Puzzle 1
Starter clue: C = E
AUFREEBFCCVHIEEQNCRVXFCVCWVYRBFYHFRMASLTCUBCSTCTNCEYPXFCTALSAXQYHFAUXYVQ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- M
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- O
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Thomas Babington Macaulay Cryptograms Set 1
5 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: C = I
JCNCGRMCFRECUFTANAGDBAYEJAZCFMNUXRFUNETCOJ.CEAFRDBAYJCGEUTIF,EJUIMJFUEEUNURT.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
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- H
- I
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: O = I
MKEIHMIHABKRGSRVKAHQOXORTVHTASAGJKUQOGOAJBTUVOROIHIKHCOGABKQOHXORSVCOGAHCNHQSVOGD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
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- H
- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: C = E
YCSUJKPSFPPSCEUAPYUDKCTONJFDKAIJCDKRKITUUOUOHCDRNARAFHTCFPIUCEITUKNQCKRDFQRBRJRWCKFHC.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: G = S
LYVYAGLPHKPSETLAPEG,AELYVGVEGVAEBYADYAJGVLYVBPHF,AGPSLVEUVGLGLJFAVFAEBPHQGEPLZHPSVGGVFXKYAGLPHADTX.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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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 (5 solutions)
- “I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history.”— Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1849, The History of England, Vol. I. Chap. I (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=C C=E D=Z E=L F=H G=X H=F I=U J=K K=M L=G M=V N=B O=J P=W Q=Y R=A S=N T=D U=S V=R W=P X=T Y=O Z=Q
- “His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar.”— Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1828, On John Dryden. 1828 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=E B=L C=I D=B E=T F=N G=M H=J I=U J=H K=Y L=Z M=G N=S O=C P=Q Q=K R=A S=X T=R U=O V=P W=V X=F Y=D Z=W
- “We know no spectacle so ridiculous as the British public in one of its periodical fits of morality.”— Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1830, On Moore's Life of Lord Byron. 1830 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=P C=F D=Y E=K F=Q G=T H=O I=N J=H K=E L=J M=W N=M O=I P=V Q=R R=C S=A T=U U=B V=L W=G X=D Y=Z Z=X
- “We hold that the most wonderful and splendid proof of genius is a great poem produced in a civilized age.”— Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1825, On Milton. 1825 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=V C=E D=N E=M F=A G=X H=G I=P J=L K=D L=J M=B N=U O=F P=T Q=C R=I S=H T=R U=O V=K W=Z X=Q Y=W Z=Y
- “The history of nations, in the sense in which I use the word, is often best studied in works not professedly historical.”— Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1824, On Mitford's History of Greece. 1824 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=W C=Z D=C E=N F=D G=S H=R I=J J=U K=Y L=T M=V N=G O=M P=O Q=K R=Q S=F T=A U=B V=E W=X X=L Y=H Z=P