Skip to main content
Bounty Ended with 100 reputation awarded by Lukas Rotter
Added bobble's comment in as part of the answer.
Source Link
Jeremy Dover
  • 28.8k
  • 3
  • 69
  • 163

Box 1 resolves instantly:

R1C1 is the only place for G, R3C3 the only place for D, leaving R3C2 as B.

Box 9 resolves similarly:

R7C7 is the only place for G, R9C9 the only place for D, leaving R7C8 as Q.

Some additional cells are forced as naked singles in their boxes:

R1C7(J), R2C5(Q), R3C9(Z), R4C2(Y), R8C1(Y), R8C4(D), R8C5(G), R6C6(G), R4C3(G), R7C4(B), R7C6 (T), R9C6(J)

Progress

Some more easy stuff, but getting tougher to find:

R7C1 must be Z (naked single in row); R9C1 can only be Q, forcing R6C1 to be J and R9C3 to be B; R3C4 can only be T and R3C6 can only be Y; R5C6 is only place in C6 for Z, forcing R2C6 to be D and R1C4 to be A; R1C9 is now T

In C9, A is the only possibility for R2, and Q for R4; this completes box 3, with R2C7 B and R2C8 Y. In C7 this leaves R6 the only candidate for A, forcing R4C7 to be D; now in R4, C4 cannot be Z so it must be J, forcing R4C8 to be Z; in C8, R6 cannot be J, so R5 is J and R6 T; box 5 completes with R5C4 Q and R5C5 B, and then row 6 completes with R6C2 Z and R6C3 Q. The grid:

Progress

At this point:

There is not a unique solution to the Sudoku...except there is, because I realize I forgot one of the clues when I transposed it. The final grid:

Final Grid

Where do we go from here?

Five of the grid entries are highlighted, which suggests that these characters might form a key to the cipher text given. Vigenère seems the obvious choice for a cipher, and using the tools at DCODE suggest that the ciphertext might be a Vigenère cipher with a key length of 5.

But trying the obvious choices (top-to-bottom, left-to-right) as a key yields gibberish. So let's try something else: the introduction. It sure looks like it should be "Dear Somebody,", so let's look for four key letters that decode "Esbj" to "Dear", which gives "BOBS". Hmm...that seems relevant somehow. Let's try the key BOBSLEIGH...and it works!

The secret message decodes as: "Dear Santa, I am probably gone when you see this. I was captured, and taken back to the North Pole by raiders. They are trying to steal your elves, and your home. Get back, and save us. The bandits want to wreck the happiness for Christmas. Quick!"

So the question remains:

Was the sudoku just a red herring, or is there a tie I'm not seeing? I tried decoding the yellow squares using the BOBSLEIGH key, and also the word "Quick", which appears prominently at the end of the message, as both the key or the plaintext, but I'm not getting any further connection.

The link, literally: (h/t bobble)

The highlighted letters in the Sudoku form a tag to Stack Exchange's imgur site, which yields the literal link. The link provides the key as well.

Box 1 resolves instantly:

R1C1 is the only place for G, R3C3 the only place for D, leaving R3C2 as B.

Box 9 resolves similarly:

R7C7 is the only place for G, R9C9 the only place for D, leaving R7C8 as Q.

Some additional cells are forced as naked singles in their boxes:

R1C7(J), R2C5(Q), R3C9(Z), R4C2(Y), R8C1(Y), R8C4(D), R8C5(G), R6C6(G), R4C3(G), R7C4(B), R7C6 (T), R9C6(J)

Progress

Some more easy stuff, but getting tougher to find:

R7C1 must be Z (naked single in row); R9C1 can only be Q, forcing R6C1 to be J and R9C3 to be B; R3C4 can only be T and R3C6 can only be Y; R5C6 is only place in C6 for Z, forcing R2C6 to be D and R1C4 to be A; R1C9 is now T

In C9, A is the only possibility for R2, and Q for R4; this completes box 3, with R2C7 B and R2C8 Y. In C7 this leaves R6 the only candidate for A, forcing R4C7 to be D; now in R4, C4 cannot be Z so it must be J, forcing R4C8 to be Z; in C8, R6 cannot be J, so R5 is J and R6 T; box 5 completes with R5C4 Q and R5C5 B, and then row 6 completes with R6C2 Z and R6C3 Q. The grid:

Progress

At this point:

There is not a unique solution to the Sudoku...except there is, because I realize I forgot one of the clues when I transposed it. The final grid:

Final Grid

Where do we go from here?

Five of the grid entries are highlighted, which suggests that these characters might form a key to the cipher text given. Vigenère seems the obvious choice for a cipher, and using the tools at DCODE suggest that the ciphertext might be a Vigenère cipher with a key length of 5.

But trying the obvious choices (top-to-bottom, left-to-right) as a key yields gibberish. So let's try something else: the introduction. It sure looks like it should be "Dear Somebody,", so let's look for four key letters that decode "Esbj" to "Dear", which gives "BOBS". Hmm...that seems relevant somehow. Let's try the key BOBSLEIGH...and it works!

The secret message decodes as: "Dear Santa, I am probably gone when you see this. I was captured, and taken back to the North Pole by raiders. They are trying to steal your elves, and your home. Get back, and save us. The bandits want to wreck the happiness for Christmas. Quick!"

So the question remains:

Was the sudoku just a red herring, or is there a tie I'm not seeing? I tried decoding the yellow squares using the BOBSLEIGH key, and also the word "Quick", which appears prominently at the end of the message, as both the key or the plaintext, but I'm not getting any further connection.

Box 1 resolves instantly:

R1C1 is the only place for G, R3C3 the only place for D, leaving R3C2 as B.

Box 9 resolves similarly:

R7C7 is the only place for G, R9C9 the only place for D, leaving R7C8 as Q.

Some additional cells are forced as naked singles in their boxes:

R1C7(J), R2C5(Q), R3C9(Z), R4C2(Y), R8C1(Y), R8C4(D), R8C5(G), R6C6(G), R4C3(G), R7C4(B), R7C6 (T), R9C6(J)

Progress

Some more easy stuff, but getting tougher to find:

R7C1 must be Z (naked single in row); R9C1 can only be Q, forcing R6C1 to be J and R9C3 to be B; R3C4 can only be T and R3C6 can only be Y; R5C6 is only place in C6 for Z, forcing R2C6 to be D and R1C4 to be A; R1C9 is now T

In C9, A is the only possibility for R2, and Q for R4; this completes box 3, with R2C7 B and R2C8 Y. In C7 this leaves R6 the only candidate for A, forcing R4C7 to be D; now in R4, C4 cannot be Z so it must be J, forcing R4C8 to be Z; in C8, R6 cannot be J, so R5 is J and R6 T; box 5 completes with R5C4 Q and R5C5 B, and then row 6 completes with R6C2 Z and R6C3 Q. The grid:

Progress

At this point:

There is not a unique solution to the Sudoku...except there is, because I realize I forgot one of the clues when I transposed it. The final grid:

Final Grid

Where do we go from here?

Five of the grid entries are highlighted, which suggests that these characters might form a key to the cipher text given. Vigenère seems the obvious choice for a cipher, and using the tools at DCODE suggest that the ciphertext might be a Vigenère cipher with a key length of 5.

But trying the obvious choices (top-to-bottom, left-to-right) as a key yields gibberish. So let's try something else: the introduction. It sure looks like it should be "Dear Somebody,", so let's look for four key letters that decode "Esbj" to "Dear", which gives "BOBS". Hmm...that seems relevant somehow. Let's try the key BOBSLEIGH...and it works!

The secret message decodes as: "Dear Santa, I am probably gone when you see this. I was captured, and taken back to the North Pole by raiders. They are trying to steal your elves, and your home. Get back, and save us. The bandits want to wreck the happiness for Christmas. Quick!"

So the question remains:

Was the sudoku just a red herring, or is there a tie I'm not seeing? I tried decoding the yellow squares using the BOBSLEIGH key, and also the word "Quick", which appears prominently at the end of the message, as both the key or the plaintext, but I'm not getting any further connection.

The link, literally: (h/t bobble)

The highlighted letters in the Sudoku form a tag to Stack Exchange's imgur site, which yields the literal link. The link provides the key as well.

Source Link
Jeremy Dover
  • 28.8k
  • 3
  • 69
  • 163

Box 1 resolves instantly:

R1C1 is the only place for G, R3C3 the only place for D, leaving R3C2 as B.

Box 9 resolves similarly:

R7C7 is the only place for G, R9C9 the only place for D, leaving R7C8 as Q.

Some additional cells are forced as naked singles in their boxes:

R1C7(J), R2C5(Q), R3C9(Z), R4C2(Y), R8C1(Y), R8C4(D), R8C5(G), R6C6(G), R4C3(G), R7C4(B), R7C6 (T), R9C6(J)

Progress

Some more easy stuff, but getting tougher to find:

R7C1 must be Z (naked single in row); R9C1 can only be Q, forcing R6C1 to be J and R9C3 to be B; R3C4 can only be T and R3C6 can only be Y; R5C6 is only place in C6 for Z, forcing R2C6 to be D and R1C4 to be A; R1C9 is now T

In C9, A is the only possibility for R2, and Q for R4; this completes box 3, with R2C7 B and R2C8 Y. In C7 this leaves R6 the only candidate for A, forcing R4C7 to be D; now in R4, C4 cannot be Z so it must be J, forcing R4C8 to be Z; in C8, R6 cannot be J, so R5 is J and R6 T; box 5 completes with R5C4 Q and R5C5 B, and then row 6 completes with R6C2 Z and R6C3 Q. The grid:

Progress

At this point:

There is not a unique solution to the Sudoku...except there is, because I realize I forgot one of the clues when I transposed it. The final grid:

Final Grid

Where do we go from here?

Five of the grid entries are highlighted, which suggests that these characters might form a key to the cipher text given. Vigenère seems the obvious choice for a cipher, and using the tools at DCODE suggest that the ciphertext might be a Vigenère cipher with a key length of 5.

But trying the obvious choices (top-to-bottom, left-to-right) as a key yields gibberish. So let's try something else: the introduction. It sure looks like it should be "Dear Somebody,", so let's look for four key letters that decode "Esbj" to "Dear", which gives "BOBS". Hmm...that seems relevant somehow. Let's try the key BOBSLEIGH...and it works!

The secret message decodes as: "Dear Santa, I am probably gone when you see this. I was captured, and taken back to the North Pole by raiders. They are trying to steal your elves, and your home. Get back, and save us. The bandits want to wreck the happiness for Christmas. Quick!"

So the question remains:

Was the sudoku just a red herring, or is there a tie I'm not seeing? I tried decoding the yellow squares using the BOBSLEIGH key, and also the word "Quick", which appears prominently at the end of the message, as both the key or the plaintext, but I'm not getting any further connection.