Puzzle 1
Starter clue: P = T
CFMQFMPGIHPTOPPTAYAJAIATVQ,MVJQFMPGPYFPTOPPTATVMW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Medium Cryptograms Set 48
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: J = I
JHZPHPDAUPVJYFUJUPWUPEUFJDQJEA,JVJUUNSADNQQDWCCAZ.
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: C = T
HTGFRIZWDLWFYWBRIVZCCVORDDLVHF,RDDCTGUWEGLGBGXCWC.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: R = A
NJRKMJREREFMRC,IRWVVJMYNVTDCRSVTWROYJRVEFMRCNVYRW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: D = E
JFDJUSDUMYDDZTSWTYUSD,NSQJFDJUSDUMFNOTSWTYNSUJFDL.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: C = H
ONNAYXLPCLUXURBANEOIRUP,HCRKZNICXFRCLE,CNBACLEYXUP.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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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)
- “Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long.”— Oliver Goldsmith, 1765, The Hermit (Edwin and Angelina), Chap. VIII. Stanza 8 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=E B=D C=M D=P E=X F=A G=S H=U I=B J=R K=C L=Z M=N N=V O=I P=T Q=W R=F S=Y T=L U=K V=O W=G X=J Y=H Z=Q
- “I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer.”— Ulysses S. Grant, 1864, Despatch to Washington. Before Spottsylvania Court House, May 11, 1864 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=E B=X C=M D=S E=N F=H G=Q H=P I=B J=I K=Y L=C M=J N=A O=V P=O Q=L R=D S=K T=Z U=T V=F W=U X=W Y=G Z=R
- “When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it.”— Pliny the Elder, 77, Natural History (Naturalis Historia), Book VIII. Sect. 103 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=K B=S C=T D=L E=C F=N G=E H=W I=B J=Q K=Z L=D M=V N=J O=F P=X Q=Y R=A S=P T=H U=M V=O W=I X=R Y=G Z=U
- “I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.”— William Shakespeare, 1595, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act IV. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=L C=M D=F E=D F=R G=U H=C I=P J=H K=V L=Q M=E N=I O=Y P=X Q=B R=A S=N T=O U=K V=T W=S X=Z Y=W Z=J
- “The tone of seeking is one, and the tone of having is another.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841, Essays: First SeriesCipher key: A=B B=W C=U D=E E=M F=H G=Q H=J I=P J=T K=Y L=R M=F N=A O=V P=X Q=D R=C S=N T=I U=O V=L W=G X=Z Y=S Z=K
- “Good faith is a seldom guest, when you have him, hold him fast.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=D B=L C=H D=J E=M F=V G=P H=W I=U J=K K=N L=I M=Z N=O O=G P=T Q=R R=E S=X T=B U=S V=Q W=C X=A Y=F Z=Y