Puzzle 1
Starter clue: I = E
QMIJPLFFRAIYIALJU,DPMINRNPUWDFFDQ.PMIWRNZINUPMINIWDNIRNIPMIWDTJBINUDWMTZRJGLKLFLCRPLDJ.
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 189
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: V = T
VRUDASENIBXULXU,VRLVJSXVXSPISULVKUENVR,NGATXTBVRRBXNGATVR,LEIXVGUENVRUEXTBVRRBXXVGUENVR.
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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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: I = E
QASXSLQVSRILWHIXSL,MIJLTNVCKQWIILTKRM,SLEQAMIQVLTWSRILWHIXSL,NMSWIZIOMIJLTNVQVDSEATOMQX.
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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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: I = E
YAIVLKYWDIXVJUZOUKJVXFIKYUVYAIDWWK,NAIKVAIJIVIZYVYAIKXMAYAXJXKAIZBUSUKYXKYIZFLKUZSUBI.
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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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: S = T
LSLYZUZQLU,SPZSSPBYISBXPBUIWIDTCBGTZEEBXYSPIYIFBOGHEZFIPZWIZOKOGBKCSIGSLSEISBSPIJLDYS.
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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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: K = O
NIVIIEGKKURKTQFORQDBQLDQFDBQOLJOBQAIXKBIQFDVGKKURKTHKCOQOLDCRLOIVLIKBKTHBOJDQIILKVKXS.
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 tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers therefore are the founders of human civilization.”— Daniel Webster, 1840, Remarks on Agriculture, Jan. 13, 1840. P. 457 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=D C=Z D=O E=Q F=L G=C H=J I=E J=N K=V L=I M=H N=R O=K P=T Q=W R=A S=X T=U U=S V=Y W=F X=P Y=B Z=M
- “The young disease, that must subdue at length, Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his strength.”— Alexander Pope, 1734, An Essay on Man, Epistle II. Line 135 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=I C=Q D=Y E=N F=P G=R H=V I=D J=M K=L L=A M=X N=G O=Z P=B Q=C R=H S=U T=W U=E V=T W=F X=S Y=J Z=K
- “If a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.”— Oscar Wilde, 1893, A Woman of No ImportanceCipher key: A=F B=X C=Q D=B E=D F=C G=P H=L I=E J=K K=U L=N M=H N=W O=R P=Y Q=I R=G S=A T=O U=Z V=S W=T X=M Y=J Z=V
- “The sun to me is dark and silent as the moon, When she deserts the night Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.”— John Milton, 1671, Samson Agonistes, Line 86 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=H B=V C=F D=M E=J F=L G=Z H=X I=E J=D K=N L=U M=G N=W O=K P=Q Q=Y R=P S=C T=B U=A V=S W=O X=I Y=T Z=R
- “It is a maxim, that those to whom everybody allows the second place have an undoubted title to the first.”— Jonathan Swift, 1704, A Tale of a Tub, Dedication (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=J B=O C=B D=R E=L F=C G=D H=P I=E J=F K=U L=I M=G N=K O=N P=H Q=X R=Q S=T T=Y U=M V=Z W=V X=W Y=S Z=A
- “We need books of this tart cathartic virtue more than books of political science or of private economy.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841, Essays: First SeriesCipher key: A=U B=R C=L D=A E=D F=H G=B H=P I=E J=V K=O L=C M=G N=W O=I P=J Q=T R=S S=Y T=F U=K V=N W=Q X=M Y=Z Z=X