Puzzle 1
Starter clue: S = A
MSUZEZJXXJXQSA'XUQTJZUSRZSGJUAXASZJ,SALHJSDEBLZSCXDXCUENSXUAVRJNSUZ.
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
Medium Cryptograms Set 129
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 = T
FANGTWNNGLJZAHLMKTZXOKNAOHRLOWNCFTQ,TGFGONFLKLZOQ?-OFTKHEFANGTWNOJWQ.
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: Y = A
NYJWYPXNVYNYJAYJJZPCVBIARYBRVGZIQOCV,XMAXTAINBPYJAVBOZJZPYONXPZMXP.
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: V = E
KWVLVDWVLVPORPOEPZMPXVDWVLVPOSPLDHV;KWVLVDWVLVPOZVYEVDWVLVPOZMVXDC.
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: B = E
ABWVGDDXWVU-DGQXMBC,WRCPWRDBBMXGRQDIRCBVQVYIRC,WRCTIPXTYVBGRMXBDHGBD.
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: D = R
YPULJDKYUMRFJBERKDUNSDEBJDKJTUFSLRKYPSYRYEUKYDJVKDUKIUHYBJDSFFFSL.
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)
- “Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare, And beauty draws us with a single hair.”— Alexander Pope, 1714, The Rape of the Lock, Canto II. Line 27 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=Y C=W D=U E=T F=J G=C H=B I=Z J=E K=Q L=D M=F N=H O=X P=K Q=M R=L S=A T=P U=I V=G W=V X=S Y=O Z=R
- “Without the smile from partial beauty won, Oh what were man? - a world without a sun.”— Thomas Campbell, 1799, The Pleasures of Hope, Part II. Line 21 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=V C=Y D=Z E=D F=W G=H H=L I=G J=S K=R L=E M=F N=T O=A P=X Q=N R=B S=K T=O U=J V=Q W=U X=P Y=C Z=M
- “Many a time a man cannot be such as he would be, if circumstances do not admit of it.”— Terence, 163 BC, Heautontimoroumenos (Heauton Timorumenos), Act IV. Sc. 1, 53. (666) (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=S C=B D=V E=J F=Q G=W H=P I=U J=N K=Z L=X M=F N=M O=D P=T Q=L R=H S=K T=R U=G V=E W=Y X=I Y=A Z=O
- “Where there is discipline there is virtue; where there is peace there is plenty.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=Q B=J C=Y D=T E=C F=G G=O H=U I=Z J=B K=W L=R M=L N=F O=S P=I Q=M R=D S=V T=X U=K V=E W=H X=N Y=A Z=P
- “Fear is sharp-sighted, and can see things under ground, and much more in the skies.”— Miguel de Cervantes, 1605, Don Quixote, Part I, Book III. Chap. VI (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=E C=D D=S E=X F=B G=I H=K I=U J=W K=L L=Y M=T N=Z O=J P=C Q=G R=N S=V T=M U=P V=R W=A X=H Y=O Z=Q
- “The worst evil of disregard for some law is that it destroys respect for all law.”— Herbert Hoover, 1929, Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=Z B=F C=X D=R E=D F=L G=J H=C I=P J=O K=S L=W M=V N=G O=Q P=H Q=U R=I S=A T=M U=E V=Y W=K X=B Y=T Z=N