Puzzle 1
Starter clue: S = H
DQQDFKFNWKDTLANSPQQU-LAJJNQNSFOJEMFLSAMSSETUQDFSACECATMSAFX.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- Z
Medium Cryptograms Set 103
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: Z = E
HDHGCDIHJPXTVXKAGZCNXJPKG,DICDZRZAUNCJHGAZTKGZL,DHSSIZXTTZAG.
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: U = I
PNUDDNRJCNNEUBQRBUAPINRUWTUGDTPDLUNNWCDIRHXUNDECJBDXOUQUDE.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: N = T
BNBRNFFQUNCNFNOZFLLUNCZFENOCXBEWCZRLOCENOCOFPRCBRSPZENWFLE.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: Z = T
HZHEMTBHMTMJCDQSMTSZGBJHRPZSTTE,QUMUGZUTQSJCEGDQSMZGEHZEZHJJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: P = A
INRSONVNDCPUWPDPUU;NDMSJICPUWGVDMSMGXMCPTI;PBSCCPUWPQJNIIUNDI.
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)
- “No one returns with good-will to the place which has done him a mischief.”— Phaedrus, 25, Fables, Book I. Fable 18, 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=Y C=M D=N E=A F=E G=X H=K I=Z J=L K=R L=W M=C N=T O=P P=G Q=O R=Q S=H T=S U=D V=B W=U X=F Y=J Z=V
- “It is a thing of course among us, that every man is refused, till he offers.”— Jane Austen, 1817, PersuasionCipher key: A=R B=P C=A D=T E=X F=J G=S H=I I=H J=N K=U L=D M=Z N=M O=K P=G Q=W R=V S=L T=F U=Y V=C W=Q X=O Y=B Z=E
- “A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity.”— Michel de Montaigne, 1588, Essays, Book III, Chap. IX. Of Vanity (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=R B=S C=O D=T E=Y F=K G=M H=G I=B J=F K=Q L=W M=V N=L O=P P=A Q=D R=E S=X T=H U=I V=C W=N X=U Y=Z Z=J
- “It is too late to throw water on the cinders when the house is burnt down.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=Y B=I C=E D=M E=N F=O G=P H=K I=X J=V K=Q L=W M=J N=T O=H P=U Q=L R=S S=B T=F U=A V=Z W=D X=C Y=G Z=R
- “It is decidedly harder to climb trees, and not nearly so hard to sit still.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=G B=C C=Y D=H E=S F=U G=O H=I I=F J=L K=P L=Z M=D N=W O=X P=B Q=A R=M S=R T=E U=N V=Q W=J X=K Y=V Z=T
- “Some do not walk at all; others walk in the highways; a few walk across lots.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1862, WalkingCipher key: A=V B=F C=W D=T E=Z F=X G=I H=P I=S J=R K=Q L=B M=H N=O O=D P=A Q=C R=M S=E T=Y U=L V=N W=K X=G Y=U Z=J