Puzzle 1
Starter clue: U = T
UDVLVAEKIUDAKXEIVHETJYUUDHUAUJVBIZVEMAGGABYSUPDVKTIYMIAUPAUDLVSYBUHKBV.
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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- T
- U
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- X
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- Z
Hard Cryptograms Set 144
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: Z = E
KWZZMVXOJRSNMC,WZYJTZEVMNSEWNMRMZUNEZ,FMZJERERWZTZZCJHM,JCLKJMNOEJEWZANZE.
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: F = I
QWNSKCUJHWZWPNXVXHVRSFHYQFRSXHXFPKBXCRSKPFRV,HKPNSKQXHVNCLWPFKPFRVKBGFHJ.
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: F = E
NDFBMXCPWQPECQLFEQF,XDLQDXFKIFNFETNPSFTFILYFTWIPAEMNGIF,KIPQFFTWIPAQGCNPA.
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: J = E
IVJKTLPMJUDLGMDRJGDJLXVPCKGRIEHRNNGLIFJTCRIXKRNPTJRGIVRMMPFTJCJJGUJKALT.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- M
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: B = E
FBGXDBYGURBFXYGXEYWB,CTUURBJIBDBFXZBLBHBDXEYGPDZBDURXUURBJFYSRUCBHXDYPTL.
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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- T
- U
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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)
- “There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.”— Terence, 163 BC, Heautontimoroumenos (Heauton Timorumenos), Act IV. Sc. 6, 1. (805) (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=C C=V D=H E=S F=J G=F H=A I=O J=B K=N L=R M=D N=Z O=Q P=W Q=P R=K S=L T=Y U=T V=E W=X X=G Y=U Z=M
- “Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose, Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes.”— Oliver Goldsmith, 1764, The Traveller, Line 185 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=J C=N D=Y E=S F=B G=Q H=I I=V J=A K=C L=D M=R N=O O=L P=Z Q=X R=T S=M T=K U=P V=F W=H X=U Y=W Z=E
- “We should never say anything with an air of authority, nor show any superiority of mind.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1871, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (J. Hain Friswell translation, 1871)Cipher key: A=K B=F C=U D=X E=B F=I G=M H=N I=J J=D K=O L=P M=C N=S O=Z P=R Q=W R=T S=H T=Q U=L V=Y W=E X=A Y=G Z=V
- “The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.”— Michel de Montaigne, 1580, Essays, Book I, Chap. XXII. Of Custom (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=L C=S D=H E=N F=E G=U H=X I=R J=Y K=P L=I M=A N=T O=J P=O Q=C R=Q S=B T=D U=K V=Z W=F X=W Y=V Z=G
- “The aroused conscience of humanity will not permit failure in this supreme endeavor.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1945, State of the Union AddressCipher key: A=V B=J C=M D=C E=Y F=P G=N H=W I=T J=E K=A L=O M=S N=L O=Q P=U Q=Z R=I S=K T=R U=D V=H W=G X=F Y=B Z=X
- “Men are in the main alike, but they were made several in order that they might be various.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1862, WalkingCipher key: A=J B=E C=B D=R E=L F=M G=N H=V I=W J=Y K=Z L=S M=P N=F O=X P=O Q=C R=H S=G T=U U=T V=Q W=K X=A Y=I Z=D