Nowadays, it seems that we cannot do anything without passwords. Experts constantly warn us to be careful about using passwords that can be easily figured out by bad actors, advising us to create long or complex ones made up of different characters.
One way to do so is to use a code to generate a sequence of different symbols, with each term in the sequence related to the previous one in some way, forcing the hacker to use logic, not personal information, to crack it. The ten puzzles here are constructed in this way.
They can thus be called "password code puzzles" in order to highlight the importance of making passwords harder to decode. They are not examples of how to make passwords.
You are given a sequence with the sixth term missing from it. Each term is made up of a combination of alphabet letters and numbers according to a code. To crack the code, you must decipher the relation among the letters and numbers that each term in the sequence presents. Once cracked, the missing term becomes obvious. Here's an example:
A45—B54—C67—D76—E85—?
As you can see, the sequence consists of alphabet letters and digits. What is the code? If you look closely, you will see that the letters are in alphabetical order (A-B-C-D-E). So, the sixth term will start with the next letter, which is F.
Turning to the numbers, it can be seen that successive pairs of numbers are digit reversals; that is, they are written with the same digits in reverse order: 45-54, 67-76, 85-58. So, F58 is the answer. The sequences in each of the puzzles below are encoded similarly—with letters of the English alphabet and numbers in patterned combinations.
Again, I must emphasize that I do not intend this post to be advice on passwords. The puzzles are meant to be a fun exercise that uses a form of logical thinking focused on detecting a code hidden in sequential patterns. However, I hope they might harbor an insight applicable to passwords—the longer and more complex the password, the harder it is for criminals to crack it, as these puzzles show.
Below are sequences of six terms, each consisting of letter and number combinations based on a logical code used to construct the sequence. The sixth term is missing. Can you figure out what it should be?
(1) A1—B2—C3—D4—E5—?
(2) 1A—2B—4C—8D—16E—?
(3) AA1—CC3—EE5—GG7—II9—?
(4) 21AB—12BA—24AC—42CA—68AD—?
(5) Z5—Y4—X3—W2—V1—?
(6) A112Z—B211Y—C336X—D633W—E516V—?
(7) 128OPTS—64POST—32POTS—16SPOT—8TOPS—?
(8) F6—O15—R18—G7—E5—?
(9) 1MAD—3DAM—9TOP—27POT—81PIT—?
(10) 11P—13R—17I—19M—23E—?
(1) F6. The letters are in alphabetical order, and the numbers are in numerical order. Consider this to be a warm-up puzzle.
(2) 32F. The letters are again in alphabetical order, and each digit is twice the previous one.
(3) KK11. Each successive letter is the second one after the previous one in the normal alphabet sequence (A-C-E-G-I-K); moreover, each letter is doubled (AA-CC-EE-GG-II-KK). The digits are the first six odd numbers in order (1-3-5-7-9-11).
(4) 86DA. Consecutive pairs of digits in the sequence are reversals (21-12, 24-42, 68-86), as are the letter pairs (AB-BA, AC-CA, AD-DA).
(5) 0U. The letters are in reverse alphabetical order (Z-Y-X-W-V-U), and the digits are in reverse order starting from the digit 5: (5-4-3-2-1-0).
(6) F615U. The first letters (in the terms) are in alphabetical order (A-B-C-D-E-F), while the last letters are in reverse alphabetical order (Z-Y-X-W-V-U). Consecutive pairs of digits are reversals (112-211, 336-633, 516-615).
(7) 2STOP. Each successive digit is half the previous one (128-64-32-16-8); each word in the sequence is an anagram of the previous one, with no repeats of any anagram (OPTS-POST-POTS-SPOT-TOPS-STOP).
(8) T20. The letters in each term, when combined, including the missing one, produce the word "forget" (F-O-R-G-E-T). At the same time, the number indicates the position of each letter in the alphabet (F is the 6th letter, O is the 15th letter, R is the 18th letter, G is the 7th letter, E is the 5th letter, and T is the 20th letter).
(9) 243TIP. Each number is three times the previous one (1-3-9-27-81-243); consecutive pairs of words are palindromes of each other (MAD-DAM, TOP-POT, PIT-TIP).
(10) 31S. The numbers are prime numbers in sequence, starting with 11 (11-13-17-19-23-31), and the letters, when combined, including the missing one, spell "primes" (P-R-I-M-E-S).
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