A bit pretentious?  Yeah, pretty much.

Here’s a null ciphering method that I was initially having a bit of a rough time naming, “Three Musketeers” works just fine.

String enough assumptions along and it can take you anywhere.

Finishing an assumption that K = E in the fourth part of Kryptos, I considered the positioning of the K’s to look for patterns: 3, 32, 46, 53, 74, 78, 87, 94.  I see no pattern.

To seal the deal, I contemplated a masking method that would give us the 63 letter message suggested by the presence of 8 Ks (CT), Es (PT).  What I came up with was arranging the letters by threes and taking the first and third columns.  This would put the middle column as null text.  How is this any different than anything else I’ve tried?  Well, the arrangement of null letters occurs every 3rd letter but it’s not in the odds or evens.

1-2-3
4-5-6
7-8-9
10-11-12

For that matter, take any one of the three columns (3 options) and you a peculiar distribution of nulls that is predictable for those in the know.

Turning them into columns gives three columns with the first being 1 letter longer.  Turning them on their side, the rows can be more easily manipulated to attempt a solution.  For those keeping score, combining C1 and C2 gives 65 letters, combining C1 and C3 gives 65 letters and combining C2 and C3 gives 64 (8×8).

Here are the columns as rows in case someone else decides to manipulate them.

C1
ORXHBLBFVPGSWSSKWJUANNVMPGZJIUAKR

C2
BUOUSIBLQRKOTJSZAKDWFYTZKDXCGHUL

C3
KOGLOFWRQNSTQQEZTLIIBPTFWKTDKUEA

I return to Decrypto 8.5 to attempt the three combinations…

C1/C2
ORXHBLBFVPGSWSSKWJUANNVMPGZJIUAKRBUOUSIBLQRKOTJSZAKDWFYTZKDXCGHUL
QFZJOMONE BUT IT T LISHAPPED BURS WHALFOHQHT WOMXFLQC STRAL KINGCRLKZYUJHM

C1/C3
ORXHBLBFVPGSWSSKWJUANNVMPGZJIUAKRKOGLOFWRQNSTQQEZTLIIBPTFWKTDKUEA
QKPXJZJFYING OG GROUT ALLY WINDUSTARK RQNZQFOKVLGMVVHDMZSS JIM FORMER THA

C2/C3
BUOUSIBLQRKOTJSZAKDWFYTZKDXCGHULKOGLOFWRQNSTQQEZTLIIBPTFWKTDKUEA
FXVXWRFKL GIVEN WHY IS MADE HIS PUCQXKIVCKV AM GLOWELL THE KR RF BE A MIE SIXTY

B-U-O-U-S-I-B-L
Q-R-K-O-T-J-S-Z
A-K-D-W-F-Y-T-Z
K-D-X-C-G-H-U-L
K-O-G-L-O-F-W-R
Q-N-S-T-Q-Q-E-Z
T-L-I-I-B-P-T-F
W-K-T-D-K-U-E-A  I don’t see much in this table…

Tantalizing, isn’t it.  Makes you almost feel like there’s something there, hiding just out of sight. 

I remember though, I remember the other times I thought I was close with no real solution.  I remember that if you look hard enough, you can almost make yourself believe anything…

This isn’t it, not enough anyway.

–Kryptos Fan