When the famous spy and cryptographer passed away, they found a book of handwritten notes in his kitchen. It was his last gift to the world.
Codebreakers spent years poring over the notes online and arguing with each other about cyphers in forums, but couldn’t make heads or tails of the hidden meaning that was surely left in the text somewhere. When the world’s greatest cryptographers couldn’t solve the puzzle, they declared it a hoax.
In truth, there was no hidden code in the notebook. The old man had merely wanted to share his award-winning scone recipes with the world.

“Sugar cakes in the recipe books of Margaret Home Countess of Moray” by Unoquha is marked with CC0 1.0.

Everyday Drabbles © 2025 by Hugh J. O’Donnell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0