uses a series of grids and
dots to create representations for letters.

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Transposition Ciphers TACHRIEIIALCPSSFNHRIEE
Unlike substitution ciphers, transposition ciphers use a key to scramble up the letters of a To solve the cipher, you need to count the
message. There are many different ways of doing this, but a popular form of this cipher is the letters in your encrypted message. However
Rail Fence Cipher. Here, the message is written diagonally up and down lines (or ‘rail fences’). many letters you have, that’s the number of
The message is then read back following the horizontal lines. So, for example: columns you’ll need to draw in your blank rail
THIS IS A RAIL FENCE CIPHER is written diagonally across the ‘rails’: fence. It helps if you know how many rows the
encryptor has used (which is the cipher key),
T . . . . . . . A . . . . . . . C . . . . . but if you don’t know, then it’s a case of trial
and error to solve the message.
. H . . . . . R . I . . . . . E . I . . . .
e.g. TACHRIEIIALCPSSFNHRIEE has 22 letters, so
. . I . . . A . . . L . . . C . . . P . . . we need 22 columns. If we try a key of just two
. . . S . S . . . . . F . N . . . . . H . R rows, we can quickly see that this isn’t right:
T A C H R I E I I A L
. . . I . . . . . . . E . . . . . . . E . C P S S F N H R I E E

And so we keep trying with three, then four, then

To create the new, ciphered message, we then read across the rail fence horizontally:
five rows, when we get to the correct solution.

T . . . . . . . A . . . . . . . C . . . . .
Rail Fence Cipher
. H . . . . . R . I . . . . . E . I . . . .
Give it a go:
. . I . . . A . . . L . . . C . . . P . . . can you solve this message,
where the key is three?
. . . S . S . . . . . F . N . . . . . H . R
WDELOELN
. . . I . . . . . . . E . . . . . . . E .

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 Fan Codes Military Codes
Fan Codes Nowadays, when we’re feeling hot we can switch The military has always used codes and ciphers
Have a go: on an electric fan or open one of our double- to transmit messages, to avoid them being
what is this woman saying? glazed windows. But in days gone by, ladies understood should they fall into enemy hands.
would cool themselves down with hand-held During the Second World War, many different
fans. Made out of bone, cloth or paper, fans ciphers were used, but code words were
were exquisite and must-have accessories. But also popular. Often military operations were
they weren’t only used as a primitive form of air referred to by code names. So, for example,
con: fans were also a useful tool in the subtle art D-Day on June 6th 1944 was known as
of flirting. In fact, from the 18th century onwards Operation Overlord, while the beaches involved
there was a whole coded language, centred on were given code-names such as Omaha, Juno
how a lady used her fan. In an era where women and Sword.
were expected to be demure and well-behaved,
and certainly not forward enough to proposition
a man, fans were a way of communicating their
desires. Fan codes included:

Touching the handle of the fan to your lips: kiss me

Drawing the fan across your cheek: I love you
Twirling the hand in the left hand: I want you to go
Carrying the fan in the right hand, in front of the face: follow me
Drawing the fan through the hand: I hate you

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Floriography
Aster patience
For many centuries, people have assigned Floriography
figurative meanings to flowers and plants. Rose love Have a go:
Think of the Christian symbol of the dove what might this bouquet signify?
Acacia friendship
carrying an olive branch, signifying peace.
Or, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia listing Bluebell humility
flowers and plants with their meanings: ‘There’s
rosemary, that’s for remembrance… And there Calla lily great beauty
is pansies, that’s for thoughts…’ Daffodil unrequited love
But it was in the Victorian era that floriography
- the language of flowers - became particularly Forget-me-not true love
popular; books were published on the subject, Hawthorn hope
and people would send floral arrangements
as coded messages when they were unable to Juniper protection
speak their feelings aloud.
Marigold grief
The codes of flowers could be complex and
varied: colour played a big part, with red usually Parsley useful knowledge
signifying love, yellow suggesting friendship,
Yellow hyacinth jealousy
and white implying innocence and chastity. The
type of plant or flower was also important, and A great example of this code in action can be
meanings included: seen in the Enola Holmes film, starring Millie
Bobby Brown, where the young protagonist
solves a series of clues encoded in flowers.

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Mysterious Messages: The Secret World of Codes and Ciphers
- Answers
Caesar Shift Cipher: This is a Caesar Shift Cipher
Dancing Men Cipher: Solve me
Pigpen Cipher: It’s easy
Transposition cipher: Well done
Fan codes: Follow me
Floriography: I feel grief for my unrequited love