bout de papier, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1988) — Summer 1988 // Été 1988, p. 35
“Why can’t Flecker just send in regular reports in standard cipher like anyone else?” fumed the Chief. “We’ve had him over at Allied Intelligence in Brussels under cover, trying to find a Russian mole. We had narrowed the list to five suspects: General Boulanger, Colonel Cacciatore, Admiral Schneider, Wing Commander Tinker and Brigadier Molinero. Flecker phoned me yesterday to say he had solved the problem and was reporting by bag. Then he bogged off to Batavia. When his report arrived this morning, it turned out to be another of his damn puzzles!”
“You can hardly expect me to complain,” replied the Firm’s ace logician, LDC Liebnitz “since it keeps me in a job. I think it’s just Flecker’s way of kicking over the traces — he likes his work but he hates bureaucracy. He figures you’ll put up with him as long as he delivers. Let’s look at the puzzle.”
Many surnames are derived from the titles or jobs of long-ago ancestors — Weaver, Abbott, Farmer, Tanner — with a variety of spellings. Name the men and women with English surnames of this kind suggested by the following clues. The number in parenthesis after each clue gives the position the names would occupy if placed in alphabetical order.
Three surnames, linked people
Three surnames, linked people
(a) Academy awards for best actor/actress: High Noon
(barrel-maker — 7); Cuckoo’s Nest (arrow-maker —
8); French Connection (cab-driver — 12)
(b) US Presidents: linoleum (25); clothing (23); moving (3)
(c) US detective stories: one author (10) and his stoney
lawyer hero (14); one amateur detective with the same
regal name as his pseudonymous author (19)
(d) 20th century English authors: Peter Rabbit (18);
Horatio Hornblower, the African Queen (9); 2001 (4)
(e) Giants of 19th century painting: policeman (5); lathe
operator (24); musical soldier (double name —
21+20)
(f) Pre-20th century English authors; Erewhon (2); Rape
of the Lock (16); Vicar of Wakefield (11)
Two people, same surname
Iwo people, same surname
(g) Tropic of Cancer, Sun Valley Seranade (15)
(h) Wealth of Nations, the Mormons (22)
(i) March on Washington, Bobby Riggs (13)
(i) Pacific explorer, the first package tours (6)
(k) Black dancer in Paris, Reagan’s erstwhile money-
maker (1)
(1) Guggenheim architect, either Dayton bicycle-maker
(26)
(m)Ship of Fools, Anything Goes (17)
“This can’t be all,” remarked Liebnitz after returning from the library. “The puzzle is simple enough to solve with a little research, but none of the names is singled out.”
“Perhaps this will help,” said the Chief. “It just came in by carrier pigeon from Celebes.”
I assume you have solved the puzzle by now. Add up how often each letter occurs in the surnames. Each number below refers to a letter with that frequency. Happy hunting.
15-5-21 2-22-21-9-7-5
12-7-7-3-5-10-15-6-12-9-10-9
15-5-22-6-9-9-21-22
7-21-7-12-9-2 5-21-22-7-12-9
2-12-3-22-15-5
“Hmm, ingenious,” nodded Liebnitz. “And of course, just to be maddening, there are several sets of letters with the same frequency — which means that some numbers will always signify the same letter, but others won’t. Ah well, they still have to decipher to recognizable words. “ A few minutes later, he looked up and chuckled. “Another literary reference! Let me verify a few things with Translation and I think I can name your spy.”
Can you duplicate Liebnitz’s solution by supplying us with the 26 surnames from the first puzzle (a to m), the correct reading of the numerical cipher, and the identify of the mole?
Please send your answers to bout de papier. The first correctly drawn answer wins a book prize!
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 6, No. 2 (1988) — Summer 1988 // Été 1988, p. 35. Read the rest of this issue →
