Puzzle 1
Starter clue: O = A
YOBPUXTOMXVBKXSHNPVBGEBKOYOZZXBEBXRHUNUHZV;TOYGHPSLKOQXTOLXKETGEBKOYOZZXBEBXRHUVOYL.
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 45
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: U = E
MIUJTKKXRUTEMIUSKXWUMVYITWIMIUPVXOEMULO,XEVPMVCUFSXLETVLVCMIUITRIYXN,XEXKXGUVCXPTJUP.
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
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: L = E
WXJNMLSBL,RXHOCHZ,RKHZLBOLGHKCXRXHZLEROYGYLXH.MRELGXSQJNLOGOLKIGHHLOLSNRHZGMMRHKFLGYK.
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
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: O = T
OALNLKDTYLXKUAOTEOALDRY,OATRUAKOKDKYOLNNRBOLQZHPFXXD,STRYOFKYD,FYQTOALNOAKYUDKYEKYKOL.
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
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: W = O
WAZCPKXJQZRVWPDHZVADJFWWMPDUIZDEGUWXPWVZWRPDA,WRPWVDJZHCJDAMWRBWWM,IGDADJJIGZQDBZQEDA.
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
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- U
- V
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 6
Starter clue: G = E
TCYZMEMWHCHMEULDAMSGEZGHBMTQAGCXGHQZGPAWLZUTFLVUGL,MTEEMHVTUFZQYUQZEHMYTZGHLMPAGXGUA.
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)
- “Nature makes the locust with an appetite for crops; man would have made him with an appetite for sand.”— Mark Twain, 1897, Following the EquatorCipher key: A=Y B=T C=Q D=B E=I F=X G=W H=O I=Z J=G K=H L=D M=K N=C O=A P=U Q=V R=F S=L T=M U=R V=S W=J X=E Y=N Z=P
- “The village is the place to which the roads tend, a sort of expansion of the highway, as a lake of a river.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1862, WalkingCipher key: A=B B=Q C=F D=U E=S F=X G=K H=J I=H J=V K=L L=N M=T N=Y O=D P=R Q=Z R=G S=P T=I U=E V=O W=C X=A Y=W Z=M
- “Knowledge, in truth, is the great sun in the firmament. Life and power are scattered with all its beams.”— Daniel Webster, 1825, Address on laying the Corner-Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, 1825. Vol. I. p. 74 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=G C=U D=Y E=F F=B G=A H=T I=C J=O K=S L=E M=L N=W O=R P=V Q=P R=I S=D T=J U=Q V=Z W=K X=N Y=M Z=H
- “There is one light of the sun, though it is interrupted by walls, mountains, and other things infinite.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=H B=P C=Z D=S E=F F=A G=X H=Y I=V J=C K=I L=E M=Q N=R O=T P=W Q=D R=U S=M T=O U=G V=J W=K X=L Y=N Z=B
- “One impulse from a vernal wood may teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.”— William Wordsworth, 1798, Lyrical Ballads, The Tables Turned (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=G C=I D=A E=C F=W G=H H=V I=T J=L K=P L=Z M=D N=K O=Q P=M Q=S R=F S=X T=J U=Y V=R W=O X=U Y=B Z=E
- “Now had Aurora displayed her mantle over the blushing skies, and dark night withdrawn her sable veil.”— Miguel de Cervantes, 1605, Don Quixote, Part I, Book III. Chap. VI (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=M C=O D=P E=D F=G G=E H=R I=C J=F K=Z L=S M=A N=Q O=X P=B Q=T R=J S=Y T=N U=I V=K W=U X=V Y=W Z=H