Cryptographic Match Trivia Quiz

Answer: JOLLINESS

So you're confronted with ten gibberish utterings as JMDIOYILS, NUDIYSBGE, QUBVXXUCY, RAUEEUPVD, RAULGAODM, SJPDACUFS, TSHUGPYSW, UBBSQADVB, UKOVPGXAD and ZIDDULSCC. How to solve such a conundrum? Traditional cryptography would compare the text with the statistical occurrence of each letter, for instance the most frequent letter should be deciphered as an E.

Alas, there are not enough letters and not enough variation in word length to use traditional cryptography. And I've selected the solutions so that the most frequent letter is *not* the E, and the least frequent letter is *not* the Q...
But luckily you have all the right answers. Check for patterns and you'll get somewhere.

For instance, ZIDDULSCC is the only code ending in a double letter. The only solution therefore is JOLLINESS.

By the way, not every letter can be doubled at the end of a word. S is the most frequent (MISS, LESS, CROSS...). Other examples are B (EBB), E (GHEE), F (WHIFF), G (EGG), I (HAWAII), L (TILL), N (INN), O (ZOO), R (ERR) and Z (JAZZ).
What have we found so far?
C is code for S. D is code for L. I is code for O. L is code for N. S is code for E. U is code for I. And Z is code for J.

Answer: IRREGULAR

Another interesting piece of gibberish is UBBSQADVB - the only word in our set where the same letter is used thrice (at positions 2, 3 and 9). It therefore has to correspond with IRREGULAR.

By the way, I've once made a list of about 29,000 words of nine letters each. Only a small percentage of those has three or more identical letters.

What have we found so far?
C is code for S. D is code for L. I is code for O. L is code for N. S is code for E. U is code for I. And Z is code for J.
Now we can add the following.
A is code for U. B is code for R. Q is code for G. And V is code for A.

Answer: QUIZZICAL

The code RAUEEUPVD is an interesting code, for it has two letters that are repeated. Alas, the correct answers have two words with two repeating letters: QUIZZICAL and GIRAFFISH.

So we can check where the double letters appear. In RAUEEUPVD we have a pair on positions 4-5 and the third letter is repeated on the sixth position. So GIRAFFISH is not possible as it has one repeating letter in position 2 and 7, while the double letter appears at position 5 and 6.

Some of you may get the impression that I've used the word QUIZZICAL in another quiz. Indeed: it was one of the solutions to my multiple "chameleon" quizzes, with an intricate wordplay.

We could also solve this third clue by filling in the letters we have already found. Let's repeat what we have found in clues 1 and 2:
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. I is code for O.
L is code for N. Q is code for G. S is code for E. U is code for I. V is code for A.
And Z is code for J.
So the correct solution would be ? U I ? ? I ? A L, thus not GIRAFFISH but QUIZZICAL.
This means we've a few other letters to add:
E is code for Z. P is code for C. R is code for Q.

Answer: GIRAFFISH

And here we have another pattern with two different letters that are repeated somewhere. We've already used the solution QUIZZICAL, so this time we need GIRAFFISH - a rare word to indicate characteristics of the Giraffid family. Indeed: the okapi also is quite giraffish, as the okapi is the only other genus in the Giraffid family. And even pronghorns can present some giraffish traits.
Once again you may recall GIRAFFISH was a solution to one of my "chameleon" quizzes. Feel free to try your wits with that series of brain teasers.
We already knew the following:
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. E is code for Z.
I is code for O. L is code for N. P is code for C. Q is code for G. R is code for Q.
S is code for E. U is code for I. V is code for A. And Z is code for J.
Let's add our new findings:
X is code for F. And Y is code for H.

Answer: BEWITCHED

You could use the fact that the only letter appearing twice, appears on positions 2 and 8. From the remaining solutions, only BEWITCHED fulfils this condition.
Or to make sure you use the previous findings:
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. E is code for Z.
I is code for O. L is code for N. P is code for C. Q is code for G. R is code for Q.
S is code for E. U is code for I. V is code for A. X is code for F. Y is code for H.
And Z is code for J.
Filling in thus gives a pattern ? E ? I ? C H E ?, once again pointing at BEWITCHED.
New findings include:
G is code for T. H is code for W. T is code for B. And W is code for D.

Answer: EXCLUSIVE

So far we've found twenty letters, so the final solution becomes quite clear.
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. E is code for Z.
G is code for T. H is code for W. I is code for O. L is code for N. P is code for C.
Q is code for G. R is code for Q. S is code for E. T is code for B. U is code for I.
V is code for A. W is code for D. X is code for F. Y is code for H. And Z is code for J.
This gives a pattern of E ? C L U S I ? E, and you need not to look at all remaining solutions to conclude this word has to be deciphered as EXCLUSIVE.
Another two letters can be added.
F is code for V. And J is code for X.

Answer: QUINTUPLY

Let's recapitulate.
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. E is code for Z.
F is code for V. G is code for T. H is code for W. I is code for O. J is code for X.
L is code for N. P is code for C. Q is code for G. R is code for Q. S is code for E.
T is code for B. U is code for I. V is code for A. W is code for D. X is code for F.
Y is code for H. And Z is code for J.
This was what you found so far. Let's try out the pattern: Q U I N T U ? L ? .
At first glance, there are two words that fill the pattern: QUINTUPLE and QUINTUPLY.
But as we have already found the E is coded as an S, we need to come up with the adverb: QUINTUPLY. (Not to mention that QUINTUPLE isn't a given option.)
So we can add two more letters:
M is code for Y. And O is code for P.

Answer: XYLOPHONE

Nearly there. What have we found so far?
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. E is code for Z.
F is code for V. G is code for T. H is code for W. I is code for O. J is code for X.
L is code for N. M is code for Y. O is code for P. P is code for C. Q is code for G.
R is code for Q. S is code for E. T is code for B. U is code for I. V is code for A.
W is code for D. X is code for F. Y is code for H. And Z is code for J.
So if we fill in the 24 letters we have decoded, we get the following pattern:
X Y L O P H O N E. Voila, this one is all spelled out. But we can't add the last two letters.

Answer: KILOHERTZ

As we have two correct solutions with nine different letters, we can't be sure picking the correct one without looking at what we have decoded so far.
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. E is code for Z.
F is code for V. G is code for T. H is code for W. I is code for O. J is code for X.
L is code for N. M is code for Y. O is code for P. P is code for C. Q is code for G.
R is code for Q. S is code for E. T is code for B. U is code for I. V is code for A.
W is code for D. X is code for F. Y is code for H. And Z is code for J.
So if we fill in the 24 letters we have decoded, the pattern thus becomes very clear : ? I L O H E R T Z. This can't be something other than KILOHERTZ.
The penultimate letter to add to our decoding efforts is thus the N, which is code for K.

Answer: IMPACTFUL

Last stop. The easiest way to pick the correct solution, is just selecting the one and only remaining answer.
But just for fun, let's fill in our findings and decipher the pattern.
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. E is code for Z.
F is code for V. G is code for T. H is code for W. I is code for O. J is code for X.
L is code for N. M is code for Y. N is code for K. O is code for P. P is code for C.
Q is code for G. R is code for Q. S is code for E. T is code for B. U is code for I.
V is code for A. W is code for D. X is code for F. Y is code for H. And Z is code for J.
The pattern thus is I ? P A C T F U L. This leaves IMPACTFUL as the only possible solution.

And here is the fully deciphered code:
A is code for U. B is code for R. C is code for S. D is code for L. E is code for Z.
F is code for V. G is code for T. H is code for W. I is code for O. J is code for X.
K is code for M. L is code for N. M is code for Y. N is code for K. O is code for P.
P is code for C. Q is code for G. R is code for Q. S is code for E. T is code for B.
U is code for I. V is code for A. W is code for D. X is code for F. Y is code for H.
And Z is code for J.
I hope you have had some fun with solving this cryptic match.