Puzzle 1
Starter clue: G = S
XQYOCJXJSQIJXR,BGQLFGRBRXGRGJQ,BPBGCYCGGRQEFXRCUBXF.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- X
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- Z
Medium Cryptograms Set 54
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 = N
KFIEWFFKAQFKGGYWAWRWFZIWSSDBHPDAYIIFMKXWXKZAFBLYA.
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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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: T = A
TDOTZDTUXZXICKTZHRRCUIMQKZTNRWMZINIMVOXNRTZTBKIOR.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: K = A
KZKFCSSKLTSDIPYKZXIZIZKRIECZSOXGKGFIIWKGKDKCCXKFS.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: A = O
ATOBZBUAGLKAUBARZVLGWVWJQZOW,CTGLKAUNWVWOLGWVTUZAU.
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: K = S
PSCTEKQMTHJXOHXRRTKSRPXPMKETKGXISHSEJPMJPSTKUXJKX.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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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)
- “I once did hold it, as our statists do, A baseness to write fair.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act V. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=A C=E D=K E=W F=R G=S H=J I=L J=D K=P L=U M=G N=Q O=C P=B Q=O R=T S=H T=M U=F V=Z W=X X=I Y=N Z=V
- “One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight.”— Jane Austen, 1813, Pride and PrejudiceCipher key: A=T B=I C=U D=Y E=C F=N G=W H=S I=E J=Q K=O L=G M=D N=X O=V P=B Q=K R=M S=L T=Z U=J V=P W=A X=F Y=H Z=R
- “At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our life as a whole.”— Woodrow Wilson, 1913, First Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=J B=W C=N D=T E=X F=P G=M H=B I=O J=G K=H L=Y M=U N=F O=L P=K Q=C R=E S=Z T=A U=V V=R W=D X=I Y=Q Z=S
- “An agreeable companion on a journey is as good as a carriage.”— Publilius Syrus, 42 BC, Sententiae (Maxims), 143 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=H C=R D=C E=U F=G G=S H=X I=O J=Z K=A L=B M=Q N=F O=Y P=M Q=V R=J S=E T=L U=K V=W W=D X=I Y=P Z=N
- “Ours is not a consolidated empire, but a confederated union.”— James K. Polk, 1848, Fourth Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=O B=S C=B D=H E=Y F=W G=T H=X I=Q J=M K=C L=A M=V N=F O=R P=K Q=P R=L S=G T=U U=N V=D W=E X=J Y=Z Z=I
- “He bids fair to grow wise who has discovered that he is not so.”— Publilius Syrus, 42 BC, Sententiae (Maxims), 598 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Q B=K C=B D=Y E=D F=M G=C H=R I=V J=T K=S L=X M=A N=P O=G P=H Q=F R=W S=E T=I U=N V=Z W=U X=O Y=L Z=J