Puzzle 1
Starter clue: X = T
XVIUHVYSNXHEXVYAXOADDENEIGXXVYAJVX,HEKKYDXIGDSKKEGXYAGOAOMINXITTSGJIW.
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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- O
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- X
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Medium Cryptograms Set 144
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: I = E
QCDUSTPVIEUSITPG,PGXQPGUCYFUUSIYIJJCQ;USIDIEUFEPJJWOUJIPUSIDCDNDOGIJJC.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: E = O
IYIPXQITRPFGHEAUHGIWXEPQ,IZPEWEAUEEWQ,SMEQHAGESHUIPFAURXWIKHXQWMHSEUGF.
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 4
Starter clue: C = O
NPNGPCGCVYWGCRWCQPUWLBCDVWRGCQVNQW,ZCPCZVSPUWCBWPNTXVVS,DFPLBXTPNTXVVS.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: H = T
WHWCQDHXCHXHLHDYLCXGLPBLQHLJLTWQHDSWHFTDVYHGVPGLLPWQMC,SWHFFXPGXFLXJH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: A = I
AHAVAJRDAJUGXDIDJHGXAVFFDXOTBYGYDVHYFXFQSHFGUOTAJNAJKFMDOOHYFIGXJAJN.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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- X
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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)
- “They who act without sufficient thought, will often fall into unsuspected danger.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=U B=Z C=K D=F E=I F=B G=N H=W I=E J=G K=L L=Q M=P N=C O=S P=V Q=X R=J S=A T=D U=Y V=H W=R X=T Y=O Z=M
- “Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; The rest is all but leather or prunello.”— Alexander Pope, 1734, An Essay on Man, Epistle IV. Line 203 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=C C=O D=R E=S F=I G=N H=G I=E J=L K=X L=Q M=Y N=P O=U P=A Q=W R=Z S=H T=M U=T V=K W=B X=D Y=F Z=J
- “A man is a bundle of relations, a knot of roots, whose flower and fruitage is the world.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841, Essays: First Series, History (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=X C=J D=V E=O F=D G=L H=E I=A J=P K=G L=Q M=H N=Z O=C P=N Q=S R=U S=W T=B U=R V=Y W=T X=I Y=M Z=K
- “It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=K B=R C=O D=B E=W F=U G=S H=X I=Z J=D K=J L=P M=G N=I O=Q P=T Q=F R=M S=Y T=C U=H V=L W=E X=A Y=V Z=N
- “It is not a state to be safely entered into with doubtful feelings, with half a heart.”— Jane Austen, 1815, EmmaCipher key: A=X B=Y C=S D=O E=V F=H G=F H=T I=Z J=R K=P L=E M=G N=C O=M P=L Q=N R=K S=W T=D U=J V=U W=I X=A Y=B Z=Q
- “It is in vain for a man to rise early who has the repute of lying in bed all the morning.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=I B=W C=Q D=A E=K F=E G=O H=T I=M J=N K=B L=Z M=D N=G O=L P=X Q=P R=V S=U T=Y U=F V=S W=C X=R Y=H Z=J