New Watchmaker posting

Curses! I don't have time for this! But that hasn't stopped me all game!

No idea what the cipher is, but I think I have determined that the letters do not need to be changed. The frequency of the letters is not unexpected, with the most common in the first section of the code being E, followed by T, I, O, A, L, and S. None of the other chunks show significant anomalies, either. I'm looking into possible ciphers now.

I'm not good at codes so I don't know if this means anything but the key has 7 numbers and each paragraph has 7 lines.

I'm going to guess that that is significant. It looks like each paragraph has been forced to occupy seven lines, so it seems to me that the seven numbers must have some relation to the seven lines.

I thought I had an ah ha, but not quite. There is a famous cipher attributed to Robert Patterson (who taught it to Thomas Jefferson). http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~room4me/america/code/jeffers4.htm
Pretty cool and would make sense for this one. But, it is not quite right. Though I keep thinking the basic idea is close to what we need.

Have you played around with this and shown that it doesn't work? It certainly seems like it has potential!

not sure that's it because if you take all the first numbers in the set, we have 2 5's and 2 4's. The Jefferson Cipher requires a single of each number....like 1-7.

There are a couple of problems. The text is clearly forced into 7 lines at a time. However, the code:
33 25 52 64 41 55 47 does not include all numbers 1-7 in either the first or the second digit. I tried it a couple of ways in case there was a typo in the code list, but I got nonsense each time. I still think this might be close, but I may be off base.

the second digit seems more likely (it could be reverse from the Jefferson/Patterson Cipher), but it also includes 5 twice and 6 not at all. My brain hurts now.

I also thought of the Patterson cipher but the key code has 2 numbers that start with 5.

OK guys... we are on to something!!! I put the first paragraph into excel and I deleted the number of characters from the beginning of each line to match the first digit in the code. I got words! I haven't yet figured out what is next.

I tried this out on the fourth paragraph of the first letter. I got the word "cryptic." So we're on to something. But nothing else after that makes sense. Must be two steps at least.

[Stuffs foot in mouth.] Never mind.

Subtraction must be a part of it...the relative lengths of the lines seems consistent (the first line is 1 character shorter than the 2nd, which is the same length as the 3rd, which is 4 characters shorter than the 4th, etc.)

the second numbers 3 5 2 4 1 5 7 are subtracted from the ends of the lines at least on the 1st paragraph. have run into typos hope it's not as bad as last time

Got it. scrapchris's method in #10 and Agathafan's in #14 are the way to go. There are typos, but two common and properly spelled first names jump out.

Yup. That's the key. A much simpler version of the Jefferson Cipher.

Should we concentrate on a specific section?

you should have it by 3rd paragraph of second letter I didn't bother doing the rest. I have way too many other things to do

Can you give me a hint as to: when counting in from the end with the second set of digits...do they stay in the order given or should they be reversed? is the first 'end of the sentence' word in the first paragraph misspelled, or am I doing it wrong....got all the beginning words done...but??? thanks.

they should be in order. also one paragraph runs into the next and so on.

I also found it helpful to change the font to courier new, font size to 20 and highlight the background. but then my eyes are bad.

Thanks all!

Thanks all!

Got it, thanks agathafan...I just needed to keep plugging along, the answer is clear as long as you keep going! (and don't bother with the third letter, hint, hint!)

Okay, I've deciphered the first two letters, but I'm having trouble identifying which names are the children. I thought I tried all combinations. Am I spelling one wrong?

Thanks for hints too! And I think it was so much easier with only 7 lines to read through at a time. Just hope there were no more clues or codes after we got the names...

smp - I'm having the same problem.

In one letter there is a reference to raising a child on her own. I can't remember the second as I stopped writing it out but they begin with the same letter and you have to put in order of appearance. Just names no and in between hope that helps

Whew. Got it. I had to redo one section. Hint: One of the names is very short and is easy to lose in the decryption. It's also at the very beginning of the section.

Thanks for the hints, everyone. We even beat the Watch to the punch this time!

Got it also, I thought I had tried the names without the 'and' but I hadn't. Geez! Thanks everyone for the help!

I have to say I'm pretty impressed with how the trees came together yesterday evening to solve this one! It really felt like a big group effort with different people figuring out different pieces of the puzzle. I've really enjoyed being on this team.

I have found five names, not one of which is "short", unless I missed something. I can't figure out which are the children.

I have found five names, not one of which is "short", unless I missed something. I can't figure out which are the children.

3rd paragraph of 1st letter,
3rd paragraph of 2nd letter

Got it. 15 points?? Really?