Solution to The Crypt

Andrew Thomas and Oliver Kosut

The five lines of text are five cryptograms, each with a different key. The plaintext for each is the same pangram, but in each case all occurrences of a different set of letters have been deleted. The cryptograms can be solved by using the overlap between the information in the five lines, reconstructing the pangram:
PELVIC NAME FOR A CITY QUICKLY RAZED BY THE GREEKS WITH AJAX
The first answer is therefore ILIUM (a name for Troy which is also one of the bones of the pelvis)

The second answer arises from considering the keys to the five cryptograms (as is suggested by the fact that the clue phrase is a pangram). Each key is a mapping from the alphabet to itself, and is very conspicuously missing some letters (in both directions, of course). Look up the alphabetized list of missing ciphertext letters "backwards" through the mapping—that is, treat it as if it was a plaintext word whose ciphertext you wished to know. Do the reverse process on the missing plaintext letters. In each case, the translation produces one or two words, and all the ciphertext ones form a clue phrase, and the plaintext ones from a different cluephrase. This operation is easiest to see by writing the forward and reverse keys side-by-side, then reading across (in the other key) where there are gaps in one key, as follows:

X
p		 N
e		 U
l		 K
i		 J
c
V
n		 H
a		 I
m		 N
e
S
f		 R
o
H
a
J
c		 K
i		 E
t		 O
y
T
q		 A
u		 K
i		 J
c		 C
k		 U
l		 O
y
H
a		 Y
z		 N
e
D
b		 O
y
E
t		 N
e
B
g		 N
e		 N
e		 C
k		 L
s
W
w		 K
i		 E
t
H
a		 H
a		 G
x
A
u		 B
g		 C
k		 D
b		 E
t		 F
*		 G
x		 H
a		 I
m		 J
c		 K
i		 L
s		 M
*		 N
e		 O
y		 P
*		 Q
*		 R
o		 S
f		 T
q		 U
l		 V
n		 W
w		 X
p		 Y
z		 Z
*
a
H		 b
D		 c
J		 d
*		 e
N		 f
S		 g
B		 h
*		 i
K		 j
*		 k
C		 l
U		 m
I		 n
V		 o
R		 p
X		 q
T		 r
*		 s
L		 t
E		 u
A		 v
*		 w
W		 x
G		 y
O		 z
Y
H
p		 Z
e		 V
v		 N
i		 O
c
E
a		 Z
e
M
r
E
a
O
c		 N
i		 F
t		 S
y
W
q		 T
u		 N
i		 O
c		 G
k		 S
y
M
r		 E
a		 Z
e		 J
d
I
b		 S
y
F
t		 L
h		 Z
e
Q
g		 M
r		 Z
e		 Z
e		 G
k		 X
s
C
w		 N
i		 F
t		 L
h
E
a		 R
j		 E
a		 D
x
A
*		 B
*		 C
w		 D
x		 E
a		 F
t		 G
k		 H
p		 I
b		 J
d		 K
*		 L
h		 M
r		 N
i		 O
c		 P
*		 Q
g		 R
j		 S
y		 T
u		 U
*		 V
v		 W
q		 X
s		 Y
*		 Z
e
a
E		 b
I		 c
O		 d
J		 e
Z		 f
*		 g
Q		 h
L		 i
N		 j
R		 k
G		 l
*		 m
*		 n
*		 o
*		 p
H		 q
W		 r
M		 s
X		 t
F		 u
T		 v
V		 w
C		 x
D		 y
S		 z
*
J
p		 V
e		 S
l		 G
i		 B
c
E
a		 H
m		 V
e
C
f		 T
o		 W
r
E
a
B
c		 G
i		 P
t		 M
y
F
q		 I
u		 G
i		 B
c		 R
k		 S
l		 M
y
W
r		 E
a		 V
e		 A
d
M
y
P
t		 N
h		 V
e
W
r		 V
e		 V
e		 R
k		 Z
s
G
i		 P
t		 N
h
E
a		 E
a		 L
x
A
d		 B
c		 C
f		 D
*		 E
a		 F
q		 G
i		 H
m		 I
u		 J
p		 K
*		 L
x		 M
y		 N
h		 O
*		 P
t		 Q
*		 R
k		 S
l		 T
o		 U
*		 V
e		 W
r		 X
*		 Y
*		 Z
s
a
E		 b
*		 c
B		 d
A		 e
V		 f
C		 g
*		 h
N		 i
G		 j
*		 k
R		 l
S		 m
H		 n
*		 o
T		 p
J		 q
F		 r
W		 s
Z		 t
P		 u
I		 v
*		 w
*		 x
L		 y
M		 z
*
A
p		 X
e		 I
i
D
n		 C
a		 R
m		 X
e
S
f		 K
o		 Z
r
C
a
I
i		 L
t		 N
y
T
q		 B
u		 I
i		 N
y
Z
r		 C
a		 X
e
E
b		 N
y
L
t		 V
h		 X
e
H
g		 Z
r		 X
e		 X
e		 P
s
Y
w		 I
i		 L
t		 V
h
C
a		 O
j		 C
a
A
p		 B
u		 C
a		 D
n		 E
b		 F
*		 G
*		 H
g		 I
i		 J
*		 K
o		 L
t		 M
*		 N
y		 O
j		 P
s		 Q
*		 R
m		 S
f		 T
q		 U
*		 V
h		 W
*		 X
e		 Y
w		 Z
r
a
C		 b
E		 c
*		 d
*		 e
X		 f
S		 g
H		 h
V		 i
I		 j
O		 k
*		 l
*		 m
R		 n
D		 o
K		 p
A		 q
T		 r
Z		 s
P		 t
L		 u
B		 v
*		 w
Y		 x
*		 y
N		 z
*
A
p		 G
e		 D
l		 E
v		 O
c
K
n		 W
a		 Y
m		 G
e
M
f		 T
o		 U
r
W
a
O
c		 I
y
O
c		 B
k		 D
l		 I
y
U
r		 W
a		 N
z		 G
e		 X
d
I
y
C
h		 G
e
U
r		 G
e		 G
e		 B
k		 R
s
Q
w		 C
h
W
a		 L
j		 W
a
A
p		 B
k		 C
h		 D
l		 E
v		 F
*		 G
e		 H
*		 I
y		 J
*		 K
n		 L
j		 M
f		 N
z		 O
c		 P
*		 Q
w		 R
s		 S
*		 T
o		 U
r		 V
*		 W
a		 X
d		 Y
m		 Z
*
a
W		 b
*		 c
O		 d
X		 e
G		 f
M		 g
*		 h
C		 i
*		 j
L		 k
B		 l
D		 m
Y		 n
K		 o
T		 p
A		 q
*		 r
U		 s
R		 t
*		 u
*		 v
E		 w
Q		 x
*		 y
I		 z
N

The clue phrases produced thereby are:
SIXTY EIGHTS ARTFILM SHORTBY MCLAREN
and
BACON THRICE CIPHERS ANOTHER KEYWORD
The first phrase is a clue for the second answer: PAS DE DEUX.

The second phrase provides instructions for finding the third answer. Specifically, there is another message hidden using Bacon's Cipher in the original ciphertext. This is easiest to see by looking at the HTML source, wherein the A/B distinction is also clearly laid out. Decoding the message produces
CACPNBADPOBADONBBDOOBACPOBBDOOCACONBBDOO
which of course doesn't look like English, because it's still ciphered two more times.

BACON ciphers the next step in a different way: it is a Vigenère cipher in which BACON is the keyword. This is perhaps fairly evident from the highly structured repeating nature of the ciphertext, which almost says BACON several times, because the plaintext itself is very simple:
baaba aabbb aabaa abbab aaabb abbab baaaa abbab
(Of course one can also see this as BACONBACONBACON... Caesar-shifted by 0 or 1 appropriately, which is the same thing.)
Either way, the last piece of data can be interpreted using Bacon's Cipher again to give the final answer: THEODORO