Coffee Break: Ciphered Symbols of USA

[Otis]

Symbols of the USA appear below. They've each been translated using the same random-cipher alphabet, and word spaces have been removed. Starting hint: K represents the letter B.

1) \(\;\) W A T E R D O G

2) \(\;\) E Y K R X F Q K R E E

3) \(\;\) Z E C I E Z X Q

4) \(\;\) F U R O E O G Z

5) \(\;\) J U Y F R U Z W D R

6) \(\;\) C Z E E O X D Y I A

7) \(\;\) I O F R J O Q O X T U

8) \(\;\) G Z W A F X W D U G Z X R

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[ksdhart2]

This was a very fun one, thanks for sharing. I struggled a lot at first, as I was having trouble figuring out which symbols you'd picked. Everything I tried either had too many letters or didn't fit any of the patterns. But finally I cracked #3 and then the rest just fell into place:

Spoiler

1) \(\;\) Uncle Sam

2) \(\;\) Liberty Bell

3) \(\;\) Old Glory

4) \(\;\) The Alamo

5) \(\;\) White House

6) \(\;\) Dollar Sign

7) \(\;\) Gateway Arch

8) \(\;\) Mount Rushmore

 

[Otis]

… at first … having trouble figuring out which symbols you'd picked …

Yeah, that's a big part of the challenge. (I had considered changing 1 and 5 because I thought they were too easy to guess.)

Good job, and enjoy the holiday.

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[Harry_the_cat]

Yeah nice! A bit of a challenge for an Aussie. I got #2 first, then #5 and the rest fell out. Heard of them all except #7. Just googled it. I have seen that before as a good example of a catenary curve. Didn't know its proper name though.

 

[Otis]

… Didn't know its proper name though.

I still don't, ha! (I always end up calling it The St. Louis Arch.)

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