Puzzle 1
Starter clue: C = E
UMCBQNSWTUQDMATLWD,UMJXBJURUMCDMCFQZJBJDAWXCMCFAJFCRNJFDDMWBRMCAWXCRAC?
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 146
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: X = A
CJTTUZQMXWWXKMVKECLJSXMRJC-ITXAJ,XEOZEJBKTTAXTTCLJSPTXARXEOXEZCLJMBLKCJ.
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: B = T
MBBZUCBBXZZSJ,MSJSZAZTYBMSJBPJPFRB;SPBXESV'YYPXMTJRFBYZMTLXKEIINESJEBPFB.
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: D = E
JDSZRWDSNDOBPXWWPDVBXDLOSMDQCXWUPDQQMZKBOVDWUOSWUDTAZPOBVDJXQRZBWKSDQ.
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
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- U
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: G = I
GZDJKOXVAJJLGVSJSNWUWWRUJZSGYW,XVRUXDQNGONFPXGVQGAAFPJQXVRQNGONQGAAVJS.
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 = E
CHKIDXPQPQHRFURIEPLUGQIHPHDHRHRFCHKIEPCRQEQOCFQUYCNXFZCFPUOCOBQICGCYB.
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)
- “When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?”— Michel de Montaigne, 1580, Essays, Book II, Chap. XII. Apology for Raimond Sebond (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=N C=E D=T E=G F=R G=F H=V I=X J=O K=U L=C M=H N=P O=Z P=B Q=I R=S S=L T=Y U=W V=Q W=A X=K Y=J Z=D
- “Tell your affairs in the market-place, and one will call them black and another white.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=C B=W C=T D=X E=N F=V G=J H=Z I=P J=E K=I L=H M=R N=G O=D P=B Q=U R=K S=M T=L U=Y V=S W=F X=A Y=Q Z=O
- “Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt; Nothing's so hard but search will find it out.”— Robert Herrick, 1648, Hesperides, Seek and Find (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=T C=P D=K E=I F=U G=Z H=Q I=L J=D K=W L=C M=A N=F O=Y P=O Q=J R=B S=N T=R U=M V=G W=X X=H Y=S Z=E
- “Men often bear little grievances with less courage than they do large misfortunes.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=D B=R C=W D=E E=X F=J G=Q H=Z I=K J=M K=U L=V M=C N=B O=A P=L Q=S R=F S=N T=Y U=H V=G W=T X=I Y=P Z=O
- “If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not.”— William Shakespeare, 1606, Macbeth, Act I. Sc. 3 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=V C=J D=Y E=B F=G G=I H=P I=X J=O K=U L=K M=Q N=H O=C P=R Q=W R=D S=T T=Z U=S V=N W=E X=A Y=M Z=F
- “Each must stand on his worth as a man and each is entitled to be judged solely thereby.”— Theodore Roosevelt, 1904, Fourth Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=F B=Y C=E D=M E=I F=D G=R H=A I=H J=Z K=C L=W M=V N=J O=L P=S Q=T R=N S=K T=Q U=O V=X W=P X=U Y=B Z=G