Welcome to the Cipher Bureau. Your task is to crack intercepted messages, reconstruct Vault access words, and confirm the final call sign that clears Santa for launch. Use your training sheets, your wits, and a sharp pencil.
Every code you crack keeps Christmas on course.
Use the training alphabet to decode this intercepted note from an overexcited workshop elf.
You find a scrap of paper pinned to the side of the toy conveyor belt.
Training key (excerpt)
Encrypted message
🎄 🎁 ❄️ 🎄 🍪 🍬 🎄 ❄️
Hint: Write the letters under each symbol. You are looking for a single Christmas word.
Security have recovered a partial grid from the Vault console. The elves believe it hides the backup access word.
Each coordinate reveals one letter from the Vault access word.
Letter grid
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | F | I | R | E |
| B | S | L | G | H |
| C | N | O | T | A |
| D | W | D | Y | P |
Coordinates from console log
A1 A2 A3 A4 B4 B2 C2 C3
Read each coordinate in order to spell the backup access word.
Now combine what you have learned. The Bureau believe a final call sign ties Missions One and Two together.
The Bureau notes that:
Join these ideas to find the call sign used by Santa when all systems are ready and the sky is clear. It is a single word.
Think about what hangs above the sleigh when the lights are blazing and the reindeer are ready to launch.