Puzzle 1
Starter clue: C = E
XAPKCJXXZOBVBJXXZHSCZJC,BVZXAPKCFBZVCWPKCYHSCZJCVXYGEYCPD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Medium Cryptograms Set 90
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: A = O
DAADGVLDEGLTQHGDBHTWAIJDANDAFNZGFZGQFAFQIRFAQBHRFQIRFZHU.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: G = T
EUFUFDJPUXPAMLYMLKJQLGUMZPPGFKMP,EXDDWXKJLGXBMGFGUZFEGUMB.
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: B = E
QJBEYROLBQQTJYPMQJDLNCZBIXDIEMGPJBTBP,MXMCDQDELHJMGPJBCIR.
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 5
Starter clue: H = O
QUWPUIHRNHQIKHNYZNLJCZIZNJAFHIYUWUHIHGBNHLBZNUWTBNZDJUAL.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: M = E
ZVRMAATVTBMSWWRTSM,WFHWREHRQXTSM,WFUMTFA,ETXJXUQVSMVEMEOQVB.
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)
- “Of the good man a good pledge, and of the bad neither pledge nor surety.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=F B=A C=E D=Y E=U F=B G=S H=P I=X J=G K=H L=C M=J N=W O=M P=T Q=V R=Q S=L T=K U=Z V=N W=I X=O Y=R Z=D
- “No one can be a friend if you know not whether to trust or distrust him.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=O B=D C=P D=N E=B F=T G=E H=I I=U J=K K=G L=A M=L N=W O=V P=Q Q=R R=S S=J T=F U=M V=C W=Y X=Z Y=X Z=H
- “Who holds his peace and gathers stones, will find a time to throw them.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=P B=M C=X D=L E=W F=O G=T H=U I=Q J=D K=N L=A M=E N=Z O=Y P=S Q=G R=K S=V T=J U=H V=B W=F X=I Y=C Z=R
- “She may guess what I should perform in the wet, if I do so much in the dry.”— Miguel de Cervantes, 1605, Don Quixote, Part I, Book III. Chap. XI (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=E C=D D=O E=M F=B G=N H=C I=R J=H K=X L=U M=I N=L O=G P=T Q=S R=Y S=Q T=W U=J V=Z W=K X=F Y=A Z=P
- “Within our own borders a general condition of prosperity prevails.”— Benjamin Harrison, 1889, First Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=L B=P C=G D=V E=K F=C G=F H=O I=N J=A K=B L=S M=X N=R O=M P=H Q=W R=U S=J T=Y U=I V=Z W=T X=Q Y=D Z=E
- “Unless an age too late, or cold Climate, or years, damp my intended wing.”— John Milton, 1667, Paradise Lost, Book IX. Line 44 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=G C=H D=B E=D F=R G=Q H=C I=K J=P K=X L=F M=E N=Z O=W P=V Q=I R=L S=T T=A U=Y V=N W=O X=M Y=J Z=U