Puzzle 1
Starter clue: O = E
TUFDOIUXYSUIWXNOXJVFIYCO'WGXYCVOMNOVUFKNFKONOVFVKVXINFKOIUONROZZ,IUOMTNTIFIOKUYNFVTIMWXFAXNTVFAZM.
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 205
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: F = S
KOGJEHCTFMOEVFGEZWMPCUTPHEUF:KOGDGUGMSSFTK,FOEUTPLEVDFGSQGFMPHADCTPLEPKOGRMFFGDF-JCKEAEWGMPHSEQGVF.
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
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- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: G = E
NFGVUTSVWFNWXMOGSEADEG,NFGOFGMLZGEGUOGSEUMNDSUI,NFGUVXIGSEKMUABIGUNDKGUNMUZFGXSDOGUNGXLXDIGDIWSUG.
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
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- U
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: P = E
RXWPFMHPMDXYDIPOPXOAP,CZDIPOPXOAP,YXFDIPOPXOAPNKAAOPFKEIYFXHDIPYBSPXYDIPPBFDIKYCFKCPFZKEDXAPFBDPQ.
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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- Y
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: M = O
YMVJNKHMWAYHAXOSDMCOXTZAVYMOZYXVMKDLINDDAHLDX,NTLVYMPWAZDCHTKXZWKTXAZXXOAZYNZEWACVMKDLNTHLDXKZMM!
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
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- U
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 6
Starter clue: Z = O
YVDEZFYCDOADOITDUOJPZWJZRBPJZRNZYOQDOYVBDP,BFYZTDYVBEFVZUVBEFDTPUVOYVDBFOSNFYDOTZRYZPJZRWAZECOSJ.
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)
- “I have thought some of Nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=P C=R D=V E=Q F=A G=J H=C I=T J=F K=D L=K M=Y N=M O=E P=X Q=Z R=W S=G T=I U=H V=N W=S X=O Y=U Z=L
- “The body is a house of many windows: there we all sit, showing ourselves and crying on the passers-by to come and love us.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=C B=K C=Y D=R E=O F=S G=E H=D I=X J=B K=T L=G M=A N=J O=H P=N Q=V R=P S=L T=I U=W V=U W=M X=Q Y=Z Z=F
- “The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise is gone.”— Edmund Burke, 1790, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Vol. III. p. 331 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=Y C=Q D=I E=F F=H G=E H=J I=S J=Z K=M L=P M=A N=T O=C P=V Q=W R=X S=O T=B U=N V=U W=G X=R Y=K Z=D
- “Government of the people, by the people, for the people will perish from the face of the earth if bribery is tolerated.”— Theodore Roosevelt, 1903, Third Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=L B=A C=B D=T E=S F=R G=J H=M I=H J=Z K=I L=K M=N N=W O=P P=E Q=D R=G S=C T=U U=X V=Q W=V X=O Y=F Z=Y
- “How various his employments whom the world calls idle, and who justly in return Esteems that busy world an idler too!”— William Cowper, 1785, The Task, Book III. The Garden. Line 352 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=F C=Y D=L E=B F=Z G=Q H=I I=C J=V K=R L=D M=O N=A O=M P=J Q=G R=K S=P T=N U=X V=W W=U X=E Y=H Z=T
- “The most peaceable way for you if you do take a thief, is to let him show himself what he is and steal out of your company.”— William Shakespeare, 1599, Much Ado about Nothing, Act III. Sc. 3 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=I C=P D=E E=M F=S G=Q H=V I=B J=Y K=G L=X M=J N=D O=A P=F Q=K R=U S=N T=L U=W V=H W=R X=Z Y=T Z=O