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First off, if you're not familiar with the Kryptos Sculpture, it's an encrypted sculpture on the CIA grounds in Langley, VA. And it's still unsolved. There are 4 passages on it, and only 3 of them have been solved thus far.
If you've never heard of it, check it out, it's pretty interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos
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Anyway, I was reading up on it and saw where the artist, Jim Sanborn, gave some clues about how to solve Passage 4.
Clues given for Solution of passage 4
Method(s) : Unknown
When commenting in 2006 about his error in passage 2, Sanborn said that the answers to the first three passages contain clues to the fourth passage. In November 2010, Sanborn released a clue, publicly stating that "NYPVTT", the 64th–69th letters in passage four, become "BERLIN" after decryption.
Sanborn gave The New York Times another clue in November 2014: the letters "MZFPK", the 70th–74th letters in passage four, become "CLOCK" after decryption. The 74th letter is K in both the plaintext and ciphertext, meaning that it is possible for a character to encrypt to itself. This means it does not have a weakness, where a character could never be encrypted as itself, that was known to be inherent in the German Enigma machine.
Sanborn further stated that in order to solve passage 4, "You'd better delve into that particular clock," but added, "There are several really interesting clocks in Berlin." The particular clock in question is presumably the Berlin Clock, although the Alexanderplatz World Clock is another candidate.
Neil Hurrell recently theorized that Sanborn is hinting that we are focused on the wrong clock, and that The Clock of Flowing Time (also in Berlin) would be the most probable, as it is a water clock - so would be in-keeping with the Egyptian theme from the previous section.
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So those statements lead to me looking up those 3 clocks.
1. The Berlin Clock (The Mengenlehreuhr) -
The Mengenlehreuhr consists of 24 lights which are divided into one circular blinking yellow light on top to denote the seconds, two top rows denoting the hours and two bottom rows denoting the minutes.
The clock is read from the top row to the bottom. The top row of four red fields denote five full hours each, alongside the second row, also of four red fields, which denote one full hour each, displaying the hour value in 24-hour format. The third row consists of eleven yellow-and-red fields, which denote five full minutes each (the red ones also denoting 15, 30 and 45 minutes past), and the bottom row has another four yellow fields, which mark one full minute each. The round yellow light on top blinks to denote even- (when lit) or odd-numbered (when unlit) seconds.
Kryptos
This clock may be the key to the unsolved section of Kryptos, a sculpture at the CIA headquarters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengenlehreuhr
2. Alexanderplatz World Clock (Urania World Clock ) -
It's a large turret-style world clock located in the public square of Alexanderplatz in Mitte, Berlin. By reading the markings on its metal rotunda, the current time in 148 major cities from around the world can be determined.
The main feature of the World Clock is a large twenty-four sided column (the cross section of which is a regular icositetragon). Each side of the column represents one of the 24 main time zones of the Earth, and has the names of major cities which use that time zone engraved into it. A windrose is painted onto the pavement below the column which holds up the clock. Four smaller analog clocks are located on the sides of the narrow column which holds up the rotunda, and the entire clock is more than large enough for people to stand under it and read the smaller clocks.
The clock is mechanical, and in normal operation is constantly in motion, although the motion is too slow to be seen by a human observer – it is only apparent in timelapse recordings. Numbers – in a line from 1-14 – revolve around the outside of the clock throughout the day. To read the clock, a user finds the side of the icositetragon which corresponds to the city or time zone they are interested in and notes the number under it. The number corresponds to the current hour in that city. If the number is not directly under the side, but is instead off-set by some fraction, that can be used as a way to estimate the number of minutes past the hour it is in that city. This is made easier because each number is in a different colored rectangle, the length of which corresponds to one side of the icositetragon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Clock_(Alexanderplatz)
3. The Clock of Flowing Time -
So far I haven't found much about this clock. There's no wiki page and I can't find a description of how it works. There are a few videos of it on YT and some pics of it. But I don't know much about this except that it tracks time by filling various glass spheres with liquid.
And like the other 2 clocks, it's really odd. And like the others it's also in Berlin.
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So here's what I've learned tonight: Berlin has a lot of REALLY strange and interesting clocks. And one of them holds the key to finally solving Kryptos...something no one has been able to do for 29 years.
Anyway, I find all this pretty interesting so I thought I'd share.
If you've never heard of it, check it out, it's pretty interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway, I was reading up on it and saw where the artist, Jim Sanborn, gave some clues about how to solve Passage 4.
Clues given for Solution of passage 4
Method(s) : Unknown
When commenting in 2006 about his error in passage 2, Sanborn said that the answers to the first three passages contain clues to the fourth passage. In November 2010, Sanborn released a clue, publicly stating that "NYPVTT", the 64th–69th letters in passage four, become "BERLIN" after decryption.
Sanborn gave The New York Times another clue in November 2014: the letters "MZFPK", the 70th–74th letters in passage four, become "CLOCK" after decryption. The 74th letter is K in both the plaintext and ciphertext, meaning that it is possible for a character to encrypt to itself. This means it does not have a weakness, where a character could never be encrypted as itself, that was known to be inherent in the German Enigma machine.
Sanborn further stated that in order to solve passage 4, "You'd better delve into that particular clock," but added, "There are several really interesting clocks in Berlin." The particular clock in question is presumably the Berlin Clock, although the Alexanderplatz World Clock is another candidate.
Neil Hurrell recently theorized that Sanborn is hinting that we are focused on the wrong clock, and that The Clock of Flowing Time (also in Berlin) would be the most probable, as it is a water clock - so would be in-keeping with the Egyptian theme from the previous section.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So those statements lead to me looking up those 3 clocks.
1. The Berlin Clock (The Mengenlehreuhr) -
The Mengenlehreuhr consists of 24 lights which are divided into one circular blinking yellow light on top to denote the seconds, two top rows denoting the hours and two bottom rows denoting the minutes.
The clock is read from the top row to the bottom. The top row of four red fields denote five full hours each, alongside the second row, also of four red fields, which denote one full hour each, displaying the hour value in 24-hour format. The third row consists of eleven yellow-and-red fields, which denote five full minutes each (the red ones also denoting 15, 30 and 45 minutes past), and the bottom row has another four yellow fields, which mark one full minute each. The round yellow light on top blinks to denote even- (when lit) or odd-numbered (when unlit) seconds.
Kryptos
This clock may be the key to the unsolved section of Kryptos, a sculpture at the CIA headquarters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengenlehreuhr
2. Alexanderplatz World Clock (Urania World Clock ) -
It's a large turret-style world clock located in the public square of Alexanderplatz in Mitte, Berlin. By reading the markings on its metal rotunda, the current time in 148 major cities from around the world can be determined.
The main feature of the World Clock is a large twenty-four sided column (the cross section of which is a regular icositetragon). Each side of the column represents one of the 24 main time zones of the Earth, and has the names of major cities which use that time zone engraved into it. A windrose is painted onto the pavement below the column which holds up the clock. Four smaller analog clocks are located on the sides of the narrow column which holds up the rotunda, and the entire clock is more than large enough for people to stand under it and read the smaller clocks.
The clock is mechanical, and in normal operation is constantly in motion, although the motion is too slow to be seen by a human observer – it is only apparent in timelapse recordings. Numbers – in a line from 1-14 – revolve around the outside of the clock throughout the day. To read the clock, a user finds the side of the icositetragon which corresponds to the city or time zone they are interested in and notes the number under it. The number corresponds to the current hour in that city. If the number is not directly under the side, but is instead off-set by some fraction, that can be used as a way to estimate the number of minutes past the hour it is in that city. This is made easier because each number is in a different colored rectangle, the length of which corresponds to one side of the icositetragon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Clock_(Alexanderplatz)
3. The Clock of Flowing Time -
So far I haven't found much about this clock. There's no wiki page and I can't find a description of how it works. There are a few videos of it on YT and some pics of it. But I don't know much about this except that it tracks time by filling various glass spheres with liquid.
And like the other 2 clocks, it's really odd. And like the others it's also in Berlin.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So here's what I've learned tonight: Berlin has a lot of REALLY strange and interesting clocks. And one of them holds the key to finally solving Kryptos...something no one has been able to do for 29 years.
Anyway, I find all this pretty interesting so I thought I'd share.
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