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TranspositionDifficulty: Medium

Grid cipher

Write the text into a square grid along diagonals, a spiral or a zigzag, then read it row by row. The letters only change places.

Try it

27 characters

Result · Grid cipher

ARCBX MGTLX REEHU EESFE SCTSO

How it works

  1. 1Choose the grid size, for example 5 × 5, and a path: diagonals, spiral or zigzag (snake).
  2. 2Write the message without spaces and place the letters into the cells one by one along that path.
  3. 3Fill any empty cells with the letter X. If the message is longer than one grid, use another grid.
  4. 4Read the finished grid row by row, from top to bottom. That is the ciphertext.
  5. 5To decode, copy the text into the grid row by row and read it along the same path that was used for writing.

Example

Meet at five

FXXX TIXX EAVX METE

Did you know

Writing into a grid is a transposition: no letter is replaced, only moved, so accents survive too. Squares with a path through the cells are a staple of scout cipher games. This version with diagonals, a spiral and a zigzag follows Radek Pelánek's Šifrátor.

Try to decode

This message is encrypted with Grid cipher using the default settings:

FXXX TIXX EAVX METE

Hint

The grid is 4 × 4 and the letters were written along diagonals. The last cells may be X.

Show solution

MEET AT FIVE

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