Puzzle 1
Starter clue: N = A
LAUXLULNMQ,LUXNBYFNMMEHDBDBAUZRUMSPNXSLDDSP:LANBLDYMSWUGDIUDZYP,RZLULNMQUSDXMERXNHNFSUXDFNINMM?
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 49
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: P = N
XACDVPEKOXACZWUCJVKJDGPVZBKPQCJZGPXTVXAJVSAXCKWZPCZZ;XACDVPEKOXACDCGPDGPVZBKPQCJZGPXTVXASGVP.
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: V = T
VIWSEBMP,VIWVZWW,VIWVMZG,VIWXAZPKZWTBVVIWAZR,IKNWTBVIATFBGVIWQ;VIWDBZEPARBTELVIWAZEBPFATFKTPVKXEW.
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: S = E
VYSKOAPWSDVWACPUITUKEWHSDSE,DSETJFYSWDIOHYFJ'AYWKECPUIUZFUCCUPSOHKDWKE,FYSHPSWFASWTSYSDEWKECDSE.
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
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: M = A
VHVTMHEZHKZOVLYETMFFGMPXODRFYQBYQ,HKMHMTVOBFYWMOVOJDTTYTTVDODAMBDDQADEHZOY,WZTHNYVORMOHDAMRVAY.
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
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 6
Starter clue: A = N
GJVZA'ILILZRJMMLOZEQJAIJKFZABZABVQABGQRRTYZIJOYAEJVYEFYAZIEFYNZHYAJG;JHGQEFAJQVOJHEZAEUZHQZEQJA.
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)
- “When we walk, we naturally go to the fields and woods: what would become of us, if we walked only in a garden or a mall?”— Henry David Thoreau, 1862, WalkingCipher key: A=H B=T C=J D=O E=Y F=R G=C H=G I=M J=Z K=P L=W M=L N=A O=V P=S Q=K R=I S=D T=X U=E V=Q W=B X=N Y=U Z=F
- “The mind of the superior man is conversant with righteousness; the mind of the mean man is conversant with gain.”— Confucius, 1861, The Analects (James Legge translation, 1861)Cipher key: A=H B=C C=E D=M E=D F=K G=A H=Q I=X J=R K=O L=J M=Z N=Y O=F P=N Q=V R=L S=G T=W U=P V=I W=U X=T Y=B Z=S
- “The cloud, the tree, the turf, the bird are not theirs, have nothing of them; the world is only their lodging and table.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841, Essays: First SeriesCipher key: A=I B=O C=J D=W E=L F=G G=F H=K I=H J=Z K=A L=Y M=U N=V O=Q P=D Q=M R=S S=C T=N U=X V=T W=E X=B Y=P Z=R
- “When Israel was from bondage led, Led by the Almighty's hand from out of foreign land, The great sea beheld and fled.”— Abraham Cowley, 1656, Davideis, Book I. Line 41 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=J C=F D=L E=D F=T G=Q H=G I=M J=Y K=N L=Z M=P N=K O=I P=R Q=X R=C S=E T=B U=O V=W W=A X=V Y=H Z=U
- “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”— Jane Austen, 1813, Pride and PrejudiceCipher key: A=F B=G C=Q D=O E=R F=L G=Y H=T I=J J=P K=H L=V M=A N=B O=N P=C Q=D R=W S=X T=S U=Z V=I W=M X=K Y=E Z=U
- “Woman's usual occupations of hand and mind will be as open to me then as they are now; or with no important variation.”— Jane Austen, 1815, EmmaCipher key: A=N B=D C=Z D=G E=T F=H G=W H=R I=S J=O K=F L=U M=C N=Y O=P P=Q Q=I R=L S=X T=B U=V V=M W=J X=K Y=E Z=A