diff --git a/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/draw_split_decomposition.py b/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/draw_split_decomposition.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e075036
--- /dev/null
+++ b/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/draw_split_decomposition.py
@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+"""Draw the two former "failures" (n=9 bipyramid, n=10 bipyramid+stacked) the
+RIGHT way: a proper 4-colouring whose 4 colours split into two complementary
+pairs, each inducing an outerplanar (bipartite => even-cycle) subgraph.
+
+Top row: the planar drawing with the 4-colouring; edges of the two split
+classes drawn in two styles. Bottom row: the two complementary subgraphs shown
+separately, each annotated outerplanar (tree / forest / even cycle).
+
+Renders into this experiments folder.
+"""
+import os
+from itertools import combinations
+
+import networkx as nx
+import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+
+T24 = [(0, 2), (0, 3), (0, 4), (0, 5), (0, 6), (0, 7), (0, 8),
+       (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4), (1, 5), (1, 6), (1, 7), (1, 8),
+       (2, 3), (2, 4), (3, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6), (6, 7), (7, 8)]
+T94 = [(0, 2), (0, 3), (0, 4), (0, 5), (0, 6), (0, 7), (0, 8), (0, 9),
+       (1, 2), (1, 3), (1, 4), (1, 5), (1, 6), (1, 7), (1, 8),
+       (2, 3), (2, 4), (3, 5), (4, 8), (5, 6), (6, 7), (7, 8),
+       (7, 9), (8, 9)]
+
+CMAP = {0: '#444444', 1: '#d62728', 2: '#1f77b4', 3: '#2ca02c'}
+CNAME = {0: 'grey', 1: 'red', 2: 'blue', 3: 'green'}
+SPLITS = [({0, 1}, {2, 3}), ({0, 2}, {1, 3}), ({0, 3}, {1, 2})]
+
+
+def is_outerplanar(G):
+    if G.number_of_nodes() <= 3:
+        return True
+    H = G.copy()
+    apex = max(H.nodes()) + 1
+    for v in G.nodes():
+        H.add_edge(apex, v)
+    return nx.check_planarity(H)[0]
+
+
+def enumerate_4colorings(G):
+    nodes = list(G.nodes())
+    adj = {v: set(G.neighbors(v)) for v in nodes}
+    coloring = {}
+
+    def bt(i, mx):
+        if i == len(nodes):
+            yield dict(coloring)
+            return
+        v = nodes[i]
+        used = {coloring[w] for w in adj[v] if w in coloring}
+        for c in range(min(3, mx + 1) + 1):
+            if c in used:
+                continue
+            coloring[v] = c
+            yield from bt(i + 1, max(mx, c))
+            del coloring[v]
+
+    yield from bt(0, -1)
+
+
+def find_good_split(G):
+    for col in enumerate_4colorings(G):
+        for A, B in SPLITS:
+            va = [v for v in G if col[v] in A]
+            vb = [v for v in G if col[v] in B]
+            GA, GB = G.subgraph(va), G.subgraph(vb)
+            if (is_outerplanar(GA) and nx.is_bipartite(GA)
+                    and is_outerplanar(GB) and nx.is_bipartite(GB)):
+                return col, (A, B)
+    return None, None
+
+
+def bipyramid_pos(rim_cycle, apexA, apexB):
+    k = len(rim_cycle)
+    order = rim_cycle[1:] + [rim_cycle[0]]
+    pos = {}
+    for i, v in enumerate(order):
+        x = 1.7 * (1 - 2 * i / (k - 1))
+        y = 1.0 * (x / 1.7) ** 2
+        pos[v] = (x, y)
+    pos[apexA] = (0.0, 0.62)
+    pos[apexB] = (0.0, -1.7)
+    return pos
+
+
+def describe(G):
+    if G.number_of_edges() == 0:
+        return "edgeless (isolated vertices)"
+    if nx.is_forest(G):
+        return "forest (tree, no cycles)"
+    girth_even = all(len(c) % 2 == 0 for c in nx.cycle_basis(G))
+    comps = nx.number_connected_components(G)
+    tag = "even cycles" if girth_even else "ODD CYCLE!"
+    return f"outerplanar, {tag}, {comps} component(s)"
+
+
+def draw_case(fig, gs_row, edges, pos, title):
+    G = nx.Graph(edges)
+    col, split = find_good_split(G)
+    A, B = split
+    node_colors = [CMAP[col[v]] for v in G.nodes()]
+    ea = [e for e in G.edges() if col[e[0]] in A and col[e[1]] in A]
+    eb = [e for e in G.edges() if col[e[0]] in B and col[e[1]] in B]
+    ecross = [e for e in G.edges() if e not in ea and e not in eb]
+
+    # left: whole graph, both classes highlighted
+    ax = fig.add_subplot(gs_row[0])
+    nx.draw_networkx_edges(G, pos, ax=ax, edgelist=ecross,
+                           edge_color='#dddddd', width=1.0)
+    nx.draw_networkx_edges(G, pos, ax=ax, edgelist=ea,
+                           edge_color='#e8860a', width=3.0)
+    nx.draw_networkx_edges(G, pos, ax=ax, edgelist=eb,
+                           edge_color='#7b2fbf', width=3.0, style='dashed')
+    nx.draw_networkx_nodes(G, pos, node_color=node_colors, node_size=720,
+                           edgecolors='black', linewidths=1.4, ax=ax)
+    nx.draw_networkx_labels(G, pos, ax=ax, font_color='white',
+                            font_weight='bold', font_size=11)
+    an = "/".join(CNAME[c] for c in sorted(A))
+    bn = "/".join(CNAME[c] for c in sorted(B))
+    ax.set_title(f"{title}\nsplit  [{an}] (orange solid)  |  "
+                 f"[{bn}] (purple dashed)", fontsize=10)
+    ax.axis('off'); ax.set_aspect('equal')
+
+    # middle: subgraph A alone
+    GA = G.subgraph([v for v in G if col[v] in A])
+    axA = fig.add_subplot(gs_row[1])
+    nx.draw_networkx_edges(GA, pos, ax=axA, edge_color='#e8860a', width=3.0)
+    nx.draw_networkx_nodes(GA, pos, node_color=[CMAP[col[v]] for v in GA],
+                           node_size=720, edgecolors='black',
+                           linewidths=1.4, ax=axA)
+    nx.draw_networkx_labels(GA, pos, ax=axA, font_color='white',
+                            font_weight='bold', font_size=11)
+    axA.set_title(f"[{an}] subgraph\n{describe(GA)}", fontsize=9)
+    axA.axis('off'); axA.set_aspect('equal')
+
+    # right: subgraph B alone
+    GB = G.subgraph([v for v in G if col[v] in B])
+    axB = fig.add_subplot(gs_row[2])
+    nx.draw_networkx_edges(GB, pos, ax=axB, edge_color='#7b2fbf', width=3.0)
+    nx.draw_networkx_nodes(GB, pos, node_color=[CMAP[col[v]] for v in GB],
+                           node_size=720, edgecolors='black',
+                           linewidths=1.4, ax=axB)
+    nx.draw_networkx_labels(GB, pos, ax=axB, font_color='white',
+                            font_weight='bold', font_size=11)
+    axB.set_title(f"[{bn}] subgraph\n{describe(GB)}", fontsize=9)
+    axB.axis('off'); axB.set_aspect('equal')
+
+
+rim = [2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 4]
+pos24 = bipyramid_pos(rim, 0, 1)
+pos94 = dict(pos24)
+pos94[9] = ((pos24[0][0] + pos24[7][0] + pos24[8][0]) / 3,
+            (pos24[0][1] + pos24[7][1] + pos24[8][1]) / 3)
+
+fig = plt.figure(figsize=(15, 10))
+gs = fig.add_gridspec(2, 3)
+draw_case(fig, [gs[0, 0], gs[0, 1], gs[0, 2]], T24, pos24,
+          "n=9  T24: 7-gonal bipyramid")
+draw_case(fig, [gs[1, 0], gs[1, 1], gs[1, 2]], T94, pos94,
+          "n=10 T94: bipyramid + stacked vertex 9")
+fig.suptitle("Both decompose: 4-colouring -> 2+2 colour split -> two "
+             "complementary outerplanar even-cycle subgraphs", fontsize=12)
+fig.tight_layout(rect=[0, 0, 1, 0.97])
+out = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)),
+                   'split_decomposition.png')
+fig.savefig(out, dpi=140)
+print(f"wrote {out}")
diff --git a/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/split_decomposition.png b/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/split_decomposition.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c240fe4
Binary files /dev/null and b/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/split_decomposition.png differ
diff --git a/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/two_color_split_survey.py b/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/two_color_split_survey.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6b8ef7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/papers/even_level_graph_generators/experiments/two_color_split_survey.py
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+"""Corrected sanity check for the nested-outerplanar-shells construction.
+
+The construction splits the FOUR colours into TWO complementary pairs (two
+parity classes). Each pair induces a bipartite subgraph; the two subgraphs
+partition the vertex set. For a nested-shell decomposition we want BOTH
+complementary subgraphs to be outerplanar (bipartite => only even cycles, so
+"even cycles" is automatic; outerplanar is the binding condition).
+
+There are exactly 3 ways to split {0,1,2,3} into two pairs:
+    {0,1}|{2,3}, {0,2}|{1,3}, {0,3}|{1,2}.
+
+Criterion (per triangulation): does SOME proper 4-colouring admit SOME split
+whose two complementary subgraphs are both outerplanar?
+
+This is the right test (an earlier version wrongly demanded that all SIX
+colour pairs be outerplanar, which odd bipyramids fail on the apex/heavy-rim
+pair -- but that pair is never one we'd use).
+
+Usage: python3 two_color_split_survey.py [n_max]   (default 10)
+"""
+import sys
+import os
+import time
+
+import networkx as nx
+
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+sys.path.insert(0, '/Users/didericis/Code/math-research/papers/'
+                   'level_resolutions_of_maximal_planar_graphs/experiments')
+from triangulation_gen import enumerate_all_triangulations
+
+# the 3 ways to split 4 colours into two complementary pairs
+SPLITS = [(({0, 1}), ({2, 3})),
+          (({0, 2}), ({1, 3})),
+          (({0, 3}), ({1, 2}))]
+
+
+def is_outerplanar(G):
+    if G.number_of_nodes() <= 3:
+        return True
+    H = G.copy()
+    apex = max(H.nodes()) + 1
+    for v in G.nodes():
+        H.add_edge(apex, v)
+    return nx.check_planarity(H)[0]
+
+
+def enumerate_4colorings(G):
+    nodes = list(G.nodes())
+    adj = {v: set(G.neighbors(v)) for v in nodes}
+    coloring = {}
+
+    def bt(i, mx):
+        if i == len(nodes):
+            yield dict(coloring)
+            return
+        v = nodes[i]
+        used = {coloring[w] for w in adj[v] if w in coloring}
+        for c in range(min(3, mx + 1) + 1):
+            if c in used:
+                continue
+            coloring[v] = c
+            yield from bt(i + 1, max(mx, c))
+            del coloring[v]
+
+    yield from bt(0, -1)
+
+
+def outerplanar_even(G):
+    """Outerplanar AND every cycle even (i.e. bipartite). Disconnected ok.
+    For a two-colour subgraph of a proper colouring bipartiteness is automatic,
+    but we verify it explicitly so the criterion is honestly enforced."""
+    return is_outerplanar(G) and nx.is_bipartite(G)
+
+
+def good_split(G, col):
+    """Return the first (sideA, sideB) split whose two complementary
+    subgraphs are both outerplanar-with-even-cycles, or None.
+    Disconnected subgraphs are allowed."""
+    for A, B in SPLITS:
+        va = [v for v in G if col[v] in A]
+        vb = [v for v in G if col[v] in B]
+        if outerplanar_even(G.subgraph(va)) and outerplanar_even(G.subgraph(vb)):
+            return (A, B)
+    return None
+
+
+def has_good_coloring(G):
+    """True iff SOME proper 4-colouring admits a valid 2+2 split.
+    Early-exits on the first good colouring."""
+    for col in enumerate_4colorings(G):
+        if good_split(G, col) is not None:
+            return True
+    return False
+
+
+def survey_n(n):
+    t0 = time.time()
+    tris = enumerate_all_triangulations(n)
+    n_good = 0
+    bad = []
+    for gi, G in enumerate(tris):
+        ok = has_good_coloring(G)
+        if ok:
+            n_good += 1
+        else:
+            bad.append((gi, G))
+    return n, len(tris), n_good, bad, time.time() - t0
+
+
+def main():
+    n_max = int(sys.argv[1]) if len(sys.argv) > 1 else 10
+    print(f"{'n':>3} {'tris':>6} {'has 2+2 split':>14} {'time(s)':>8}")
+    print("-" * 38)
+    for n in range(6, n_max + 1):
+        n, ntri, ngood, bad, dt = survey_n(n)
+        flag = "" if ngood == ntri else "   <-- GAP"
+        print(f"{n:>3} {ntri:>6} {ngood:>9}/{ntri:<4} {dt:>8.1f}{flag}")
+        for gi, G in bad[:5]:
+            edges = sorted(tuple(sorted(e)) for e in G.edges())
+            print(f"      no split: T{gi} edges={edges}")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()