Puzzle 1
Starter clue: E = N
EUQFGHYULYUAGHRUGAMEHNHGJQYMEREXBHLLQXQYHHEAQYUEQXQYHCHRMEEMERUEAQYHSXEQMEFUESH,PFLQBMDHQYHIUETYXQYGXTLFWUCUBB.
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
Simplicity Cryptograms Set 33
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: V = E
KGVCVVUVYKERUOYKGVFJVKWGVMQSUMRJVJREKDJVKIKGVMJVRJBXISM,KGVHVRQHVYYMVYVJKIQKGVNSUM,KGVFRYKVIQQVVHSUOYDUVNEHIBVM.
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: X = I
TMEPXVVDXQFLQNVXQNYMCZVXHZYOZIXWYEZMDOEAXVXYT,POXSOOLRLSLVAQZRRMDRKXWXYLQFLPMWVFMDMYOZWCVZRRXQNRLYYZQFXQNEKMQXY.
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: J = A
IQ,TJWFJRQJGHJHVJWPITRNWHGUWPRTJVXHQNJVYQNVCUHHCNTNJWH!JWPTJWFJZIVPJHVJWPITRAIXNWTJFRIIHQN,IVZIEWP,JQNJVHHQJH'ROVIXNW!
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: S = O
OSLJDQJMJOMLCSHNYFASPHUSPOLYVFSOOLQVJUQOLYFWJVOSLSGNJFSTYFYSF;VOYGGGQVVYVYOOLQVJUQOLYFWJVOSLJDQUJNQSFQXSHASPHVQGX.
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: F = E
SZFHXQAXQAFFA,KPSZYZFQXSFTFGEXWFWEIOSXPQIQAYZFQXSXWFHDNPCFAIKPOSXQVOXGC,HPUFWWSGIXBZSPQYIGAQPSSZFNFWW,IQASPXSWPKRFES.
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)
- “Nature has had regard in everything no less to the end than to the beginning and the continuance, just like the man who throws up a ball.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=D B=L C=B D=K E=N F=U G=R H=E I=M J=Y K=F L=S M=I N=V O=Z P=J Q=T R=G S=C T=W U=A V=X W=P X=O Y=H Z=Q
- “The keenest pangs the wretched find are rapture to the dreary void, The leafless desert of the mind, The waste of feelings unemployed.”— Lord Byron, 1813, The Giaour, Line 957 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=J B=Y C=K D=U E=P F=W G=H H=L I=O J=R K=T L=Q M=D N=M O=G P=Z Q=F R=A S=I T=B U=N V=E W=C X=V Y=S Z=X
- “You will find angling to be like the virtue of humility, which has a calmness of spirit and a world of other blessings attending upon it.”— Izaak Walton, 1653, The Complete Angler, Part I. Chap. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=Z C=B D=F E=U F=D G=J H=K I=V J=Q K=P L=A M=O N=G O=H P=W Q=N R=S S=C T=Y U=X V=L W=R X=I Y=T Z=E
- “Oh, many a shaft at random sent finds mark the archer little meant! And many a word at random spoken may soothe, or wound, a heart that's broken!”— Sir Walter Scott, 1815, The Lord of the Isles, Canto V. Stanza 18 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=P B=G C=L D=X E=U F=Y G=F H=T I=O J=A K=V L=Q M=Z N=E O=B P=D Q=H R=S S=J T=M U=I V=R W=N X=K Y=C Z=W
- “To have a catchword in your mouth is not the same thing as to hold an opinion; still less is it the same thing as to have made one for yourself.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=Y B=Q C=W D=V E=K F=N G=L H=R I=B J=A K=Z L=H M=C N=D O=T P=U Q=E R=X S=O T=P U=M V=S W=G X=F Y=I Z=J
- “The mind indeed, both when it exercises caution and when it is employed about inquiry, moves straight onward not the less, and to its object.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=D B=G C=Y D=P E=C F=E G=R H=M I=A J=Z K=B L=F M=K N=L O=U P=O Q=N R=J S=T T=X U=V V=Q W=S X=I Y=W Z=H