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

December 3, 2006 11:52 AM

If you work at Langley and you need a break from actual intelligence gathering, you can always try to crack the code to the sculpture right outside the cafeteria window. Kryptos is a sculpture by James Sanborn located on the CIA grounds which contains a four-part coded message: sections 1-3 have been solved (with Sanborn admitting he made a typo in section 2). Perhaps you'd like to join Elonka (and the hive mind) in having a go at section 4.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (14 comments total)

Wikipedia | The Da Vinci Code connection
A survey of the location specified in section 2 | More sites about Kryptos
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:53 AM on December 3, 2006

Inspired, oddly enough, by some Wiki-wandering prompted by this post.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:53 AM on December 3, 2006

Great post! If I had time, I would definitely chip in my programming time.
posted by spiderskull at 11:56 AM on December 3, 2006

Very good post
posted by MichaelWhyley at 12:23 PM on December 3, 2006

Umm, as a taxpayer I see this along the same lines as putting Metafilter on the login homepage. Get back to work, guys!
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:26 PM on December 3, 2006

I'm not going anywhere near this. In the past I spent countless hours attempting to solve Kit Williams' Masquerade. Trying to crack Kryptos' code would likely suck me into a vortex of obsession.
posted by ericb at 12:47 PM on December 3, 2006

Making "typos" in a coded message is a really good way to prevent people from cracking it.
posted by delmoi at 12:54 PM on December 3, 2006

and a google maps link to the mentioned coordinates for the conspiracy nuts.
posted by wumpus at 12:55 PM on December 3, 2006

B SHOOR 2 TRINK UR OVALTEEN ?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:00 PM on December 3, 2006

ericb, the solution to Masquerade is to take LSD and enjoy the art.
posted by lekvar at 1:21 PM on December 3, 2006

Making "typos" in a coded message is a really good way to prevent people from cracking it.

I'm sure there's enough plame to go around.
posted by hal9k at 1:49 PM on December 3, 2006

Got it after about 45 minutes, it was really quite easy once you figure out that its geospatial placement is crucial.
posted by Falconetti at 1:55 PM on December 3, 2006

Since when is the CIA involved in anything cryptologic?!
posted by phrontist at 2:03 PM on December 3, 2006

Holy crap there's one of these in Stamford, CT too. I wonder if there are any more and whether they're connected somehow.
posted by nomad at 6:00 PM on December 3, 2006