K3 Solution And Explanation

Overview: K3 is a bit trickier than K1-K2 corrections in that the methods commonly stated are not explicitly ‘wrong’, they are just needlessly complex! You can find more information about the corrected Kryptos solutions here.

Encrypted text:

ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR EIFTBRSPAMHHEWENATAMATEGYEERLB TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE 
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW?

Decrypted text:

SLOWLY DESPARATLY SLOWLY THE REMAINS OF PASSAGE DEBRIS THAT ENCUMBERED THE LOWER PART OF THE DOORWAY WAS REMOVED WITH TREMBLING HANDS I MADE A TINY BREACH IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER AND THEN WIDENING THE HOLE A LITTLE I INSERTED THE CANDLE AND PEERED IN THE HOT AIR ESCAPING FROM THE CHAMBER CAUSED THE FLAME TO FLICKER BUT PRESENTLY DETAILS OF THE ROOM WITHIN EMERGED FROM THE MIST X CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING Q ?

Information given: Tableau, encrypted text, contextual environment clues, clues from K2 [those coordinates listed as roughly ‘180 feet from the site’ are more likely to be in range of roughly…192 feet from the site, making K2 a reference to the solution to K3.

Proposed methods:

“Take K3 > Leave off the ? and grid it into a 24×14 grid.  Rotate to the right 90 degrees. > Change the column width to 8 and rotate again.” or “Take K3 > pad it out > keyed-columnar (as rows) > slide rows to resemble a descending staircase > route transposition > 85% solution”

Method commonly cited: Transposition – but with way more complexity than is actually needed.

Actual method: Transposition

Explanation: This one looks complex but it is actually trivial when you know the steps. Starting on the letter T, count 192 characters forward in the puzzle. That’s your next letter. Repeat until you’ve cleared every letter. This is known as transposition, with a starting place and then a numerical value needed, the math easily churns out the full text.

Verifiable solution:

[To run, create a python file, then in the cmd, run that python file, these are as simple as possible so that even someone who does not understand code can go through them easily. Or visit this github page.]

def kryptos_k3_decrypt(ciphertext):
    """
    Decrypts Kryptos K3 by taking every 192nd character,
    starting at the 192nd character (index 191 in 0-based).
    """
    # Remove all whitespace/newlines just to be safe:
    ctext = "".join(ciphertext.split())
    length = len(ctext)
    
    # We'll build the plaintext in a list for efficiency
    plaintext_chars = [None] * length
    
    # Starting at the 192nd character means index = 191 (0-based)
    index = 191  
    for i in range(length):
        plaintext_chars[i] = ctext[index]
        # Move forward 192 chars, wrapping around with modulo
        index = (index + 192) % length
    
    # Return the joined string
    return "".join(plaintext_chars)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Replace the multi-line ciphertext below with your exact K3 ciphertext:
    k3_ciphertext = """\
ENDyaHrOHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBIDYSHNAIA
CHTNREYULDSLLSLLNOHSNOSMRWXMNE
TPRNGATIHNRARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAE
WMTWNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHAEOE
TFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEYQHEENCTAYCR
EIFTBRSPAMHNEWENATAMATEGYEERLB
TEEFOASFIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRTI
BSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROAGRIEWFEB
AECTDDHILCEIHSITEGOEAOSDDRYDLORIT
RKLMLEHAGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHE
ECDMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW?\
"""
    
    result = kryptos_k3_decrypt(k3_ciphertext)
    print("Decrypted K3 Text:\n")
    print(result)

Alternative method:

Place encrypted text into a 14 × 24 grid → rotate 90° → slice into 8‑wide columns → rotate 90°

ENDYAHROHNLSRHEOCPTEOIBI
DYSHNAIACHTNREYULDSLLSLL
NOHSNOSMRWXMNETPRNGATIHN
RARPESLNNELEBLPIIACAEWMT
WNDITEENRAHCTENEUDRETNHA
EOETFOLSEDTIWENHAEIOYTEY
QHEENCTAYCREIFTBRSPAMHHE
WENATAMATEGYEERLBTEEFOAS
FIOTUETUAEOTOARMAEERTNRT
IBSEDDNIAAHTTMSTEWPIEROA
GRIEWFEBAECTDDHILCEIHSIT
EGOEAOSDDRYDLORITRKLMLEH
AGTDHARDPNEOHMGFMFEUHEEC
DMRIPFEIMEHNLSSTTRTVDOHW

STEP 2 24 rows × 14 columns  (after first 90 ° clockwise rotation)

DAEGIFWQEWRNDE
MGGRBIEHONAOYN
RTOISONEEDRHSD
IDEEETAETIPSHY
PHAWDUTNFTENNA
FAOFDEACOESOAH
ERSENTMTLE
IHDIRTCYFI
CMALELAHDH
AERFNONAYO
ETSOHEIGAE
LENMSKDRIP
ONPTREARNI
BAYNERNLSF
RNELHSNOST
MTMHGIWETE
HANSEDDTAD
ELGTFSHTVM
IHARTCMRRA
ABEWITLN
SRDEYMCSV
LRPIERARW
HITMEODFD

STEP 3 42 rows × 8 columns  (slice each 14‑char row from Step 2 into 8‑wide chunks)

DAEGIFWQ
EWRNDEMG
GRBIEHON
AOYNRTOI
SONEEDRH
SDIDEEET
AETIPSHY
PHAWDUTN
FTENNAAF
AOFDEACO
ESOAHERS
ENTMTLEI
HDIRTCYF
ICMALELA
HDHAERFN
ONAYOETS
OHEIGAEL
ENMSKDRI
PONPTREA
RNIBAYNE
RNLSFRNE
LHSNOSTM
TMHGIWET
EHANSEDD
TTADELGT
FSHTVMIH
ARTCMRRA
ABEWITLN
SRDEYMCS
VLRPIERA
RWHITMEO
DFDEEGTS
OIEIHR?

STEP 4 8 rows × 42 columns  (final 90 ° clockwise rotation)

SLOWLYDESPARATLYSLOWLYTHEREMAINSOFPASSAGED
EBRISTHATENCUMBEREDTHELOWERPARTOFTHEDOORWA
YWASREMOVEDWITHTREMBLINGHANDSIMADEATINYBRE
ACHINTHEUPPERLEFTHANDCORNERANDTHENWIDENING
THEHOLEALITTLEIINSERTEDTHECANDLEANDPEEREDI
NTHEHOTAIRESCAPINGFROMTHECHAMBERCAUSEDTHEF
LAMETOFLICKERBUTPRESENTLYDETAILSOFTHEROOMW
ITHINEMERGEDFROMTHEMISTXCANYOUSEEANYTHINGQ

It’s entirely possible that these simple and clue involved solutions may point out at multiple methods being built into the different K1-3 puzzles as both of these feel horribly viable to the original intention.