Puzzle 1
Starter clue: J = E
UBJCHDUMRVJCGZTATEJLJSKJRUAEUHBACBJXSU;BJEJLJSDJRUUBJNAUPBJSZHDUBJCHDUMRVJCGZ!
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
William Wordsworth Cryptograms Set 5
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: E = S
UZPOOEWOOVWOEEBDSZUEDVCEEOGDBEJNBGDBSJB,UZPJNSZXJPGECBGUZDBSE,CGDLCBGVOPDWJNEXCF.
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
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: G = E
HSOMCGWPNHDMXXNXWMYGBHCZBOTTGYZQMDWBGGNG;ZHOQHXHXWHQ,ABGYMYCNMYGOXXBOYOYROYWBGXVN.
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
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: D = E
SKUGWKPAGQDBHUEAMOEMDA,GWHUABMGDA,ODWDHCDAKNGQDVWOHEVUNPMDUSD,HUEGQDVWIKKEWDSDVCDA.
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
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: H = E
ZTHOBHZOIMUZVBILRBYOVZFCMH,FLEZTHOHQHBYOZTHXYBMETFQHTILDIRYLZTHCHFZVLDUYOPATHFBZ.
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
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)
- “The soft blue sky did never melt into his heart; he never felt the witchery of the soft blue sky!”— William Wordsworth, 1819, Peter Bell, Part I. Stanza 15 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=H C=S D=F E=N F=P G=K H=O I=G J=E K=M L=V M=B N=W O=Z P=C Q=X R=L S=R T=D U=T V=U W=Q X=A Y=J Z=Y
- “Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on, Through words and things, a dim and perilous way.”— William Wordsworth, 1842, The Borderers, Act IV. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=K B=N C=A D=I E=S F=Y G=D H=V I=J J=O K=X L=M M=C N=U O=E P=R Q=F R=B S=G T=Z U=T V=P W=L X=W Y=Q Z=H
- “A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye; Fair as a star, when only one is shining in the sky.”— William Wordsworth, 1800, Lyrical Ballads (1800), She dwelt among the untrodden ways (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=W B=H C=L D=M E=C F=P G=E H=A I=Z J=X K=Q L=U M=O N=Y O=I P=B Q=R R=G S=V T=D U=J V=K W=T X=S Y=N Z=F
- “Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves of their bad influence, and their good receives.”— William Wordsworth, 1807, Poems in Two Volumes, Character of the Happy Warrior (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=M C=V D=E E=D F=K G=T H=A I=G J=Z K=O L=Y M=U N=F O=B P=L Q=H R=X S=C T=J U=N V=I W=R X=Q Y=P Z=W
- “The fretful stir Unprofitable, and the fever of the world have hung upon the beatings of my heart.”— William Wordsworth, 1798, Lyrical Ballads, Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=R C=B D=G E=D F=A G=Z H=E I=U J=C K=Q L=N M=L N=J O=F P=M Q=V R=P S=X T=H U=S V=I W=K X=W Y=O Z=T