Alan Bostick writes: Such messages can be cracked by a single
analyst with a bunch of sharpened pencils, a pad of paper, and
plenty of coffee.
This is true if "cracking" is merely exposing the text being
hidden.
After such an exposure, it's unlikely any cryptanalyst would then
be able to accurately unpack the idiosyncrasies of meaning conveyed
by a private or shared set of shorthand experiences.
To do so would certainly require access to a vastly disparate set
of records, coercive discussions with several people, and no small
number of intuitive leaps, if not outright guesses.
From what I can tell, Alec meant this kind of rich use of
jargon/idiolect, rather than an alphabetic or mechanical
substitution (e.g. using "baseball bat" to mean "WoMD" in every
instance).
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