| CSX | — | CSX | 16 | = | 4 × 4 |
| SX | — | SX | 16 | = | 4 × 4 |
| SX | — | SX | 8 | = | 2 × 4 |
| WC | — | WC | 16 | = | 4 × 4 |
The key word might contain 2, 4 or 8 letters from the evidence but we may eliminate 2 as unlikely and preparation of frequency tables of each of the four alphabets would soon show that 4 is the correct number.
A later and more extensive example (Case [7-a]) will show pairs not separated by multiples of the number of alphabets used, but the evidence in nearly every case will be practically conclusive. Especially is this so if chance assists us by giving groups of three or more letters like the group CSX in the above example. The number of alphabets having been determined each alphabet is handled by the methods of Case [6] already discussed.
Case 7-a.—The following message appeared in the “personal” column of a London paper:
“M. B. Will deposit £27 14s 5d tomorrow,”
and the next day we find this one:
M.B. CT OSB UHGI TP IPEWF H CEWIL NSTTLE FJNVX XTYLS FWKKHI BJLSI SQ VOI BKSM XMKUL SK NVPONPN GSW OL. IEAG NPSI HYJISFZ CYY NPUXQG TPRJA VXMXI AP EHVPPR TH WPPNEL. UVZUA MMYVSF KNTS ZSZ UAJPQ DLMMJXL JR RA PORTELOGJ CSULTWNI XMKUHW XGLN ELCPOWY OL. ULJTL BVJ TLBWTPZ XLD K ZISZNK OSY DL RYJUAJSSGK. TLFNS UVD VV FQGCYL FJHVSI YJL NEXV PO WTOL PYYYHSH GQBOH AGZTIQ EYFAX YPMP SQA CI XEYVXNPPAII UV TLFTWMC FU WBWXGUHIWU. AIIWG HSI YJVTI BJV XMQN SFX DQB LRTY TZ QTXLNISVZ. GIFT AII UQSJGJ OHZ XFOWFV BKAI CTWY DSWTLTTTPKFRHG IVX QCAFV TP DIIS JBF ESF JSC MCCF HNGK ESBP DJPQ NLU CTW ROSB CSM.
The messages in question appeared in an English newspaper. It is fair to presume then that the cipher is in English. This is checked negatively by the fact that it contains the letter W which is not used in any of the Latin languages and that the last fifteen words of the message consist of from two to four letters each, an impossible thing in German. It contains 108 groups which are probably words, as there are 473 letters or an average of 4.4 letters per group, while we normally expect an average of about 5 letters per group. The vowels AEIOU number 90 and the letters JKQXZ number 78. It is thus a substitution cipher (20% of 473=94.6).
Recurring words and similar groups are AIIWG, AII; BKSM, BKAI; CT, CTWY, CTW; DLMMJXL, DL; ESF, ESBP; FJNVX, FJHVSI; NPSI, NPUXQG; OSB, OSY, ROSB; OL, OL; PORTELOGJ, PO; SQ, SQA; TP, TP; TLBWTPZ, TLFNS, TLFTWMC; UVZUA, UVD, UV; XMKUL, XMKUHW; YJL, YJVTI.