Social Media Ideas for Cicada 3301

An anonymous group posted internet puzzles to recruit code-breakers, then vanished

Cicada 3301 is the name of "three sets of puzzles posted under the name '3301' online between 2012 and 2014." The first appeared on 4chan on January 4, 2012, and ran for nearly a m...

They Bought a Famous Puzzle in Cryptography. Now They’re Opening It Up.

A San Francisco company paid nearly $1 million for the solution to an unsolved code in Kryptos, a sculpture on the C.I.A. grounds. Soon it will become an online challenge.

Crypto Guys Bought the Answer to the CIA’s Mysterious Kryptos Sculpture

They swear they haven’t peeked at the closely guarded secret and that they’ll keep the cryptographic competition going.

What does my cypher say? Hexagons with border ticks and dots

Can you figure out what this cypher says and how it works? The scribbles are mistakes. Hexagons with no ticks are spaces. The code is in the ticks and dots, not in imperfect hexago...

A sculpture at CIA headquarters has kept a coded message secret for 35 years

Kryptos is a sculpture by artist Jim Sanborn on the grounds of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Dedicated on November 3, 1990, it carries four encrypted messages. "Of these f...

Need help identifying this

I found this thing full of numbers and a few other symbols from this website, and I'm trying to figure out its identity. I feel like I'm missing something very obvious, but I am co...

A twisted cryptic crossword puzzle!

I've enjoyed cryptic crosswords for many years (never been too good at them, but that is another matter). I also like numbers, patterns and puzzles. This is my first attempt to com...

A mystery DVD mailed from Poland hid coded threats in a plague doctor video

In October 2015, a Swedish tech blogger named Johny Krahbichler opened a package mailed from Warsaw: a DVD with a long alphanumeric code written on it, no return address, no explan...

Is my friend a government spy?

This will be my final puzzle for the Obscure Observances series. Time to work on the August challenge... which will continue this story, perhaps. Is my friend also a government spy...

My First Number Code

How do I understand the following? 1242113331 1818111411 9291131113 3311272113 3311747192 9160611030 1143411333 1154511131 1165611555 1147411333 1106019291 6061165611 3331147411 14...

Found in an empty room

I walked into my professor's lecture hall to find it completely dark and empty. This was quite odd, as class was supposed to begin around this time. After turning on the lights, I...

Same Grid, Secret Enigma

I solved the puzzle hidden in the grid for the Monthly Topic Challenge! I have provided minimal instructions on how I derived its solution below: ·/−: First 4 rows: ? ? ?? ?? ?? ?...

Codes and Ciphers, by Robert C. S. Adey.

Codes and Ciphers by Robert C. S. Adey.        Originally published in The Mystery Lover’s Newsletter, 1969. Vol II No. 6, pp. 10/11:        Like so many other things, Mr. Edgar Al...

Logo Audit: Anomalies Detected

A routine forensic review of our Stack Exchange's logo has uncovered severe anomalies. The integrity of the logo has been compromised by 5 cryptographic strings and a locked payloa...

Decipher these messages enciphered using numbers

I've thought up a cipher method. Here are three messages enciphered using it, for you to decipher. They're arranged from easiest to hardest. I'm not sure how hard it'll be to decip...

KDA: Echoes of Deception - Case 6

A cryptic message, a book cipher hidden in art provenance records, and a trail of clues leading to the leader of a shadowy cyber organization. The post KDA: Echoes of Deception - C...

Help me figure out a title for this one.

I really like puzzles like this. I think this particular format may catch on in the future!

Deltarune’s Baffling ARG Just Updated Again, And Exactly 1,229 Specific People Are Able To Solve It

Before the sun goes down

The Staircase of Whispers

A scrap of paper was discovered inside the abandoned study of Professor Elara Voss, a celebrated cryptographer who vanished without a trace in the autumn of 1987. Her colleagues ha...

Mason's maze - the odd looking tiles.

Yes, I know this really isn't a maze... but it fits with my overall theme. Mason invited me to see his new backyard maze he had made out of some rather interesting tiles (the black...

Mystery Puzzle 2026 Week 23

A Strange Absorption Spectrum

Behold this image. Your task is to find the answer to this image. The answer is a single nine letter word that is a category of objects. Hint 1:

Colorful Clues...

Given the puzzle below, figure out what I am. What Am I?

When and where?

When and where do I meet my contact? I am currently on an undercover operation. My contact comes over weekly for games of Mahjongg and we have a special code worked out to communic...