Puzzle 1
Starter clue: T = E
XTYIMDFAXTSBRPMDFAOSYJT,YPZIGTMVRSSPDIEYHTMDFARXT.
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 40
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: W = S
WSYHFMHSWREHAHWRKHWIYJHDIKESXGEIZSWRKPWRWESXWHYD.
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: B = R
PBWPCTSBGEGBSUPCGANDTTSOH,IBSUVTSBGEGBSUPCGPCBSUG.
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: L = H
XYQNZAP,ZBPLKRQLLYLZWCRDLXSP,LYXZUMYNVULVKIRUSAQSP.
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: Z = E
ARKZSZMXVSJMVRZTUHGTUTZRAWNXVHPRQUSZT,TXYYGSZXTZH.
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: C = T
MNOZJCGINZVTNCIZVCJNGOLJCAZ,TNJINZVPZWYCKEZVCNPLC.
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)
- “Seat yourself in your place, and they will not make you rise.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=R B=F C=G D=O E=M F=U G=H H=K I=T J=C K=Z L=J M=Y N=B O=P P=N Q=X R=I S=L T=E U=V V=W W=Q X=S Y=A Z=D
- “Silence is the best resolve for him who distrusts himself.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1665, Maximes, 79 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=G C=Z D=F E=H F=N G=W H=E I=O J=V K=R L=J M=C N=Q O=X P=U Q=Y R=T S=I T=P U=A V=K W=S X=M Y=L Z=D
- “Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.”— James Russell Lowell, 1844, Poems (1844), The Present Crisis (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=R C=H D=A E=V F=Y G=E H=D I=W J=B K=M L=P M=X N=C O=L P=T Q=K R=Q S=O T=F U=N V=G W=U X=I Y=Z Z=J
- “We grant, although he had much wit, He was very shy of using it.”— Samuel Butler, 1663, Hudibras, Part I, Canto I. Line 45 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=L C=M D=C E=Q F=X G=P H=J I=F J=B K=O L=H M=V N=R O=Z P=T Q=G R=U S=I T=K U=S V=Y W=D X=W Y=E Z=A
- “Give me for my friends and neighbors wild men, not tame ones.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1862, WalkingCipher key: A=G B=U C=Q D=C E=Z F=X G=A H=S I=P J=Y K=V L=J M=F N=B O=K P=W Q=L R=I S=M T=N U=D V=R W=H X=O Y=T Z=E
- “Poverty does not destroy virtue, nor does wealth bestow it.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=U B=F C=T D=C E=B F=J G=Y H=Z I=D J=R K=H L=I M=P N=O O=V P=W Q=M R=X S=G T=N U=Q V=S W=A X=K Y=L Z=E