Puzzle 1
Starter clue: I = O
QGLGDSGYLGMAYMMFSSMIUIDDIXXAFNAPIENYQCIMICYP.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
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- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Time Cryptograms Set 5
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: R = E
P,EMRMRPONWGFFEMRGIRU,PXEMRWNORVNUEWPFRUNWEPVR.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
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- E
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- H
- I
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: E = A
EKIPPHFIEPNAJIDEMMNFISEH,HJLPDESNCPIDCZEKCMI-E.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: D = E
LSJDIZDSLKDDTBLDMDOISMG,LTDDZQSLLQBJJRCBLMSAD.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: T = A
TVTJWUTBYAETEOTUMJTQTSTETEJTMAMJTDHJQUYQSYTUE.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: D = E
IGDYUZD,-HYUNNYDXYDHCIZNUCDADNLDDGNLIDNDQGUNUDR.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
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- D
- E
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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)
- “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”— Benjamin Franklin, 1742, Poor Richard's AlmanackCipher key: A=H B=Z C=D D=R E=U F=I G=E H=P I=O J=K K=B L=V M=T N=C O=S P=Y Q=N R=G S=L T=X U=M V=Q W=F X=W Y=A Z=J
- “I, the heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1842, Poems (1842), Locksley Hall. Line 178 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=K C=W D=Z E=T F=L G=A H=D I=G J=U K=C L=X M=H N=O O=R P=I Q=J R=E S=V T=Y U=S V=M W=F X=N Y=Q Z=P
- “A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad tires in a mile-a.”— William Shakespeare, 1611, The Winter's Tale, Act IV. Sc. 3 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=C C=I D=S E=A F=H G=Q H=Y I=E J=O K=M L=U M=L N=T O=V P=R Q=K R=F S=D T=W U=X V=J W=Z X=B Y=P Z=N
- “Silence is deep as Eternity, speech is shallow as Time.”— Thomas Carlyle, 1838, Sir Walter Scott. London and Westminster Review, 1838 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=M B=A C=W D=E E=F F=Z G=Y H=G I=N J=L K=D L=S M=T N=K O=R P=V Q=H R=O S=I T=P U=Q V=U W=B X=J Y=X Z=C
- “A man travels as far in a day as a snail in a hundred years.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=L B=V C=P D=H E=S F=B G=C H=U I=O J=N K=Z L=X M=I N=W O=F P=J Q=D R=Q S=Y T=A U=R V=M W=T X=G Y=E Z=K
- “One life, - a little gleam of time between two Eternities.”— Thomas Carlyle, 1841, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History, Heroes and Hero-Worship. The Hero as a Man of Letters (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=Z C=M D=E E=C F=V G=N H=A I=O J=X K=H L=W M=Y N=T O=U P=D Q=R R=S S=J T=K U=I V=Q W=P X=G Y=L Z=F