Puzzle 1
Starter clue: K = L
TLOBEDFOKKYXOYTLEFXYUAKLOBDEDFKEFXYKCKESLOAKUTLB.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
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- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Medium Cryptograms Set 50
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: D = E
JDRJVJDDOZSVKKJDHVZKZJVD-SCXH,RXHHZVVSHVZDKJDJVLZD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: G = T
KPFQGKCECGPFANSFGPZQI,ZGZAQCGGPFANSFGPZQINLGFMNXX.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
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- D
- E
- F
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- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: F = E
JXRKZUSGFVFAXZEQVSFZUI:JXRKVFZXGDJFZFDJ,KZUSKDJXRVI.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
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- D
- E
- F
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- H
- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: I = E
HTTQIISDSIYBIYTIJSTHGKH,HTTCXSIDFTXSHYTIJSTHFXIOGI.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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- K
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: C = T
CQFCDDCQDPCFUKSCFHCQFCDUNIF,XUYRFCCQFRAFFLCDNFCQFJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
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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)
- “Wearing all that weight of learning lightly like a flower.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1850, In Memoriam A.H.H., Conclusion. Stanza 10 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=R C=Y D=N E=I F=G G=C H=Z I=Q J=S K=L L=E M=J N=P O=A P=B Q=M R=V S=K T=W U=O V=D W=X X=H Y=T Z=U
- “He who heeds not the lost shoe-nail, will soon lose the horse.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=X B=Y C=A D=E E=Z F=V G=J H=L I=G J=H K=T L=R M=B N=K O=D P=U Q=C R=W S=N T=P U=Q V=O W=F X=I Y=M Z=S
- “When two do the same thing, it is not the same thing after all.”— Publilius Syrus, 42 BC, Sententiae (Maxims), 338 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=X C=O D=P E=D F=E G=T H=J I=G J=U K=W L=F M=R N=A O=Z P=H Q=N R=C S=M T=Y U=V V=K W=Q X=L Y=B Z=I
- “You and I were long friends: you are now my enemy, and I am yours.”— Benjamin Franklin, 1775, Letter to William Strahan, July 5, 1775 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=J C=T D=M E=G F=E G=W H=Q I=S J=Y K=A L=X M=P N=H O=V P=C Q=F R=U S=I T=Z U=D V=R W=K X=O Y=B Z=N
- “Too keen an edge does not cut, too fine a point does not pierce.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=W B=G C=F D=A E=Z F=P G=C H=T I=E J=S K=U L=Q M=V N=B O=R P=H Q=K R=L S=N T=O U=Y V=J W=M X=I Y=D Z=X
- “The tooth often bites the tongue, and yet they keep together.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=K B=C C=T D=O E=V F=E G=J H=S I=U J=R K=B L=P M=Q N=G O=L P=F Q=H R=Y S=I T=Z U=N V=W W=M X=A Y=D Z=X