Puzzle 1
Starter clue: W = E
UWVWZWDPXIBUQQHVQVLWCDWIGSKQBMLYRLLWXSFVGWKWBG.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Expert Cryptograms Set 33
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: D = E
ZJGDIH,IWIDUNHYWOHJPZKD;LVDGDIH,IWIDUNHYWOHDETOGD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: W = O
GJXIHBOKIISKTAIKOVIUHWEWMTI,OJCOUWEWMPZWWUHWVUZ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: G = T
GSCZOQNATOLGURGBVBXUGSZUESGOQVZOUQXSOGABHFOQVB.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: T = E
PJRTEJYRPJEHQPTFPT,TCTD,RFSGYJGWTPSEJYRPJEWTFZMW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: P = R
YBVKUPALURSVPGQPNOPVBOPLBORYVPYBVLUEMLUROZUDDU.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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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)
- “Let every man look to the bread upon which he must depend.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=X B=N C=B D=R E=Z F=S G=D H=K I=A J=F K=P L=H M=W N=G O=J P=Y Q=O R=C S=U T=Q U=L V=T W=E X=M Y=I Z=V
- “Absent, none without blame; present, none without excuse.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=D B=Y C=F D=E E=X F=K G=S H=T I=N J=B K=M L=P M=Z N=I O=U P=L Q=V R=J S=Q T=C U=W V=R W=O X=G Y=H Z=A
- “In her face excuse Came prologue, and apology too prompt.”— John Milton, 1667, Paradise Lost, Book IX. Line 853 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=F C=D D=V E=L F=B G=I H=R I=E J=N K=C L=J M=G N=K O=A P=Y Q=W R=Q S=X T=U U=P V=M W=O X=H Y=Z Z=T
- “The manly part is to do with might and main what you can do.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860, The Conduct of Life, Wealth (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=O C=E D=V E=G F=C G=T H=U I=B J=F K=J L=R M=Q N=L O=A P=K Q=N R=S S=H T=P U=I V=D W=Z X=W Y=X Z=M
- “Some forms of disease, even, may prophesy forms of health.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1862, WalkingCipher key: A=U B=G C=V D=N E=F F=A G=P H=D I=X J=O K=C L=K M=T N=Q O=Z P=S Q=I R=M S=Y T=E U=B V=W W=H X=J Y=R Z=L
- “The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo.”— William Shakespeare, 1597, Love's Labour's Lost, Act V. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=H C=B D=L E=N F=V G=C H=J I=X J=Z K=W L=S M=G N=Y O=A P=R Q=U R=F S=M T=I U=O V=E W=K X=Q Y=T Z=P