Puzzle 1
Starter clue: J = E
MZADJRLXLSOURGJAPIYXSUMJOMERLMROXJO,-ALJAEMUJEYJOU,RLKAEMUJOVXIXMALJ.
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 132
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
EIOZABODYIBODYVEIOZAEPVAMCYNMTZHHOZMPHCVPDW,SNAMCBBOAIPUZHBODDOFOI.
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: S = T
UDSUXSGCRVPUCPJKPCRDPPXSUHGD,ECOORHSJDXLLKPDVHISXYCRMBXZSCRSUDIZXN.
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: T = E
QTKTNKQGBKQTGBOTPRUTBNRMEYTBNMETNKBZTERRKLUKGTALOLUDKTHKMETRVALVT.
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: D = O
OJFOLDXXVDHFNVUJ,OGSOVDXRIKVUJLROJ;UCNDDVOVDDXJFLVK,UCTFSDZCVKJOWRJO.
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 6
Starter clue: C = N
MECHQVJKFCTTEBOCOECFLVCEKOCEQLLVMWECOCI,ELFILVVFUYVKEEQLDLOCMODYVJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- L
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- N
- O
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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)
- “Two meanings have our lightest fantasies, - One of the flesh, and of the spirit one.”— James Russell Lowell, 1844, Sonnet XXXIV. (Ed. 1844) (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=X C=J D=M E=F F=B G=V H=Y I=R J=E K=D L=N M=T N=Z O=S P=U Q=K R=A S=G T=Q U=H V=P W=C X=I Y=L Z=W
- “Great men or men of great gifts you shall easily find, but symmetrical men never.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844, Essays: Second SeriesCipher key: A=T B=M C=Y D=N E=G F=V G=Z H=L I=R J=W K=X L=Q M=S N=U O=E P=I Q=K R=J S=B T=H U=C V=F W=D X=P Y=O Z=A
- “He that minds his business at home, will not be accused of taking part in the fray.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=Q B=P C=I D=E E=W F=V G=M H=O I=F J=B K=U L=C M=G N=Y O=L P=S Q=Z R=N S=T T=X U=H V=D W=J X=A Y=K Z=R
- “We test what we have done as our measures take root in the living texture of life.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1935, State of the Union AddressCipher key: A=L B=A C=Z D=G E=R F=Y G=H H=X I=Q J=P K=T L=I M=U N=S O=V P=D Q=W R=O S=B T=E U=N V=F W=J X=C Y=M Z=K
- “Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise; My footstool earth, my canopy the skies.”— Alexander Pope, 1734, An Essay on Man, Epistle I. Line 139 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=Q C=Y D=O E=J F=A G=U H=W I=G J=E K=H L=R M=X N=F O=S P=D Q=Z R=I S=N T=C U=M V=T W=K X=L Y=V Z=P
- “Conquest and dominion are not in our reckoning, or agreeable to our principles.”— Woodrow Wilson, 1915, State of the Union AddressCipher key: A=J B=M C=N D=P E=O F=A G=X H=Q I=G J=S K=T L=R M=C N=H O=I P=F Q=U R=Z S=W T=D U=B V=E W=K X=V Y=L Z=Y