Puzzle 1
Starter clue: M = A
CSFUFMUFJSDUCAMTJMPAKDPN;CSFEDDPSMJGCJQFUGDAJDHOMPGPNMPAOMBGPN.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
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- R
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- T
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- X
- Y
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Time Cryptograms Set 19
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 = O
EHDBBVUIAIDFTIFIWBDAEKLUYBECDAM,VYMWYFVTYXBCRIDMVICEYXMDMVYTYFN.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: H = T
PHRKUGHPUGRWXZZGYRHWXHKYGUXYWXRXJJHWGHKPJ,XYIXYKHWGLXJJHWGZLKTPH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: P = E
LUSPPRVFOLUP,IRZVRAZKVIAVDOPZLWA,MTLMHSVGPAMTPTPSVJVSRKRJPMMPSOLWA.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: O = T
OPZWIBGQZQA,VZSMOPMWNZGZOBYTRBCOPOPTOIMTQWOBXMBYQBOM,XMAZQWXMOZIMW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: Q = A
DHFQPDEQPIAGGFSEEAFERQZSUQPHDMUSEUQISQOMBISFPSEEQPIVQBBSIMDGSQVS.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- T
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- X
- Y
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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)
- “There are short days and long; the moon has its periods of waning and waxing.”— Sun Tzu, 1910, The Art of War (Lionel Giles translation, 1910)Cipher key: A=D B=X C=T D=O E=M F=E G=I H=F I=J J=S K=L L=K M=A N=G O=W P=N Q=P R=Z S=H T=Y U=R V=C W=V X=Q Y=U Z=B
- “If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work.”— William Shakespeare, 1597, King Henry IV, Part I, Act I. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=L C=D D=A E=I F=R G=C H=F I=E J=X K=N L=G M=S N=K O=V P=Q Q=Z R=B S=J T=W U=H V=T W=P X=U Y=O Z=M
- “It sometimes happens that one man has all the toil, and another all the profit.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=Q B=V C=W D=J E=C F=U G=E H=T I=D J=L K=O L=R M=Z N=X O=B P=I Q=G R=S S=K T=F U=M V=Y W=H X=A Y=N Z=P
- “A green old age, unconscious of decays, That proves the hero born in better days.”— Alexander Pope, 1720, The Iliad of Homer (Pope's translation), Book XXIII. Line 929 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=Q C=J D=F E=M F=L G=V H=P I=U J=B K=I L=A M=T N=Z O=D P=E Q=W R=N S=R T=H U=G V=O W=Y X=K Y=X Z=C
- “This morning, like the spirit of a youth that means to be of note, begins betimes.”— William Shakespeare, 1606, Antony and Cleopatra, Act IV. Sc. 4 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=O C=U D=Q E=W F=J G=R H=C I=M J=X K=Z L=V M=E N=P O=T P=H Q=N R=Y S=K T=A U=D V=L W=S X=B Y=F Z=I
- “Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness and called it peace.”— Theodore Roosevelt, 1904, Fourth Annual Message to CongressCipher key: A=O B=L C=K D=T E=S F=R G=P H=Y I=D J=Z K=J L=U M=I N=X O=W P=N Q=A R=H S=E T=F U=M V=C W=Q X=B Y=G Z=V