IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT (well, sort of)

[asteckley]

Overall, I don't think anagrams are an effective way of proving/verifying priority nowadays.

I don't think the practice was ever thought to be the best one available, even at the time. (Even before modern cryptography, one could easily have placed a wax-sealed clear text summary  of one's solution into the hands of an honest authority such as a judge or clergyman.)  It was basically the Renaissance version of a Provisional Patent, but I suspect it was always considered somewhat recreational.