Shakespeare Cryptograms
Every Shakespeare quote in the collection, encoded fresh for print. Each answer page carries the year and the source we verified the wording from.
Nine lines written between 1597 and 1604 — the stretch that runs from Romeo and Juliet through As You Like It, Hamlet and Othello. We chose lines that stand up on their own without the scene around them, and that use words still in ordinary use, so nothing here turns on a word that has changed meaning in four hundred years. The spelling is modernised, as it is in every edition you would buy today.
Verse gives you something prose does not: the line lengths are regular, and Shakespeare repeats function words hard — that, but, is, so, nothing — which shows up as the same short shape appearing three or four times in one puzzle. Start there. The contractions are also useful, since an apostrophe followed by one letter in this period is almost always a dropped vowel or a T.
An English class, a reading group, or a rainy afternoon for somebody who once knew these lines by heart and would enjoy meeting them sideways. Each answer carries the play and the year.
This section: 285 quotations, written between 1591 and 1611, 40 to 139 letters long, graded easy / medium / hard / expert. Voices you will meet: William Shakespeare.
The 48 sheets
Set 1
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 2
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 3
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 4
6 puzzles · Easy, Hard, Expert
Set 5
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 6
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 7
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 8
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 9
6 puzzles · Medium
Set 10
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 11
6 puzzles · Medium, Expert
Set 12
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 13
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard
Set 14
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 15
6 puzzles · Medium, Expert
Set 16
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 17
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard
Set 18
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard
Set 19
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Expert
Set 20
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 21
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 22
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard
Set 23
6 puzzles · Medium
Set 24
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 25
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 26
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Expert
Set 27
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 28
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 29
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 30
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 31
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard
Set 32
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 33
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 34
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 35
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 36
6 puzzles · Medium, Hard
Set 37
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 38
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 39
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert
Set 40
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 41
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium
Set 42
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium
Set 43
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 44
6 puzzles · Medium
Set 45
6 puzzles · Easy, Medium
Set 46
5 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 47
5 puzzles · Easy, Medium, Hard
Set 48
5 puzzles · Easy, Medium
Every sheet prints on US Letter with half-inch margins, gives you a blank line under each cipher letter, and keeps the answer key on its own page so nothing is spoiled while you work.