Puzzle 1
Starter clue: T = E
LHBPTMHTPUHQPTLXSUWWVLHZUXBMHT,EPLYTPTXPMEXBPTIWTUQLHBPTMBPTW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- T
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- X
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- Z
Medium Cryptograms Set 109
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: N = E
UNCUPGSANRPTKUNQSOTK'RRUPIZANGRRNNRMIGKUNGKUOTUNCUPXOGGSNRUSY.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: C = O
FWVFCXITJODGFCIDWTQAFWUGSZWA-BJGHW,XITJODWTAFWSACCFTRFCSACCJCV.
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: O = E
UODUVDTMIIMAEDGQDUDMMYOVGDUOUOOIEANIIUVKOXNGDBNHBOXNYUNETVHO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: Z = N
FSFLGUZFAKEZTQKEQUXZJWJTUUQEZHQVFAAFLAKYZYZUAKFL'QZEHKAEZHYDF.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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- M
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: L = E
RLZDIJLCVTRXZDTRCVRLZDWJXHQCVGJL,CQYTRXQLBLJJLHZQYDGDXWXVRLJD.
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)
- “In the one hand he is carrying a stone, while he shows the bread in the other.”— Plautus, 195 BC, Aulularia, Act II. Sc. 2, 18. (195) (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=T C=F D=J E=W F=U G=K H=N I=B J=Z K=Q L=I M=O N=X O=M P=H Q=D R=P S=C T=E U=A V=Y W=R X=S Y=L Z=G
- “He who rides on the giant's shoulders sees further than he who carries him.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=D B=Q C=W D=B E=J F=P G=R H=Z I=U J=X K=T L=V M=F N=E O=A P=O Q=G R=S S=I T=N U=H V=Y W=K X=C Y=M Z=L
- “He who builds a house in the market-place, builds either too high or too low.”— Italian proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=T B=P C=O D=S E=V F=H G=A H=C I=U J=L K=J L=F M=X N=Z O=D P=Y Q=N R=G S=R T=I U=M V=W W=E X=B Y=Q Z=K
- “He that follows truth too near the heels will have dirt kicked in his face.”— English proverb, 1859, Recorded in Walter K. Kelly, Proverbs of All Nations, Compared, Explained, and Illustrated (London, 1859)Cipher key: A=W B=K C=Z D=T E=S F=P G=R H=C I=L J=M K=V L=B M=O N=I O=E P=J Q=U R=Q S=X T=F U=H V=A W=Y X=D Y=N Z=G
- “Every one thinks his own cuckoo sings better than another's nightingale.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=T B=F C=Q D=L E=I F=E G=Y H=G I=X J=C K=H L=R M=Z N=D O=P P=M Q=S R=J S=V T=K U=O V=B W=U X=W Y=A Z=N
- “He is great who is what he is from Nature, and who never reminds us of others.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1850, Representative Men, Uses of Great Men (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=V C=A D=S E=C F=B G=U H=M I=G J=R K=P L=E M=L N=K O=Z P=J Q=N R=H S=Y T=W U=Q V=T W=F X=O Y=D Z=I