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The American Cryptogram Association
The American Cryptogram Association (ACA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the hobby and art of cryptanalysis -- that is, learning to break ciphers.
News
 
Here’s the lineup for the 2024 ACA Convention in Phoenix, AZ, September 20-22. 

All times Mountain Standard Time (UTC/GMT -7.0).  

Friday September 20

6:00 pm – ?? Friday Night Socializing, puzzle solving

Saturday September 21

9:00 am Welcome

9:15 am PHILLIES, “David Kahn Exhibit at National Cryptologic Museum”

9:30 am WIRMZ, “Elizebeth Smith Friedman: America’s First Female Cryptanalyst”

10:00 am H2O, “Ornamentals”

11:00 am LANAKI, “Risk Analysis of Submarine Cables in the Western Pacific”

12:00 pm Lunch Break

1:00 pm NOLA KAYE and CRYPTOBLOGGER, “Collinson Project Update” and “Decrypting Historical Ads with Modern Means”

2:00 pm DARING FLAIR, “Recovering a K3 Keyword”

2:30 pm PHILLIES, “Dictionary Codes, an Update”

BREAK

3:45 pm – 5:15 pm Cipher Contest

BREAK

6:00 pm Banquet, followed by Banquet Speaker DadTheCool, “Herbert Yardley and the Japanese: Did Yardley Sell Secrets?”

Sunday September 22

9:00 am ACA General Business Meeting

10:00 am ACA Executive Board Meeting

For those who’ve registered to attend virtually, Zoom links will be emailed prior to the start of the convention. 
 

CHANGE OF VENUE!

Due to ongoing construction, the ACA Convention for 2024 will now be held at The Holiday Inn Express & Suites: Phoenix Downtown. The dates remain the same, September 20-22, 2024.

If you had previously reserved a room at the Comfort Suites venue with the ACA rate of $114 a night, it will automatically be transferred to The Holiday Inn Express & Suites.

If you have yet to make your reservations for the Convention, please use this link to place your reservations:

Holiday Inn Express Phoenix 2024 Conference reservations

Hotel Information:

The Holiday Inn Express & Suites: Phoenix Downtown
950 W. Van Buren St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Tel: 1-602-675-2894

The Saturday banquet will still be catered by Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ, and food for the Friday gathering and Saturday lunch will continue to be provided. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, and look forward to seeing you in September!


The ACA Convention for 2024 will be held in Phoenix on September 20-22 in Tempe, Arizona.

The hotel is:

Comfort Suites, Phoenix Airport
1625 South 52nd Street
Tempe, Arizona 85281
tel: (480) 446-9500

If you call the hotel, there is a special Lyft rate (a flat 15 dollars) that will get you from Phoenix Sky Harbor to the Comfort Suites. If you forget, a cab or an Uber can get you there for about the same price.

Unless you want to extend your trip before or after the convention, rental cars are not needed. Note that fairly inexpensive day rates for car rentals may escalate well above seventy dollars a day when various taxes and fees are added nowadays.

SHMOO (email) is the host and the board contact is PHILLIES (email).

If you have an idea for a presentation, contact PHILLIES.

The Saturday banquet will be catered by Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ. We’ll choose a subset from this menu: Lucille’s catering menu

Contact SHMOO if you have special dietary requirements (allergies, vegan/vegetarian).

 

PayPal If you wish to use PayPal for paying your ACA dues or ACA For Sale items, please refer to the instructions on the membership page.

Free Web App. The ACA’s “Solve a Cipher!” program is now available as a free web app under the Resources tab. To access it, click HERE.

Tutorials for Sample Issue We now have tutorial solutions for all the ciphers in the free Sample Issue of The Cryptogram. Get your solving effort started with a nudge or follow along to see the complete solution of the cipher. It’s like looking over the shoulder of a friend solving a cipher.

THE RAT has upgraded his Conmaker program by adding the following cipher types in the “More Types” menu: CONDI, Nicodemus, Nihilist Substitution, Numbered Key, Phillips, Route, Sequence. The format of the program is slightly smaller and some minor error corrections and cosmetic changes were made. It is designed for Windows users to easily create and submit cons to the ACA column editors. If interested, go to the Members Area / Downloads and get your copy.