Puzzle 1
Starter clue: R = E
LJLDJLVRJACJNRACIXKYFVVFKDYAFFED,JACJNRILIKFJERCBRFHHFXWRIXYCJLFKNARKNRSRMLKJFSRVRKCKINFVRK.
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 198
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: T = A
HUHEXWTBJTIGNRHTEBGJHSNQBGINVMNWSTIITDTQBTINVGHBTIJHTYTPHI,YJHGJHEVENWIRHHSNETBXTCIGETMGQNB.
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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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: K = E
BN,HKBEYKEHBHHKEKUKGWQVGUMRG!DMGVYBWQHRBCKUMGYQVY,BGUJBGNBGKNKYBWUBGXKUHMWKKHYBHLBGGKEQGHYKWZN.
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: T = O
HKHRYTKAHKPTFKUTTCQMBRTYRBHC,KPBKPMAPTPBRYTKBUTTCXMXTQSRPTFOCYMIMQKBLMFZTYPHXKPMKQBCMTDOSHYU.
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 5
Starter clue: X = E
IRXICOYXJFXVOXNOHVRJXFNOIDXVBXUGXNGROYXXBIRIZGBDFXNNPFXOIEYGBYDXIDUXCGRHOYXZNXUAXNNPLWXBOXH.
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: D = N
AYVTBDFEPAYVCONVLBELTQDBCKEDMVLCQDAUBAYLBXYAVEOCDVCC;AYVTBDFEPAYVTVQDTQDBCKEDMVLCQDAUBAYXQBD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
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- R
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- T
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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)
- “It is time that we had uncommon schools, that we did not leave off our education when we begin to be men and women.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=H B=V C=A D=S E=L F=O G=J H=F I=D J=T K=N L=I M=G N=W O=Z P=Q Q=K R=E S=B T=P U=Y V=M W=R X=U Y=C Z=X
- “Every man has to learn the points of compass again as often as he awakes, whether from sleep or any abstraction.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=Q B=N C=B D=G E=R F=X G=T H=E I=S J=H K=J L=U M=C N=O O=Z P=K Q=I R=L S=P T=A U=V V=F W=M X=Y Y=W Z=D
- “Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see that banner in the sky.”— Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1836, Poems (1836), Old Ironsides (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=A C=V D=L E=R F=J G=N H=T I=F J=M K=E L=B M=O N=Y O=Q P=U Q=I R=W S=Z T=P U=D V=G W=S X=C Y=H Z=K
- “It is not without good reason said, that he who has not a good memory should never take upon him the trade of lying.”— Michel de Montaigne, 1580, Essays, Book I, Chap. IX. Of Liars (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=W B=A C=D D=F E=J F=U G=B H=I I=V J=C K=T L=K M=E N=X O=L P=H Q=R R=S S=Y T=O U=G V=Z W=Q X=M Y=N Z=P
- “One of the greatest dangers to peace lies in the economic pressure to which people find themselves subjected.”— Calvin Coolidge, 1925, Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=V B=C C=F D=P E=W F=R G=I H=D I=O J=G K=Q L=B M=Z N=S O=T P=U Q=K R=N S=Y T=X U=L V=A W=J X=E Y=H Z=M
- “The mind of the superior man is conversant with righteousness; the mind of the mean man is conversant with gain.”— Confucius, 1861, The Analects (James Legge translation, 1861)Cipher key: A=T B=I C=S D=N E=O F=D G=B H=Y I=J J=X K=C L=R M=V N=P O=U P=F Q=A R=K S=Z T=M U=W V=E W=Q X=G Y=H Z=L