Four squares, rail and ship

Medium–hard. Four-square. Keywords RAIL and SHIP. I/J share.

CipherSunday 30 August 2026

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You’re in four-square. Two plaintext squares (top-left and bottom-right) are the straight alphabet A–Z omitting J. I and J share.

Top-right ciphertext square — keyword RAIL, then the rest, I/J share, no J:

R A I L B

C D E F G

H K M N O

P Q S T U

V W X Y Z

Bottom-left ciphertext square — keyword SHIP, then the rest, I/J share, no J:

S H I P A

B C D E F

G K L M N

O Q R T U

V W X Y Z

Split the message into digraphs. First letter → row/col in top-left; second → row/col in bottom-right. Cipher letters are the other two corners: top-right, then bottom-left.

Ciphertext:

RI SP FR GI SD GM

Put the spaces back for the answer.

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Four squares, rail and ship — The Gold Standard

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Four squares, rail and ship

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