Puzzle 1
Starter clue: O = E
ISOXMSOHWWFNXUMSOPMOINQUKNBBWDMIOSONQISWPMWBOMSOYDMMOQ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- F
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- I
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Medium Cryptograms Set 81
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: R = E
VRDVMHCRZZRZOXMUVRCZ'GKMUVRZDOKKYRIXHCRZZRHMXUVRVONVDPB.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: O = T
OLPUYJHODQOPLDQHECCPJPAOWPDAEAVQ,ULEGLEOEQPDQZOYWEQODBP.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: F = E
KFOKATRMBGTBFMHRKFOAAGNERRFHDTVDIFVPRAZFKDRZPMTWVDBRFH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: F = T
FVKXKKQRDEFUCFVSVRIVICDDRDEFRQKXOCFGDFGKDFUBOFVKSRXKXF.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: V = T
VMHLHZLHGXFXUGVTXNVMHEXAFZTTXGVMHEMZLVXNVLOHFZVLUXVUTA.
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)
- “When the cook and the steward fall out we hear who stole the butter.”— Dutch proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=X B=L C=G D=U E=Z F=K G=Q H=C I=W J=V K=F L=Y M=T N=A O=E P=S Q=R R=I S=H T=M U=D V=P W=O X=N Y=B Z=J
- “He who dresses in others' clothes will be undressed on the highway.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=Q B=Y C=R D=W E=M F=J G=C H=D I=U J=P K=L L=X M=O N=G O=I P=A Q=Z R=E S=F T=K U=T V=H W=V X=N Y=B Z=S
- “The word taste has different meanings, which it is easy to mistake.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1871, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (J. Hain Friswell translation, 1871)Cipher key: A=N B=K C=F D=A E=I F=J G=C H=D I=U J=R K=Q L=H M=B N=L O=T P=E Q=S R=P S=V T=X U=W V=G W=M X=Z Y=O Z=Y
- “He who stands near the woodcutter is likely to be hit by a splinter.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=O B=N C=V D=I E=U F=E G=D H=R I=K J=Z K=H L=X M=A N=C O=W P=Y Q=F R=T S=Q T=S U=J V=L W=P X=M Y=G Z=B
- “The seeming truth which cunning times put on to entrap the wisest.”— William Shakespeare, 1597, The Merchant of Venice, Act III. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=A C=U D=N E=G F=T G=O H=V I=C J=K K=E L=Q M=X N=L O=P P=J Q=M R=I S=W T=D U=R V=H W=F X=S Y=Z Z=B
- “There are no points of the compass on the chart of true patriotism.”— Robert C. Winthrop, 1879, Letter to Boston Commercial Club in 1879 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=J C=V D=K E=C F=P G=N H=E I=L J=D K=B L=R M=H N=F O=U P=W Q=X R=Q S=Y T=S U=I V=T W=G X=O Y=Z Z=A