Contents

Overview

Menus

File Menu

Options Menu

Help Menu

How to Play Crypto Sleuth

Opening a Crypto Sleuth File

Selecting a Cryptogram

Solving a Cryptogram

Cheating

Secret Word


Overview

The object of Crypto Sleuth is to solve cryptograms.  A cryptogram is a quote or phrase where each letter of the alphabet has been replaced by a different substitute letter.  It is up to you to decrypt the quote by determining which letter has been substituted for each letter of the alphabet used in the cryptogram.


Menus

File Menu

Open (Ctrl-O) -- Lets you open a Crypto Sleuth data file.

Select Quiz (Ctrl-S) -- Lets you select a cryptogram to try to solve if a data file has been opened.

Exit -- Exits Crypto Sleuth.

Options Menu

Cheat (Ctrl-C) -- Places the correct letter at the current cursor position.

Show Correct -- Clears all incorrect letters in the current cryptogram.

Help Menu

Contents -- Brings up Crypto Sleuth Help contents.

Using Help -- Brings up some helpful hints for using this Help.

About Crypto Sleuth -- Brings up the About box for Crypto Sleuth.

About Data File -- Brings up an About box for the currently loaded data file.


How to Play Crypto Sleuth

Opening a Crypto Sleuth File

To open a Crypto Sleuth data file, select "Open" from the File Menu (this happens automatically when you first start the Crypto Sleuth program).  This brings up a standard file dialog where you may select a data file to open.  Each Crypto Sleuth data file contains a number of cryptograms, so after a file has been opened you must select a cryptogram to try to solve.

Selecting a Cryptogram

If a data file has been opened, you may select "Select Quiz" from the File Menu (this happens automatically when you first open a file).  This brings up a selection dialog which lists the cryptograms in the data file you have opened.  Double-click on a cryptogram or highlight a cryptogram and select the OK button and that cryptogram will be loaded.  Cryptograms that have already been solved will have asterisks (*) in front of their titles.  You may clear these "solved" marks any time you are in this selection dialog by selecting the "Clear" button at the bottom of the dialog box.

Solving a Cryptogram

After you have selected a cryptogram, you will see a set of double lines for each line of the cryptogram.  The top line shows the encrypted quote.  The bottom line (a line of blanks matching the top line) is where you put the letters you think should be substituted to solve the cryptogram.

Use the arrow keys and the TAB key to move around in the cryptogram.  The arrow keys work like you would expect them to.  The TAB key moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word.  Shift-TAB moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word.  Control-right arrow and control-left arrow work the same as TAB and shift-TAB respectively.

When the cursor is where you want it, type a letter key or click on a letter in the list of unused letters at the bottom of the window.  All occurrences of the encrypted letter you are replacing will be replaced with the letter you chose.

Keep trying letters until you have solved the cryptogram by producing a "decrypted" text that matches the original quote, whose author is shown beneath it.  The program will tell you when you have solved the cryptogram.

Cheating

You can "cheat" by selecting "Cheat" from the Options Menu to reveal the correct letter at the current cursor position.  Also, you can select "Show Correct" from the Options menu to clear all letters you have entered which are not correct.

Secret Word

In some Crypto Sleuth data files there is a secret word that will be revealed when all the cryptograms in that file have been solved.  What do you do with a secret word?  That's a secret.