My translation of the Kryptos 97 characters is:
WHAT ARE WW Q MISSI(N)G IF DEATH ST-X-RIP ZONE OF TORTURG AN HELLL DOD
TUURNED TAME BERLIN OSS WARS ON RIVER SPREE DEALS CUTX
The N is omitted in the word missing. Mr. Sanborn scrambles some but not all of the words and imposes a few rules. The two main rules are using the count in the alphabet from the letter before it such as K to R (count 7) in OBKRU for the next U, and then in some instances, he gives you the option of one letter back or one forward after the count to make the right letter for the word. I’ll show you how it works after I display the actual scrambled message:
HTWA ARE WW Q SMSIGI FI DEATH IPXRTS NEOZ OF TROTUGR AN HLLEL DOD UNTURED EMAT ILBENR OSS WARS ON RIVER SPEER DEATLCSUX
To start the cycle, you must use the W before the question mark in W?OBKR. The count from W to O is back 8 without counting the letter W or W-VUTSRQPO. However 7 back from O is H (remember you can go one letter back or forward from the final count) or O-NMLKJIH for the letter is H. Again, you use the count of 8 to pick up the cycle queue of counts with B or TUVWXYZA-B for the letter T (the alphabet wraps around for the counts). The K count is back 13 from O to B or O-NMLKJIHGFEDCB, but 12 forward from the letter K is W or K-LMNOPQRSTUVW for W. The count from B to K is 9 for the letter R, so you count 9 forward from R-STUVWXYZA for the letter is A. Therefore, the scrambled HTWA is the word WHAT. Here is what it looks like in my notes:
8 8 13 9
O B K R
<-7 9->
H T W A
It’s also fair to use the next letter after second of double letters SS(T) and QQ(R) and also for the count of 13, but you do not have to always impose these rules. For example, for the word ST-X-RIP, the second Q of QQ is an R, and the last U in the code is a count of 13, but he uses it as U to T. Additionally, the letters for the count of 13 can also stay in-situ.
Between RIVER and SPREE, he puts in his one big mine field. You are supposed to know it is Spree so he goes off count. The C used for the last R of RIVER requires the count of 10, and D should require a count of 1, but instead he uses 11, and then continues with all the same numbers in queue to finish the code.
I have a few more comments. It appears that all the misspellings are related to the letters N and G. Even the extra letter in the word HELLL can translate into a G. I’m reading this as Nazi Gestapo, but I could be wrong. I toiled at the very end because he added one more small mine field in the translation in DEALS CUTX. He requires you to go back not one but two extra letters for the K and R of KCAR to make the C from the K and X from the R. Otherwise all of the other letters are there. I believe there is a second message in these last letters. If true, you have to think out of the box and expand your mind. From my above explanation, there is a clue to figure out Q’s real initial. At any rate, I gave the Kryptos code translation the old college try. I have many more code and cipher translations. All the best, Murph