Puzzle 1
Starter clue: M = I
EUMKMKEUWQWXGDIMAVPWIJGINXRXVMA:EUMKRIOMZWKKDXWVEMIAWDKEVKGMKQWXGDNAAMAPMA.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
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- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Simplicity Cryptograms Set 24
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: B = E
JBDRCDDZXRNT,YBSGKTBDZBUGOBSCHHCR,BRVCUACODZGDDZBJBTTTZGOBCACKOSCRTXMBOGDXCR.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: B = O
MBBDFLCXJBBYXEBPJOKEIOXKCBRERLG,MPIIOXGLCXLHKJOIGMUBBYUXFFFPMFIKIPIXWBCUKWX.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
- F
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- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: S = E
CSZSFCSCSHZFNHJDPXSHTLSMTEESLLQWFQFCSCSHG,HWGESHZWPWDIPLSZDZQIIPFCQTFCPLAQQOL.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
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- E
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: X = E
QUKPXNXRYKZXNMXAYNVKREJPZKOKPYCXXN,YPXXNPXYYAUXTYXPZXYAMOKZXAUXKBBXVLXBYYPXXN.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
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- D
- E
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: W = E
VLWNAAGQIGHKSFRWQIGUWIWZARWIVHLAPQRRVLWHWVLKINHKIVLWWCWH,QIGVLWBWKHIASKHVQTKIN.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
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- H
- I
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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)
- “This is the very coinage of your brain: This bodiless creation ecstasy is very cunning in.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act III. Sc. 4 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=X C=J D=C E=T F=K G=Y H=P I=O J=F K=S L=Z M=I N=U O=D P=G Q=V R=B S=M T=W U=H V=A W=E X=R Y=Q Z=L
- “Let not things, because they are common, enjoy for that the less share of our consideration.”— Pliny the Elder, 77, Natural History (Naturalis Historia), Book XIX. Sect. 59 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=E C=O D=T E=W F=Z G=A H=M I=P J=L K=U L=X M=D N=G O=R P=Q Q=K R=N S=C T=S U=Y V=J W=V X=I Y=B Z=H
- “Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=V B=O C=R D=K E=N F=S G=Y H=M I=T J=G K=I L=A M=B N=P O=H P=U Q=Z R=W S=J T=X U=L V=C W=F X=E Y=D Z=Q
- “Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head, And Learning wiser grow without his books.”— William Cowper, 1785, The Task, Book VI. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 85 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=Q C=H D=G E=L F=T G=D H=A I=W J=Y K=X L=S M=F N=M O=K P=I Q=O R=C S=E T=U U=J V=Z W=N X=V Y=P Z=R
- “While pensive poets painful vigils keep, Sleepless themselves to give their readers sleep.”— Alexander Pope, 1728, The Dunciad, Book I. Line 93 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=R C=K D=J E=F F=C G=Y H=X I=Z J=U K=I L=D M=O N=P O=G P=L Q=W R=N S=Q T=M U=H V=A W=B X=E Y=S Z=V
- “The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=O B=R C=Y D=Z E=Q F=P G=D H=S I=N J=X K=I L=H M=J N=G O=F P=W Q=A R=L S=M T=K U=B V=T W=E X=C Y=U Z=V