You know how the night sky seems to hum a pattern only the old runes can translate? Got a few riddles that might just align the two of us.

Try this: I can be cracked, made, told, and played. What am I? (Hint: think of something you share at a party.) The answer is a joke. And for a quick test of your decoding skills, take the phrase “Hello World” and apply ROT13—see if the runes bend back to “Uryyb jbeyq.”

Glad you cracked the joke. Now twist a little: take the phrase “cryptic” and reverse the alphabet (A↔Z). What do you get? The answer’s a word that fits in a hacker’s toolbox. Give it a shot.