Puzzle 1
Starter clue: X = E
DLWJPGSYVKXSCXXCRWHXQSWRRMWLBIKDRBXMVKYBVKXQDSXWBYBWVKXS'CKXYSVK.
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 168
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 = A
OKYN'BEPYPYRD?NKYNOKEGKODGYTTYXJBDIQYPQJNKDXPYRDOJHTLBRDTTYBBODDN.
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: Z = E
UPLZZVRBCSGDZILPGPVNGDZI'LQNB,PVTDPGZLGDPGZKAZWWZVAZSGAPVVNGIZPAD.
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 4
Starter clue: K = E
JR"SVNHDE,SKKTDE,AKVCQOGCDDEADCK!"VUUJBKJIKUJBKLRKNKUOIZUVAJCQQRKUHE.
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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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: K = I
SUGQGKOOXRGSUKAIKASUKORXQGSUDAADSZQDC,KBJUKCXOXJUPLXZCFBKAFKSXZS.
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: U = E
WMXSPGUVOHWADMUERDMUGQMUVDMUKLGUKRHVJ,LVPDMUYLDMUGQMUVDMUKLGURSP.
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)
- “I would rather see smoke from my own chimney than the fire on another's hearth.”— Danish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=B B=N C=S D=I E=J F=Z G=D H=K I=C J=U K=H L=W M=Y N=X O=Q P=L Q=F R=M S=R T=G U=V V=T W=O X=E Y=A Z=P
- “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”— William Shakespeare, 1595, Romeo and Juliet, Act II. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=S C=Z D=E E=I F=K G=C H=U I=B J=O K=H L=D M=Q N=T O=W P=N Q=Y R=M S=F T=L U=V V=P W=X X=R Y=A Z=J
- “Base Envy withers at another's joy, And hates that excellence it cannot reach.”— James Thomson, 1730, The Seasons, Spring. Line 283 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=Y C=W D=H E=K F=U G=T H=Q I=R J=F K=X L=S M=P N=O O=Z P=A Q=J R=V S=I T=D U=B V=N W=L X=G Y=M Z=E
- “Oh "darkly, deeply, beautifully blue!" As some one somewhere sings about the sky.”— Lord Byron, 1819, Don Juan, Canto IV. Stanza 110 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=B B=M C=U D=L E=Y F=Q G=F H=K I=N J=O K=E L=W M=C N=R O=I P=J Q=T R=H S=D T=P U=S V=A W=X X=V Y=Z Z=G
- “There is something in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it out.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act II. Sc. 2 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=F C=L D=A E=W F=D G=E H=K I=G J=P K=I L=C M=X N=V O=S P=Y Q=R R=M S=T T=J U=H V=Z W=B X=O Y=Q Z=U
- “Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they are old.”— English proverb, 1859, Recorded in Walter K. Kelly, Proverbs of All Nations, Compared, Explained, and Illustrated (London, 1859)Cipher key: A=K B=V C=Z D=T E=M F=X G=R H=U I=P J=G K=Y L=A M=H N=Q O=S P=D Q=W R=O S=L T=B U=E V=N W=C X=I Y=F Z=J