Puzzle 1
Starter clue: X = E
OLXUXJOGXGPVMZPNNBXVOCOLXZCCN,PJVLXPQXJGMYJPRBOLLXNZBGW-RLBOXGPZT.
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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- X
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- Z
Hard Cryptograms Set 128
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: B = E
JYBOSZBUVAAPJPARFRBVNBZPXJPTYSZJYPXLYJJYBUVAF,DXJRBVNBZPXJJYBTBO.
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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- X
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: T = E
KDTEZNQ-QNHRUDNQUKDTRPKOBKNXTBTPH,PBG'EOBUKNAPZTDOUVBTCCTJKVPZCOHT.
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: P = E
DBPABZAHZDPIPVTZEVZXJXPIPVRVNKJ,BZJANXUKPZAHEGG,ZXJFPAHZDXPIPVGNKJ.
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 5
Starter clue: V = E
PIJXGSVCVHAXRRIELUAIAVAXMMGPHRVH,XTYHVVIAVKQVXIXUAPRRVHCAEJCVWTVC.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: K = T
KSGKEVEGHXDVOMKCOMVYIHFGHIGOKCEHMKVQDIOMPODRGHMAOKCEHMKVQDIVQORG.
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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- R
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- T
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- 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)
- “The gentle Lady married to the Moor, And heavenly Una with her milk-white lamb.”— William Wordsworth, 1807, Poems in Two Volumes, Personal Talk. Stanza 3 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=J B=I C=O D=X E=C F=S G=L H=Z I=P J=N K=Q L=H M=Y N=R O=T P=A Q=V R=W S=F T=B U=G V=D W=K X=E Y=U Z=M
- “The wise man not only leaves out of his thought the many, but leaves out the few.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844, Essays: Second SeriesCipher key: A=N B=E C=Q D=B E=X F=Y G=P H=D I=R J=T K=Z L=G M=C N=V O=W P=O Q=J R=L S=I T=F U=M V=A W=K X=U Y=H Z=S
- “The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 5 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=P B=N C=F D=H E=G F=X G=D H=R I=K J=C K=T L=V M=Y N=O O=I P=A Q=W R=M S=Q T=E U=S V=U W=J X=B Y=Z Z=L
- “She that was ever fair and never proud, Had tongue at will, and yet was never loud.”— William Shakespeare, 1604, Othello, Act II. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=H C=X D=S E=I F=Y G=L H=W I=V J=D K=U L=K M=C N=O O=Q P=E Q=M R=P S=Z T=F U=G V=R W=B X=N Y=J Z=A
- “It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles whom we knew.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1842, Poems (1842), Ulysses (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=H B=J C=W D=V E=O F=Z G=Y H=S I=T J=M K=G L=U M=P N=X O=Q P=I Q=R R=L S=B T=N U=C V=E W=K X=A Y=D Z=F
- “The two weak points in our age are its want of principle and its want of profile.”— Oscar Wilde, 1895, The Importance of Being EarnestCipher key: A=D B=Z C=S D=P E=W F=G G=E H=A I=R J=V K=T L=J M=N N=M O=I P=C Q=F R=L S=H T=Q U=Y V=O W=X X=K Y=U Z=B