Puzzle 1
Starter clue: P = E
QGOCXTMXWGCSUMCGPUJPXTMPOTUJOFEPSUMCGPUCGPM.
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 25
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: I = T
NGSLGKXIPXINUYGIIGMCMUJG,YBIXSLXIELMGQUIBMUD.
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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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: P = E
KGVRJEEXRFVIP,KBXIEXNJPNHEJPPBBVDR,KDIBPSBXMP.
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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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: Y = E
IPTZYYG!OMOTQAYEMZYMPOEA,HYZIXYFNSIWGIZYMIGIZY.
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 5
Starter clue: R = E
SLRHPL'ZUBVMRWLRZZHPCRPZBNCJRVSHRPNNHRL'ZVFEZR.
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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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: E = O
DRHKLEULHXXRBXIHHTIZHOEFVDJET,TEDIZLHOEFVDJET.
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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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)
- “What is right for the one is reasonable for the other.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=P B=D C=T D=C E=L F=B G=H H=V I=K J=N K=Z L=U M=R N=Q O=A P=E Q=W R=M S=F T=S U=O V=Y W=G X=I Y=J Z=X
- “He does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Twelfth Night, Act II. Sc. 3 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Q B=U C=G D=L E=M F=K G=E H=Y I=T J=C K=S L=O M=R N=H O=Z P=W Q=N R=F S=D T=V U=A V=J W=X X=I Y=B Z=P
- “A light to guide, a rod to check the erring, and reprove.”— William Wordsworth, 1807, Poems in Two Volumes, Ode to Duty (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=R C=B D=N E=T F=U G=L H=K I=D J=H K=A L=M M=V N=C O=J P=E Q=Y R=G S=P T=Q U=W V=I W=S X=O Y=Z Z=X
- “Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole.”— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part V (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=C C=U D=Z E=N F=D G=P H=B I=O J=K K=Y L=X M=T N=F O=I P=H Q=A R=Q S=R T=S U=J V=W W=M X=V Y=E Z=L
- “One man's wickedness may easily become all men's curse.”— Publilius Syrus, 42 BC, Sententiae (Maxims), 463 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=I C=Y D=Q E=R F=U G=T H=M I=J J=B K=V L=N M=K N=L O=F P=A Q=G R=E S=O T=P U=W V=C W=D X=Z Y=H Z=S
- “The progress has been by evolution, not by revolution.”— Theodore Roosevelt, 1903, Third Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=C B=A C=M D=T E=O F=L G=Q H=E I=B J=I K=P L=R M=X N=W O=V P=K Q=J R=H S=F T=N U=G V=U W=D X=S Y=Z Z=Y