Puzzle 1
Starter clue: L = E
GJBSMULOLTYSCCJAXKYJYLYSEEMGTCLT,SVPTLLJYLQHLSJSKYGCCLTOYABOLNVLO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- L
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- Z
Wisdom Cryptograms Set 172
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: Z = E
VNLPNZXYVZRNZYXRZMOYNQZWLTYVRNLZC,JKYJFJZTWAXYTDDQNCZMQMWYVMWYVZF?
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: Z = E
EZODAAQFGZUKCFQSUVZRHZVFQMZADUUQEZWDAWWEDUNZWMJVRQIDAVDAWGXUDVZV.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: G = E
EUGASMPWVAGBGJADWMBGABMDWCMMI,DUGQMMTDVZMAWUGBEKWUJWUPGJWGAKACGHG.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: L = E
XVLVNXSDLMJSLLMPFYXVPVNATLILYQSLMTAKELXHHNWYXKWPVPJKELDPNMLVSQNL.
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 6
Starter clue: K = S
YVMKLXSKKHLCWYXLXTGRSYCLCKWSSPKOMQXLKWSKYPHYZKGLPOGQLCKGHXHWSSPK.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
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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)
- “It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles whom we knew.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1842, Poems (1842), Ulysses (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=O B=M C=L D=V E=P F=X G=I H=R I=Q J=T K=C L=E M=Y N=K O=W P=D Q=G R=Z S=A T=S U=B V=N W=J X=U Y=H Z=F
- “How does the poet speak to men with power, but by being still more a man than they?”— Thomas Carlyle, 1828, Burns. Edinburgh Review, 1828 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=J C=R D=L E=Z F=Y G=Q H=C I=V J=B K=U L=W M=A N=O O=K P=D Q=M R=P S=F T=I U=X V=H W=N X=S Y=T Z=E
- “We can not permit ourselves to be narrowed and dwarfed by slogans and phrases.”— Calvin Coolidge, 1925, Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=N B=X C=I D=A E=W F=T G=P H=V I=G J=Y K=M L=K M=B N=F O=C P=Q Q=O R=L S=U T=J U=R V=S W=D X=H Y=Z Z=E
- “When Fortune means to men most good, She looks upon them with a threatening eye.”— William Shakespeare, 1596, King John, Act III. Sc. 4 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=N B=M C=G D=S E=W F=Z G=E H=Y I=D J=A K=I L=J M=O N=X O=C P=R Q=L R=Q S=F T=K U=H V=U W=T X=V Y=B Z=P
- “An enlarged freedom can only be secured by the application of the golden rule.”— Calvin Coolidge, 1925, State of the Union AddressCipher key: A=Y B=J C=W D=G E=H F=M G=X H=P I=S J=F K=T L=E M=D N=L O=Q P=O Q=U R=Z S=R T=B U=K V=N W=I X=A Y=C Z=V
- “A business with an income at its heels Furnishes always oil for its own wheels.”— William Cowper, 1782, Poems (1782), Retirement. Line 614 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=V B=G C=T D=X E=K F=D G=O H=W I=J J=Q K=S L=I M=U N=P O=F P=L Q=R R=M S=E T=C U=Z V=B W=H X=N Y=A Z=Y