Puzzle 1
Starter clue: P = E
WQSXDHGFMAFKP,DTXHOOPB'XBSVPESENDBPCWQ,OCTVBFKPCDPCHWPFHXMAFUPBUQPEEPJWUPOPPW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Nature Cryptograms Set 41
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: E = R
TOHZOHENUAHLIECNEH,NUHLEZOIELNE,ZOHHVZELSLWLUZLUFHEENUWAJNENZONHAZIONAQIUCNUH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
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- T
- U
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: D = E
LWDWNILWZVASXHW,IOLWHDNLHSDADNLWLWDHWNUD,GZVLNPCOAJNJDNAUIWOHEDVOAJPZTDVHKNUD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
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- U
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- X
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- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: F = H
XPYCUWMMVFWJWTBKVCZFKWIXCPFWZTW;YCABKRTRZUCKUUFXCE,ZXJ,UKPYUPFKMALXJAZVXUFPFYHH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: L = T
ZLXIAMCCZBJU,AXLHXKJEWLDJKMNDLJXFCHJAMAMLLDZAEWLDJIXXUCZAUCIZHTCLDZLCFKKXFAUML.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: T = E
GWTVPBOFJJICTSYOWCRPITPAOGTITPSYTGTISPV,FJFSTBTXBCGWGWTVPBOFJSPGAITPSYFJHFIPVO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
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)
- “This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.”— William Shakespeare, 1595, Romeo and Juliet, Act II. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=R C=A D=B E=N F=O G=D H=U I=K J=X K=V L=J M=F N=G O=M P=E Q=H R=Q S=I T=Y U=W V=P W=T X=S Y=Z Z=C
- “Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, The extravagant and erring spirit hies to his confine.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=Q C=F D=M E=R F=D G=Z H=E I=O J=P K=U L=A M=L N=I O=H P=K Q=C R=Y S=V T=W U=N V=X W=G X=J Y=B Z=T
- “The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made.”— Oliver Goldsmith, 1770, The Deserted Village, Line 13 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=Z C=K D=E E=P F=Y G=F H=S I=W J=G K=M L=T M=Q N=A O=I P=L Q=X R=J S=B T=V U=D V=R W=H X=U Y=C Z=O
- “I can tell where my own shoe pinches me; and you must not think, sir, to catch old birds with chaff.”— Miguel de Cervantes, 1605, Don Quixote, Part I, Book IV. Chap. V (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=Y C=N D=Z E=K F=H G=Q H=F I=P J=R K=O L=B M=L N=X O=J P=C Q=V R=U S=G T=M U=T V=W W=E X=I Y=A Z=S
- “A town is saved, not more by the righteous men in it than by the woods and swamps that surround it.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1862, WalkingCipher key: A=N B=V C=S D=H E=B F=U G=C H=M I=W J=E K=R L=T M=I N=G O=Z P=J Q=F R=K S=Q T=P U=D V=X W=Y X=O Y=L Z=A
- “The laws of friendship are austere and eternal, of one web with the laws of nature and of morals.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841, Essays: First SeriesCipher key: A=U B=W C=I D=X E=J F=O G=T H=M I=R J=F K=V L=K M=C N=Q O=S P=A Q=Z R=P S=N T=E U=Y V=L W=H X=B Y=D Z=G