Sir Thomas Urquhart

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AI model claims to solve 370-year-old Urquhart cipher, but critics challenge the source and method

As of September 2026: Died around 1660; cryptograms survive through later publications

Vals AI says Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.1 decoded the Cyphral Distich, a 64-number cipher in Scottish writer Sir Thomas Urquhart's 1653 book Logopandecteision, in 44 minutes with no human help. If verified, it would end a puzzle that has resisted readers since 1899, when a British journal first asked for a solution.

Updated Sep 14