A Beginner's Guide to Cipher Solving

written by Vivian Murphy

Solving Ciphers: Caesar, Polybius, and Vigenere

I hope that this guide has been a helpful novice's guide to learning ciphers and how to encrypt and decrypt a couple of them. Solving ciphers is a true delight and one of our main interests here at Polybius' Square, so you might find a few of them hidden about. Now, take up your pencil and paper and decrypt some clues!
















Well, the call to action is over. Only reason you would want to read on is because you want to find a hidden page...

You know what? Sure, we can do one more cipher just to test your mettle. I'm not going to make this one easy--the temptation to cheat might be great, but I know that if you put your mind to it, you'll be able to solve it!

You'll need to solve all three ciphers in order to complete this one. It'll go Polybius Square, to Caesar, to Vigenere. I'll drop some clues in the other hidden pages to help you out with the keys. I've also given you the square for I/J, and marked which are which--since that would make the vigenere step a nightmare.

Good luck.