Puzzle 1
Starter clue: F = E
RFVSYHTBSU,VKURMEFNFGEUSNCUSBF,MWWFNUURFBSWFYESBRKWXMIFRKWSVB.
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
Wisdom Cryptograms Set 158
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 = T
UYUFJLYYLVYNSLCINMLVYPLQUYEPYPCRYVZFYYNYPLISLCQURKFNBKNNQALR.
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: L = A
VJTPMGXYPMFHLJHLAJFLXICLUGJGLWOGPMYTJIFXFRMLJLPGTXETCPMFILOX.
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
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- S
- T
- U
- V
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: N = E
NRNDLMCNZGVYUPNNEXCTEMCPUDMVPUXYYIXPZNYYMH-ZGVYUBGENUMEGUBIXU.
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 5
Starter clue: A = T
MALDXUFACFQUFAJMUVAJDAAJRQDPRULDXHEXAUFLZQFDYMUVFUBSWRCAJDUT.
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 6
Starter clue: F = A
FSNPIZASLFAUWFBFGELFJHCDDENPHHI,YDINPIZASLFANDLHAROSDGNHFBHFI.
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 (6 solutions)
- “He would not, with a peremptory tone, Assert the nose upon his face his own.”— William Cowper, 1782, Poems (1782), Conversation. Line 121 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Q B=N C=Y D=K E=P F=E G=M H=L I=C J=G K=I L=V M=A N=R O=B P=J Q=Z R=H S=O T=D U=T V=W W=S X=F Y=U Z=X
- “It is better to leap over the ditch than trust to the pleadings of good men.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=M B=F C=A D=J E=C F=S G=Y H=W I=P J=B K=G L=E M=V N=O O=Q P=H Q=D R=N S=L T=X U=I V=R W=K X=Z Y=T Z=U
- “Clothing the palpable and familiar with golden exhalations of the dawn.”— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1800, The Death of Wallenstein (translation), Act I. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=U C=F D=V E=S F=E G=I H=P I=D J=L K=Z L=A M=H N=Y O=W P=T Q=J R=X S=K T=O U=M V=C W=R X=N Y=G Z=Q
- “Every one fault seeming monstrous till his fellow-fault came to match it.”— William Shakespeare, 1600, As You Like It, Act III. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=C C=N D=R E=M F=J G=A H=W I=H J=D K=Q L=Y M=O N=E O=K P=S Q=P R=V S=Z T=G U=T V=U W=X X=I Y=L Z=F
- “It was not for nothing that the raven was just now croaking on my left hand.”— Plautus, 195 BC, Aulularia, Act IV. Sc. 3, 1. (624) (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=M C=F D=A E=U F=O G=Q H=J I=B J=H K=X L=W M=I N=Z O=P P=V Q=R R=E S=Y T=D U=N V=G W=L X=S Y=K Z=C
- “At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year.”— Thomas Tusser, 1573, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, of Good Husbandry. The Farmer's Daily Diet (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=Y C=G D=O E=D F=A G=N H=E I=R J=K K=V L=M M=Q N=C O=U P=H Q=J R=B S=T T=X U=P V=Z W=L X=W Y=F Z=I