Nice One. If you want to find an unusual connection from cipher 2 with cipher 3 Margie, place the proper spelling of Zodiac under the Z O (black triangle) AIK from the bottom line of the 340. You might be surprised.

NICE! 000888. 8’s just like in the original 13 cipher!

Remember this book: Codes and Ciphers By John Laffin?

Published in 1964 and featured the Zodiac Alphabet. (also available in the Riverside Library)
doranchak actually has a thread about it here:
http://www.zodiackillersite.com/viewtop … =81&t=2915

Kevin Fagan, in his Reddit AMA and in his article for the SF Chronicle, says that David told him the Zodiac utilized a technique from a 1950’s Army code manual. That could suggest an Army connection and that Zodiac was a part of whatever circle of individuals it was with access to such manuals.

But of course, if he was in fact using a technique available in a publicly available text, than that is not necessarily so.

Did Kevin Fagan misrepresent Oranchak, or is this a case where both are true; the technique was present in Laffin’s book and in a 1950’s Army code manual….?

Someone on Reddit thinks the solution appeared in a 1950 Army technical manual. I’m not expert enough to know. It might just be that they’re similar and the source could be either.

I think I’m the Redditor in question. And it isn’t so much what I think, but just what Kevin Fagan of the SF Chronicle said Oranchak told him. I’d actually hope Fagan was representing Oranchak’s words correctly and that the manual was something accessible to a relatively small circle, because that could potentially narrow down the field of potential suspects. But I can’t see any direct quotes from Oranchak himself referring to a 1950’s Army code manual as the source of Zodiac’s enciphering technique.

I’m sure you guys have probably already seen it, but here is the article in question, by Fagan: https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/artic … 794943.php

That is the million dollar question. There is nice symmetry in the design of the 13-Symbol cipher, as there is when the alphabet is placed underneath it and the corresponding letters compared numerically.

Could you show us what you mean?

A to A = 0, B to E = 3, C to N = 11, F to K = 5, H to M = 5, K to N = 3, A to L = 11.

Probably a coincidence, but I’m observing that 3, 11, and 5 add up to 19. I wonder if it’s possible that this is actually the solution to the Z13, and it was intended as a hint. The letter does start with “By the way have you cracked my last cipher yet…”

If it is the answer, then my answer to the Z13 is wrong. Besides, these numbers games are extremely problematic.