Chet Gecko's Handy-Dandy Detective Tips
Tip #2 – Secret Codes
Say you need to slip a note to your partner without the bad guys (or your teacher) understanding it. Hard? No way. Just send a note in code.
My favorite is the shopping list code. Here's how it works.
Create a normal looking shopping list. Your partner will decode it by taking the first letter of each line on the list. But if there's a number in front of the word, then you take whatever letter the number tells you to.
For example, "4 apples" means to use the "l" from that line, but just "apples" means to use the "a." Got it? Okay, try to decipher the shopping list message below
5 papayas
2 cockroaches
underwear
rutabega.
6 horseflies
lemon
yeast.
3 crickets
sugar
7 earthworms
pillbug
egg
2 gnats
(Did you get: "your fly is open?" Congratulations. Now zip up.)
