Puzzle 1
Starter clue: M = E
QWBRMQFLCRSUCYYVEMKWIWRESBLRWBMMRLMQCIWJHPMCRRCYMIRBPMJABMKRLMPMECPKJWPLSBRCYMIRB.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Action Cryptograms Set 35
6 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: O = T
SYAFOKREKPYWOFSYEYTUYW;ZFMGOGROEHSCRGAYRROFWFOEHWCOHTGDYKRFTWGYMGAOEYKRRKCTOFAKOFQA.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: G = O
WGRMWPXDVCZJJVNFZYXMFWNGBGECGUUMRMTNBZBKBGWGECGUUMMBK,GEUCZWUMUZBWZBKBGWGEUCZWUMCZHM.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: E = T
FVEHRDSCVBSLEDEDSEALKDEZSNVRZLKDE;SUWLUEDSEBSLEDFVEHRWSAVEPWPPHAWHETSRMVHUWVARESUWLE.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: C = E
HRACJWHAOCMGFNFAMHRPNCYACSCJAMMANFWCHJDCRHNCAOCCSCJAM,YJWFJAH-WYKYINCYWKZYIVMAH-XHNNHZ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 6
Starter clue: D = E
UPYXCUEDPDBRWUBHDBJUEDWVVWBPRGVSDJ;ZYUUEDPDBRJGMYXV-RUPDWSRDUUBJMVGPDIDPBJGJDHBPDAUBGJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
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 (6 solutions)
- “Most emphatically we do not wish to see the man of great talents refused the reward for his talents.”— Theodore Roosevelt, 1905, Fifth Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=U B=S C=A D=B E=W F=P G=K H=G I=N J=F K=D L=H M=E N=J O=V P=R Q=M R=T S=I T=Q U=C V=Y W=O X=Z Y=L Z=X
- “Be not ashamed to be helped; for it is thy business to do thy duty like a soldier in the assault on a town.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=N B=J C=U D=K E=H F=O G=I H=Y I=G J=X K=A L=Z M=R N=Q O=T P=M Q=W R=S S=B T=L U=P V=C W=D X=V Y=E Z=F
- “To be truly happy is a question of how we begin and not of how we end, of what we want and not of what we have.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=J B=N C=H D=L E=F F=S G=O H=V I=X J=P K=D L=Z M=E N=I O=K P=R Q=C R=B S=M T=G U=W V=Y W=T X=U Y=Q Z=A
- “Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us dare to do our duty as we understand it.”— Abraham Lincoln, 1859, Address, New York City, Feb. 21, 1859 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=R B=F C=V D=H E=T F=L G=X H=U I=Q J=B K=G L=I M=W N=K O=P P=O Q=Z R=S S=A T=Y U=N V=E W=D X=J Y=C Z=M
- “Often do the spirits of great events stride on before the events, And in to-day already walks to-morrow.”— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1800, The Death of Wallenstein (translation), Act V. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=X C=E D=B E=Q F=I G=P H=O I=L J=N K=Y L=Z M=S N=R O=H P=G Q=J R=F S=V T=U U=C V=K W=D X=M Y=A Z=W
- “Truly there is a tide in the affairs of men; but there is no gulf-stream setting forever in one direction.”— James Russell Lowell, 1870, Among My Books, First Series. New England Two Centuries ago (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=I C=Y D=E E=H F=W G=O H=D I=V J=N K=X L=K M=G N=P O=Z P=R Q=J R=S S=M T=Q U=T V=F W=A X=L Y=U Z=B