Puzzle 1
Starter clue: P = T
UWPUYPVHSTZUYBWYPUKLCZHLWISKEQTNYLZVWTTOSRPZHKPUKORWTA.
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
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- Z
Hard Cryptograms Set 97
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
CIDF,IJWSSXSSLQCWQHFKFKTAYF,QCFIKSOZCFWDWKTAKXUFYLWSZAYF.
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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- Z
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: Z = I
ULTDTZOJWULZJVJTY:ERRULZJVOEDTPWULIESZRZEDEJCOLWDU-RZBTC.
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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- P
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: A = S
SUBGJABQMLGASUESUBOLBAMLSQMLG;SUBJRMLCEINASUJMQAUBQMLGA.
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 5
Starter clue: Z = E
UPZQZDZQZGIUUDESFAOMOZWOTUPZDEQMY,PFKZ-AIBPFTYPFKZ-MOUUMZ.
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 6
Starter clue: L = T
RUNPJTJMUXLPBUWTZAJUZZRALOSTLLTXJAJKALLSSTXSRJAJLUXUZL.
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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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)
- “He that would have a thing done quickly and well must do it himself.”— Italian proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=F B=V C=G D=J E=C F=Z G=X H=O I=Q J=R K=I L=N M=B N=Y O=M P=T Q=K R=S S=U T=L U=H V=W W=E X=P Y=A Z=D
- “Hope, of all ills that men endure, The only cheap and universal cure.”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Poems, The Mistress. For Hope (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=U B=Z C=H D=P E=X F=E G=J H=M I=O J=F K=N L=S M=K N=W O=Y P=B Q=T R=Q S=L T=D U=V V=G W=A X=I Y=R Z=C
- “There is nothing new: all things are both familiar and short-lived.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=Z B=V C=D D=R E=A F=Q G=K H=Y I=F J=N K=U L=H M=P N=X O=S P=B Q=C R=L S=M T=E U=T V=G W=O X=J Y=W Z=I
- “The wise knows that he does not know; the ignoramus thinks he knows.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=S B=E C=R D=V E=A F=B G=W H=C I=M J=I K=Q L=O M=N N=U O=D P=J Q=K R=G S=T T=X U=H V=Y W=F X=Z Y=L Z=P
- “There were but two families in the world, Have-much and have-little.”— Miguel de Cervantes, 1615, Don Quixote, Part II, Chap. XX (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=C C=X D=W E=O F=A G=B H=J I=U J=Y K=V L=P M=L N=G O=I P=H Q=R R=Q S=F T=N U=T V=Z W=S X=K Y=D Z=E
- “We can undertake business without turning it to our own interest.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1871, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (J. Hain Friswell translation, 1871)Cipher key: A=I B=K C=V D=X E=Z F=M G=F H=P I=J J=N K=G L=T M=D N=C O=H P=A Q=Y R=W S=O T=U U=E V=Q W=B X=R Y=L Z=S