Puzzle 1
Starter clue: B = E
YEYG'TGYFMZB,ZMGTBKFXBZFDXBZSTDZNBBPT;FXBZBVDZBHBFXKETBYTDGYSHLNYFBZFXBDGB,YGPPBTFZDLFXBDFXBZ.
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 48
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: T = E
CSTNUTXTINALPMCMECUAAQFCACSTTRRTNCARNALPVETZTETIWH,MEZZATFEACITKOVITCAALONSRIALVEZVXVZOMUF.
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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- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: N = E
UYNAMUFFBLCFFT,UYNMOLXMXNWLPZPZR,-CPQNOCPTTMDYPOYYLBGNNZXNZULMJZBNX:LBXNLXAMNLZFDTCFDMGNUDNNZ.
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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- U
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: K = I
ENDHDKLLGXDGSENDLUXDSKEZDLLKZUXUZ'LVQKOWKZCNKLGMZNGQLDENUEENDHDKLKZUVKHW'LVQKOWKZCKELGMZZDLE.
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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- X
- Y
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: H = O
ZTWHSHBFSHZJSTWKEMTDHHBKSBRTZHHWU,ZTGJSSHBBTMMHCDGHCDUTEVBRTUBJDU,SHDBRTRHCDHPBRTWJVEVBRTUCS.
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
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- X
- Y
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: D = T
DONZNVZNANFXYDONFCZHMFOCVDDVXYDCDONDNVLOXYTFXDOCJDFCZMK,VYMDONVMPVYDVTNVZXKXYTAZCGYCY-VLDXCY.
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)
- “A man's nature, runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other.”— Francis Bacon, 1625, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and MoralCipher key: A=P B=E C=Q D=O E=M F=T G=N H=L I=V J=X K=I L=Y M=U N=W O=K P=D Q=C R=G S=B T=S U=J V=F W=Z X=H Y=A Z=R
- “The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.”— Sun Tzu, 1910, The Art of War (Lionel Giles translation, 1910)Cipher key: A=O B=Z C=T D=W E=N F=S G=P H=Y I=R J=X K=Q L=M M=A N=C O=U P=B Q=K R=F S=H T=E U=L V=I W=G X=V Y=J Z=D
- “They stood aloof, the scars remaining, - Like cliffs which had been rent asunder: A dreary sea now flows between.”— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1816, Christabel; Kubla Khan, Part II (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=D C=L D=W E=V F=O G=B H=X I=Q J=U K=Z L=A M=S N=E O=C P=I Q=K R=G S=P T=F U=T V=J W=M X=R Y=H Z=N
- “There is some of the same fitness in a man's building his own house that there is in a bird's building its own nest.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=Y B=J C=G D=E E=T F=Q G=O H=R I=P J=V K=I L=S M=W N=H O=L P=C Q=U R=K S=F T=Z U=A V=B W=D X=M Y=X Z=N
- “We do not know an edible root in the woods, we cannot tell our course by the stars, nor the hour of the day by the sun.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844, Essays: Second SeriesCipher key: A=J B=T C=U D=R E=B F=K G=C H=O I=X J=A K=I L=M M=L N=P O=G P=F Q=Z R=H S=N T=E U=S V=Y W=D X=V Y=Q Z=W
- “There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.”— Laozi, 1891, Tao Te Ching (James Legge translation, 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=K C=O D=T E=X F=W G=M H=L I=Q J=U K=S L=C M=D N=E O=H P=V Q=Y R=Z S=P T=G U=B V=A W=J X=I Y=N Z=R