Puzzle 1
Starter clue: F = A
FYFPFJUWZSFXARMOHGGFHPZFJFPXRAZUAYYAQNHYBBHZMAAYYBFPBHZBFPXZ.
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 160
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 = E
KHKPGARKMTDMCKKMROGMCCHXMZOHFH,BZAGMRCHZRGMJHBCKXHHFHBXR'QKMGA.
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: C = E
PLLPCMUKSDBLUXCMZAPOKUACZAPMWCQUCZCPHCLBWAYNWLHJKZCVMWCAPOKUD.
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
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- T
- U
- V
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 4
Starter clue: M = E
WXMQFGWMAEAYMAGWXMQFJ,WXMQFJEAYMAGWXMTFW,FJYWXMTFWEAYMAGXMAWFHR.
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
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- T
- U
- V
- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: O = E
QOXGHROAITHKPHJHUOALMQLJOIYQLWOHROGJLZQXJUZLWXVBLMMQXGMXJUOAG.
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 6
Starter clue: F = T
XKHKFPWFNLTLVQCWZDLHFFKFNLGKYFKV,HKVPWFNLTLVQUZCWHFFKFNLZCPQLV.
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)
- “At an ambuscade of villains a man does better with his feet than his hands.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=E B=H C=K D=P E=X F=A G=L H=I I=J J=M K=Q L=Y M=F N=W O=V P=N Q=R R=O S=C T=Z U=B V=G W=U X=D Y=T Z=S
- “He holds him with his glittering eye, And listens like a three years' child.”— Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part I (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=D B=A C=T D=W E=V F=Y G=L H=E I=U J=K K=H L=B M=I N=F O=G P=O Q=C R=S S=Q T=M U=Z V=X W=J X=R Y=P Z=N
- “No one truly forgets injuries in the presence of him who caused the injury.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=I B=F C=E D=Y E=X F=B G=Z H=C I=Q J=A K=U L=O M=T N=W O=J P=N Q=P R=K S=L T=V U=R V=D W=H X=G Y=M Z=S
- “The master orders the man, the man orders the cat, and the cat orders her tail.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=R B=Z C=G D=X E=O F=A G=S H=I I=B J=N K=P L=U M=E N=W O=Q P=K Q=M R=L S=J T=C U=F V=Y W=T X=H Y=D Z=V
- “He is a very bad manager of honey who leaves nothing to lick off his fingers.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=R B=K C=U D=J E=Q F=Z G=S H=A I=Y J=N K=D L=O M=F N=P O=E P=M Q=H R=V S=X T=B U=G V=C W=L X=I Y=W Z=T
- “Go not with every ailment to the doctor, nor with every plaint to the lawyer.”— Portuguese proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=Z B=S C=A D=M E=U F=T G=D H=N I=B J=X K=O L=E M=K N=H O=J P=W Q=Y R=Q S=F T=V U=P V=R W=I X=G Y=C Z=L