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.
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)
“A man hath a body, and that body is confined to a place; but where friendship is, all offices of life are as it were granted to him, and his deputy.”— Francis Bacon, 1625, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and MoralCipher key: A=S B=I C=J D=A E=B F=G G=Z H=Q I=N J=L K=R L=M M=C N=T O=X P=H Q=F R=D S=U T=O U=W V=K W=V X=Y Y=P Z=E
“A narrow compass! and yet there Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair; Give me but what this riband bound, Take all the rest the sun goes round.”— Edmund Waller, 1645, Poems, On a Girdle (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=F C=V D=K E=S F=L G=W H=T I=H J=Y K=C L=J M=A N=O O=P P=E Q=G R=Z S=R T=U U=X V=I W=D X=B Y=Q Z=N
“There is but such a quantity of merit between them; just enough to make one good sort of man; and of late it has been shifting about pretty much.”— Jane Austen, 1813, Pride and PrejudiceCipher key: A=D B=O C=V D=W E=N F=T G=B H=C I=X J=A K=I L=P M=Y N=H O=S P=K Q=R R=F S=U T=G U=E V=J W=Q X=Z Y=L Z=M
“Come live with me, and be my love; And we will all the pleasures prove that hills and valleys, dales and fields, Woods or steepy mountain yields.”— Christopher Marlowe, 1599, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love, to his Love (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=E C=U D=M E=D F=A G=W H=O I=Z J=H K=Q L=X M=T N=F O=G P=C Q=I R=J S=B T=V U=L V=R W=P X=K Y=N Z=Y
“It is useful to perceive this, too, immediately when the occasion arises, what virtue nature has given to man to oppose to every wrongful act.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=V B=J C=O D=C E=B F=T G=K H=W I=G J=Q K=H L=Z M=U N=M O=A P=S Q=Y R=P S=N T=X U=R V=I W=D X=F Y=L Z=E
“If you go in a company, or even in pairs, it is no longer a walking tour in anything but name; it is something else and more in the nature of a picnic.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=W B=Y C=A D=J E=B F=N G=S H=U I=K J=L K=Q L=T M=X N=R O=H P=G Q=F R=V S=Z T=D U=M V=O W=E X=I Y=C Z=P