Puzzle 1
Starter clue: R = E
VGRTRPTRWRZWKRYGZQPAUZPKKIHARPAUGRTZHQVGHABEFNVZAR!MRRWITZDVRKKHABVGRHTGPWWHAREEREVZVGRNAGPWWO.
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 201
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: L = E
IVVDLMJIMYLLQBLQIJQRJYHBLTLASRJGMWOLT,AOQHBIQMGMLJIMYLLRYQBLYQTIQLKSGOQGNHBRJBZRJQGTSRYLZGVZLE.
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: K = E
WTVVKQKLMULZKJXLWMXWOTZFVKSVKMRWVMFKJCCBKFUHKAWLKUXRKUVWRMFKJCCMFUMOUDFUQQKLMWTXJLZWLXKNTKLZK.
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: Q = E
YAQWQFHTSVDVWRFMHQSB-OFHJWTFHQ;TMOFMGTWOHQSB-OFHJTWTEQKQMYTBBUWOHYUKQOFYTYFXQHJSQQMTEWTYQBVSBQTHY.
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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- U
- V
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- X
- Y
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: T = E
NTVETVLHDZZHPAJJXVUTGTTL,VLHPAJJXTWTVBOTWGT,EYJOAUVOTHPAOXVJJ,VLHGKOXTIZCOBVAOXBYJWTDVWHOZQYCOAET.
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
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: V = A
FVQUVXVNKQMYVQRFIYMTVGVZEMFVTUKQMKQUKFHUVQHUIXMIHUMYX,ZAHKHKXHUMXVFMFVTUKQMVQRJIYPXKQHUMXVFMJVO.
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)
- “There are people who can do all fine and heroic things but one! keep from telling their happinesses to the unhappy.”— Mark Twain, 1897, Following the EquatorCipher key: A=N B=G C=Z D=M E=S F=B G=H H=I I=F J=X K=L L=Q M=K N=U O=Y P=A Q=C R=E S=J T=R U=D V=T W=P X=V Y=W Z=O
- “All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”— Sun Tzu, 1910, The Art of War (Lionel Giles translation, 1910)Cipher key: A=B B=H C=Z D=M E=D F=X G=O H=W I=A J=C K=G L=E M=N N=F O=U P=J Q=T R=I S=Y T=R U=P V=L W=Q X=K Y=S Z=V
- “Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1665, Maximes, 180 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=W C=L D=Y E=Z F=H G=X H=V I=K J=I K=E L=N M=T N=Q O=M P=B Q=P R=F S=G T=U U=A V=R W=O X=S Y=J Z=C
- “There is a luxury in self-dispraise; And inward self-disparagement affords to meditative spleen a grateful feast.”— William Wordsworth, 1814, The Excursion, Book IV (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=H B=F C=Z D=X E=G F=I G=W H=S I=K J=P K=M L=J M=N N=C O=D P=B Q=E R=Y S=L T=A U=O V=U W=R X=V Y=T Z=Q
- “Peace and good will have been, and will hereafter be, cultivated with all, and by the most faithful regard to justice.”— James Monroe, 1821, Second Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=I B=F C=S D=G E=C F=X G=B H=D I=M J=L K=Y L=N M=K N=P O=T P=W Q=J R=Z S=Q T=E U=V V=A W=R X=H Y=U Z=O
- “Man has a finer and more capable machine in him than those others, but it is the same machine and works in the same way.”— Mark Twain, 1906, What Is Man? and Other EssaysCipher key: A=U B=G C=Q D=X E=L F=M G=P H=T I=O J=W K=I L=Z M=E N=F O=Y P=K Q=N R=D S=J T=C U=H V=A W=V X=S Y=R Z=B