@@MAIN
INTRODUCTION:
  Crypto helps you solve cryptograms!
It takes care of the tedious parts while
you concentrate on the fun.

  If you are new to cryptograms, here's
an explanation of some of the terms:


  A CIPHER is a message which has been
ENCRYPTED or changed from PLAINTEXT
which is readable in English or some
other natural language.  The encryption
can be by SUBSTITUTION of one letter for
another, or TRANSPOSITION of the order
of letters.


  Although professional cryptographers
have many sophisticated methods of
hiding a message, most people enjoy
solving relatively simple cryptograms
much as they do crossword puzzles. They
are an enjoyable and challenging way to
pass the time and flex your mental
muscles.

  Many puzzle magazines include
cryptograms, and there are even a few
books of them. We have provided quite a
few with Crypto. These "hobby" puzzles
are simple substitutions.  That is, the
letter order has not been changed, and
the substitution is the same throughout
the message.

To help you solve cryptograms, Crypto
can:

	Encrypt and display a stored message,
	Display a pre-encrypted message you
enter from a book or magazine.

	Count the occurrences of each encrypted
letter, & display them, in order of
encrypted letter and letter frequency.

	Display a short reference list of
common letters & words.

	Automatically replace all occurrences
of the encrypted letter with the
plaintext letter you enter.

In addition, Crypto provides several
file functions. You can:

	Enter & save plaintext it will later
encrypt for you,

	Save & load ASCII files, which can be
edited with any word processing
program.

  F1 is the help key, and ESC usually
takes you back a level.  Finally, any
message followed by three dots (...) is
waiting for you to press ENTER.
@@FILES
  The file functions allow you to:

	Add a new plaintext message directly
into quotes.dat,

	Save a copy of quotes.dat as an ASCII
file on disk or diskette,

	Load an ASCII file into the quotes.dat
file Crypto uses to store the
plaintext.
@@ADD
  With this option you can key a new
plaintext message for Crypto to encrypt
later.

  IF YOU ENTERED THIS BY MISTAKE, press
ESC without keying anything. It will
confirm the cancellation. Press ENTER
and you will return to the menu.  Whew!

  If you DO want to add a new message,
the first step is to type in up to 240
characters (4 lines of 60 characters
each) in the window that pops up.
Crypto provides automatic word-wrap.
However, those extra spaces are counted
in the 240 allowed.  You can use the
INS, DEL and cursor keys to correct the
text, then press ESC.  Crypto will add
it to the quotes.dat.

Make sure it is correct!  Nothing is
more frustrating than trying to solve an
incorrect cryptogram!

Note that any messages you add after
using the "solve old" option will NOT be
included until you quit Crypto & start
up again. This is because Crypto sets up
the list of messages to use the first
time you select "solve old".
@@SAVE ASCII
  This choice copies the quotes.dat to
an ascii file. It is useful as a backup
of quotes.dat, or to allow editing &
deleting of messages.

  IF YOU SELECTED IT BY MISTAKE, press
ENTER or 'N', and it will return to the
menu.  It requires you to key 'Y' or 'y'
before it will go on.

  Note that each message in the ASCII
file contains four (4) lines of up to 60
characters each. Crypto saves text as 4
lines of 60 characters, padded with
spaces at the end. You can use carriage
return (Enter) if you wish, but be sure
that the next message starts on the 5th
line!

  If you are unclear about this, you
might SAVE to a test file, and look it.
(The problem with this is you will see
all the messages as plaintext, which
pretty well kills the fun. So don't look
at any more than you have to. Or have
someone else do it!.) If you really want
to be sure, SAVE it to an archive file
(like "crypto.sav"), so you can always
get back to square one.
@@LOAD ASCII
  This choice loads an ascii file to
quotes.dat. With it you can restore
quotes.dat from a previous save, or
replace the whole file when you've
worked all the messages.

*** WARNING *** This option REPLACES the
data! Any messages not SAVEed are gone.
But you CAN get out.

  IF YOU SELECTED IT BY MISTAKE, press
ENTER or 'N', and it will return to the
menu.  It requires you to key 'Y' or 'y'
before it will go on.

  Note that each message in the ASCII
file contains four (4) lines of up to 60
characters each. Crypto expects 4 lines
of 60 characters, padded with spaces at
the end. You can use carriage return
(Enter) if you wish, but be sure that
the next message starts on the 5th
line!

  If you are unclear about this, read
the help screens under Save ASCII.
@@SOLVING
  Crypto randomly selects a message from
the quotes.dat file, and encrypts it.
The encryption key is also randomly
generated, but after a while, you may
find you recognize certain messages. If
you don't want the message selected,
just press ESC, and Crypto will select
another message.  It can display up to
100 messages per session. If you want
more than that, simply exit Crypto and
rerun to get another set of 100.

	COUNT Letters will scan the cryptogram
and display the frequency of each
letter, & the plaintext letters you have
not yet used.

	COUNT Di/Trigraphs will scan the
cryptogram and display the frequency of
each 2- and 3-letter combination.

	SUBSTITUTE puts you below the encrypted
text, and allows you to type the
plaintext letter to replace it with. It
then replaces all occurrences of that
letter in the message, and updates the
COUNT letters screen, if it has been
selected.

	REFERENCE displays a window with the
most common letters and words.

Incidentally, any messages you add after
using this option will NOT be included
until you quit Crypto & start up again.
This is because Crypto sets up the list
of messages to use the first time you
select this.

@@PRE
  This option lets you key a cryptogram
from a magazine or book and then solve
it.

  If you entered this by mistake, press
ESC without keying anything. It will
confirm the cancellation. Press ENTER
and you will return to the menu.

  If you DO want to key a cryptogram,
the first step is to type in up to 240
characters (4 lines of 60 characters
each) in the window that pops up.
Crypto provides automatic word-wrap.
However, those extra spaces are counted
in the 240 allowed.  You can use the
INS, DEL and cursor keys to correct the
text, then press ESC to go to the
"Solving" screen.

  Make sure it is correct!  Nothing is
more frustrating than trying to solve an
incorrect cryptogram!

  This functions exactly like "Solving
an old puzzle", except that a '?' will
simply repeat the cipher letter. That's
all Crypto knows.

  Incidentally, the encrypted text is in
a file named "temp.txt", if you can find
some use for it.
@@COUNT
  The COUNT option has two choices:
count single letters and count digraphs
and trigraphs (2 and 3 letters
together).

	The single letter screen gives you more
information, and, once you have selected
it, Crypto automatically switches to it
and updates it every time you replace a
letter in the substitute function.

	The digraph and trigraph option is
especially handy with long messages, and
some with a lot of similiar words. It
can confirm that impression you had that
"the" occurs a lot, or "This is really a
poem!".

  Even though they overlay each other,
once you have selected either of these
options, you can redisplay it by
reselecting the option.
@@CNT LTRS
  COUNT LETTERS scans the cryptogram and
counts the frequency of each letter. It
then shows you the cipher, its frequency
and the plaintext letter you have
substituted, alphabetically & from high
to low frequency.  Letters that aren't
used have a dash under them.  The bottom
line displays the plaintext letters you
have not yet used.
@@CNT DI
  COUNT DI-/TRI-GRAPHS scans the
cryptogram for 2- and 3- letter
combinations. It then shows you up to 25
combinations that occur more than once,
and any 2 or 3 of the same letter (OO,
PP, etc), by frequency.  Note that
spaces are not included, so the digraphs
and trigraphs listed are all within
words.

P.S. If you find any words with 3 of the
same letter in a row (OOO, LLL), please
send me a copy!
@@SUBST
  SUBSTITUTE puts you below the
encrypted text, and allows you to type
the plaintext letter to replace it with.
It then replaces all occurrences of that
letter in the message, and updates the
COUNT letters screen, if it has been
selected.


  The available keys are listed at
bottom of the screen. Note that typing a
'?' will display the answer for that
letter. This is considered cheating, but
may help when your frustration level
gets too high. This does NOT work when
solving a pre-encrypted puzzle.  Crypto
doesn't solve puzzles; it just helps you
to do so.

  Also, if you assign the same letter to
two different ciphers, Crypto will tell
you. To undo an assignment, type an
underline ('_') for the letter.

  Note that pressing ESC while in
SUBSTITUTE does NOT lose what you've
solved so far. However, pressing ESC
again will. That is, selecting "Solve
old" generates a new cryptogram, and the
"Solving" menu affects that cryptogram.
@@REF
The reference list shows some frequent
letters and words.

  When it is highlighted, pressing Enter
will offer you a menu with ON & OFF.
Default is OFF. If you select ON, you
will see the reference list.
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