Puzzle 1
Starter clue: I = E
QIDDNIWVIRDPJVQBKMTUZJVIAIVBJPUDNIVTUWTUWWVJJAIKJZONRUWI.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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Hard Cryptograms Set 106
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: S = R
SMTRPNZ,SMTRPNZQVQPNSTDNFSOVQCH,JNZSMTRZOCDNFFCSQMTHZSCFMT!
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: E = T
EVULKPLBEGPDJDPBEEGLOALOEGPXVDUW.CVBEHPVHUPPFLBE,EGJELBJUU.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: V = E
SKVSVVSKYTSKVLGLLPXUVQUYAODQ,AKOBVSKVYBEEYQOFQDXAODQZYDVF.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: F = T
TLHLFFKOHUOFEGOTLAGOPOENEHJYKDFECRCOARVUMTLEHJEFFLLFKOGC.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: E = S
VQNVFEPXMZAYH.HYZENZQQAMVHZDFEXGUWUXWQUVBPVEHXBZEYHYUMUEH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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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 the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1842, Poems (1842), Locksley Hall. Line 182 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=D C=X D=T E=Y F=Q G=J H=Z I=E J=O K=S L=M M=P N=H O=C P=W Q=L R=A S=B T=I U=N V=R W=G X=K Y=U Z=F
- “Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in!”— Alfred Tennyson, 1850, In Memoriam A.H.H., CV. Stanza 5 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=Q C=E D=F E=K F=L G=J H=S I=W J=B K=X L=P M=I N=U O=H P=O Q=M R=G S=R T=N U=Z V=Y W=V X=A Y=D Z=T
- “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”— Oscar Wilde, 1891, The Soul of Man Under SocialismCipher key: A=G B=S C=M D=R E=T F=X G=H H=P I=C J=A K=V L=I M=B N=U O=N P=E Q=Z R=J S=Y T=Q U=L V=O W=D X=W Y=K Z=F
- “The teeth of the puppy are growing, while the old dog is gnawing bones.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=W B=L C=M D=N E=D F=S G=U H=C I=X J=K K=H L=P M=Q N=J O=I P=Y Q=G R=V S=T T=F U=R V=E W=Z X=A Y=O Z=B
- “Do not then be tired of receiving what is useful by doing it to others.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=F B=Q C=S D=A E=I F=T G=R H=N I=Z J=G K=H L=O M=Y N=V O=E P=C Q=X R=U S=J T=D U=B V=L W=K X=M Y=W Z=P
- “Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”— Mark Twain, 1901, Note to the Young People's SocietyCipher key: A=G B=N C=X D=F E=S F=Y G=M H=T I=C J=V K=U L=J M=R N=W O=B P=D Q=L R=Z S=K T=Q U=E V=A W=P X=O Y=H Z=I