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The Shifted Note (illustration)
FILE No.93Unsolved

The Shifted Note

Difficulty ★☆☆about 4 minEveryday MysteryCiphersLetter shifts
"VDIH" was written by shifting each letter 3 places forward in the alphabet. What is the word?

Case Record

A note reading "VDIH" was found near a safe. Beside it was a message: "Each letter was shifted three places forward in the alphabet."

For example, A becomes D and B becomes E. So to decode, move each letter three places back.

Your question

What was the original word?

Case Files

Evidence

Diagram

Back three placesCipherPlainVSDAIFHEV -> U -> T -> S: three places back.
Diagram

Timeline

  1. A note is found in front of the safe.

Hints

If you get stuck, open the hints one at a time, in order.

Open hint 1

The cipher moved letters forward by three. How do you undo it?

Open hint 2

What is three letters before V?

Open hint 3

Go one letter at a time.

Solve It

Your question

What was the original word?

Choose the answer closest to the truth.

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The Truth

SAFE

The answer is: SAFE.

Move each letter back three places: V to S, D to A, I to F, H to E. That spells SAFE.

This kind of cipher, shifting each letter by a fixed amount, is called a Caesar cipher. Once you know the shift, it is easy to decode.

Join the lettersV -> S D -> A I -> F H -> ES A F EThe word is SAFE
Diagram of the solution

Key Points

  • Check the direction and the size of the shift
  • Decode one letter at a time
  • Check that the result is a real word

Why people get fooled

People shift in the wrong direction when decoding.

Similar tricks

  • The one-letter-at-a-time type
  • The guess-the-word type

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