Mertonians mystified by tapestry code

As yet, no Mertonian has come forward with the correct translation of the code concealed in the stitched dots and dashes of Terese Agnew’s tapestry, 'Illumination' (see detail above), which hangs in the Porters' Lodge.

The code translates to another code and so forth - there are 4-5 codes to translate sequentially. However, super-smart codebreakers will know there is one step they can skip. To give you a helping hand we thought we would give you a couple of clues to help you decipher it along the way.

Five clues will be released, one at a time, on Facebook and Twitter every Friday from 9 January. Follow us to make sure that you get a head-start and to help ensure that you win the race to be the first Mertonian to crack the code!

Mertonians successful in deciphering this code should email Leah Mclaren with the solution. Good luck!

'Illumination' is the work of Wisconsin textile artist, Terese Agnew, and was commissioned by David Harvey (1957) for the College's 750th year. Inspired by decorative borders in illuminated manuscripts, the centre of the tapestry appears to be blank, however, up close, a series of carefully embroidered dashes conceal a hidden message. You can download a pdf of the tapestry code, and crack the code from home, or pop by to the Porters' Lodge and copy the code in person—with a pencil or electronically, one character at a time—like the scholars of Merton once copied and preserved knowledge one character at a time.

Hints

Overall hint:  The artist is not a puzzle master or code writer… do not be intimidated—this is not rocket science.  If you're not having fun you're trying too hard!

Hint to get past the first sequence: From on-off tones to another word for a jinx.

Hint to get past the second sequence: Two.

Hint to get past the third sequence: The oldest trick in the book.

Hint to get past the fourth sequence: SMS