Week 7 – Final Challenge – “Break”
This takes a full set of keys.
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vhvumtsimwnlcrvqinxyinpxoae
ihfkohriuyhacuvatbvrrfdeblrv
wilfoffilhvkzlhcnlvhhge
thrpvhmsxcfpuskymi
zmacvagogntqwspwqdbapetwm
These look like ciphers. And, in fact, they are. Stella mentions “keys”, as well, so we’re looking for a keyed cipher.
Now, the last week’s keys have been “cardiffgiant”, “mariatheresa”, “patagon”, “snahrevelc”, and “zzxjoanw”. Use those as the keys for Viginere Cipher, and you get the following poem.
there once was a renaissance man
who cooked up a questionable plan
his first lovely sculpture
buried roman culture
and that’s how his career began
This story is the story of Michelangelo and his Cupid. Michelangelo forged an “ancient” Cupid sculpture and sold it to Baldassare del Milanese. However, the work gave Michelangelo credibility as a sculptor and kickstarted his career.
stl.la/michelangeloscupid or stl.la/michelangelocupid lead to “Who Am I?”, which Stella posted at the same time as the puzzle to signal that she’d be taking a week off. It seems that was for good reason.
