Puzzle 1
Starter clue: H = E
YNDHTHCNIJHTHWDWGHFHGDLHWDSDCMDBJFVFIJHACIBX,HTHWMANHJZHIUJSNHSCBSN,QIMWJWDFHEMHA.
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 152
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: M = A
NSMXT,SMXT,SMXT,MGUSRFVLJMWVNQBNNB,UXXVONAVXMLJPSMXT,RNRMJVOJUHEVZURFNKRMJJFNHVNQSMP!
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
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: S = E
DMSBESDBZJCDHEZFKERBHDWLJS,WFADMSBSTSERBDMSOREJAMWTSMZFQZKRFDMSLSWDHFQCRBUNMSWED.
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
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: U = I
HTSLAUMUHXYQUGSMHIULHTSLXWSMSUNVGKQBYXMSWSMIUVCJMIDTUPTXJMUVLHUHJHUXVLBKIMSPSUWS.
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
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- U
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- X
- Y
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: A = E
PDACYEBUYNPDAQEAOPXYAPUDOIAZAIAEHAPWAAZEAOVWHGOZBRZV,NYEYZKHQEAOPXYAPUJOZEAOVPDAG.
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
Puzzle 6
Starter clue: B = T
BLCWCVWCXVJTBLZJKDBLVBECERQNOBLWREVEVTZHECECWCJRBVHWVZOBLVBRBLCWDXZKLBYZMFBLCXQY.
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)
- “Whoever has even once become notorious by base fraud, even if he speaks the truth, gains no belief.”— Phaedrus, 25, Fables, Book I. Fable 10, 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=U C=R D=O E=L F=B G=C H=E I=A J=S K=Z L=M M=I N=H O=J P=X Q=G R=Q S=T T=V U=K V=Y W=N X=D Y=W Z=P
- “O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse without all hope of day!”— John Milton, 1671, Samson Agonistes, Line 80 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=N C=J D=Q E=S F=H G=M H=P I=X J=L K=U L=B M=A N=O O=C P=Y Q=F R=T S=D T=K U=I V=E W=Z X=R Y=G Z=W
- “The fretful stir Unprofitable, and the fever of the world have hung upon the beatings of my heart.”— William Wordsworth, 1798, Lyrical Ballads, Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=F C=S D=T E=R F=N G=C H=I I=Q J=L K=P L=B M=H N=Y O=W P=K Q=G R=O S=E T=V U=M V=J W=A X=Z Y=X Z=U
- “The spirit of liberty is the sovereign balm for every injury which our institutions may receive.”— William Henry Harrison, 1841, Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=P B=M C=J D=W E=D F=X G=B H=T I=Y J=U K=A L=S M=R N=G O=Z P=C Q=L R=Q S=E T=H U=I V=N W=V X=O Y=F Z=K
- “The works of the great poets have never yet been read by mankind, for only great poets can read them.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=E B=K C=W D=H E=R F=J G=M H=Y I=V J=C K=L L=Q M=U N=F O=A P=T Q=G R=I S=Z T=X U=S V=D W=B X=P Y=O Z=N
- “There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.”— Oscar Wilde, 1891, The Picture of Dorian GrayCipher key: A=Q B=T C=E D=S E=W F=K G=J H=F I=V J=N K=G L=H M=C N=L O=D P=B Q=U R=O S=Z T=Y U=X V=A W=R X=M Y=P Z=I