15
$\begingroup$

My good friend, Ed Yamaguchi, has been developing an interesting new technology that could help put a serious dent in the energy crisis.

We had arranged to meet a few hours from now; he was flying in from Amsterdam, where he lives, to discuss my potential investment in his technology.

I just received a very odd email from him. He should be in the air right now, so either he sent it from on-board the plane, or he never got on the plane for some reason.

Ed is a stickler for proper grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, so the haphazard nature of this email makes me think that either he didn't write it, or he had some very good reason for the odd formatting.

The subject matter also seems odd, seeing as we were already planning to meet.

I'm a little worried that something is wrong, and Ed is trying to send me a secret message. Can you help?

To: GentlePurpleRain
From: Ed Yamaguchi
Subject: (empty)

My dearly regarded Friend,

i trust I Am finding you ok. I have Been just Fine but i'm Starting up A New Adventure in Seven Days, And I could use a bit of aid. Will you be Available soon To discuss The opportunity I Presented the Last time we conversed?

I Know you are probably Tired Of folks Always asking you For aid, but This really is an Awesome Opportunity, so please, i Implore you, think About it very Carefully.

I am confident That everyone Who hears about What's About to be Will be Delighted. I Eagerly anticipate my Opportunity To make You a part of these Exciting adventures!

I may have Minor Problems with Attaining my goals If you do Elect Not to participate with Me. anyway, do please Respond as soon as You are able to. Even if it's Not A go, do Let me know promptly.

Sincerely yours,
your pal Forever,
ed "The Ax" yamaguchi

Hint

I started wondering about the proper capitalization of "OK" and whether Ed would have usually capitalized it, but I figured that it didn't really matter. Probably what was more important was how he actually wrote it in this letter, rather than how he might have written it otherwise.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
14
  • $\begingroup$ oh shoot, I had collected the capitals/lowercases-in-the-wrong-place last week when I was looking at this and now I can't find it. $\endgroup$
    – question_asker
    Commented Apr 25, 2016 at 15:01
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Here's an attempt at the incorrect capitalizations: FiABFiSANASDAATTPLKTOAFTAOiIACTWWAWDEOTYEMPAIENMTARYNALFERY $\endgroup$
    – Dan Russell
    Commented Apr 25, 2016 at 15:22
  • $\begingroup$ @stackErr, it's actually a capital i, coming from "Implore." $\endgroup$
    – Dan Russell
    Commented Apr 25, 2016 at 15:30
  • $\begingroup$ @stackErr I still see PAI from "Problems with Attaining my goals If ..." $\endgroup$
    – Dan Russell
    Commented Apr 25, 2016 at 15:32
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ It's not universally agreed what the proper captialization of "OK" is, which is why I was wondering. $\endgroup$
    – 2012rcampion
    Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 4:07

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
17
+100
$\begingroup$

I have the message:

PLANE HIJACKED CRIMINALS ARE GOING TO KILL ME IF I ASK FOR HELP GET POLICE QUICK

The key to finding the message is that:

The number of lowercase letters in between each capital letter corresponds to a letter of the alphabet where A = 0 and Z = 25. There are 15 lowercase letters in My dearly regarded so that's a P.

All the counts together forms the series:
15,11,0,13,4,7,8,9,0,2,10,4,3,2,17,8,12,8,13,0,11,18,0,17,4,6,14,8,13,6,19,14,10,8,11,11,12,4,8,5,8,0,18,10,5,14,17,7,4,11,15,6,4,19,15,14,11,8,2,4,16,20,8,2,10

That corresponds to the letters:
PLANEHIJACKEDCRIMINALSAREGOINGTOKILLMEIFIASKFORHELPGETPOLICEQUICK

Adding spaces gives me the message above.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
0

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.