Puzzle 1
Starter clue: C = Y
ICBYRYXXOJC,ICZGFREOWOJC,NBTICTYEOLVJ,SYNEEPDFJY.
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
Hope Cryptograms Set 5
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: R = E
CDOR,CKWEERQWOCAUQDICUAURTQRHEDNAUWOCLAUHAJRQR.
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: N = O
UNWJKUYRIAXKDNXACL'GTKDQYCKXUNWLNSDSRXANWXYNGG.
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: Z = E
QZHXAZQGCOXDOOGEZMPZBZJFXOOFZTMZXCOKHRZACOXHR.
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 5
Starter clue: K = H
KQWBJECKBCKJGDOJCKNBLCKBAECKLCWBAHKBEJGCKBEQFS.
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: I = E
BJINBIGIRSIQRWNMILPTUI,TPZRSIQNWAOSILKPXYAUILNQ.
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)
- “By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1876, Letters and Social Aims, Quotation and Originality (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=N C=Y D=U E=L F=O G=R H=Z I=B J=T K=M L=G M=J N=A O=I P=Q Q=X R=C S=W T=D U=K V=H W=V X=S Y=E Z=P
- “Gone, glimmering through the dream of things that were.”— Lord Byron, 1812, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto II, Stanza 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=K C=G D=O E=M F=V G=X H=A I=U J=W K=L L=S M=Q N=F O=N P=Z Q=R R=E S=B T=D U=H V=C W=I X=J Y=P Z=Y
- “You may light another's candle at your own without loss.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=H B=J C=E D=N E=Q F=Z G=S H=P I=G J=M K=A L=R M=F N=O O=V P=K Q=D R=I S=W T=C U=Y V=B W=U X=T Y=L Z=X
- “Men are most apt to believe what they least understand.”— Michel de Montaigne, 1588, Essays, Book III, Chap. XI. Of Cripples (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=R B=V C=S D=P E=B F=H G=O H=N I=Z J=W K=U L=G M=L N=F O=T P=I Q=M R=D S=Q T=Y U=C V=K W=J X=A Y=X Z=E
- “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”— Emily Dickinson, 1891, Poems, Second SeriesCipher key: A=R B=E C=T D=G E=S F=U G=N H=C I=V J=I K=H L=A M=D N=F O=W P=Z Q=O R=X S=L T=Y U=Q V=B W=P X=M Y=K Z=J
- “I believe they talked of me, for they laughed consumedly.”— George Farquhar, 1707, The Beaux' Stratagem, Act III. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=U B=I C=Z D=Q E=X F=J G=V H=W I=E J=B K=C L=D M=K N=L O=G P=O Q=Y R=T S=H T=F U=M V=P W=A X=N Y=S Z=R