Puzzle 1
Starter clue: S = I
KSPGSOADTSOWPXUUXO-ANOAN,DOJ,DAYGNWKNDYNAYXOIHDKN,SOGSAASUQISPSYHAFEISUN.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Hard Cryptograms Set 140
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: F = E
MFGMIGYDDGLRVQFUJSYUBVIUUKGEKLCFGGMFXLFVYKRDGLFIDRLFKEMYDFAFDYCMGSKDG.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: W = T
UOCHUHWGPKTPUPJUUGNFWQHWFPZO,HKRQOBJUGWLHNHGKQWWFOEGDOTJWJUOIGPEHWGPKQ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: R = E
TKMFJGGNWQNQWATQKMERSPMAYRJPATRMMRR,JKVTKMOQWAFRJMPWRMGTDRFJINRWDRHAYR.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: F = A
RJKPKYFPQGJFREOOZRJKZLJAOFP'ZOEWKFZZFEO,-RAEO,KXIS,GFXR,RJKCFRPAX,FXURJKDFEO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: Q = A
EQYSEQBIQPQJXIGNJFZYI,CMNJIEQUYZYAIJVJIAQYALQFMIFUDQPPSTFZLUAFNFMIPQTF.
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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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)
- “Rich in saving common-sense, And, as the greatest only are, In his simplicity sublime.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1852, Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, Stanza 4 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=W C=J D=A E=B F=U G=H H=Y I=L J=D K=R L=Z M=Q N=E O=N P=C Q=P R=F S=I T=V U=M V=K W=G X=O Y=T Z=X
- “He that is strucken blind cannot forget the precious treasure of his eyesight lost.”— William Shakespeare, 1595, Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=D C=G D=S E=F F=E G=T H=Z I=A J=B K=O L=R M=H N=V O=W P=X Q=K R=U S=L T=Q U=N V=C W=M X=P Y=I Z=J
- “Reparation for our rights at home, and security against the like future violations.”— William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, 1770, Letter to the Earl of Shelburne, Sept. 29, 1770 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=C C=P D=K E=L F=H G=I H=A I=V J=U K=N L=Y M=W N=G O=E P=O Q=S R=D S=X T=F U=R V=Z W=T X=Q Y=J Z=M
- “In small proportions we just beauties see, And in short measures life may perfect be.”— Ben Jonson, 1640, Underwoods, To the immortal Memory of Sir Lucius Cary and Sir Henry Morison. III (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=Q C=Z D=F E=W F=M G=L H=C I=Y J=A K=N L=X M=S N=P O=H P=U Q=O R=E S=J T=I U=G V=D W=R X=K Y=B Z=V
- “There mark what ills the scholar's life assail, - Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.”— Samuel Johnson, 1749, The Vanity of Human Wishes, Line 159 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=U C=P D=J E=I F=A G=W H=B I=V J=H K=E L=C M=Q N=G O=L P=R Q=K R=T S=Y T=Z U=D V=X W=F X=N Y=M Z=S
- “Many make a large fortune, who remain underbred and pathetically stupid to the last.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=D B=K C=W D=C E=M F=T G=F H=V I=E J=R K=J L=P M=H N=O O=Q P=L Q=A R=Z S=Y T=S U=I V=B W=X X=G Y=N Z=U