Puzzle 1
Starter clue: M = S
XYBVYUMVTZTLMUQJTZYUMVXYTWFTLMYKNJTTYUMNGLMMKVMM.
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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- M
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Winter 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: A = I
YZMXCNRABPAXIATCNDREEDSCBBPDYX,CBBEZMVAKMPMTMQEAE.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: Y = E
PCHYKYENSDCWV,PCHYKYENUGGV,ZLVWSMYMHTXLYEVYKYEFHEY.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: Y = E
WVVWYMGWMVQOUGSWVBHCYRYGICVHISMYRLBBYZRRCSOIZYMF.
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 5
Starter clue: W = E
DWODEVRCWHVDWOQEGIQERLKSHVKRCWDNHMESQGWPVONYWEJWQ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: W = O
ZFIMXNVWBAWUVWBUKWZRLE:FIMXNVWB:VWBUYWEFETLLFKWZRLE.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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- 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)
- “Vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness.”— Edmund Burke, 1790, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Vol. III. p. 332 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=W B=C C=Q D=X E=K F=Y G=R H=J I=M J=A K=N L=O M=S N=G O=U P=Z Q=H R=P S=D T=L U=T V=E W=B X=V Y=I Z=F
- “When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it.”— Pliny the Elder, 77, Natural History (Naturalis Historia), Book VIII. Sect. 103 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=L C=A D=O E=T F=Q G=Z H=V I=G J=Y K=C L=K M=E N=B O=J P=D Q=R R=U S=F T=S U=P V=M W=X X=N Y=W Z=H
- “Whoever fights, whoever falls, Justice conquers evermore.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1847, Poems, Voluntaries (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=D C=H D=G E=R F=M G=L H=O I=P J=Y K=V L=U M=C N=F O=Z P=W Q=X R=K S=I T=N U=A V=S W=T X=Q Y=E Z=J
- “No one can complain of the sea who twice suffers shipwreck.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=Y B=F C=H D=Q E=V F=K G=A H=T I=W J=B K=X L=U M=C N=J O=P P=Z Q=M R=S S=I T=D U=L V=O W=N X=G Y=E Z=R
- “He who takes the wrong road must make his journey twice over.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=L B=Z C=K D=H E=O F=P G=N H=S I=G J=V K=M L=D M=J N=I O=W P=Y Q=R R=A S=U T=B U=X V=T W=E X=Q Y=C Z=F
- “I thank you for your voices: thank you: Your most sweet voices.”— William Shakespeare, 1608, Coriolanus, Act II. Sc. 3 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=U C=J D=X E=S F=T G=L H=Z I=H J=G K=V L=E M=A N=K O=D P=B Q=P R=C S=Q T=W U=R V=Y W=O X=N Y=M Z=I