Puzzle 1
Starter clue: C = T
UQNCCRCXQRSWAWUPCRSRMPARRLIQUCQUZQWICXQMWSICGERCQSRMWC.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Medium Cryptograms Set 77
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: X = E
EZECMVEQGKYPXQNBXZZHZEJXMRXDBXXCDWXLKXZMYULDBURQUDWXQY.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: C = E
DXCZCGCNCZJLTLWLGRECDTYTEAVDEYETWEDTYACYGCOBGCOBIILDBD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: X = E
TYXXUXTUKXSNIRXTJEXUZNTXUZJUJEXGMIRTUJCVXKJIXKNEXTYXXU.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: C = S
ZCSYBZXYLKCTTCLKRFLKTCYVTLUTOTBFMWTCXYLK;SLCCTCCYLKAZKF.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: I = E
ERIKROSICIITOEOLWIOEMIOPENMVOTLAOLIP,OTJPENVITERIPUWODP.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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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)
- “Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1876, Letters and Social Aims, Quotation and Originality (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=L C=T D=Y E=U F=J G=Q H=K I=S J=W K=V L=D M=F N=X O=B P=A Q=E R=O S=R T=P U=N V=Z W=I X=H Y=M Z=C
- “A landmark is very well placed between the fields of two brothers.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=G B=W C=N D=T E=A F=Q G=K H=P I=J J=C K=I L=F M=D N=Y O=U P=V Q=R R=B S=Z T=X U=O V=M W=H X=E Y=S Z=L
- “There never was a banquet so sumptuous but some one dined ill at it.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=M B=I C=E D=T E=U F=Z G=N H=C I=L J=W K=F L=A M=G N=V O=D P=K Q=X R=Q S=J T=S U=Y V=P W=B X=H Y=O Z=R
- “Sweetest melodies are those that are by distance made more sweet.”— William Wordsworth, 1807, Poems in Two Volumes, Personal Talk. Stanza 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Q B=U C=N D=V E=R F=Z G=B H=K I=D J=A K=M L=X M=Y N=O O=P P=J Q=G R=I S=L T=S U=T V=C W=F X=E Y=W Z=H
- “Aspiration sees only one side of every question; possession many.”— James Russell Lowell, 1870, Among My Books, First Series. New England Two Centuries ago (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=R C=S D=G E=Z F=Y G=B H=C I=H J=K K=N L=O M=Q N=W O=V P=X Q=J R=L S=P T=E U=F V=D W=U X=T Y=I Z=A
- “They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen the scraps.”— William Shakespeare, 1597, Love's Labour's Lost, Act V. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=U B=Q C=B D=P E=T F=X G=M H=Z I=E J=D K=Y L=G M=F N=O O=A P=S Q=W R=H S=V T=N U=C V=L W=R X=J Y=I Z=K