Crack the Letter Shift

A secret word can change completely when every letter takes one tiny step. Move C forward by two and it becomes E. Easy. But what happens when you reach the end of the alphabet? That is where sharp code-breakers keep moving.

Picture the alphabet as a circular track, with A after Z. A shift of plus three means move each letter three places forwards. Start on B: one step reaches C, two reaches D, and three reaches E. So B becomes E. Use exactly the SAME shift for every letter. Now watch the edge. From X, one step is Y, two is Z, and three WRAPS to A. Never stop at Z, and never run out of letters. The alphabet loops round, so X shifted forwards by three becomes A. If the shift is backwards, move the other way using the same looping idea.

Let's work through an example. In a code, every letter is shifted forwards by four places. The word is W I Z E, in that exact order. What is the complete coded word? Keep the letters together, and apply one rule to all four. We will solve it from left to right. Begin with W. Count four forward moves: X, Y, Z, A. The fourth move crosses the end, so W becomes A. Next is I. Move through J, K, L, M. That gives M. Our answer now begins A M. Now shift Z forwards four. Count A, B, C, D. Notice that we wrapped around immediately; stopping at Z would break the stated rule. Z becomes D. Finally, shift E through F, G, H, I. E becomes I. Read the letters in their original order: A M D I. The complete coded word is AMDI.

One shift, every letter, with the alphabet looping past Z back to A. Mark each move, preserve the letter order, and check the number of steps. You can crack the code - even when it wraps around!