The Alan Turing Cryptography Competition

2024 edition. From the people behind the MathsBombe Competition.
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Chapter 3

"What is it now?" thought Mike as he got up to open the door, which sounded as though it was being hit repeatedly by a large hammer.

"FedEx delivery," grunted the tall figure in a motorcycle helmet. "Sign here please!"

Mike took the package into the house. After spending several minutes looking for scissors and a sharp knife to get into the overly secure package and feeling a little bit out of breath, he sat looking at a short list of typed words. "What is she up to now?", he said.

A list of 5 items.  Each item comprises three words, each separated by a full stop. insisting.taped.list ; vans.minivans.uniform ; ground.dangerously.awards ; stopwatch.juices.mills ; puppy.closes.facing

The image above contains a hidden question. Please enter your answer to the question below.

To deter guessing without thinking, we ask that you also solve the following simple arithmetic problem before checking your answer:

If x = 9, y = 8 and z = 2, what is x + y - z?  

This problem was first solved on Mon 29th January at 4:04:30pm
Alan Turing Cryptography Competition 2024 is organised by the The Department of Mathematics at The University of Manchester.
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