Puzzle 1
Starter clue: O = E
WOYSHGOIQDYXSCRXYMOBYOCGXQOQXORGZIQOVLDCTXCJ,PISLKMXCDYSEOIZ.
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 67
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: T = E
PVDT,NSODPAVETYBCLMSTTAKSCMFNTYBUNFTSGLDPA,FSDPITNBDMPBCVKPCC!
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: W = E
PNWPVIWXJKPSGWUWDWMQWUMCPSPNMOASOWCWEHFSVWAOSXMOBPNJOSPNWVC.
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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- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: M = I
DTWKQTBTTIEMQMO,WXFKI,KIUNTOMHMPXBOMJTNLSQTNMAMTUKIUHOPNMAMTU.
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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- T
- U
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- Y
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: J = E
YJOYAVZTEACDANLZHUEAPIJUERDYJHCJTQYAIVBOCYJDZACYIBCYJOHNLZJ.
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
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- S
- T
- U
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- Y
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: E = A
JTMQXKPRQXUBETBEFTUEPVCEYKTKEZSKQXRMTVUPUAXETEQKMPLMCQXUVESP.
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)
- “Let observation with extensive view Survey mankind, from China to Peru.”— Samuel Johnson, 1749, The Vanity of Human Wishes, Line 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Z B=X C=N D=A E=P F=J G=S H=B I=R J=D K=C L=M M=H N=Q O=E P=F Q=V R=W S=O T=K U=G V=Y W=L X=I Y=T Z=U
- “Ay me, how many perils doe enfold the righteous man, to make him daily fall!”— Edmund Spenser, 1590, The Faerie Queene, Book I. Canto VIII. St. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=I C=L D=M E=P F=T G=U H=Q I=K J=Z K=F L=S M=D N=H O=W P=A Q=B R=C S=O T=E U=G V=Y W=X X=V Y=R Z=J
- “The true way to be deceived is to think oneself more knowing than others.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1665, Maximes, 127 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=K B=G C=S D=C E=L F=M G=B H=F I=U J=A K=Y L=P M=I N=H O=N P=T Q=V R=Z S=O T=Q U=D V=R W=E X=W Y=X Z=J
- “We have seen civil, human, and religious liberty verified and glorified.”— Warren G. Harding, 1921, Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=F B=S C=Z D=W E=C F=M G=X H=G I=N J=B K=A L=T M=I N=R O=L P=O Q=V R=K S=Y T=E U=D V=P W=H X=U Y=Q Z=J
- “He should not complain of being cheated who buys the cloth by the sample.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=O B=Y C=T D=C E=N F=Z G=R H=A I=B J=E K=V L=P M=X N=M O=S P=F Q=W R=G S=Q T=D U=I V=U W=K X=J Y=H Z=L
- “Clothing the palpable and familiar with golden exhalations of the dawn.”— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1800, The Death of Wallenstein (translation), Act I. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=P C=F D=K E=A F=B G=Y H=Q I=J J=C K=I L=S M=O N=Z O=V P=N Q=T R=G S=W T=L U=E V=D W=U X=H Y=M Z=R