Puzzle 1
Starter clue: J = E
WYJADCYDJVMCQAVJWKMPDJAVJIDVYLCBVMRJUYA,SYLCBPANJGZYOZOVMAAVJIBPDSKJJACINCYA.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Hard Cryptograms Set 149
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: I = E
AMYGIIFWSFAMLEISAQBMGFGMTIJIKUAJISGMA,EKRIGYIIFLIEEGNSAUEIQ,MPFMHFPAISAQWSJGW.
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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- U
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- X
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: R = E
UQZAXDRIZGHXRKRGS.LDIPFHJRGCGRZSUVHQQAUXNDGUQZGNURG;SNRMORXRRHGDRGSAUXNDGARRS.
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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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: V = E
WNVNLMWNDYOJQGN,MSWNGVLWGJVOVLWNWNVGNLCV,XDYWLEPSOBLBVLOCMNSGTVYSOBEDHVYGALCV.
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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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: P = E
QWPAGLLGJPLZBLWGYPLAPGEPQWGQSPCZLQAETUPSPEPMPNPEFXZQPOXMQTKSTQWTMQWTLIPMQXEV.
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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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: T = E
ZJDSUXDTICQTITXYTU;XRSZWTDTLWTOHJULXMJGRS,HGAWKDGCLJKUTRUTMTRTXLWCUDXDTIOKJGRS.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- 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)
- “Poets lose half the praise they should have got, Could it be known what they discreetly blot.”— Edmund Waller, 1645, Poems, Upon Roscommon's Translation of Horace, De Arte Poetica (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=D C=L D=S E=J F=M G=K H=Q I=Y J=E K=R L=U M=A N=B O=W P=I Q=F R=V S=C T=X U=G V=H W=P X=Z Y=O Z=N
- “Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=M C=X D=P E=L F=T G=S H=F I=E J=R K=I L=B M=O N=J O=Y P=U Q=D R=K S=A T=V U=G V=C W=H X=Z Y=W Z=Q
- “Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; they were easiest for his feet.”— John Selden, 1689, Table Talk, Friends (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=Z C=U D=I E=V F=J G=S H=A I=N J=M K=B L=K M=Y N=H O=W P=G Q=L R=E S=T T=X U=O V=C W=P X=R Y=Q Z=D
- “The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made.”— Oliver Goldsmith, 1770, The Deserted Village, Line 13 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=G C=D D=O E=L F=J G=S H=V I=C J=B K=X L=A M=W N=H O=N P=K Q=U R=Z S=I T=P U=Q V=E W=T X=F Y=R Z=Y
- “The passages of Shakespeare that we most prize were never quoted until within this century.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1876, Letters and Social Aims, Quotation and Originality (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=P B=F C=M D=J E=R F=Q G=A H=X I=C J=G K=L L=S M=N N=V O=D P=E Q=T R=B S=W T=I U=Z V=Y W=H X=U Y=K Z=O
- “Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.”— Alexander Pope, 1711, An Essay on Criticism, Part II. Line 109 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=Q C=I D=R E=P F=G G=U H=M I=L J=O K=F L=T M=B N=Z O=Y P=J Q=K R=N S=D T=E U=S V=X W=H X=A Y=V Z=W