Puzzle 1
Starter clue: Y = E
BAUXXWUKLHBMYXXEZOBZYIKYHLAYBAUTOYUNWHWYILPVLHTGRNOLAYB.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- X
- Y
- Z
Character Cryptograms Set 7
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: G = E
PQGULWGTFLHBUCWRZHPFGLHGQLPGWFNPCPQCUGXZPQGRZNZEPGEPZCEU.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- Y
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: U = O
DOEUTHJZEUTKWURJWHVHJZMV;DOEUTKDZKZDCC,DOEUTKCMMG,EUTKWURDZ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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- Y
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: X = E
BVYEXSBBWUCTCSBBWQRXWSX,CTWBVYEXLCWTXZYEXHQRXWSXTBHDPHXYI.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
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- Y
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: Y = E
HYGCYHVGLHYCYZYGLYKIAKU.YTSYIIYJSY,LVYJ,EMJULGJGSL,DWLGVGDEL.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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- Y
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: N = T
BIRMHNDANNWUNABWYNINSIVQBHAKQDUADITYWNMI,VAAFYDOQNNSQNADVU.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
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- N
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- X
- Y
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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 (6 solutions)
- “Small habits well pursued betimes may reach the dignity of crimes.”— Hannah More, 1786, Florio, Part I (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=S C=Z D=J E=P F=V G=O H=T I=D J=X K=B L=I M=W N=C O=R P=G Q=K R=F S=Q T=Y U=A V=N W=H X=L Y=E Z=U
- “The safeguards of virtue are hateful to those with evil intentions.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=K B=D C=O D=X E=N F=U G=E H=R I=Z J=P K=B L=A M=J N=L O=Q P=T Q=H R=V S=M T=G U=S V=Y W=F X=W Y=C Z=I
- “If you act you show character; if you sit still, if you sleep, you show it.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841, Essays: First SeriesCipher key: A=Q B=Z C=L D=I E=Y F=N G=P H=A I=D J=C K=S L=M M=E N=J O=F P=V Q=B R=W S=G T=U U=O V=R W=H X=K Y=X Z=T
- “Of the good man a good pledge, and of the bad neither pledge nor surety.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=V B=O C=A D=S E=H F=W G=X H=R I=Y J=C K=Q L=B M=K N=Z O=J P=U Q=P R=L S=G T=N U=M V=F W=D X=E Y=T Z=I
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”— Will Durant (Will Durant, summarising Aristotle. Often quoted as Aristotle’s own words; it is not.), 1926, The Story of PhilosophyCipher key: A=Y B=K C=R D=B E=I F=J G=A H=W I=L J=N K=D L=T M=S N=Z O=Q P=M Q=V R=F S=C T=X U=O V=H W=U X=G Y=E Z=P
- “We must not try to write the laws of any one virtue, looking at that only.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841, Essays: First SeriesCipher key: A=O B=W C=X D=N E=Q F=K G=D H=S I=E J=Z K=F L=J M=U N=T O=G P=C Q=A R=M S=H T=V U=Y V=L W=R X=B Y=I Z=P