“F6.11, F6.16, F6.17: keyword-disrupted and triangle columnar, interrupted-key columnar and trapezoid transpositions, every dictionary keyword, then or before a repeating key on the table”
Three items from the field manuals, one run, a verdict each. F6.11: Rijmenants's keyword-disrupted columnar (each row filled up to a triangle that starts at the column of the next key number and moves one column right per row; triangle cells filled afterwards; columns read in key order) and TM 32-220 par. 87's triangle (rows of 1, 3, 5... cells centred under 19 columns, ten rows, three blank cells at the end or the start, the keyword repeated to 19 letters and numbered). F6.16: TM 32-220 par. 89c-e's interrupted-key columnar (rows only as long as the next number of the keyword's numbering, or, for puzzle words of nine letters or more, the next nonzero digit of 1/d for d 3-99). F6.17: par. 86's trapezoid (base = the keyword's length, rows one shorter going up on the right or on the left, the fewest blank cells at the end). Keys: every dictionary word and puzzle word of 4-24 letters, deduplicated by numbering. Then a repeating key 1-26 on the standard or KRYPTOS table after or before; compiled; ten scrambled coppers.
revertedstatus
a new rootparents
4 mintime, all phases
0candidates
0/24known letters
unclocked
1
The experiment method
What the method does with the 24 known letters.
Army manuals and agent ciphers describe ways of writing a message into odd-shaped grids before copying it out by keyword-ordered columns: grids with triangular holes filled last, triangles that grow two letters per row, rows cut short at lengths the keyword gives, and trapezoids. Each needs only a keyword. We build all of them for every dictionary word and test each with a repeating secret wordthe secret word The word or string a cipher needs besides the method. on the sculpture's tablethe table The right-hand half of the sculpture, 26 rows of the alphabet each shifted one place further, starting from the word KRYPTOS..
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 idea
US Army manuals and agent ciphers describe keyword grids with odd shapes: triangular holes filled last, triangles growing two letters a row, rows cut short by the keyword's numbers, trapezoids. Each needs only a keyword.
the check
Every shape for each of 163,720 keywords (one per numbering), both directions, with a repeating key of 1-26 on the sculpture's tables after or before, against the 24 known letters and ten scrambled copies.
the bound
In every shape the shortest key that fits K4 is no shorter than on the copies, often one to three letters longer, and K4 leads the copies in at most one cell. Closed.
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.
Triangle: ten rows of 1, 3, 5, ..., 19 cells, centred; write the 97 letters row by row, three cells left empty.
Repeat the keyword to 19 letters, number the letters alphabetically, and copy out the columns in that order, top to bottom.
Disrupted: in a grid as wide as the keyword, leave a triangle empty from the column of key number 1, one column narrower each row; fill the rest, then the triangle; copy out by key order.
Interrupted: cut each row short at the next number of the keyword's numbering. Trapezoid: each row one cell shorter going up.
Then a repeating key on the table; check the known letters for every key length, and on scrambled copies.
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.
triangle: ten rows of 1, 3, ..., 19 cells, centred; key KRYPTOS repeated to 19 letters and numbered; columns read in that order
first 20 message places read: 82 5 11 19 29 41 55 71 89 36 48 62 78 96 17 27 39 53 69 87
place letter lands at carved
22 E 35 O
23 A 77 D
24 S 22 F
64 B 96 A
65 E 42 Q
74 K 39 Q
5
Hypothesis, for a cryptanalyst
Family, key space, the constraint under test, and the clues it reads.
C1(a) (matrix codes), C5 (keyword-only hand systems); sources: TM 32-220 pars. 86, 87, 89 (research_notes/Scheidt patents and field ciphers/addendum_downloaded_manuals.md, figures partly garbled, rules read from the text) and Rijmenants's Hand Ciphers (foreign_agent_hand_systems.md section 5). Where the sources leave a choice open, both readings are run (triangle blanks at end or start; trapezoid shrinking on either side). Key numbering: letters ranked alphabetically, ties left to right. Periodic key: order A (after) or B (before), 8 classes (plain and cipher standard or KRYPTOS, Beaufort or not). Statistic fixed before the run (0134's), per item.
6
Prediction
Written before the run; the result decides it.
For each item, nothing live below key length 20 beyond the coppers' rate, and K4 above every copper in no more cells than the null's maximum. Zero candidates.
7
Method
Keywords: dictionary and puzzle words of 4-24 letters, one per distinct numbering.
Per item, build the routes (where-maps) in the workers; forward and inverse.
Compiled periodic-key test, orders A and B, 8 classes, K4 and 10 coppers; the fixed statistic per item.
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
F6.11 disrupted: 327,440 routes, shortest live A 23 B 24, K4 above every copper 0 (null max 2); F6.11 triangle: 654,876 routes, shortest live A 23 B 24, K4 above every copper 1 (null max 4); F6.16 interrupted: 332,817 routes, shortest live A 23 B 25, K4 above every copper 1 (null max 3); F6.17 trapezoid: 89,708 routes, shortest live A 26 B 25, K4 above every copper 0 (null max 2)
What was searched, as the harness recorded it.
family
keyword-shaped transpositions from TM 32-220 and Rijmenants (disrupted, triangle, interrupted, trapezoid), then or before a periodic key