Puzzle 1
Starter clue: B = E
XLKSWAHHGBMPACBWXHGLCBXXBMH,WDDPHGBDCPU,HGBMPACBWXHGLCSBXBMH,XWDHGLCBXXBMHSBXBMHLFBMWJBCQUMPACB.
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 200
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: Q = T
VYQNYEBQQBQGYNKTTRKXYBSQTWYNREAIKANRQRNLYARNYEQI:VBPYRIEBQVBPYOGRHGKVQYTIOGYERQKVQYTKQRBESREAI.
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: S = A
SQQPBVYELXEVYTHTDWVLXFZ,VLSVLTESWFYVNTSBXDOSDXB,SQSDOTV-GFXZLV,NPVSBXFTAW,LSDJW,SFJHXZYDYPBWYPFZESF.
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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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: D = A
JTUDS'EGEGDFTOOGVDLYTSETCMDSZDSZUYSZJYFFHXDETVXSLTUXLMXSDELMXPDIXSTJ;TIJYLMSTYUVTILDSLKDIYDLYTS.
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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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: J = E
HDRMJSJLRBUYBJGYJNYLNRUN,CIXNMWJQYYG;PXNMRNCKMDJQYTG,YLMDJJIJLRTG,YLMDJOXLOTJ,HJLJRTHRUNNRUCBQMDCN.
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: L = E
LRLCJHUOJVZFLDNIOCLDELBXDDLVG-QNOLQLI.ZXZDNPCLNXOLNVHLXXLCXUHLQNOLZIXANXTNJXANIIUXXUHLQNOLNXNVV.
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
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- X
- Y
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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)
- “Find out the cause of this effect, Or rather say, the cause of this defect, For this effect defective comes by cause.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act II. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=U B=E C=S D=R E=W F=V G=H H=T I=G J=M K=N L=I M=C N=X O=P P=A Q=B R=K S=D T=Q U=Y V=J W=O X=F Y=Z Z=L
- “Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments: love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.”— William Shakespeare, 1609, Sonnets, CXVI (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=O C=Z D=K E=N F=Q G=H H=C I=S J=X K=A L=P M=J N=M O=W P=V Q=T R=I S=F T=R U=Y V=L W=U X=G Y=E Z=B
- “Accustom him to everything, that he may not be a Sir Paris, a carpet-knight, but a sinewy, hardy, and vigorous young man.”— Michel de Montaigne, 1580, Essays, Book I, Chap. XXV. Of the Education of Children (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=W B=S C=Q D=R E=M F=N G=K H=V I=F J=D K=L L=H M=Z N=B O=P P=U Q=C R=X S=A T=E U=J V=T W=Y X=I Y=O Z=G
- “Woman's usual occupations of hand and mind will be as open to me then as they are now; or with no important variation.”— Jane Austen, 1815, EmmaCipher key: A=Q B=G C=F D=A E=S F=L G=U H=B I=R J=W K=V L=T M=H N=Z O=C P=Y Q=K R=J S=N T=O U=M V=P W=X X=E Y=I Z=D
- “Whatever any one does or says, I must be good; just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple, were always saying this.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=Z B=N C=I D=H E=Q F=C G=D H=W I=M J=E K=F L=R M=T N=S O=P P=J Q=G R=A S=V T=L U=Y V=X W=B X=U Y=O Z=K
- “Everybody likes and respects self-made men. It is a great deal better to be made in that way than not to be made at all.”— Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1858, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, I (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=H B=C C=R D=S E=P F=K G=F H=B I=N J=Y K=J L=E M=X N=A O=D P=G Q=M R=V S=Z T=W U=O V=L W=U X=T Y=Q Z=I