Count Down (4,6,2)
Around Christmas each year the British spy agency puts out a puzzle intended to challenge the best solvers in the world. This was a puzzle from 2016. It's part of a class of puzzles where the solver isn't provided any instructions. Figuring out the rules is part of the game. For this challenge the following text is provided:
TSOIHTALIISOWORTHREEUTWOYONEBTRIIDUOUNUBKOL
MEAKAKSITYKSIUSAMITORIRERTIIDREIRZWEIDEINSVUK
UEBIYUND'AYAEWEJDCHA'NWA'OSETUDULSHANAASAMNS
ONGMNUENGNTIGAIDUABSATUISANCERHYIITREEEJEESS
NANEETORURRUADTAHIOPXEY'MUNEY'AWETRZYKDWAS
JEDENSKINSAAISKAYDHUQDTEHEBAHXHIKUTRESLDOSA
UNOBNTATHUAMBINIPNYEKHA'INOKWILINWTOPINTE
The puzzle resembles cyphertext with the exception of three english words in the order of a countdown, Three Two One. Depending on the language you speak, different words may stand out. Drei Zwei Eins and Tres Dos Uno for example. Looking for different languages we find:
Three/two/one = English
Drei/zwei/eins = German
Tree/jees/nane = Manx
Nueng/song/sam - Lao
Tri/du/un = Ido
Tsoi/tali/sowo = Cherokee
Sami/tori/erti = Georgian
Kolme/kaksi/yksi = Karelian
Tri/du/unu = Esparanto
Uku/biyu/aya = Hausa
Wej/cha'/wa' = Klingon!
Set/dul/hana = Korean
Tiga dua satu = Indonesian
Toru/rua/tahi = Māori
Pxey/mune/'aw = Na'vi
Trzy/dwa/jeden = Polish
Kinsa/iskay/huq = Quechua
The/bah/hik = Sindhi
Tres/dos/uno = Spanish
Ntathu/mbini/nye = Xhosa
Ha'in/kwilin/topinte = Zuni
San/er/yi = Chinese
TSOIHTALIISOWORTHREEUTWOYONEBTRIIDUOUNUBKOL MEAKAKSITYKSIUSAMITORIRERTIIDREIRZWEIDEINSVUK UEBIYUND'AYAEWEJDCHA'NWA'OSETUDULSHANAASAMNS ONGMNUENGNTIGAIDUABSATUISANCERHYIITREEEJEESS NANEETORURRUADTAHIOPXEY'MUNEY'AWETRZYKDWAS JEDENSKINSAAISKAYDHUQDTEHEBAHXHIKUTRESLDOSA UNOBNTATHUAMBINIPNYEKHA'INOKWILINWTOPINTE
Highlighting all of the discovered words leaves us with the left over letters, which can again be reduced using the same method.
Hiru/bi/bat = Basque
Tri/dve/edno = Russian
Saddex/laba/kow = Somali
Se/do/yek = Kurdish, Kurmanji
San/ni/ichi = Japanese
HIRUYBIOBATUTRIRDVENEDNOUSANMNIBICHIESERDO'YEKSSADDEXULABAPKOW
The remaining letters are: Y........., which is clearly: Y.......... and the solution to the puzzle.
Feel free to contact me to check your answer or with questions.