Puzzle 1
Starter clue: F = E
IOATAMILRFZMRFNOHFXIFUXZFAMRFTIFDXIIJSF,QTVQMR.
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
Expert Cryptograms Set 31
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: H = E
XUFOFGJBSHQGHJTHETHHIGAYXUFEUFIVTQKHJTHPQSSFM.
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: O = E
VUOGTSYOCKZMASOQAOSFUOAVUOZPCQCANICKNZXTCVVOS.
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: N = U
POVYNRYNZAIDJCGICZDSWQNUH,VYNSNEGWYNUYPZPHGYPG.
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: Y = E
IYVDZCLJBIYQQPVDLLPBLRKTMJLRAYEYWJRBYBCYDBPQK.
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: B = I
KRKXAEJBQTBYOSXEJOJUEBEYZVXHJUYKXOBFFZUAWSXBE.
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)
- “Spirits when they please can either sex assume, or both.”— John Milton, 1667, Paradise Lost, Book I. Line 423 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=Z C=K D=X E=J F=E G=V H=L I=S J=U K=F L=W M=T N=Y O=P P=Q Q=O R=H S=M T=R U=C V=B W=D X=A Y=G Z=N
- “You must grease the wheels if you would have the car run.”— Italian proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=I B=G C=Q D=Z E=W F=U G=S H=E I=L J=T K=V L=X M=N N=P O=M P=C Q=A R=J S=R T=H U=O V=D W=K X=Y Y=F Z=B
- “The judge is condemned when the criminal is acquitted.”— Publilius Syrus, 42 BC, Sententiae (Maxims), 407 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=K C=I D=F E=V F=W G=J H=B I=L J=P K=S L=Y M=O N=A O=E P=R Q=M R=X S=D T=U U=H V=T W=Z X=Q Y=G Z=C
- “If you would have the lamp burn, you must pour oil into it.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=D B=J C=E D=A E=S F=X G=T H=N I=H J=V K=G L=Z M=Q N=U O=F P=I Q=B R=W S=M T=K U=R V=Y W=P X=C Y=O Z=L
- “We might as well omit to study Nature because she is old.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=R B=S C=H D=I E=B F=P G=J H=Q I=W J=A K=D L=T M=N N=X O=Z P=O Q=L R=U S=V T=Y U=K V=M W=C X=F Y=E Z=G
- “Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.”— Publilius Syrus, 42 BC, Sententiae (Maxims), 847 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=I C=B D=X E=T F=L G=J H=C I=Z J=H K=E L=M M=Q N=D O=W P=K Q=N R=V S=O T=G U=A V=U W=F X=R Y=S Z=P