Puzzle 1
Starter clue: G = H
GEYSVARFSJJEHXGVNGEFSDRFJSBABGSUETC,RFEBGSLBGSXGVBS,RFWRBGVLWBGSAGSTT.
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 138
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: F = E
TLQFEVFDWFUFVLHWGMHOREXALFTHLXDLHDFVHXRFQ,EHAXRFVFUFVTFMHEWWXREXALFT.
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: W = S
HJHKRGQWOUQHWVUWHOYJURHWWMHJKGE,GWWVGQQTDWJKHGOWKZRIUOYQURSGQQJVHDGE.
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: J = R
YJUENPTJZVUTJEPBO,ZJFPBNQJPTJZVUTZP,UJPXZNLZBAPUJPJNLAULZQJVPJELNHBZK.
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: D = E
EDZQBEFJPFDQXHVOQURDPNDNPQQBFYDYBHUJFPFFJDNBMFBSBFJDVRDBRWD'MSVDDXBA.
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: C = R
XCSXNTLMIXJCWTSCRJMRRTPJXNMIEPTCJGMLLMWSUXXNOIXTCJLCOMILCTPTZJIUMJR.
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)
- “Hope is an egg of which one man gets the yolk, another the white, and a third the shell.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=S B=T C=K D=M E=O F=N G=H H=F I=B J=G K=Q L=R M=U N=C O=Z P=X Q=V R=A S=E T=L U=Y V=I W=D X=W Y=P Z=J
- “Some are clever only in what does not concern them, and the reverse in all that does.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1871, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (J. Hain Friswell translation, 1871)Cipher key: A=D B=P C=J D=C E=A F=E G=Y H=N I=F J=Q K=X L=O M=I N=K O=W P=G Q=M R=H S=U T=S U=V V=R W=L X=T Y=Z Z=B
- “Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.”— Alexander Pope, 1735, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Prologue to the Satires. Line 315 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=K B=X C=J D=W E=Y F=Z G=A H=E I=D J=T K=R L=V M=B N=C O=M P=F Q=L R=N S=G T=O U=I V=H W=S X=Q Y=P Z=U
- “Praise from a friend, or censure from a foe, Are lost on hearers that our merits know.”— Alexander Pope, 1720, The Iliad of Homer (Pope's translation), Book X. Line 293 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=H B=N C=G D=J E=I F=C G=X H=K I=B J=R K=W L=T M=Q N=S O=D P=E Q=U R=V S=Y T=F U=A V=M W=Z X=L Y=P Z=O
- “We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people's freedom.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941, State of the Union AddressCipher key: A=M B=O C=V D=E E=W F=T G=J H=U I=X J=H K=Y L=Z M=S N=C O=I P=A Q=N R=P S=F T=Q U=G V=R W=L X=D Y=B Z=K
- “Truth of intercourse is something more difficult than to refrain from open lies.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=Y B=X C=R D=W E=G F=J G=D H=K I=N J=E K=Q L=F M=I N=H O=A P=M Q=V R=S S=U T=O U=L V=B W=C X=T Y=Z Z=P