codebreakers
Decrypt secret messages
Codebreakers are people who decipher encrypted messages or crack secret codes.
The term evokes wartime cryptanalysts—those who broke enemy ciphers at places like Bletchley Park.
More broadly, codebreaker applies to anyone who solves puzzles or unravels hidden patterns: The codebreakers worked around the clock to decrypt the intercepted transmissions.
Hidden writing system
- decryptionConverting ciphertext to plaintext
- plaintextUnencoded readable information
- cryptogramCoded message puzzle
- frequencyRate of recurrence
pattern · substitution · transposition · codebook · Enigma · Bletchley · Turing · decipherment
Puzzling question to solve
- enigmaSomething hard to fathom
- conundrumPerplexing problem or question
- brainteaserPuzzle demanding clever thought
- cryptogramCoded message puzzle
cipher · anagram · logic · rebuses · mystery · clue · solution · solve
Mental ability, cognitive capacity
- spyCovert information gatherer
- covertIntentionally concealed
- clandestineConcealed from authorities
- operativeCovert field agent
surveillance · counterintelligence · wiretap · eavesdrop · infiltration · reconnaissance · signals · agency
cipher
Hidden writing system
- decryptionConverting ciphertext to plaintext
- plaintextUnencoded readable information
- cryptogramCoded message puzzle
frequency · pattern · substitution · transposition · codebook · Enigma · Bletchley · Turing · decipherment · cryptology
riddle
Puzzling question to solve
- enigmaSomething hard to fathom
- conundrumPerplexing problem or question
- brainteaserPuzzle demanding clever thought
cryptogram · cipher · anagram · logic · rebuses · mystery · clue · solution · solve · crack
intelligence
Mental ability, cognitive capacity
- spyCovert information gatherer
- covertIntentionally concealed
- clandestineConcealed from authorities
operative · surveillance · counterintelligence · wiretap · eavesdrop · infiltration · reconnaissance · signals · agency · handler
thriller
Suspense-driven narrative genre
- whodunitCrime fiction identifying perpetrator
- sleuthPrivate investigator
- detectiveProfessional crime investigator
Turing · suspense · intrigue · secrets · arcane · shadowy · conspiracy
- espionagespy, spies, double agent, double agents, spying
- wartimerationing, war economy, war bonds, war effort, evacuations
- cipherscipher, Caesar cipher, substitution cipher, ciphertext, plaintext
- Codebreakingcryptanalysis, cipher, ciphers, decryption, ciphertext
- codebreakerscryptanalysts, decoders, cryptanalyst, decoder, cryptographers
- wartime organizationsWar Department, USO, civil defense, Home Guard, Selective Service