Puzzle 1
Starter clue: M = E
VOMMDNUKVNUKI,YIXTZDUMHEFOUKVMQKTWBMIXTZIEFAEFQUEVMDUMVMCKZV;VOMMDNUKVNUKI,YIXTZDUMHEF!
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 154
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: A = N
FQQGKQXUZAMDBEOPDBJQASMTPDNW,BGOKZNPQA,ZAGXZAABDJ,ZAGYPNWDBFZDGNQBGOKZNPQAPJAQNCBDMAPKB.
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 3
Starter clue: S = E
XJDMQRYDBBOSEZQOEQLSDHGSARZSBOSMJZSOJBQOSP;JDPFOSZSBOSMSUISQBGJQRD,XSSBFEBOGZRLSDGRDSH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: S = E
CWSWNMSXNVCWSGSMTUHEBBRLLNCVNGSISGCNHSGRCSSECWSGTLKSXSGISKMNISGCQNGXSHV-XSGIELJOSRHCW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: G = T
GMOHOPGKBGWPGWPARGGMOIKACMRQWVOPMWPOJORALRPGOBWGJ,HDGGMORAOCMRERTOPGMOLBKZGWZORQMWPKBG.
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 6
Starter clue: R = E
PTARDPGRQSVARGERHTGRPDUIAJRGAIIRPDVHTPUOHVASGGHEFHFVXRVFRAFXRAYRVRUPJVPDRKDHFZYATHDAY.
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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- R
- S
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- Y
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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)
- “Sweet Phosphor, bring the day whose conquering ray may chase these fogs; Sweet Phosphor, bring the day!”— Francis Quarles, 1635, Emblems, Book I. Emblem 14 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=U C=F D=T E=A F=Y G=Z H=D I=R J=L K=O L=J M=E N=P O=W P=V Q=C R=K S=X T=N U=H V=S W=Q X=I Y=B Z=G
- “Good company requires only birth, education, and manners, and with regard to education is not very nice.”— Jane Austen, 1817, PersuasionCipher key: A=N B=E C=V D=R E=Q F=G G=D H=F I=X J=S K=C L=J M=Y N=T O=U P=I Q=O R=K S=L T=B U=P V=Z W=H X=M Y=W Z=A
- “Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones.”— Miguel de Cervantes, 1615, Don Quixote, Part II, Chap. LV (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=T C=G D=N E=I F=W G=B H=S I=P J=A K=L L=K M=Y N=Q O=H P=D Q=C R=O S=E T=V U=X V=J W=Z X=M Y=U Z=R
- “The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941, Third Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=Q B=C C=T D=X E=I F=K G=R H=L I=V J=G K=D L=N M=P N=O O=W P=M Q=Y R=A S=E T=U U=B V=F W=H X=S Y=Z Z=J
- “The best artist is not the man who fixes his eye on posterity, but the one who loves the practice of his art.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=N B=R C=W D=U E=L F=Q G=T H=B I=M J=Y K=A L=P M=H N=K O=E P=S Q=F R=O S=J T=V U=Z V=X W=I X=G Y=D Z=C
- “After an existence of nearly twenty years of almost innocuous desuetude these laws are brought forth.”— Grover Cleveland, 1886, Message, March 1, 1886 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=J C=Q D=R E=C F=U G=N H=O I=Y J=W K=B L=V M=K N=Z O=M P=A Q=X R=E S=I T=F U=L V=S W=P X=D Y=H Z=G