Puzzle 1
Starter clue: O = T
TOTEPETZZVCTEQOQPOTEGPNWQOOXTGSXTOQOQSEPLSFPTO.
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
Winter Cryptograms Set 4
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: P = R
YSQPWKSYPVRJWHYSQPVRJVNFAHYWXQROJVPJQPMCEPVXQHH.
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
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: U = T
UIYBIRCKYTUVNUTUEJUIYJEWY,UINLXIEUTUEWHTUNUIYQNU.
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
- S
- T
- U
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- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: D = E
EYPNADK'UXPFDYDEQUBDFPNZPQ,TQUDXLZUAQDUU,UERKZLZRD.
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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- U
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: B = E
BKBMURPBZXSBAFDAVXIBXPWPRVNBM'ANRDAB,PRPBXPNXAREP.
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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- T
- U
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 6
Starter clue: D = E
IDCWDKMBVDKBRKBMBEDIMWPABMCRWMYWFMWCPJWDOYARNDV.
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
- S
- T
- U
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- 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 (6 solutions)
- “It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.”— English proverb, 1859, Recorded in Walter K. Kelly, Proverbs of All Nations, Compared, Explained, and Illustrated (London, 1859)Cipher key: A=R B=X C=F D=P E=S F=B G=C H=K I=J J=O K=N L=M M=Z N=U O=T P=A Q=H R=V S=E T=I U=D V=Y W=G X=W Y=Q Z=L
- “The right road is the road of justice and orderly process.”— Woodrow Wilson, 1919, State of the Union AddressCipher key: A=U B=Z C=Y D=B E=P F=J G=M H=S I=W J=D K=G L=K M=L N=F O=N P=R Q=E R=A S=H T=X U=V V=O W=I X=C Y=T Z=Q
- “They had best not stir the rice, though it sticks to the pot.”— Miguel de Cervantes, 1615, Don Quixote, Part II, Chap. XXXVII (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=Y C=D D=L E=I F=W G=V H=K I=H J=R K=B L=U M=Z N=O O=M P=J Q=P R=A S=Q T=S U=T V=N W=C X=G Y=E Z=X
- “A mother's love means devotion, unselfishness, sacrifice.”— Oscar Wilde, 1892, Lady Windermere's FanCipher key: A=H B=D C=G D=E E=A F=V G=P H=B I=Y J=K K=R L=F M=W N=T O=Z P=O Q=N R=C S=X T=U U=S V=J W=Q X=L Y=M Z=I
- “Every one likes justice in another's house, none in his own.”— Italian proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=S B=E C=Q D=U E=W F=J G=D H=G I=C J=M K=V L=F M=R N=H O=X P=N Q=B R=O S=K T=Z U=Y V=T W=A X=I Y=P Z=L
- “We are not sent into the world to air our moral prejudices.”— Oscar Wilde, 1891, The Picture of Dorian GrayCipher key: A=D B=T C=A D=E E=H F=M G=K H=X I=W J=P K=N L=G M=O N=C O=J P=L Q=F R=I S=Q T=V U=Z V=S W=R X=B Y=U Z=Y