The clue “die stier jaagt angst aan” translates to “the bull chases fear” in Dutch.
This phrase is a cryptogram, which means it’s a hidden message encoded with a substitution cipher. In this case, each letter in the Dutch phrase is likely replaced by another letter to create the encrypted message.
Here’s how you can solve the cryptogram:
- Identify patterns: Look for repeated letters in the coded message. These might correspond to frequently used letters in Dutch, like vowels (e, a, o) or consonants (t, n, s).
- Common letter substitutions: In English cryptograms, “E” is often the most frequent letter. In Dutch, the most common letter is “e”. So, if there’s a letter that appears often in the coded message, try substituting it with “e”.
- Double letters: Look for places where the same letter appears twice in a row in the coded message. In Dutch, some words have double consonants like “ss” or “ll”. If you find a double letter, try substituting it with a known double consonant.
- Short words: Try to decipher short words like “de” (the) or “een” (a) which are common in Dutch. Once you crack a few letters, you can start guessing other words based on the context.
- Online tools: If you get stuck, there are online tools available that can help you solve cryptograms. These tools can suggest possible solutions based on letter frequencies and known patterns in different languages.
By using these techniques, you should be able to crack the code and reveal the hidden message in the cryptogram.