Puzzle 1
Starter clue: I = E
AIMQIISMQRNRQHJBV,DIDHVMDIHBUHSMHOIQDRKEJVMBIMINMVMDIRMDIJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- L
- M
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Nature Cryptograms Set 24
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: G = E
XGSXQYLKGNUPPQIGNINLJGP-ZNWWYGWYLIQWUSYPXPXGXNURAGYUXYLXNUR.
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: I = C
COEGGOUFAKIWJFEMGOEJHWMSWLIAJIVHKGEMIUKCWVPFEMFIWVPFULLUIG.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: S = E
NVVQMSTKXQLMTCMVNKQPYQMSPSYIS,PQLXCYKQPMSISYIHNTXCYKQPTSYTS.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: O = S
PJKPREOGOETHVOOEWIUPVWUOVEIULWCGDCVKPZGJLPVKNRGOPRUOKDWUGT.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: F = O
EFBBFYVAODOLCWJXFYMWEAUYQVFEDMFUMCWUFQWEWPQCFUZWQQCEDQFYEA.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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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)
- “Between two cowards, he has the advantage who first detects the other.”— Italian proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=B B=D C=Z D=H E=I F=U G=Q H=A I=E J=R K=F L=P M=T N=C O=G P=L Q=W R=O S=N T=M U=V V=S W=Y X=K Y=X Z=J
- “He who is meant to be a basket-carrier is born with the handle in his hand.”— Italian proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=L B=X C=J D=V E=P F=Q G=E H=Y I=B J=K K=M L=S M=U N=A O=F P=T Q=O R=D S=W T=G U=N V=Z W=R X=H Y=I Z=C
- “What the discordant harmony of circumstances would and could effect.”— Horace, 20 BC, Epistles, I. 12, 19 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=G C=W D=B E=A F=D G=T H=M I=C J=R K=S L=F M=N N=Q O=H P=L Q=Z R=X S=Y T=J U=E V=U W=O X=P Y=V Z=K
- “Immodest words admit of no defence, For want of decency is want of sense.”— Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Roscommon, 1684, An Essay on Translated Verse, Line 113 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=H B=K C=A D=B E=J F=P G=Z H=Y I=C J=Q K=T L=R M=D N=I O=G P=F Q=O R=V S=E T=S U=L V=M W=X X=W Y=N Z=U
- “Truth is as impossible to be soiled by any outward touch as the sunbeam.”— John Milton, 1643, The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=K C=Y D=N E=I F=Q G=A H=P I=L J=R K=U L=D M=J N=C O=S P=T Q=Z R=H S=V T=M U=E V=O W=B X=F Y=G Z=W
- “Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground.”— William Shakespeare, 1611, The Tempest, Act I. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=W C=E D=G E=N F=O G=M H=K I=P J=T K=Z L=V M=S N=J O=I P=C Q=R R=Y S=Q T=X U=F V=L W=A X=H Y=U Z=B