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A bit of fun

The following “encrypted” text uses well known methods to obscure the data, my challenge to you is to decrypt the text. Comments will only appear if you have successfully left the correct answer. So see if you can be the first….

38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 55 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 50 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 50 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 50 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 55 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 55 59

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Comments 29

  1. The-Wildcat wrote:

    **Well done The-Wildcat!**

    I’ve edited your comment so not spoil it for anyone else

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 3:09 pm
  2. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    The Wildcat was quick!!!!

    thorin you’re nearly right, I just need the plain text

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 3:26 pm
  3. Adam Backstrom wrote:

    **Well done Adam!**

    Edited.

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 4:02 pm
  4. Gerardo Chaves wrote:

    ** EDITED ***

    You are not the only one :(

    I want more of this!!

    Thank you for the challenge

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 4:27 pm
  5. Ardemue wrote:

    ** EDITED ***

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 4:34 pm
  6. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    Well done all I’m impressed.

    I may do some more of these challenges and make them a bit harder :)

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 5:06 pm
  7. Skip Chris wrote:

    **EDITED***

    and now I have sore fingers too! :)

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 5:06 pm
  8. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    Nice one Chris :)

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 6:30 pm
  9. Ali Karbassi wrote:

    **EDITED**

    Yes, mine does too now.

    That was fun.

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 6:57 pm
  10. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    Well done Ali :)

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 7:08 pm
  11. Ali Karbassi wrote:

    I did it all in javascript, who knew?

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 7:19 pm
  12. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    Excellent Ali! That’s what I intended, I wanted to provide a challenge based on my posts. Stay tuned for the next one.

    How difficult or easy was the challenge? Should I make the next one a lot harder?

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 7:33 pm
  13. Ali Karbassi wrote:

    Well, it was pretty challenging. I don’t want to give it away, but the last part somewhat confused me. Also, I had to write a function of my own.

    I wrote about it here: See if it’s too much of a spoiler. If it is, remove it.

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 7:47 pm
  14. The-Wildcat wrote:

    Yeah, That was to easy :D

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 7:56 pm
  15. Skip Chris wrote:

    A bit harder, but not as hard as, say the Slackers challenge :) — my main wasted time was hunting the PHP manuals for the exact function i needed . Will you be publishing a ‘perfect’ solution, as I think I went around the houses a bit to get there…

    Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 9:21 pm
  16. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    I did intend it to be just a quick bit of fun and it wasn’t really meant to be in the same league as the slackers challenge but if people enjoyed it then I might do a more interesting one :)

    I’ll post my solution once everyone has finished trying, I don’t want to spoil it

    Posted 11 Oct 2007 at 12:01 am
  17. Jason M. wrote:

    **EDITED**

    Posted 11 Oct 2007 at 12:08 am
  18. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    Nice one Jason, glad you liked it :)

    Posted 11 Oct 2007 at 12:10 am
  19. Maarten Spreij wrote:

    Nice one :-) More!

    Posted 11 Oct 2007 at 11:40 am
  20. thorin wrote:

    BAH, I was going too quick yesterday, I didn’t notice the subtle differences in the original strings so I thought it was the same char over and over and over.

    Posted 11 Oct 2007 at 1:01 pm
  21. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    Nice one thorin I knew you’d get it :)

    Posted 11 Oct 2007 at 1:06 pm
  22. Thijs Lensselink wrote:

    Didn’t see the post yesterday. So i gave it a try today.

    **EDITED**

    Posted 12 Oct 2007 at 11:22 am
  23. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    @Thijs Lensselink

    Well done! :)

    Posted 12 Oct 2007 at 11:27 am
  24. Kishor wrote:

    **EDITED**

    Posted 13 Oct 2007 at 2:10 pm
  25. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    @Kishor

    Nice one mate :)

    Posted 13 Oct 2007 at 5:18 pm
  26. Alex@Net wrote:

    My back hurts from all this sitting! :-)

    chr -> hexdec -> urldecode -> octdec!
    Nice! :-)

    Posted 19 Oct 2007 at 10:22 am
  27. Saul Pladen wrote:

    You missed 4th base. …Though seem to have hit most of the rest.

    Completion results? 35:1.

    Posted 20 Oct 2007 at 12:04 pm
  28. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    My “official” solution :)

    c = ‘38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 55 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 50 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 50 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 50 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 55 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 48 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 51 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 51 54 59 38 35 120 50 53 59 38 35 120 51 53 59 38 35 120 52 51 59 38 35 120 51 49 59 38 35 120 51 52 59 38 35 120 51 55 59′;
    c=c.split(’ ‘);d=”;
    for(i=0;i<c.length;i++)d+=String.fromCharCode(c[i]);
    c=d.replace(/&#x/g,”);
    c=c.split(’;');d=”;
    for(i=0;i<c.length;i++)d+=String.fromCharCode(parseInt(c[i],16));
    c=unescape(d).split(’\\’);
    d=”;
    for(i=1;i<c.length;i++)d+=String.fromCharCode(parseInt(c[i],8));
    alert(d);

    Posted 26 Oct 2007 at 9:06 am
  29. Gareth Heyes wrote:

    Here’s a video of Hackvertor (A conversion utility I wrote) solving the challenge:-

    http://www.thespanner.co.uk/2007/10/29/hackvertor-video-demo/

    Posted 29 Oct 2007 at 2:24 pm

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