Cryptanalysis

Originally posted by SJ247
I cannot quickly get this one, need more hours to work on than I have available I'm afraid, unless of course I were to trade off my chess playing time. Anyone close?

I've managed to crack it, but it did take an hour or so even with a computer doing the donkey work. I'm pretty sure RC has solved it too because he complained about the key not being a word. See Xanthos' post above.

Originally posted by howardbradley
I've managed to crack it, but it did take an hour or so even with a computer doing the donkey work. I'm pretty sure RC has solved it too because he complained about the key not being a word. See Xanthos' post above.

I did not translate it in full, but I did work out the key and some of the plaintext. I'd like to petition Xanthos for interesting plaintext next time, so there's some reward in it!

Key:
Akili Smith

Plaintext:
He is making the most dramatic move up the draft charts among the QBs despite of his lack of experience. He is a former junior college transfer that really only came into his own as a senior and has shown dramatic improvement in 1998. He has great physical skills including size, speed & AA and he also has a baseball background, having signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates out of high school. He has a strong arm, a nice quick release and great passing skills, but he is still somewhat inconsistent. He needs to improve on his overall judgement and decision making, but it is probably more of a case of lack of experience. As he continues to learn to read defenses he will dramatically improve as a player. He may have the highest upside of this group, but is probably the most "raw" of the elite quarterbacks entering in the draft. If the NFL team that drafts him is patient, they will be rewarded in time with an excellent player.

I'm currently putting together my Engima stuff, it takes some time as there is a variety of things working together in the full Enigma cipher.