Puzzle 1
Starter clue: M = O
NFNKEMFNLWHMSKVTHHGNED,MSHMSPND,WLJFBCMSQK.
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
Time Cryptograms Set 1
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: Y = E
NCGSXGMLYUBDYGSGDMSWXYNWOOLYUBDYGSDBSWXY.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: F = O
XFFJVGYXFFJJFKDFC,AEDAYJVGGFQRDVQRGYARDDRC.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: J = E
PYPNOUYPEJYUTFKQLVJNNSVJOYVJVUGNJPNUOBPZJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: I = A
IWFUFXNEIWZXGHDAIMUHXGIUGHXFNWICKIRZDXNOF?
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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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: M = I
QCEVQCXKCMFZMIMIYSQMOXDFMRIVMRCMVFXHXRIXV.
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 (6 solutions)
- “It is no time for shuffling, or for big, empty words.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=J B=Y C=W D=G E=N F=T G=L H=F I=X J=P K=S L=M M=O N=I O=Z P=B Q=D R=Q S=R T=U U=A V=H W=E X=K Y=C Z=V
- “What may be done at any time will be done at no time.”— English proverb, 1859, Recorded in Walter K. Kelly, Proverbs of All Nations, Compared, Explained, and Illustrated (London, 1859)Cipher key: A=F B=O C=H D=N E=R F=S G=A H=G I=Q J=V K=X L=B M=Y N=W O=L P=J Q=P R=U S=T T=K U=D V=Z W=I X=M Y=E Z=C
- “Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860, The Conduct of Life, Considerations by the Way (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=J C=R D=T E=U F=O G=S H=V I=Z J=D K=C L=P M=X N=Y O=K P=H Q=M R=E S=F T=Q U=L V=I W=N X=G Y=A Z=W
- “It is no time to play chess when the house is on fire.”— Italian proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=V B=F C=D D=G E=M F=L G=U H=J I=B J=E K=A L=C M=Q N=S O=N P=I Q=Y R=X S=W T=P U=O V=H W=Z X=K Y=T Z=R
- “Are we to mark this day with a white or a black stone?”— Miguel de Cervantes, 1615, Don Quixote, Part II, Chap. X (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=P C=B D=S E=M F=E G=H H=I I=A J=Q K=L L=F M=Y N=O O=N P=V Q=Z R=C S=X T=J U=W V=U W=R X=T Y=G Z=K
- “Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Twelfth Night, Act V. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=X B=D C=H D=B E=U F=R G=J H=V I=G J=K K=W L=Q M=I N=Y O=M P=C Q=T R=N S=F T=P U=Z V=S W=A X=E Y=O Z=L