Puzzle 1
Starter clue: L = E
PLMYDTLIFCSBFTIFCSB,BXNXQQXUIFCSBULILUFTWXJFGBSLTMXIGXNMXGTLODLGML.
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 177
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: T = E
RJTXHDTGIJDTGILRJTXHRALHCPIWCFXBBTXCABPLAGE,VWHCPDDTHJAZXBDTGGTOTJ.
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: X = T
NZXNFXIADUQNAQOWQADZQQFXNJIZ,YASSDJXOZFHHWQZUJRXFTADVKFLXADXNZRLFB.
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 4
Starter clue: F = E
PWFUAIQPFLTMASVTQIFNHIVSAIQACFMHUTQPWHPTPVFQPIAGQIFQJFDPSAIHMMMHU.
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 5
Starter clue: Q = E
DWQXQMXQKZOQOQEFWZMXQBMRKQBXZOFAKWAELMRFMNKDZMTTQMXFWMDDWQNMXQEZD.
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: K = A
ZHRTCJKPQNZIQLCMEZCJKN,KTNKLAQKFJKLCQLKTCJQEZBS,CYINYEYBEJYHZUNQKTQ.
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)
- “Because right is right, to follow right were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1833, Poems (1832), OEnone (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Y B=T C=G D=U E=K F=I G=N H=Z I=R J=M K=J L=E M=C N=F O=Q P=B Q=L R=V S=H T=S U=W V=P W=D X=O Y=A Z=X
- “Great men or men of great gifts you shall easily find, but symmetrical men never.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844, Essays: Second SeriesCipher key: A=I B=L C=S D=M E=D F=H G=N H=T I=O J=R K=J L=F M=X N=P O=V P=Y Q=W R=G S=Z T=E U=Q V=B W=U X=A Y=K Z=C
- “He that minds his business at home, will not be accused of taking part in the fray.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=I B=Y C=J D=N E=V F=A G=Z H=C I=M J=O K=P L=R M=Q N=H O=B P=X Q=S R=F S=L T=K U=D V=G W=U X=T Y=W Z=E
- “The worst evil of disregard for some law is that it destroys respect for all law.”— Herbert Hoover, 1929, Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=O B=U C=M D=C E=Z F=E G=Y H=A I=R J=P K=Q L=V M=L N=G O=B P=T Q=S R=X S=F T=I U=W V=D W=H X=J Y=N Z=K
- “There are some men who are false from wishing always to appear what they are not.”— Francois de La Rochefoucauld, 1871, Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (J. Hain Friswell translation, 1871)Cipher key: A=I B=F C=Q D=T E=N F=W G=K H=V I=X J=U K=S L=G M=A N=Y O=M P=D Q=E R=L S=C T=P U=J V=B W=H X=R Y=Z Z=O
- “I must have liberty Withal, as large a charter as the wind, To blow on whom I please.”— William Shakespeare, 1600, As You Like It, Act II. Sc. 7 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=G B=N C=T D=Z E=W F=C G=X H=M I=B J=H K=A L=R M=Y N=L O=F P=V Q=E R=U S=D T=S U=P V=J W=K X=Q Y=O Z=I