gistfile1.txt

RIDDLE:

https://dev.to/nombrekeff/challenge-can-you-solve-this-puzzle-1947

ANSWER:

Oh, Ann, please kiss me dry!

CLUES:
* Decoded ASCII message with correct punctuation suggests some kind of early character based encryption (not full binary encryption).
* Blaise search pops up two famous people - Pascal and Vigenère. Vigenere is known for Vigenere cipher, so that is the encryption method.

LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS
* Observation that "***'**" is very rare pattern in English and it allows to deode part of the key.
  In this case most likely match was "you've" = "loveo"
* Shifting the key aligned partially with another word, "answer"
* "*** answer **" almost immediately suggests "*** answer is".
  Beginnig could be something like "The" or "Her", very few candidates.
  "The" matched and give more part of the key "ingloveofmy"
* "love of my" continuatiions are also rare and "love of my life" is common phrase. That aligned nicely with decrypted text.

CONCLUSIONS
* "love of my life" and "Ann Marie" are phrases in some book.

A LOT OF DEAD ENDS
* Ancient? Like how ancient? Wasted some time on ancient greek and rome books.
* Screaming? The only screaming book I know was from Harry Potter :)
* Treasured? Wasted even more time searching for old, high value books.
* Worn? That pushed me even further into really old and rare books.
* I was getting nowhere...

TRYING TITLE "guard the theme, no echoes heard, no cryptic stream"
* Initially tried Vigenère encryption books, but there were in French. Vigenère had wife Marie (but last name did not match).
* Then it clicked, that the book must be about KISS principle.
* Reformulating search query immediately popped:

"Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship"
with front page dedication "For Ann Marie: The ever enduring love of my life."
Which was decryption key.