“A key word plus the K2 coordinates: the digits as a numeric second component added to a repeating word”
The second component is no longer an unknown word but a known digit stream, the K2 coordinates in several readings, at every alignment and either sign. Only the first word is unknown, so every slot of it is forced and the test is exact.
The second message ends with map coordinates. A natural trick is to add those digits to a secret word, letter by letter, so the keythe secret word The word or string a cipher needs besides the method. is a word plus a number. Because we know the number, the 24 known lettersthe known letters Sanborn has confirmed that positions 22 to 34 of the message read EASTNORTHEAST and positions 64 to 74 read BERLINCLOCK. tell us the secret word's letters directly, and tell us several of them twice. If the two tellings disagree, that word length and that way of reading the number are out. We try every word length, every way of reading the coordinates as digits, and every starting point.
Words in the margin are defined on the glossary page.
1.1
The method at work
The carved letters go in at the top; the reading comes out at the bottom.
the digits
K2 ends with map coordinates. Read as digits and repeated under the message, they could be a second key added to a repeating word: two keys, but the second one known.
the word
Taking the digit off each known place leaves the word's letter forced outright. Across 29,232 cases (readings, alignments, sign, word length), no word shorter than 26 letters fits.
the scale
The best forced word scores -5.58 as English, no better than on a shuffled copper. The coordinates are not a numeric key of this kind.
2
Best candidate against the known letters
This experiment produced no candidate: the search ruled everything out before a full text was built. Its product is the bounded negative in section 7.
3
Walkthrough, by hand
Redo the method on a few letters with pencil and paper.
Read the coordinates as the digits 3 8 5 7 6 5 7 7 8 4 4 and repeat them under the message.
Position 22 is E against the carved F; under the sculpture's alphabet with Vigenere the total key letter is R, index 1.
The digit under position 22 at alignment 0 is the 22nd digit, 3; subtract it: index 24 is the word letter for slot 21 mod a.
With a 7-letter word that is slot 0.
Position 29 also uses slot 0: do the same there; the two values must agree.
Go through all 24 known letters; one disagreement kills this length and alignment.
A survivor's forced letters spell the word; see whether it is one the puzzle knows.
the worksheet: the first steps by hand, on squared paper
4
Worked example, generated
The same steps run by the code on the real letters.
digits 38576577844 repeated under the message, alignment 0; KRYPTOS alphabet throughout, Vigenere; word length 7
pos plain carved total key index digit word index slot
22 E F B 1 4 23 0
23 A L K 10 3 7 1
24 S R V 21 8 13 2
29 T R X 23 7 16 0
30 H N F 5 7 24 1
64 B N L 11 8 3 0
positions 22 and 29 share slot 0: their word indices must agree, or length 7 is dead at this alignment.
5
Hypothesis, for a cryptanalyst
Family, key space, the constraint under test, and the clues it reads.
Scheidt's two-component habit (C6) and the K2 coordinates 38 57 6.5 N, 77 8 44 W (C23 reading b): a word key x of length a and a digit key d of known length L combine as t[i] = x[i mod a] + s d[(i + o) mod L] mod 26, with s = +1 or -1 and alignment o. The forced total t at each crib follows from the convention as in 0014; subtracting the digit term leaves the word slot forced outright, so the 24 cribs test the word's a slots with 24 - a redundant checks. Digit readings: 3857657784, 38576577844, 385765778440, the minutes and seconds only 5765844 and 57658440, degrees only 3877, and each with the 6.5 as 65 or 6 and 5. Word lengths 2-30, plain and cipher alphabets standard or KRYPTOS, both plaintext signs, both s, every o. Survivors have their forced word matched against the vocabulary and K1-K3 windows and scored as English with ten shuffled controls. Bounds: complete for these digit readings and alphabets.
6
Prediction
Written before the run; the result decides it.
No word length under 20 survives for any digit reading, alignment or sign. Survivors from length 20 up are chance and their forced words are noise against the shuffled controls. Zero candidates pass.
7
Method
List the digit readings.
For each alphabet pair and plaintext sign, compute the forced total key index at each crib.
For each reading, alignment, sign s and word length a, subtract the digit term and reduce to the word slot; reject on any disagreement.
For survivors, read the word in the standard and KRYPTOS alphabets, match it against the vocabulary and K1-K3 windows, and score it as English.
Repeat the scoring on ten shuffles of K4.
8
Result and bounds
The harness's record: candidates, gates, loss, and the negative result this experiment leaves behind.
0candidates returned
0passed every gate
0/24known letters, best
–lowest loss
nonechampion before
29232 cases; shortest surviving word length 26; best forced word -5.584 vs shuffled best -5.393; 0 matches.
What was searched, as the harness recorded it.
family
word key plus known digit key (K2 coordinates), additive
digit readings
38 57 6 5 77 8 44
3857657784
38 57 65 77 8 44
38576577844
38 57 65 77 8 44 0
385765778440
57 6 5 8 44 (minutes, seconds)
5765844
57 65 8 44 0
57658440
38 77 (degrees)
3877
38576577844 reversed
44877567583
word lengths
2-30
alphabets
plain and cipher in {std, kry}; word read in std or kry