The following article is Part 5 of a six-part series on the Kryptos Plaintext discovery. The original free pdf document can be downloaded from https://stephenbishop.org/downloads.
ARTISTIC CONSIDERATIONS
This second right side possibility with reversed direction plaintext is more satisfying from an artistic perspective, and has the interesting effect of EAST and TSEW meeting at the BERLIN CLOCK.
Until 1996, The Berlin Clock location was in Berlin, Germany on the median strip along Kurfürstendamm at the Uhlandstraße cross street(the clock was moved to the Europa Center down the street at that time). The original location is close to the Berlin Wall perimeter. The Clock was so close to The Wall that there is a conspiracy theory which alleges lights in The Berlin Clock were used to signal the East Berliners, who purportedly could see the clock lights from behind the wall in East Berlin. The conspiracy theory is nonsense, but it is based on the proximity of The Clock to The Wall, and Jim Sanborn might have considered this juxtaposition interesting.
The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 while Jim Sanborn was constructing Kryptos. He has spoken about its effect on his work, and he released the CLOCK plaintext on the 25th anniversary. This aspect of Kryptos may be an homage to the fall of the Berlin Wall and that Time[The Berlin Clock] had brought East and West together again.
CONTINUATION
Due to the above artistic considerations, the second possible right side proposed plaintext, Plaintext 4.2, was chosen to proceed with the final step.
PLAINTEXT 4.2, PROPOSED SYMMETRICAL K4 PLAINTEXT
xEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTxxBERLINCLOCKxxTSEWHTRONTSEWHTRONTSEWHTRONTSEWHTRONTSEWx
There are six unknown letters remaining. One possibility is that they are partial words continuing to trace out the building outline on the sides of the building and along the long front wall toward the Berlin Clock shape.
The unknown single letters on the ends of the symmetrical plaintext are partial words representing the sides of the building passed the stair step pattern. The partial words are (NORT)H on the left and H(TRON) on the right.
The unknown double letters on either side of the BERLINCLOCK plaintext are the partial words representing the continuation of the long front NHB wall, which continues into the Berlin Clock building shape area.
The partial words on either side of BERLINCLOCK are redundant. The full words EAST and WEST[TSEW] are already on either side of the BERLINCLOCK plaintext, and they already represent the front wall on either side of the building. Jim may have added the repeated partial words due to the length of the wall, or for the practical reason to pad out the plaintext to fit the allotted copper panel space.
The partial words on either side of the BERLINCLOCK plaintext are EA(ST) and (TS)EW, as if the words continue underneath BERLINCLOCK. Similar in concept to the Morse Code continuing under the stone strata.
PLAINTEXT 5, PROPOSED SYMMETRICAL K4 PLAINTEXT, with partial word remnants on second line _____HEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTEABERLINCLOCKEWTSEWHTRONTSEWHTRONTSEWHTRONTSEWHTRONTSEWH (NORT)_________________________________________(ST)_____(TS)_________________________________________(TRON)
The parentheses indicate that those letters, from the adjacent partial words, are not in the plaintext. The formatting of the blog post will in all likelihood misalign the partial word remainders in parentheses. The pdf version is the best source for proper alignment.
It is curious that Jim could have slid the EAST NORTH EAST pattern right by two letters to abut the BERLINCLOCK plaintext, thereby leaving three letters on the left end of the plaintext, which would then be (NO)RTH. Therefore, Jim chose to leave one letter on the left side and two letters on the right side next to BERLINCLOCK on purpose. He appears to have desired this partial word effect.
WRAP IT UP
Having symmetrically constructed the plaintext, all that remains is to slide the text right by 20 places to restore the known plaintext to the given locations.
PLAINTEXT 6, PROPOSED K4 PLAINTEXT
WHTRONTSEWHTRONTSEWHHEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTNORTHEASTEABERLINCLOCKEWTSEWHTRONTSEWHTRONTSE
This proposed final K4 plaintext contains 97 letters including the given 24 letters from Jim Sanborn.
