Puzzle 1
Starter clue: E = O
PGOHMGOZZUFEHEAVTEWVYVWLKEPK,OKFNOLVHGVORVHEDENVNJEPK?
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
- F
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- I
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Abraham Cowley Cryptograms Set 1
7 cryptograms to solve with a pencil. Each letter of the quote has been swapped for another letter, and the same swap holds all the way through.
20 pt ciphertext — the size a newspaper puzzle page never gives you. 26 pt ciphertext with wide letter spacing and room to write. Both sizes print on US Letter with the answer key on its own page.
Printing this web page instead? Press Ctrl+P (⌘+P on a Mac). The navigation and buttons drop away, and the answer key prints on its own page — open it below first if you want it included.
The puzzles
Puzzle 2
Starter clue: S = E
YEHS,EGUFFLFFBWYUWISKSKMDQS,WYSEKFCAYSUHUKMDKLRSQBUFADQS.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
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- D
- E
- F
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- H
- I
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: G = N
GRUTKGPKMUTCZCURQRJC,SGWGRUTKGPLSMU,XVUSGCUCZGSYGRNWRCMSYNSEMYSMU.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: A = E
JLBJHVQATTZQJVKLOVANAEHTBELAZEHBJKH,JLUZAQQJUEGLBKTTBEFQUAHTGKNBQEETAYJHA.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: T = E
LWCCUCCRITHCUOOTORITYT,LAYNISOIAMCPTQTYSBYTURMYTPYWZFJMRW?NIS,GUZALGAYUCO,RTCCGTNIS?
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- D
- E
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: L = E
HFLXQYDPLIHPYGDJWEJXMPOLILM,ILMEVAFLPIWQOFAV'YFPXMGDJWJZAJGGJDLQOXIPXM,AFLODLPAYLPELFLIMPXMGILM.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
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- D
- E
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Puzzle 7
Starter clue: O = A
JLAJLVDXJSAODJLXWOFXBUJLADOVM,OMQQDVMFX,OMQZOUAXEWDQDVMFOZOVM;JLAUROMJXXBKFVMJLAAODJL,OMQODAHVJLKWMXJOMJQDVMFVMZEDAXLOMQEOVD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
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Solver's cheat sheet
- Most common letters
- E T A O I N S H R D L U
- Most common 1-letter words
- A I
- Most common 2-letter words
- OF TO IN IT IS BE AS AT SO WE HE BY OR ON DO IF ME MY UP AN GO NO US AM
- Most common 3-letter words
- THE AND FOR ARE BUT NOT YOU ALL ANY CAN HER WAS ONE OUR OUT DAY GET HAS HIM HIS HOW MAN NEW NOW OLD SEE TWO WAY WHO BOY DID ITS LET PUT SAY SHE TOO USE
- Common double letters
- LL EE SS OO TT FF RR NN PP CC
- Common word endings
- -ING -ION -ENT -TION -LY -ED -ER -EST
- After an apostrophe
- T (don't) S (it's) RE (we're) VE (I've) LL (we'll) D (I'd)
Want this on its own sheet? Print the letter frequency chart.
Show the answer key (7 solutions)
- “What shall I do to be forever known, And make the age to come my own?”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Poems, The Motto (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=Q C=Z D=C E=O F=D G=H H=T I=X J=Y K=N L=K M=S N=M O=A P=W Q=J R=G S=P T=F U=I V=E W=R X=U Y=V Z=L
- “Hope, of all ills that men endure, The only cheap and universal cure.”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Poems, The Mistress. For Hope (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=S C=Y D=U E=O F=L G=F H=P I=M J=K K=N L=I M=D N=Z O=J P=X Q=R R=V S=E T=B U=A V=G W=T X=Q Y=H Z=W
- “Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, But an eternal now does always last.”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Davideis, Book I. Line 25 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=F C=E D=X E=Y F=Z G=N H=K I=Q J=M K=I L=P M=S N=W O=J P=G Q=C R=O S=A T=H U=T V=U W=D X=B Y=L Z=R
- “An harmless flaming meteor shone for hair, And fell adown his shoulders with loose care.”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Davideis, Book II. Line 95 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=E B=H C=X D=V E=O F=U G=W H=R I=K J=A K=I L=N M=Q N=T O=G P=B Q=L R=P S=Y T=S U=D V=M W=Z X=J Y=C Z=F
- “Fill all the glasses there, for why should every creature drink but I? Why, man of morals, tell me why?”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Poems, From Anacreon, II. Drinking (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=C C=L D=J E=X F=K G=M H=G I=H J=B K=P L=F M=U N=W O=S P=D Q=V R=T S=Y T=E U=A V=Z W=I X=Q Y=R Z=N
- “When Israel was from bondage led, Led by the Almighty's hand from out of foreign land, The great sea beheld and fled.”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Davideis, Book I. Line 41 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=J C=V D=R E=B F=H G=F H=W I=L J=O K=C L=E M=D N=K O=G P=A Q=I R=P S=Q T=Z U=X V=Y W=M X=N Y=S Z=U
- “The thirsty earth soaks up the rain, And drinks, and gapes for drink again; The plants suck in the earth, and are with constant drinking fresh and fair.”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Poems, From Anacreon, II. Drinking (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=E B=U C=M D=R E=F F=K G=Z H=W I=Q J=T K=C L=H M=N N=V O=A P=J Q=D R=L S=Y T=B U=P V=I W=O X=S Y=X Z=G