kryptos

K0

Detailed images of the Morse code can be found here.

Decoded:

E E VIRTUALLY E | E E E E E E INVISIBLE
DIGETAL E E E | INTERPRETATIT
E E SHADOW E E | FORCES E E E E E
LUCID E E E | MEMORY E
T IS YOUR | POSITION E
SOS
RQ

Notes:

• DIGETAL is a deliberate misspelling
• Unsure what to make of INTERPRETATIT
• Unsure what to make of RQ, but QRQ is a Q-code that means Shall I send faster?

K1

EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
YQTQUXQBQVYUVLLTREVJYQTMKYRDMFD

Decryption requires a keyword, which is PALIMPSEST in K1. Take the rows from the tableau that begin with the letters of the keyword and stack them beneath the Kryptos alphabet to form a new table.

Repeat the keyword along the cipher to get the letter pairs. The first cipher character is E and it corresponds to the keyword character P. Find E in the P row in the table. The resulting plaintext character B is where it aligns with in the top row.

EMUFPHZLRFAXYUSDJKZLDKRNSHGNFIVJ
PALIMPSESTPALIMPSESTPALIMPSESTPA
BETWEENSUBTLESHADINGANDTHEABSENC

KRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZ
PTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRY
ABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOS
LMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJ
IJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGH
MNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJL
SABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTO
EFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCD
TOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYP

BETWEENSUBTLESHADINGANDTHEABSENC
EOFLIGHTLIESTHENUANCEOFIQLUSION

BETWEEN SUBTLE SHADING AND THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT LIES THE NUANCE OF IQLUSION

Notes:

• A palimpsest is a manuscript page that has been reused for another document after erasing the original text
• IQLUSION is a deliberate misspelling

K2

VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
GGWHKK?DQMCPFQZDQMMIAGPFXHQRLG
TIMVMZJANQLVKQEDAGDVFRPJUNGEUNA
QZGZLECGYUXUEENJTBJLBQCRTBJDFHRR
YIZETKZEMVDUFKSJHKFWHKUWQLSZFTI
HHDDDUVH?DWKBFUFPWNTDFIYCUQZERE
EVLDKFEZMOQQJLTTUGSYQPFEUNLAVIDX
FLGGTEZ?FKZBSFDQVGOGIPUFXHHDRKF
FHQNTGPUAECNUVPDJMQCLQUMUNEDFQ
ELZZVRRGKFFVOEEXBDMVPNFQXEZLGRE
DNQFMPNZGLFLPMRJQYALMGNUVPDXVKP
DQUMEBEDMHDAFMJGZNUPLGEWJLLAETG

The decryption process is the same as K1's, but this time with the keyword ABSCISSA.

VFPJUDEEHZWETZYVGWHKKQETGFQJNCE
ABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISSAABSCISS
ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPO

KRYPTOSABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZ
ABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOS
BCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSA
SABCDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTO
CDEFGHIJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSAB
IJLMNQUVWXZKRYPTOSABCDEFGH

ITWASTOTALLYINVISIBLEHOWSTHATPO
SSIBLE?THEYUSEDTHEEARTHSMAGNET
ICFIELDXTHEINFORMATIONWASGATHER
EDANDTRANSMITTEDUNDERGRUUNDTOANU
NKNOWNLOCATIONXDOESLANGLEYKNOWA
BOUTTHIS?THEYSHOULDITSBURIEDOUT
THERESOMEWHEREXWHOKNOWSTHEEXACTL
OCATION?ONLYWWTHISWASHISLASTMES
SAGEXTHIRTYEIGHTDEGREESFIFTYSE
VENMINUTESSIXPOINTFIVESECONDSNO
RTHSEVENTYSEVENDEGREESEIGHTMINU
TESFORTYFOURSECONDSWESTXLAYERTWO

IT WAS TOTALLY INVISIBLE HOWS THAT POSSIBLE ?
THEY USED THE EARTHS MAGNETIC FIELD X
THE INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AND TRANSMITTED UNDERGRUUND TO AN UNKNOWN LOCATION X
DOES LANGLEY KNOW ABOUT THIS ?
THEY SHOULD ITS BURIED OUT THERE SOMEWHERE X
WHO KNOWS THE EXACT LOCATION ?
ONLY WW THIS WAS HIS LAST MESSAGE X
THIRTY EIGHT DEGREES FIFTY SEVEN MINUTES SIX POINT FIVE SECONDS NORTH SEVENTY SEVEN DEGREES EIGHT MINUTES FORTY FOUR SECONDS WEST X
LAYER TWO

Notes:

• The abscissa is the x-coordinate in a Cartesian plane
• UNDERGRUUND is a deliberate misspelling
• LANGLEY is a metonym of the CIA
• WW could be referring to William Webster, DCI (1987–1991)
• The coordinates 38°57′6.5″N 77°8′44″W point to a spot 53 meters southeast of Kryptos

K3

K3's decryption process is different as it uses a transposition cipher. This means the plaintext characters are already written but in a scrambled fashion.

ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
EIFTBRSPAMHHEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW?

I’m actually not quite clear on what was the intended way by Sanborn to solve this. I’ve seen people rearranging the text into grids and applying rotations. TODO.

But anyway, this is what it decodes to:

SLOWLYDESPARATLYSLOWLYTHEREMAINS
OFPASSAGEDEBRISTHATENCUMBEREDT
HELOWERPARTOFTHEDOORWAYWASREMOV
EDWITHTREMBLINGHANDSIMADEATINY
BREACHINTHEUPPERLEFTHANDCORNERAN
DTHENWIDENINGTHEHOLEALITTLEIIN
SERTEDTHECANDLEANDPEEREDINTHEHOT
AIRESCAPINGFROMTHECHAMBERCAUSED
THEFLAMETOFLICKERBUTPRESENTLYDETA
ILSOFTHEROOMWITHINEMERGEDFROM
THEMISTXCANYOUSEEANYTHINGQ?

SLOWLY DESPARATLY SLOWLY THE REMAINS OF PASSAGE DEBRIS THAT ENCUMBERED THE LOWER PART OF THE DOORWAY WAS REMOVED
WITH TREMBLING HANDS I MADE A TINY BREACH IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER AND THEN WIDENING THE HOLE A LITTLE I INSERTED THE CANDLE AND PEERED IN
THE HOT AIR ESCAPING FROM THE CHAMBER CAUSED THE FLAME TO FLICKER BUT PRESENTLY DETAILS OF THE ROOM WITHIN EMERGED FROM THE MIST X
CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING Q ?

Notes:

• K3 paraphrases Howard Carter’s account of the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun in which Lord Carnarvon asked Carter if he could see anything

K4

The fourth passage remains unsolved.

---------------------------OBKR
UOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWFLRVQQPRNGKSSO
TWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBNYP
VTTMZFPKWGDKZXTJCDIGKUHUAUEKCAR

Sanborn provided the following information:

• K1–K3 contain clues to K4 (2006)
• NYPVTT (64–69) decrypts to BERLIN (2010)
• MZFPK (70–74) decrypts to CLOCK (2014)
• QQPRNGKSS (26–34) decrypts to NORTHEAST (2020)
• FLRV (22–25) decrypts to EAST (2020)

---------------------------OBKR
UOXOGHULBSOLIFBBWEASTNORTHEASTO
TWTQSJQSSEKZZWATJKLUDIAWINFBBER
LINCLOCKWGDKZXTJCDIGKUHUAUEKCAR

k5

The solution to K4 supposedly unlocks a fifth passage.

personal musings

Obviously, with the presence of these notes, I’ve taken an interest in trying to crack K4 in my spare time. Here are some thoughts I have:

Kryptos is split into four quadrants:

• K1 and K2 in the upper left
• K3 and K4 in the lower left
• tableau in upper right
• continued tableau in the lower right (note the dangling L)

K2 refers to something being buried underground. I’m thinking the lower quadrants (or at least the lower left) represents the underground.

K3 is a reference to the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun and contains the following phrases I find interesting:

The remains of passage debris that encumbered the lower part of the doorway was removed. The quadrant is somewhat like a doorway, and the remains of passage debris could be referring to K3's jumbled transposition(?)

With trembling hands, I made a tiny breach in the upper left hand corner and then widening the hole a little, I inserted the candle and peered in. To me this sounds like a clue for K4. K1 and K2 both required keywords for decryption, whereas K3 involved moving text around. Perhaps K4 is meant to be used to "breach" something in the upper left quadrant.

It’s also possible Sanborn made a mistake somewhere that renders K4 impossible to solve lol.

resources

• Elonka Dunin’s Kryptos Page
• A Fresh Perspective on Kryptos K4, the Decades-Old Unsolved Code by Guillaume Lethuillier (2024)