Cipher Challenge
The Stagehand’s Secret
Introduction
A stage illusion can depend less on making something vanish than on moving familiar pieces while attention is elsewhere. Keyed columnar transposition works in that spirit. The message becomes a set of vertical slices whose internal order remains intact, but the slices are presented in another order. Individual frequencies therefore tell only part of the story. Stronger evidence appears when two candidate slices are placed together and their aligned characters begin to form plausible neighboring pairs across many rows.
Live gridCurrent
Live column keyUnavailable
| Rows | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | d | e | i | t | e | a | l | |
| r | n | r | i | a | a | t | s | |
| t | d | n | e | a | l | e | n | |
| y | p | c | l | i | l | t | m | |
| i | e | f | n | p | i | i | u | |
| s | t | c | a | d | f | e | r | |
| o | e | t | m | n | e | e | s | |
| d | b | n | e | e | i | n | a | |
| e | t | l | l | e | e | r | t | |
| a | t | t | e | r | r | e | h | |
| p | a | l | i | h | l | e | y | |
| e | e | e | b | a | l | d | e |
Read
adeitealrnriaatstdnealenypcliltmiefnpiiustcadferoetmneesdbneeinaetlleertatterrehpalihleyeeebaldead rn td yp ie st oe db et at pa ee1
adeit ealrn riaat stdn, ealen
26
ypcli ltmie fnpii ustca dfero
51
etmne esdbn eeina etlle ertat
76
terre hpali hleye eebal deahf
101
sesln nns,e snhle wlfsl ehsse
126
orfce hhlde httrg .seso waihe
151
tsn.a ernra idsng tor,n odein
176
dgres dseSg edmwk kirtg fhpxe
201
mseee henie aetcs enor, esoga
226
.asat lewto cessi pcnms itgir
251
wrnhi htibn idpbs fswet andnh
276
rCnia urkxp rlpnr e,atl seprn
301
ttseh ,eatr eoeif suaaa Esega
326
ehwtt eaaak e.aau dpnaf wmcef
351
c.oee econw btdSc ehlen taoma
376
tvtbe .eere obelv wnr,o bnhnw
401
ornou ttdgf scrah pttet ddrro
426
ishae itsfh vyada hdorz adotu
451
yrtar tndre cknth aatug tthTn
476
dtc,a nptdl taieh emaee ea.fe
501
nrlfi otnfs oitnv lrrsr mgHap
526
gibhl aiebg seetn esbbf hacdr
551
lvuuh reiee tDbnn ienkm ambee
576
ibr,e decvt aesei olvue lsghe
601
eptlv dstuv bnera raalt ttrhe
626
aaia, dgeit ufone rthsi nrtot
651
,rtte nntxe gntsr eherr tbnoo
676
tdhae adrne iasou eeger nUnnp
701
ceret .nbei ocnap suesa Eidrp
726
hlcha gnrve isrol uernf nmrin
751
ewuvd ersgu ltteu risnu rueei
776
tsccf iakma ewiti petda aeioa
801
ngly, ,,eee aopbc endrr a.,oy
826
traag sedrr niatk ntxia ckneh
851
otasc tsnTp kssua ntioo dirAv
876
fcdkn seetg mhsee edlkf ofheh
901
etTwt arnsn teiof aiyee aiseg
926
vcheb siilc cessh pedur arnms
951
cpnhi i.ein uvagr siydl hiips
976
dohip .rees totth dotie heiio
1001
scdoo ilero vopon rpsnA ueofy
1026
otneo opsla gieao fsa.n ernhr
1051
tsawa nisd. olrmr ramdc aapdp
1076
eaadf taort ,htdw rnevf hagrc
1101
o,e.s bnmds ,eils fhcrh pmsne
1126
itita drasn mlmle cieia e.lgt
1151
gpanh gedce yisen etfda beoda
1176
etjde siopP immfa nnero etTme
1201
esane ettaa tfddn edser cow,e
1226
,aima tiqlo nehhi eepna icwbr
1251
rjnac s.k,c ,rfas elatV trlhp
1276
dhhch dehse ti;cs ehtph eieba
1301
etedn
adeit ealrn riaat stdn, ealen ypcli ltmie fnpii ustca dfero etmne esdbn eeina etlle ertat terre hpali hleye eebal deahf sesln nns,e snhle wlfsl ehsse orfce hhlde httrg .seso waihe tsn.a ernra idsng tor,n odein dgres dseSg edmwk kirtg fhpxe mseee henie aetcs enor, esoga .asat lewto cessi pcnms itgir wrnhi htibn idpbs fswet andnh rCnia urkxp rlpnr e,atl seprn ttseh ,eatr eoeif suaaa Esega ehwtt eaaak e.aau dpnaf wmcef c.oee econw btdSc ehlen taoma tvtbe .eere obelv wnr,o bnhnw ornou ttdgf scrah pttet ddrro ishae itsfh vyada hdorz adotu yrtar tndre cknth aatug tthTn dtc,a nptdl taieh emaee ea.fe nrlfi otnfs oitnv lrrsr mgHap gibhl aiebg seetn esbbf hacdr lvuuh reiee tDbnn ienkm ambee ibr,e decvt aesei olvue lsghe eptlv dstuv bnera raalt ttrhe aaia, dgeit ufone rthsi nrtot ,rtte nntxe gntsr eherr tbnoo tdhae adrne iasou eeger nUnnp ceret .nbei ocnap suesa Eidrp hlcha gnrve isrol uernf nmrin ewuvd ersgu ltteu risnu rueei tsccf iakma ewiti petda aeioa ngly, ,,eee aopbc endrr a.,oy traag sedrr niatk ntxia ckneh otasc tsnTp kssua ntioo dirAv fcdkn seetg mhsee edlkf ofheh etTwt arnsn teiof aiyee aiseg vcheb siilc cessh pedur arnms cpnhi i.ein uvagr siydl hiips dohip .rees totth dotie heiio scdoo ilero vopon rpsnA ueofy otneo opsla gieao fsa.n ernhr tsawa nisd. olrmr ramdc aapdp eaadf taort ,htdw rnevf hagrc o,e.s bnmds ,eils fhcrh pmsne itita drasn mlmle cieia e.lgt gpanh gedce yisen etfda beoda etjde siopP immfa nnero etTme esane ettaa tfddn edser cow,e ,aima tiqlo nehhi eepna icwbr rjnac s.k,c ,rfas elatV trlhp dhhch dehse ti;cs ehtph eieba etedn—Live output1,304 adjacent pairs
| Pair | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
EE | 28 | 2.1% |
EI | 22 | 1.7% |
SE | 20 | 1.5% |
ET | 18 | 1.4% |
NE | 17 | 1.3% |
EH | 16 | 1.2% |
ER | 16 | 1.2% |
ES | 16 | 1.2% |
AE | 15 | 1.2% |
TT | 15 | 1.2% |
AA | 14 | 1.1% |
EA | 13 | 1.0% |
Count overlapping units and compare their distributions.
Live output1,266 overlapping units
| Unit | Count | Share | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| E | 188 | 14.8% | 1 |
| A | 112 | 8.8% | 2 |
| T | 111 | 8.8% | 3 |
| N | 95 | 7.5% | 4 |
| R | 88 | 7.0% | 5 |
| S | 85 | 6.7% | 6 |
| I | 82 | 6.5% | 7 |
| H | 62 | 4.9% | 8 |
| D | 61 | 4.8% | 9 |
| O | 59 | 4.7% | 10 |
| L | 45 | 3.6% | 11 |
| C | 41 | 3.2% | 12 |
Data sources
| Rank | Item | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | E | 12.21% |
| 2 | T | 9.14% |
| 3 | A | 8.23% |
| 4 | I | 7.71% |
| 5 | O | 7.38% |
| 6 | N | 7.27% |
| 7 | S | 6.90% |
| 8 | R | 6.31% |
| 9 | H | 4.32% |
| 10 | L | 4.25% |
| 11 | D | 3.72% |
| 12 | C | 3.59% |
| 13 | U | 2.73% |
| 14 | M | 2.59% |
| 15 | P | 2.33% |
| 16 | F | 2.26% |
| 17 | G | 2.01% |
| 18 | Y | 1.65% |
| 19 | B | 1.54% |
| 20 | W | 1.51% |
| 21 | V | 1.07% |
| 22 | K | 0.581% |
| 23 | X | 0.270% |
| 24 | J | 0.159% |
| 25 | Q | 0.142% |
| 26 | Z | 0.130% |
A columnar keyword must contain 2–25 ASCII letters only.