Hand this page to your AI agent
Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:
https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/sp106r927.html
Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: the reading, every open gap, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.
TASK: take a partial decipherment further: A French letter in a homophonic pigpen cipher, SP 106/10
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/sp106r927.html
You are helping a public research project finish reading historical cipher letters. This one is read in part:
the key works, but some pieces are still open. Your job is to close one or more of the open gaps below.
THE READING
Write-up: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/sp106r927.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
Date: 17th c.
Outcome: ciphertext-only break · partial
Read now: 95.6% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
Files: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/sp106r927 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)
OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
1. [illegible: needs a new source] f. 241 c12 and c17 ("b_ruiledu ... et du uoii", "bienr"; WAINUT reads c17 "sieur", adopted, and conjectures c12 "[se]ruice du [67] et du uos[tre]") and single signs at the ends of c13, c15 and the day in c19 - blocker: illegible; under ink blots and a stain or ambiguous at 2300 px; f. 241 has no second copy, TNA has not digitised SP 106 and DECODE has no larger image
2. [no-key-material: needs a new source] the '@' (circle/9) signs, the clear "67", the date numeral and the signature "Nicle"(?) - blocker: no-key-material; 14 signs in name positions, too few to value from context, and no nomenclator survives with the letter or in the neighbouring records
3. [illegible: needs a new source] two lost signs on f. 243 (c2 blot, c6 paper hole) - blocker: illegible; there is no second copy (P2 is the same leaf with the flap down), so only the original or a better image can settle them
4. [no-key-material: needs a new source] sender, recipient and year - blocker: no-key-material; the names sit in the '@' code signs; no docket or address leaf in the record
ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
[x] siblings: neighbouring SP 106/10 records R922-R933 opened (2 Oct 2026); none is in this pigpen; f. 242 at first taken for a second copy of f. 243; corrected 12 Oct 2026 (WAINUT, PR #30): P2 and P3 are the same leaf, flap down and lifted, so the comparison checked the transcription only
[x] clear-pages: no clear page, docket or decipherment on ff. 241-243 or in the neighbouring records; the top half of f. 241 is show-through from another leaf, not text
[x] known-keys: the pencil flap key tested in all orientations and rejected
[x] print: web search (SP 106/10 pigpen, Nancy), the GL.htm copies in the repo and Tomokiyo's Cryptiana index (only the Walsingham-Wilkes pigpen): no edition; Sheila Richards, Secret Writings (1973), reported by Lasry, not seen; CSP needs a year or names
[x] key-rebuild: homophonic key built by annealing (hc3.py) on the p. 3 hand transcription plus hand anchors (key.json); extended 2 Oct (H3, C*2, C1/F2 polyphones) and 3 Oct (F*1 = l, D*1 = o); joint re-anneal over all pages tried (anneal.py), over-fits
[x] retry: pp. 1-2 hand-transcribed (2 Oct) and every unread word re-read sign by sign at 3-4x (3 Oct); measured 84.0% -> 95.6%
STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
"Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); targets/sp106r927/NOTES.md in full, and the
key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
Work in targets/sp106r927/. Add your findings to NOTES.md under a dated heading without rewriting what is there, and
update the "## Remaining gaps" line of every gap you close. Keep WORKLOG.md there: one dated line per step
(hypothesis, value tried, solver run, crib, control), failures included. Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated).
If you cannot run a shell, fetch the files from the links above and keep your work in files you send with the issue.
1. Pick a gap. Start with the ones marked "doable now" (open-codes, not-attempted, left-open): the images and the key
are online, so they need only work. A gap marked "needs a new source" (no-key-material, too-short, illegible,
needs-physical-access) can be closed only by something new: a key
or a deciphered sibling found elsewhere, a better image, a printed edition or calendar, a photograph from the archive.
For those, search for that material first, and say where you looked even when you find nothing.
2. Start from the existing key and transcription in the folder. Do not rebuild the key from scratch, and do not
re-read parts that are already read unless you find an error in them.
3. For a code group or sign value: list every place the group occurs, show how each reads with the value you propose,
and say what still does not fit. For a passage: re-read it at the image and give the folio and line. For a missing
letter or leaf: say where it is held and how it can be reached.
4. Measure again. Apply the key to the whole text, write the reading file, and count the share of cipher tokens that
give sense (not an estimate). The reading is "complete" only when (1) at least 95% of its cipher tokens give sense;
(2) no gap is left untried; (3) every letter in it is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names,
or pieces blocked from outside. Otherwise it stays "partial": say which gaps are still open and why.
5. Be honest. Mark every uncertain word with [?], leave unread groups as their numbers or signs, and never fill a gap
with a plausible guess. A gap retried and still open, with what was ruled out, is worth reporting.
REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your changes to targets/sp106r927/. Say in the description which gaps you worked on,
the share read before and after, and how you want to be credited (name, initials or handle, and a link).
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=further-reading.yml&title=Further+reading%3A+sp106r927&page=sp106r927.html
Give the write-up, the gap you worked on (its line in Remaining gaps, or the code group, folio and line), what you
propose, the evidence (every occurrence, the images or sources), the share read before and after, your step log,
and the tools and AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.Open gaps
gold can be done now: the images and the key are online, it needs only work. grey needs a new source first: a key, a better scan, an edition or the archive.
- hard to read on the scan f. 241 c12 and c17 ("b_ruiledu ... et du uoii", "bienr"; WAINUT reads c17 "sieur", adopted, and conjectures c12 "[se]ruice du [67] et du uos[tre]") and single signs at the ends of c13, c15 and the day in c19 - blocker: illegible; under ink blots and a stain or ambiguous at 2300 px; f. 241 has no second copy, TNA has not digitised SP 106 and DECODE has no larger image
- no key known the '@' (circle/9) signs, the clear "67", the date numeral and the signature "Nicle"(?) - blocker: no-key-material; 14 signs in name positions, too few to value from context, and no nomenclator survives with the letter or in the neighbouring records
- hard to read on the scan two lost signs on f. 243 (c2 blot, c6 paper hole) - blocker: illegible; there is no second copy (P2 is the same leaf with the flap down), so only the original or a better image can settle them
- no key known sender, recipient and year - blocker: no-key-material; the names sit in the '@' code signs; no docket or address leaf in the record
Already tried
- ☑ siblings neighbouring SP 106/10 records R922-R933 opened (2 Oct 2026); none is in this pigpen; f. 242 at first taken for a second copy of f. 243; corrected 12 Oct 2026 (WAINUT, PR #30): P2 and P3 are the same leaf, flap down and lifted, so the comparison checked the transcription only
- ☑ clear-pages no clear page, docket or decipherment on ff. 241-243 or in the neighbouring records; the top half of f. 241 is show-through from another leaf, not text
- ☑ known-keys the pencil flap key tested in all orientations and rejected
- ☑ print web search (SP 106/10 pigpen, Nancy), the GL.htm copies in the repo and Tomokiyo's Cryptiana index (only the Walsingham-Wilkes pigpen): no edition; Sheila Richards, Secret Writings (1973), reported by Lasry, not seen; CSP needs a year or names
- ☑ key-rebuild homophonic key built by annealing (hc3.py) on the p. 3 hand transcription plus hand anchors (key.json); extended 2 Oct (H3, C*2, C1/F2 polyphones) and 3 Oct (F*1 = l, D*1 = o); joint re-anneal over all pages tried (anneal.py), over-fits
- ☑ retry pp. 1-2 hand-transcribed (2 Oct) and every unread word re-read sign by sign at 3-4x (3 Oct); measured 84.0% -> 95.6%
Send a result
One closed gap counts: a code group valued, a passage re-read, a key or clear copy found elsewhere. It is credited to you on the write-up.