Puzzle 1
Starter clue: P = A
PSDJUEDQPJ,JYVBD,UIPUEZODBUZIDPVITQBDEWUPEC,PJLATEEBFDPCQZVDTJPQTJYUDUIPJIDATEEBUPJLUZTJPQZJUI.
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
Shakespeare Cryptograms Set 43
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
MQBOXNPPITJLNZTXMPIQZTMMTJP,XDDLPITDZLF,PITJLNZTXMPIQZOTMTJP,MXDPIQZTMMTJPOTMTJPQGTJXKTZAFJLNZT.
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: J = T
APJIPSUJJUJTPIRDDXRFPUCJDBPIXSZQRZIXJXIKPZXIPSJQ:AUWPXQSUJAUWPETXNTRAJPDQETPSXJRAJPDRJXUSCXSZQ.
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: G = E
VRGGQMGWVCOWUCOTNBKGBDVRGDCYNKVCVG,VRGSXCKKBDDCKRYBOCOTVRGJBEXTBDDBNJ,VRGBPKGNHGTBDCXXBPKGNHGNK!
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 = E
MAIVESKSHW,BRTAWM,MAIVESKSHW,KWECWHWTWUWAGWHMWGWH,-SEWJSSFAEMWRRETSEWSEMVSHW,FSSEWFVAEIUSEMFREFEWGWH.
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 6
Starter clue: D = E
ZCMLJLBDWDPEDPEGPEMLHSLBBQPMBDWDTLLJMLJL,OQPADREQPJIDDSOQKWOQDE,PSJALLWXDS'EOLMMPTDEAWZSODE'APRPODE.
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 gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk, and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month.”— William Shakespeare, 1595, Romeo and Juliet, Act II. Sc. 4 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=W B=S C=K D=E E=L F=P G=X H=B I=H J=N K=Q L=D M=C N=J O=V P=A Q=M R=Y S=G T=I U=T V=R W=F X=Z Y=U Z=O
- “Find out the cause of this effect, Or rather say, the cause of this defect, For this effect defective comes by cause.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act II. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=N C=Q D=R E=J F=Y G=V H=K I=H J=C K=M L=A M=F N=U O=D P=T Q=I R=G S=Z T=E U=X V=L W=P X=O Y=W Z=S
- “Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments: love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.”— William Shakespeare, 1609, Sonnets, CXVI (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=U C=F D=R E=W F=G G=X H=K I=M J=T K=P L=Y M=Q N=C O=Z P=E Q=S R=A S=N T=H U=O V=J W=V X=I Y=B Z=D
- “The expectancy and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form, The observed of all observers!”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Q B=O C=A D=F E=U F=K G=E H=V I=Z J=M K=S L=W M=P N=R O=N P=B Q=X R=H S=G T=D U=Y V=T W=C X=L Y=I Z=J
- “Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, - One foot in sea and one on shore, To one thing constant never.”— William Shakespeare, 1599, Much Ado about Nothing, Act II. Sc. 3 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=L C=W D=Y E=N F=T G=V H=R I=G J=F K=M L=U M=S N=K O=X P=Z Q=J R=A S=O T=D U=C V=H W=E X=B Y=Q Z=P
- “If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces.”— William Shakespeare, 1597, The Merchant of Venice, Act I. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=P B=W C=F D=E E=S F=Q G=Y H=K I=B J=D K=U L=O M=T N=Z O=C P=A Q=H R=L S=N T=G U=V V=J W=R X=M Y=X Z=I