Puzzle 1
Starter clue: S = O
ASLSAXWSTLHCXWCASVTTSVMB-CPOJAGPLSTELBWYJLBSQGVLEHJPLBWHJELSMOSTE.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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- M
- N
- O
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Hard Cryptograms Set 131
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: O = E
MXYKEPXHLEVEO,LEKGGGOLLEDOMVEKXM,YVMFOKMCBHOAFPEDOOMIXHYONOMEXIGVJ.
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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- O
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: D = E
DBDNTKHDPDDAPQKWLHGCLPMZDYPONDYHGCLPYGBYHQYVDYQQCDDJMDHPDKWKQCDNP.
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: K = I
YZKS,YDJMYZKS,XMLDZJMGDZJVAFUOKSEFAZFINKGGLAKVAUSNMVDSFJDGKSFADXKSE.
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: A = E
TEXABDEACOAEHGSHHMPBPPTOALWAJBDA,BPATETJWPBDALWAYTBDCKBEPHGLWAGBKD.
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: Q = E
OEQJQMOFIGAXMOJQFSOCWSDOECINMCIOEQVXPDGYFIIXOJQMQQIIXPQUQIOXSYEQG.
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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- S
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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)
- “Not once or twice in our rough-island story the path of duty was the way to glory.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1852, Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, Stanza 8 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=H C=I D=V E=Y F=B G=D H=W I=K J=A K=Q L=T M=G N=Z O=L P=S Q=F R=X S=O T=R U=M V=U W=E X=C Y=P Z=J
- “No city or State, still less the Nation, can be injured by the enforcement of law.”— Theodore Roosevelt, 1903, Third Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=D B=U C=J D=H E=T F=B G=L H=R I=F J=W K=I L=S M=N N=M O=E P=Y Q=K R=Q S=Z T=X U=G V=A W=P X=O Y=C Z=V
- “Everyone seeks to find his pleasure and his advantage at the expense of others.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1871, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (J. Hain Friswell translation, 1871)Cipher key: A=K B=V C=H D=E E=M F=Q G=D H=N I=B J=X K=O L=I M=P N=R O=U P=S Q=T R=Z S=W T=Y U=J V=G W=F X=C Y=A Z=L
- “Vain, very vain, my weary search to find that bliss which only centres in the mind.”— Oliver Goldsmith, 1764, The Traveller, Line 423 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=H B=J C=G D=E E=D F=T G=S H=Z I=B J=R K=I L=W M=Y N=L O=F P=K Q=P R=Q S=N T=U U=O V=C W=X X=M Y=V Z=A
- “Unlearned men of books assume the care, As eunuchs are the guardians of the fair.”— Edward Young, 1728, Love of Fame, the Universal Passion, Satire II. Line 83 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=E B=A C=D D=R E=N F=W G=F H=O I=Q J=C K=I L=T M=K N=J O=M P=S Q=Y R=V S=B T=U U=Z V=P W=H X=L Y=G Z=X
- “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even touched.”— Helen Keller, 1903, Letter to Rev. Phillips Brooks, in The Story of My LifeCipher key: A=M B=X C=I D=L E=H F=A G=D H=Z I=N J=B K=Q L=Y M=S N=G O=T P=R Q=E R=P S=U T=K U=V V=W W=F X=O Y=C Z=J