Puzzle 1
Starter clue: V = E
DOBRNTVBOMPDMINHVCPRBVCT;UNBPRUCIIRSVIVCEVPCMFRSVMRSVRBVV.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- D
- E
- F
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- H
- I
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Time Cryptograms Set 15
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: A = E
FCGCGIOLCBLYAERAESOHEDCATLLDGSAL,FBIIXBSOEDBQADGDCTGFDCAQ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
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- H
- I
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: G = O
EJUYUHYUXGMHSHDQWYGBUQQGYQGBWJVAGQGWJD,CTEXGEWJVAGQGWJUYQ.
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 = T
QXWRXJVSCJSJZSFCOGCCZICCZRFRXJIQPIEJCXKRRVSGUZWSFBSGFCRJE.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- D
- E
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- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: A = O
FLFN,FTGAYI,AUKBIOYAYRMBXJIONBRCAIOGFCGAMJJOJITBONBTXATLFZJ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
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- D
- E
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: T = A
KCLVETMMTJTFWCUWSERWKRIVKTFRWKTWTFRVCLCHQFCBVVLRRWTHQUTSF!
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)
- “Our time runs on like a stream; first fall the leaves and then the tree.”— Dutch proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=Y B=R C=A D=O E=V F=D G=B H=K I=L J=P K=C L=Q M=N N=I O=U P=S Q=Z R=T S=H T=M U=F V=E W=X X=J Y=W Z=G
- “Who holds his peace and gathers stones, will find a time to throw them.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=E B=I C=H D=T E=A F=W G=O H=G I=L J=X K=Z L=S M=K N=J O=D P=Q Q=M R=C S=N T=R U=V V=U W=B X=F Y=P Z=Y
- “There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=L B=F C=B D=Y E=T F=C G=O H=A I=J J=H K=G L=X M=W N=Z O=K P=Q Q=S R=M S=D T=U U=E V=I W=P X=N Y=R Z=V
- “Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1876, Letters and Social Aims, Social Aims (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Z B=C C=T D=X E=Y F=R G=U H=P I=A J=S K=M L=K M=D N=Q O=B P=W Q=L R=E S=O T=V U=G V=N W=F X=I Y=J Z=H
- “A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty is worth a whole eternity in bondage.”— Joseph Addison, 1713, Cato, a Tragedy, Act II. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=I C=W D=M E=P F=A G=H H=Z I=R J=E K=V L=D M=L N=Y O=T P=J Q=C R=S S=Q T=N U=F V=K W=X X=B Y=U Z=G
- “How small a part of time they share that are so wondrous sweet and fair!”— Edmund Waller, 1645, Poems, Go, Lovely Rose (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=J B=U C=O D=Q E=M F=R G=B H=N I=Y J=P K=H L=W M=L N=G O=X P=K Q=D R=E S=I T=A U=F V=S W=T X=C Y=Z Z=V