Puzzle 1
Starter clue: E = T
HOIWGSLNPSEGGRWEKWEXAWEGXCXPWRPRK,EVBXXEEGXWILIAVLEGXIAMRLCMRPL.
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
Hard Cryptograms Set 126
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: D = E
PODZKXEDAHYUDSZFWJNQKTJYUDXDUUPOQKTQUPOJPZKDJVWQFDUQPQKPDKUDXE.
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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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: C = T
COMINXMNJJBYQCONCJVXZMBCGBCOCHHFVYO,NJCOMICONCJCNXPMGBCOKHCOBKS.
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 4
Starter clue: Y = E
IP"AVJUZF,AYYXZF,LYVBMNWBZZFLZBY!"VOOIEYIRYOIEYDPYJYONRHOVLIBMMPYOUF.
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 5
Starter clue: P = E
WRDRBPSRVQYHFRIWJSUGRIDCCPDYNPSTJPDUFTDFIDTJPJQPBTDIPRVJQPIWYRW.
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 6
Starter clue: M = E
NJGFIKMYPSNOXJMHZXJMKUJMYXJMECKMEZSYT,CYIXJMRCXJMKUJMYXJMECKMZFI.
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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- 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)
- “Brushing with hasty steps the dews away, To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.”— Thomas Gray, 1751, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Elegy in a Country Churchyard. Stanza 25 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=P B=M C=D D=F E=T F=X G=H H=B I=U J=K K=Y L=N M=L N=G O=R P=W Q=V R=A S=I T=J U=Z V=O W=S X=E Y=Q Z=C
- “The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.”— Oscar Wilde, 1891, The Picture of Dorian GrayCipher key: A=X B=Z C=W D=E E=Y F=R G=B H=C I=J J=A K=N L=V M=Q N=K O=H P=T Q=I R=P S=F T=G U=S V=D W=M X=L Y=U Z=O
- “They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing.”— William Shakespeare, 1597, The Merchant of Venice, Act I. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=I C=T D=Q E=P F=M G=W H=O I=Y J=S K=N L=Z M=E N=A O=H P=V Q=K R=L S=G T=J U=X V=U W=B X=R Y=C Z=F
- “Oh "darkly, deeply, beautifully blue!" As some one somewhere sings about the sky.”— Lord Byron, 1819, Don Juan, Canto IV. Stanza 110 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=U C=Z D=W E=M F=Y G=C H=G I=O J=R K=X L=B M=T N=I O=S P=H Q=J R=N S=Q T=V U=K V=A W=F X=P Y=E Z=L
- “No lover of his country would deliberately calculate the value of the Union.”— James K. Polk, 1848, Fourth Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=K B=V C=D D=L E=Q F=C G=W H=S I=U J=T K=J L=M M=G N=B O=X P=E Q=H R=O S=R T=A U=Y V=F W=N X=Z Y=I Z=P
- “Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they are old.”— English proverb, 1859, Recorded in Walter K. Kelly, Proverbs of All Nations, Compared, Explained, and Illustrated (London, 1859)Cipher key: A=X B=V C=A D=Z E=Y F=L G=I H=M I=D J=H K=R L=Q M=E N=C O=K P=S Q=J R=F S=U T=G U=W V=B W=P X=T Y=N Z=O