Daily Casefile · Cipher
The Composing Stone Dispatch
≈ 6 min
When apprentice Clem Yates arrived before dawn to lock up the shop's type cases, he found the master compositor's personal galley tray overturned and a narrow strip of proof paper tucked beneath the composing stone's far corner, weighed down by a composing stick. The strip bore a short run of capital letters in smudged ink — not matching any job in the day's order book.
The scene
Aldgate & Sons Print Shop — the composing room, a long narrow workspace where lead type is sorted into wooden cases, a cast-iron composing stone runs the length of one wall, and ink-stained proof sheets hang from a wire above the galley trays.
Possible authors
- Ira Dunnmore — Ink Supplier's Agent
- Greta Presswick — Proof-Reader
- Oswin Langcroft — Type-Caster
- Nell Fershaw — Senior Compositor
Play today’s Cipher.
This case first aired on September 27, 2026. A fresh cipher runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.