Puzzle 1
Starter clue: L = O
JLTLFOKAPMAQDBULYPAPDQLLJOLUWDSYDAJLSDPLQH?
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
Jonathan Swift Cryptograms Set 1
5 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: Q = A
GLQIOWOTZGEOQWQUDOU:GXLQZZJUBCQXWQMQXQSBUSBGXO.
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: C = E
MNFQCEXYCECVJICTCMSECMSEGX,JFIRJFIXTCMSECGFNLCX.
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: O = E
XOGZSTOWZBCOBMAMLMGNMEZBDBCONSKRWXJDTKOWGPOLWGOGB.
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: W = E
ZWIBJWONBYBQNACZOMQWEOROAGGWKWQNAMBVRQBPWNAZOMIWBN.
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 (5 solutions)
- “Do you think I was born in a wood to be afraid of an owl?”— Jonathan Swift, 1738, Polite Conversation, Dialogue I (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=S C=M D=A E=Q F=U G=V H=L I=Z J=D K=H L=O M=K N=P O=T P=N Q=W R=J S=F T=Y U=B V=C W=E X=G Y=R Z=X
- “I have fed like a farmer: I shall grow as fat as a porpoise.”— Jonathan Swift, 1738, Polite Conversation, Dialogue II (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=O C=W D=M E=K F=X G=I H=J I=V J=G K=N L=H M=T N=Q O=E P=U Q=A R=B S=P T=D U=R V=C W=F X=S Y=Z Z=L
- “Fingers were made before forks, and hands before knives.”— Jonathan Swift, 1738, Polite Conversation, Dialogue II (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=Q C=E D=J E=R F=N G=K H=U I=D J=A K=T L=V M=F N=I O=L P=Z Q=G R=H S=O T=B U=P V=M W=X X=S Y=W Z=C
- “Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent.”— Jonathan Swift, 1706, Thoughts on Various Subjects (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=T C=H D=O E=Y F=D G=N H=J I=Q J=F K=B L=M M=A N=P O=E P=G Q=Z R=L S=U T=R U=W V=K W=I X=C Y=V Z=S
- “He made it a part of his religion never to say grace to his meat.”— Jonathan Swift, 1704, A Tale of a Tub, Sect. XI (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=A C=F D=U E=L F=K G=N H=W I=M J=D K=V L=J M=S N=T O=I P=C Q=R R=G S=B T=X U=Z V=Y W=E X=Q Y=P Z=H