Answer: Secret Code #41

The secret message says:

BUGS BEGONE

The shift was 1.

The secret note decoded: BUGS BEGONE
The note, decoded.

Letter by letter

Secret letterCFHOPTV
Real letterBEGNOSU

Decode it with Python

This program does the decoding for you. Change the secret and the shift to crack other messages!

secret = "CVHT CFHPOF"
shift = 1
message = ""

for letter in secret:
    if letter.isalpha():
        number = (ord(letter) - ord("A") - shift) % 26
        message = message + chr(number + ord("A"))
    else:
        message = message + letter

print(message)

When you run it, it prints:

BUGS BEGONE

Did you know? Shift codes are very old. A Roman writer called Suetonius said that Julius Caesar wrote secret letters by shifting the alphabet by three. That’s why it’s often called the Caesar cipher.