Awesome. Thanks, John! I agree the tableau is not appreciated in its importance. I think I’ve ignored it too much in my own efforts, most likely due to the difficulty of figuring out how to align it (I try to pursue paths that minimize “arbitrary” choices). The pool-mirrored transposition is intriguing. I’ll definitely continue to consider it.
I’m happy to see you work with paper. I have been doing more of that recently, and I think what I like about it is that it slows you down enough to think a bit more about what you’re doing. Also I imagine it’s probably how Sanborn worked. The computer is fantastic for quickly pursuing ad-hoc ideas (perhaps an important idea that you would have missed if you were daunted by the effort!), but it’s often too tempting to just let it crank and hope for the best. Also, if you don’t keep logs of your computer work, something significant may be gone. Paper’s around for a while.
I hope you keep working on it. Being a novice at crypto is no reason not to pursue this. Sanborn was a novice, so maybe the novice has necessary perspective to find the idea that crypto “experts” would overlook.