Puzzle 1
Starter clue: C = E
ICUORVQYDCMCHZOEIFXQGYICQHWAHQEN,AKYYICQHWAHQENFYRCHG.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- F
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Wisdom Cryptograms Set 118
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: H = T
HGPTDHJGPMLQPVVQQRHPFHQHGPZPIIHGWHDHLPHVOMQYPFWHIWVH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
- F
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: F = H
KCFDTXIMWOIFATOFI,DWNFMPMWORMXNASRMIFKDZFXITNMATXLKDQ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: T = E
ERTKBGQQGHSTIITAGRIXTXWROIXWRHTDTRPTTHTBUERIXTHIAWRO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: D = A
NMDXEVLEDGULAGEKMDUCAIDEAHGHGBVHPOMDFCAGULBMUQDSEAJM.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- E
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: C = E
MQCDCXBMQCBUWSVQCMXMJAVQCODCBCVQBSDTSTDJVQXRJVUQASBG.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
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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)
- “He was not merely a chip of the old block, but the old block itself.”— Edmund Burke, 1781, On Pitt's First Speech, Feb. 26, 1781. From Wraxall's Memoirs, First Series, vol. I. p. 342 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=Z C=E D=M E=C F=I G=F H=L I=H J=V K=U L=G M=R N=K O=A P=X Q=O R=S S=J T=Q U=W V=N W=D X=P Y=T Z=Y
- “The pitcher goes so often to the well that it gets broken at last.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=V B=Z C=Q D=I E=D F=N G=H H=T I=L J=C K=U L=G M=R N=M O=B P=E Q=O R=F S=X T=P U=Y V=S W=A X=J Y=K Z=W
- “Exhausting thought, And hiving wisdom with each studious year.”— Lord Byron, 1816, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto III, Stanza 107 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=L C=X D=A E=J F=H G=F H=Z I=T J=B K=E L=Y M=I N=D O=G P=V Q=R R=W S=M T=U U=Q V=P W=N X=S Y=K Z=C
- “One quill is better in the hand than seven geese upon the strand.”— Dutch proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=R B=U C=W D=V E=O F=C G=I H=S I=T J=Y K=Q L=X M=Z N=J O=D P=G Q=L R=N S=B T=E U=P V=K W=A X=H Y=M Z=F
- “Beauty stands in the admiration only of weak minds Led captive.”— John Milton, 1671, Paradise Regained, Book II. Line 220 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=L C=M D=A E=T F=K G=N H=O I=R J=V K=H L=S M=E N=B O=W P=F Q=C R=Z S=P T=Q U=D V=Y W=J X=U Y=G Z=X
- “She wears her clothes as if they were thrown on with a pitchfork.”— Jonathan Swift, 1738, Polite Conversation, Dialogue I (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=R C=E D=W E=X F=M G=K H=D I=U J=I K=J L=Z M=S N=B O=Y P=G Q=H R=P S=O T=N U=C V=T W=L X=A Y=V Z=Q