Puzzle 1
Starter clue: G = E
QYQUEIGVNJEVSXASGVYETQARYZUGGTYZWDGEUGGIGVNHZSN.
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 59
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
NLFSFEUHHTKSFUNWYTIFUSQWF,JCNNLFSFYCWNJFWTYFOQSF.
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
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: I = E
JUILIDQYNAIWDIGDYZXWDXL,IGIYSUIYUIQEIXFQJUIJLMJU.
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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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: D = E
SEDCDKROJVDORXCDKPJTDSKNJOKPRIEKNETPVFJTDSRZPTI.
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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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: Q = E
IVZKLTVZLCXXVTQZJQBPQPIGQJIQZXLLWXGBJIGQJIQZLBP.
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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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 6
Starter clue: Z = H
WRWPEBYWSZJYCVSZQSQXXSZWFWXXVWTZBZJVBLYSZBMNZSV.
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
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- T
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- 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)
- “It is a very hard undertaking to seek to please everybody.”— Publilius Syrus, 42 BC, Sententiae (Maxims), 675 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=W C=X D=L E=A F=Q G=E H=B I=V J=H K=Z L=J M=F N=Y O=M P=C Q=I R=G S=D T=K U=S V=R W=P X=U Y=T Z=O
- “There can no great smoke arise, but there must be some fire.”— John Lyly, 1578, Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit, and his Euphoebus, page 153 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=Q C=U D=X E=C F=E G=P H=N I=K J=B K=G L=H M=V N=T O=F P=Y Q=I R=Z S=R T=O U=A V=D W=S X=W Y=M Z=J
- “There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=B B=D C=Q D=I E=P F=K G=V H=M I=E J=T K=Z L=R M=U N=O O=X P=F Q=S R=Y S=W T=C U=H V=J W=L X=A Y=N Z=G
- “There is a pleasure in poetic pains which only poets know.”— William Cowper, 1785, The Task, Book II. The Timepiece. Line 285 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=G C=R D=E E=H F=Y G=F H=Q I=W J=P K=I L=Z M=J N=C O=A P=N Q=V R=S S=T T=O U=X V=L W=D X=U Y=M Z=K
- “Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.”— William Wordsworth, 1814, The Excursion, Book III (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=A C=F D=Y E=J F=X G=H H=B I=W J=N K=D L=O M=U N=K O=Z P=R Q=E R=L S=V T=M U=Q V=I W=P X=T Y=G Z=S
- “Every one thinks that all the bells echo his own thoughts.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=J B=O C=K D=Q E=Y F=B G=Z H=X I=P J=I K=M L=W M=U N=G O=F P=R Q=A R=V S=T T=C U=D V=S W=E X=L Y=N Z=H