Puzzle 1
Starter clue: L = H
MGHLYXYDNLNOY?HLYGMVUKZDGZMQ;HLYGMIYDHQNVHNXGLNNULMGLYZQ.
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 9
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: Y = E
AQLY,QCVRRZRRWNAVNJYDYDMPOY,NAYQDRHXAYVLVDMPDZTYOWVRXPOY.
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 = A
NUDCHGCLJGNQPTMNRPDKZLROKNCPDVR,TMNRMNVUDCO,DVRVGLALQZHMR?
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: E = A
VGTEWIBKEMEHQGVCPZIVXDDQCKEO,VGHSQWQBDHMISCDQCSKEHDEWWEO.
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: I = E
YXAIRFEEGDEBRFGDAINDZBJCXIZOK,DZOQIHXIAIEGDEBRFGDAIQFEJIL.
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: X = E
INXFYPIYZQFSXPXZIPNDEMYHINYZQNDFXYZQJDGSYTXMGKKRUGPIHMHXQ.
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)
- “Is there no hope? the sick man said; The silent doctor shook his head.”— John Gay, 1727, Fables, Part I. The Sick Man and the Angel (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Q B=Y C=Z D=N E=G F=B G=S H=T I=L J=X K=M L=H M=I N=O O=P P=V Q=D R=W S=U T=F U=K V=C W=J X=R Y=E Z=A
- “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=H B=Q C=F D=N E=Z F=W G=K H=Y I=B J=M K=J L=P M=D N=T O=R P=U Q=O R=L S=X T=V U=G V=A W=S X=C Y=E Z=I
- “Among unequals what society can sort, what harmony, or true delight?”— John Milton, 1667, Paradise Lost, Book VIII. Line 383 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=J C=N D=O E=K F=P G=U H=G I=Z J=Q K=C L=E M=H N=A O=Y P=S Q=L R=T S=F T=W U=M V=R W=B X=V Y=X Z=I
- “No pale gradations quench his ray, No twilight dews his wrath allay.”— Sir Walter Scott, 1813, Rokeby, Canto VI. Stanza 21 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=K B=G C=S D=H E=A F=V G=O H=T I=E J=Z K=R L=X M=D N=B O=Y P=Q Q=I R=J S=W T=P U=M V=N W=L X=C Y=F Z=U
- “Give out that you have many friends, and believe that you have but few.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=V B=Y C=R D=A E=T F=U G=H H=L I=E J=F K=S L=W M=Z N=M O=D P=Q Q=B R=O S=K T=P U=X V=C W=J X=I Y=G Z=N
- “The past and present show faith and hope and courage fully justified.”— Calvin Coolidge, 1925, Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=B B=Z C=M D=O E=W F=P G=U H=I I=T J=C K=L L=Q M=F N=H O=K P=S Q=D R=Y S=R T=G U=J V=X W=V X=E Y=A Z=N