Puzzle 1
Starter clue: D = T
TDMXGQSJUNSYWTDSXJUNNUCEIUKSIQDMXDTCHTCSDMSISTGDIWDM.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Hard Cryptograms Set 88
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 = O
EGNHXGNOOUAIHIMWVIQWCWQTSIES,NSAFNTWHGWNKWHIZIFWFJIES?
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: R = E
AYDERSKWRDJVRVKCUESSROEHCWOEIR,JHIJEOKBYQRAVKDBEUIORH.
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: R = A
ZCCULORZKRWZOZCLOTRERBCGMQURZQCBQWRSQBPCAQBULRZQZDPO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: D = E
SPDLYZTTZEWDFFDVZPFNDNHPGFNHPEDKDPRDDEDYOSPFNDEFVHPG.
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 6
Starter clue: B = E
TBMTVMPSRGALBKMIRKMMVQBVLBKM,BGKBMSGBMOMVGSJBPBDBYBKM.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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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)
- “It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth.”— Pliny the Elder, 77, Natural History (Naturalis Historia), Book XIV. Sect. 141 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Z B=F C=N D=T E=P F=D G=S H=W I=R J=C K=V L=X M=H N=M O=Y P=J Q=B R=K S=E T=I U=O V=G W=U X=A Y=Q Z=L
- “What shall I do to be forever known, And make the age to come my own?”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Poems, The Motto (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=Z C=V D=X E=W F=M G=H H=T I=O J=Y K=G L=Q M=B N=A O=L P=U Q=R R=P S=N T=K U=I V=F W=E X=S Y=J Z=C
- “Society became my glittering bride, And airy hopes my children.”— William Wordsworth, 1814, The Excursion, Book III (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=H C=G D=C E=I F=K G=Z H=N I=D J=A K=Y L=F M=V N=Q O=R P=X Q=P R=E S=T T=J U=L V=M W=B X=W Y=O Z=U
- “Too great haste to repay an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1665, Maximes, 226 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=N C=O D=U E=Y F=J G=B H=M I=Z J=W K=H L=R M=L N=V O=E P=D Q=I R=A S=K T=P U=G V=C W=S X=Q Y=X Z=T
- “One quill is better in the hand than seven geese upon the strand.”— Dutch proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=K B=W C=Y D=E E=S F=T G=D H=A I=F J=Z K=V L=Q M=J N=H O=P P=N Q=C R=G S=O T=L U=X V=R W=B X=M Y=U Z=I
- “He that would jest must take a jest, else to let it alone were best.”— Dutch proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=D B=E C=G D=R E=P F=Y G=L H=V I=M J=N K=S L=J M=T N=Z O=I P=W Q=K R=U S=O T=H U=C V=A W=X X=Q Y=B Z=F