Puzzle 1
Starter clue: H = T
HIZMZHIVPRMJDZPWHAWDHIZFZMH,PWDJMVHIVPTHIZBWNRIHHWFZ;FNHMHVUUHIZBJDZFZHHZDHIJPHIJHCIVOIVMSWCPDVRIHFJS.
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
Easy Cryptograms Set 52
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: X = E
KJXWRJDLXVTXCXWZXAQWXSQTWXTQGDCPOEXSZZQDWUQWX,DWAJXSDWWQZGTQFRZBXDTWZJXQZJXTZJTXX,RAQWQZTXVXDZFUBXCCQW.
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: X = E
KXZGBBRHXZNRXYABGGYTXUBVXYVRUNZGXVXRGBYUOGX,BVXZOQQXM'ZXIX,FKXVGKXHMXXLXFYZTBVX,YVRGKXVNTKGNVTYUXFYZQOGX.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
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- U
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- X
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: D = E
IDZQRESPZRTDFPDTKCTDDURFZDFY,YQKYNFCRSSRINFXYQDRANFNRFRCRETCTNDFPZYQDBZQRESPVDSNDHDYQKYYQDBCRSSRIRETZ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
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- X
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: H = E
VXHLHMWZFYHVVHLYPIIPWVTFLJHHDMZOVXHGMZNWVHPNUFZMVWJHHI,PZNWPQMZOMVTLFGPIILMWJFTKLPZJMZHWW,VXPZYBWMZHWW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
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- U
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- X
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: J = S
WRFJFHYXJRVTPJDYYFUJVCUFYUCVRXJJFHYXJRPFJJWRTPRFYUCVSRCVWRTWJFHYXJRPFJJSXWRRCHNJJCVFXVACUWTPWIFPFYXW.
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)
- “These things are not for the best, nor as I think they ought to be; but still they are better than that which is downright bad.”— Plautus, 194 BC, Trinummus, Act II. Sc. 2, 111. (392) (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=Y C=W D=R E=Z F=B G=P H=T I=H J=A K=X L=Q M=S N=U O=C P=N Q=J R=G S=D T=K U=L V=I W=O X=M Y=V Z=E
- “When I have presented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson.”— Confucius, 1861, The Analects (James Legge translation, 1861)Cipher key: A=D B=L C=S D=A E=J F=M G=F H=G I=K J=H K=W L=V M=Z N=Q O=B P=U Q=O R=I S=C T=R U=Y V=P W=N X=E Y=X Z=T
- “He stood beside a cottage lone and listened to a lute, One summer's eve, when the breeze was gone, And the nightingale was mute.”— Thomas K. Hervey, 1830, The Devil's Progress (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=O C=F D=X E=Y F=W G=T H=B I=V J=P K=H L=Z M=R N=I O=U P=K Q=M R=D S=J T=G U=L V=N W=Q X=E Y=A Z=S
- “We should so render a free consent, that in following the opinion of our friends they should believe that they follow ours.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1871, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (J. Hain Friswell translation, 1871)Cipher key: A=P B=Y C=F D=E E=U F=N G=Q H=V I=W J=M K=A L=K M=Z N=I O=J P=D Q=H R=O S=L T=R U=C V=B W=X X=G Y=T Z=S
- “There is no better ballast for keeping the mind steady on its keel, and saving it from all risk of crankiness, than business.”— 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=W B=U C=Q D=P E=X F=O G=M H=E I=L J=K K=C L=R M=I N=D O=G P=A Q=V R=J S=Z T=F U=Y V=T W=S X=H Y=B Z=N
- “The selfish man suffers more from his selfishness than he from whom that selfishness withholds some important benefit.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844, Essays: Second SeriesCipher key: A=P B=J C=O D=U E=V F=E G=Y H=L I=B J=S K=C L=G M=Z N=D O=Q P=N Q=X R=H S=W T=A U=R V=M W=T X=I Y=F Z=K