Puzzle 1
Starter clue: M = O
HNZLPCGMPOWLWGMPMLPWCVECW,HMZGMPMZDCPW;ZMTC,HMZZMWCCO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Medium Cryptograms Set 58
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
XHXRRQNDHCXSFZXODHDZZXSFEDQEZDHQODDEMEHCDXBREXBXHR.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: C = H
CWYCVCHLJWQOHMVZBWXWCAGICAT,CHLTHIWHZVVIIHK'LDVBMGWK.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
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- H
- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: Z = E
FZSFMFPRKMIMTLZTKQFZIPJJZB,STJJFPIZKMKZTKQFZLMNKLTJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: A = T
EZGDZGYYOMATZFBAAZD,SBANKIZKWBNGDZYKKUOMFGAATZNAGDN.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
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- H
- I
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: Z = E
PWZ'PBIAWLAVZB;PWZ'PIBCWZNQIBKPLHZIYCWLQCJ,LYPWZUZRHRJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
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- 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)
- “Nature forms us for ourselves, not for others; to be, not to seem.”— Michel de Montaigne, 1580, Essays, Book II, Chap. XXXVII. Of the Resemblance of Children to their Brothers (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=J B=Q C=E D=H E=V F=G G=F H=N I=K J=C K=W L=U M=O N=A O=M P=R Q=X R=Y S=D T=B U=P V=L W=S X=I Y=Z Z=T
- “It is something like telling people to keep up their spirits.”— George Eliot, 1872, MiddlemarchCipher key: A=F B=R C=H D=E E=P F=G G=Q H=T I=Y J=A K=V L=D M=U N=M O=K P=C Q=O R=S S=N T=W U=X V=B W=Z X=I Y=J Z=L
- “He who has left a rogue behind him, has made a good day's journey.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=I B=U C=H D=J E=K F=C G=N H=A I=D J=L K=Y L=S M=R N=V O=T P=X Q=F R=Q S=Z T=M U=P V=O W=E X=B Y=W Z=G
- “He who has no voice in the valley, will have none in the council.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=Z B=Y C=F D=P E=B F=H G=Q H=X I=V J=L K=N L=C M=O N=U O=G P=A Q=T R=S S=W T=I U=D V=J W=K X=M Y=R Z=E
- “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”— Oscar Wilde, 1892, Lady Windermere's FanCipher key: A=T B=U C=D D=R E=W F=G G=A H=X I=M J=P K=O L=J M=N N=S O=I P=Y Q=V R=Q S=B T=H U=K V=C W=F X=Z Y=L Z=E
- “She's no chicken; she's on the wrong side of thirty, if she be a day.”— Jonathan Swift, 1738, Polite Conversation, Dialogue I (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=N C=T D=U E=P F=X G=L H=D I=O J=Y K=G L=I M=V N=W O=J P=S Q=R R=A S=M T=Z U=B V=K W=H X=Q Y=F Z=E