Da Vinci code puzzle
This has become an enigma wrapped in a puzzle, see if you can solve it.In another twist to the publishing phenomenon, it was disclosed yesterday that the judge in the recent plagiarism court case included a coded message in his written judgment.
Contained within certain words, Mr Justice Peter Smith wrote certain letters in bold italic. On first inspection, there seems to be no pattern or reason why the letters are chosen and they could be easily viewed as a typographical errors. But Dan Tench, an observant solicitor at the London-based law firm Olswang, thought otherwise. ÂWeÂre not sure yet what it means, but weÂre working on it, he said...
Mr Justice Smith confirmed Mr TenchÂs suspicions when he said the pattern was Âsomething more than a typoÂ...The judge...said that paragraph 52 of his judgment would give readers a clue to the puzzle.
That paragraph reads: ÂI have set out at some length what in my opinion is an overall analysis of HBHG [The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail]. I have done that and will do the same further in this judgment in respect of DVC [The Da Vinci Code] because that is essential in my view to deciding this case.ÂThe paragraph ended: ÂThe key to solving the conundrum posed by this judgment is in reading HBHG and DVC.Â
...In Mr Justice SmithÂs coded judgment, the first nine digits obviously spell Smith Code: s,m,i,t,h,c,o,d,e,J,a,e,i,e,x,t,o,s,t,p,s,a,c,g,r,e,a,m,q,w,f,k,a,d,p,m,q,z.
Beyond that is anyoneÂs guess...
...Concealed in the earlier pages of the 71-page judgment are at least 38 single letters printed in bold italics. One page contains a total of eight single bold italics.
It is not clear whether the page or the paragraph that the italicised letters are hidden in is relevant to breaking the cypher.
The only upper case letter is a ÂJÂ. The judgment includes other italicised words, often quoted speech or names of texts, which have not been included in this list.
The most difficult to identify while scanning the text are the letters Âc and ÂiÂ, among others. This list is by no means exhaustive.
The first letters on page 5, if they are not an anagram, spell out the words Âsmith code JÂ. The judge is Mr Justice Peter Smith. Or maybe the J stands for ÂJesus or ÂjudgmentÂ.
Page 5 s m i t h c o d e J
Page 6 a e i e x
Page 7 t o s t
Page 8 p s a
Page 9 c g r e a
Page 10 m q w f
Page 11 k a
Page 12 d p m q
Page 13 z
The London Times
Update: The challenge has been solved.
After much trial and error, we found a formula which fitted. This revealed (disregarding a few slips by the judge) the slightly perplexing script "JACKIEFISHERWHOAREYOUDREADNOUGHT", which is presumably to be rendered: "Jackie Fisher, who are you? Dreadnought". This must be taken as a doubtless riposte by the judge, who lists the study of the early 20th century admiral, Jackie Fisher, as a main interest. When asked who was Jackie Fisher, how many times must he have answered that Admiral Fisher conceived of the great battleship HMS Dreadnought?
Yesterday the judge sent a message: "Brilliant. You got it all ... You can rightly claim that you started it and got there first. I thought it had been missed until you found it."
Guardian unlimited Books
posted by Hurler @ 9:27 pm
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