Puzzle 1
Starter clue: I = S
BXDELFCEYNFJIFEJOFLYMNIIRTXGNI,OMFPNIQYCPYOFMNOFIICXEMXGNI.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- L
- M
- N
- O
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Hard Cryptograms Set 110
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: R = I
YFWZMCRMKWIMJWAZCZUZYFKSLRNYJYXHBZMYFKSLRNYJRBFWLLRTRJRMS.
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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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: N = L
BXSNNKJRVRWBKDGYRDGKDGESNNSDQ,NSZLTPSNSTKDGJKVFRDKBPSNNSDQ.
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 4
Starter clue: L = E
FTLALCALCIIEVJZXBMWBJXWVLJWLX,DLWCHXLFTLALCALCIIEVJZXBMPLJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: O = E
QZEOXZMYQNMQSKSGCGMPHGQTNMGSS-QOWAOUOBAOUYZM,WFYQEOBUONBIFS.
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 6
Starter clue: O = T
OBDXZYHOZWOBDOBZFHYLLUMNN,JCOBDKBZBMLWDNOYOAZDLHZOWZFVDOYO.
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)
- “Fountain heads and pathless groves, Places which pale passion loves.”— John Fletcher, 1647, The Nice Valour, Act III. Sc. 3 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=F C=I D=U E=N F=A G=V H=Z I=S J=D K=Q L=T M=L N=E O=P P=C Q=W R=G S=J T=R U=K V=X W=B X=O Y=H Z=Y
- “A poet without love were a physical and metaphysical impossibility.”— Thomas Carlyle, 1828, Burns. Edinburgh Review, 1828 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=M C=W D=Q E=X F=P G=F H=D I=U J=L K=H L=S M=T N=C O=G P=K Q=J R=I S=Y T=B U=R V=Z W=O X=N Y=A Z=E
- “Still amorous and fond and billing, Like Philip and Mary on a shilling.”— Samuel Butler, 1678, Hudibras, Part III, Canto I. Line 687 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=S C=X D=N E=B F=Y G=D H=Z I=J J=M K=A L=E M=Q N=L O=W P=H Q=G R=O S=I T=P U=V V=R W=U X=T Y=F Z=K
- “There are all kinds of consciences, because there are all kinds of men.”— Mark Twain, 1906, What Is Man? and Other EssaysCipher key: A=R B=O C=A D=B E=K F=T G=X H=U I=L J=N K=Y L=E M=F N=J O=G P=M Q=V R=W S=Q T=H U=P V=I W=C X=S Y=Z Z=D
- “To be constantly living with an ill-tempered person, must be dreadful.”— Jane Austen, 1815, EmmaCipher key: A=P B=D C=V D=Q E=B F=U G=I H=W I=F J=X K=Y L=K M=N N=A O=E P=G Q=T R=J S=L T=H U=R V=Z W=M X=C Y=S Z=O
- “The point of the thorn is small, but he who has felt it does not forget it.”— Italian proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=D B=H C=U D=E E=C F=R G=J H=N I=V J=B K=W L=S M=A N=L O=T P=Z Q=K R=Q S=X T=Y U=M V=G W=F X=P Y=I Z=O