Zodiac and crosswords

[albion]

Have been wodnering lately about the Zodiac codes. The chosen 17 symbol wide codes seem important. I remember reading about the Colorado Prof who said that Z did know something about codes. Maybe he wasnt much of a bomb maker, but codes he seemed well acquainted. I am wondering if anyone who reads this might have some pics of the crosswords in the Chronicle or the Examiner from the time. Or even from the days that the letters were sent.

I remember reading about a "key". I wonder how clever it would have been to use a certain days crossword as the key for the solving the later codes. If one were to take the corresponding CW puzzle and then apply it alpha-numerically to the code, and take out or ignore the blacked out CW boxes, could that solve the code.

Here is a bit about the crosswords, their use in finding people smart enough to help break the Enigma machine of WWII, and then the use of odd numbers for the structure of the puzzle.

archive.org/details/from_crosswords-nsa/page/n16?q=crosswords

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[albion]

Crossword?

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[almagata]

Dec 7, 2019 2:25:24 GMT albion said:

Have been wodnering lately about the Zodiac codes. The chosen 17 symbol wide codes seem important. I remember reading about the Colorado Prof who said that Z did know something about codes. Maybe he wasnt much of a bomb maker, but codes he seemed well acquainted. I am wondering if anyone who reads this might have some pics of the crosswords in the Chronicle or the Examiner from the time. Or even from the days that the letters were sent.

I remember reading about a "key". I wonder how clever it would have been to use a certain days crossword as the key for the solving the later codes. If one were to take the corresponding CW puzzle and then apply it alpha-numerically to the code, and take out or ignore the blacked out CW boxes, could that solve the code.

Here is a bit about the crosswords, their use in finding people smart enough to help break the Enigma machine of WWII, and then the use of odd numbers for the structure of the puzzle.

archive.org/details/from_crosswords-nsa/page/n16?q=crosswords

I read about Donald Harden and his wife Bettye breaking the first code.  Donald Harden was a North Salinas High School teacher and he had a code club at the high school.  I have always wondered if Zodiac was one of Harden's past students. I know that Salinas schools also had a good science program with a rocket club. 

I have yet to track down an old Chronicle or Examiner to see what the crossword format was.  I've been pondering which date would have held the key.  I'll have to look and see which day they were received at the newspaper offices.  Obviously, the key would have to have been a day prior to the day they were mailed. 

[almagata]

I've tried a couple times to find the 1969/1970 San Francisco Chronicle. They don't seem to be on-line and they don't have them at the Sacramento County Library so the search goes on. Newsbank has electronic copies of many dates but there is a hole for the 1950-1969 dates.

[almagata]

Hi Albion,

I hope all is well with you and your family in the New Year.  I do go and look at your baby goat video periodically.  It makes me smile every time I watch it.  Thank you again for sharing it. 

I went to the California State Library yesterday.  They had the Chronicle and Examiner on microfilm for the dates that were not on-line. 

The Chronicle was 15 X 15 squares and the Examiner was 13 X 13 squares. 

I pulled copies of the Halloween and All Saints Day for both papers in 1969 thinking if there was a tie to the papers, based on the date the code was received, these two dates would have some significance.

I attached the 10/31 images.

I have never spent any time looking at these Zodiac codes but it does look like Zodiac did sign this 340 code on the last line.

Also,  I don't know if you have seen the 12-26-75 post about overlaying the GSK crime map with the Zodiac Mt. Diablo map and using a couple of methods to align the crimes.  12-26-75 has been attempting to make the case the Deangelo is Zodiac.  I suppose it possible that he is.  I can see where Deangelo would have thought Mt. Diablo would be a fun clue to his identity but I  believe there was a loosely organized group of serial killers that had some central ideology and geography based in California after reading about so many of these killers over the years.  Very few people ever imagine original ideas so it is more likely that the common belief system was being shared.

Take care

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[albion]

Thank you for finding this.

This coincidence has always stuck in my mind. The two yellow boxes have 80 characters. The orange has 40 characters. The opposite corners of all have the same characters. This could have been a way of hiding a smaller code inside a bunch of filler.

If you notice in the code that he said he would sign his name to it, the the use of the code changes during that part, as if someone changed the pattern. I cant see why he would have changed the pattern, even if he changed his mind. Instead it seems as if LE would have changed the code. Or someone at the paper. Considering the era that this was going on, considering that many of these newspaper employees either had military experience or were part of the news service during Vietnam, and considering that the military and the CIA were placing their own people into the those positions, I think that someone at the paper could crack the code just as fast the teachers who were credited with solving it. Having a newspaper publishing a crossword that could be used as a code breaker would not necessarily bring attention to it. I remember back then my family had newspapers strewn around the house. Often opened to the crossword page. And usually only half done.

The simplest way I would think is to consider the alphabet as a 26 base number system and just add or subtract the code to the corresponding letter in the crossword. The Zodiac code would be more difficult since it contains the varied symbols, but knowing the code symbols prior could help. Is it possible that the first code was just a simple message to show the basic Zodiac alphabet?

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zodiac 340 HMO.bmp (595.66 KB)