Puzzle 1
Starter clue: D = O
KJKBRYEVXDDTSDEVDZJDQYKIJUYCOV,OITJDNIDCCUOJMYDMHYBOVDSVDZQYUKITVDZEQOAN.
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 79
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: V = E
YVQRFLREPVRYVVAG,LHNOKQVYVQRFLREPVREDGR,RETVHAVJGLJRYKUV,LHNVTKBFVHAVKCVMVR.
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: H = O
SQIFPUKBVCBATHYEQIFWESG,GHEPIFBATZBVCPJIFBGZNQVHEPG.HUPA,RHVCG,ZFHPLPKCAHVCG!
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: W = T
WETPZBFDAWETTPYWEFWBKRFDNWLBFBUMSWEYDNIEWETKTVWYTDATPKEPVOTLTYSWDQVDYKBWS.
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: B = T
BIXTOIBCJBIYEPXEYPBLXRICUMIXVDQYQBYPBDCQCB,DQFXRICUMIXVDQDFYSTDBYALEADVYCB.
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: O = E
AHLODXAHUJIOMAKEOC,OGVOKJHRDOMSDC,SHCNOJISHEYPBAYZRPOLKSVOAHQPDZYRDZRPDVSAHL.
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)
- “It is very good for you to be in the way, and to know what people say of you behind your back.”— Oscar Wilde, 1895, An Ideal HusbandCipher key: A=C B=S C=W D=O E=R F=J G=X H=L I=N J=T K=I L=Q M=P N=K O=A P=Z Q=B R=V S=F T=D U=H V=Y W=M X=G Y=E Z=U
- “Persuasive speech, and more persuasive sighs, Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes.”— Alexander Pope, 1720, The Iliad of Homer (Pope's translation), Book XIV. Line 251 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=Q C=F D=G E=I F=U G=H H=N I=W J=T K=O L=A M=Y N=D O=M P=V Q=R R=S S=Z T=L U=K V=E W=X X=J Y=P Z=B
- “By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, Whoever knocks!”— William Shakespeare, 1606, Macbeth, Act IV. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=I C=K D=X E=M F=H G=S H=O I=T J=D K=R L=V M=J N=A O=Z P=E Q=Y R=L S=B T=G U=P V=C W=U X=Q Y=F Z=W
- “The axis of the earth sticks out visibly through the centre of each and every town or city.”— Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1858, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, VI (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=I C=P D=O E=H F=S G=Z H=J I=G J=Q K=C L=V M=L N=U O=D P=A Q=W R=K S=Y T=E U=B V=N W=T X=M Y=R Z=X
- “Thought is the property of him who can entertain it, and of him who can adequately place it.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1850, Representative Men, Shakespeare (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=T C=I D=A E=P F=D G=B H=J I=H J=S K=Z L=Y M=W N=K O=G P=R Q=N R=F S=Q T=U U=M V=C W=X X=O Y=E Z=V
- “In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=I B=L C=D D=R E=K F=Q G=X H=N I=H J=T K=C L=S M=W N=B O=E P=U Q=J R=O S=A T=Z U=G V=P W=M X=V Y=F Z=Y