Puzzle 1
Starter clue: V = E
JFSEVQZYGUVRSNKQAMFJWFNAPVVYSCVOZJTVT,SUTYFSYJDYFVRSNKGPVIKVCJVUWV.JXUGMUGMSAGPHZTOJUOGPYFVPZYZCVQZYQAYFVKSDY.
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 222
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: M = S
NDXPSCNHXSQFAMNCXGHXMNSMZAQOACFSNJ.MXVO-CXVSBQZXSMSNMBPXCMSAQ.SNVAPXMQANCXBVSNSXMBQYZCXBNACM,IHNQBFXMBQYZHMNAFM.
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: N = O
JTWQKOOKBGVJJURZNOZSNIKSAUSNJTWHRNGVKRSNJONHFNGSAAWSJVWCWSITNRWBNSRBKNGRSWRRKRBTKWOVFCUQWGLNOJTWKHNISIKRTWR.
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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- U
- V
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: L = E
HJLKUGLHJXHJLLVYLCQPTUGUHJLGP,HJLKUGLQULPJLYUPPLPPUTJDPUZC;HJLKUGLHJXHJLBDELPHUUHJLGP,HJLKUGLQULPJLJXELJDKPLAT.
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
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- U
- V
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- X
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: P = A
FJCPYHFPYHPOTCJVEPVZJGTGGJEFETXSYETAPNPAFPCJSHFJGWPFYTHVTYHOTPIYHLMYFKOYGGTEYHLCTFKJOA,PNPAFPCJSHFJGKSCYIYFZ.
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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- U
- V
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: Q = E
EDLRQBDKCCPURPQFRIKCLYQRDQSCKJG,PUIMUUWJUHZQPBKRQSKWLPHKP,KSBUCOQDLHBU:CLVQ'BSFBLPQBBSQLPMXFBRRDQRQIILSCQJDULJQ.
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 but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.”— Patrick Henry, 1775, Speech in the Virginia Convention. March, 1775 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=Z C=R D=S E=V F=H G=O H=J I=X J=I K=P L=Q M=W N=M O=G P=F Q=B R=L S=A T=D U=N V=E W=C X=K Y=T Z=U
- “The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841, Essays: First Series, Self-Reliance (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=A C=R D=H E=W F=M G=Q H=U I=B J=Y K=Z L=G M=S N=T O=F P=V Q=N R=J S=I T=P U=K V=L W=X X=E Y=D Z=C
- “The difficult task of knowing another soul is not for young gentlemen whose consciousness is chiefly made up of their own wishes.”— George Eliot, 1872, MiddlemarchCipher key: A=G B=C C=M D=B E=J F=Y G=U H=R I=W J=T K=I L=P M=X N=O O=F P=Q Q=D R=S S=N T=H U=A V=L W=E X=Z Y=V Z=K
- “The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.”— Laozi, 1891, Tao Te Ching (James Legge translation, 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=G C=N D=I E=V F=U G=R H=T I=Y J=H K=M L=E M=B N=J O=Q P=S Q=D R=K S=C T=F U=O V=X W=Z X=A Y=P Z=W
- “To maintain a democracy of effort requires a vast amount of patience in dealing with differing methods, a vast amount of humility.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1937, Second Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=S B=X C=M D=Z E=R F=T G=F H=N I=L J=O K=H L=G M=W N=V O=D P=A Q=K R=J S=U T=E U=B V=C W=P X=Q Y=I Z=Y
- “White shall not neutralize the black, nor good Compensate bad in man, absolve him so: Life's business being just the terrible choice.”— Robert Browning, 1869, The Ring and the Book, The Pope. Line 1236 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=S C=L D=H E=W F=U G=K H=M I=R J=C K=A L=I M=G N=Q O=V P=N Q=E R=T S=B T=Y U=O V=F W=D X=J Y=Z Z=P