Puzzle 1
Starter clue: D = L
KDPPBITPSKF,FZVFZWNZPOPWASPFCKSOZKAQWDDENKDDZVMODECKSOVSEFZKSYWDAW.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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- L
- M
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Wisdom Cryptograms Set 179
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: M = E
WMEMBPSRWMRSUIMNOQUESDMMXPK-NPRQURMNPEHAMYRMSDMPAZMYERUBPETOAPELFUO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: R = E
ZLRNR'UNQUROVNP,ZLVZ'UYQNNROROWNVKSR;...VKGZLRNRHUAVKUHRU,ZLVZ'UYQNZLQITLZU.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: G = I
NMGAKTBPIQ,AGCKSMKTGPUKLWTBIAWIC,LZPOSMKULKBSIGLIZGS,BPXGOOSGAABSMWDK.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: I = E
FSIVLSIZBNHETBAIBMLBJLSITBMVTYZ-SBMEI,LSIKQNIFYEINLSQVFSIVLSIKFIVLYV.
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: B = E
ETIHUOIJVEFBDRUFZBIPBEU-FBNTBCFZECUINIDBLDEWRFKFZEURUENROCHNNBDTIUO.
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)
- “I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.”— Samuel Johnson, 1791, Boswell, Life of Johnson, Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. II. Chap. IX (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=S B=K C=M D=L E=Y F=T G=F H=J I=U J=C K=I L=X M=R N=W O=D P=O Q=B R=V S=N T=P U=Q V=A W=E X=Z Y=G Z=H
- “Benefits bestowed upon the evil-disposed increase their means of injuring you.”— Aesop, 1867, Aesop's Fables (George Fyler Townsend translation, 1867)Cipher key: A=R B=F C=K D=H E=N F=Y G=X H=C I=W J=Z K=L L=G M=E N=D O=U P=I Q=P R=S S=T T=J U=O V=Q W=B X=V Y=A Z=M
- “There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; . . . and there is pansies, that's for thoughts.”— William Shakespeare, 1601, Hamlet, Act IV. Sc. 5 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=P B=Q C=W D=K E=V F=X G=D H=I I=U J=L K=N L=H M=J N=R O=M P=Y Q=O R=E S=C T=G U=S V=A W=B X=Z Y=F Z=T
- “While fancy, like the finger of a clock, Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.”— William Cowper, 1785, The Task, Book IV. The Winter Evening. Line 118 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=L B=A C=K D=M E=V F=X G=I H=Z I=C J=P K=E L=R M=H N=W O=S P=N Q=Y R=B S=T T=F U=G V=J W=O X=D Y=Q Z=U
- “When the lords come out of the council-house, they are wiser than when they went in.”— German proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=M B=O C=J D=P E=S F=W G=V H=D I=E J=F K=Y L=T M=U N=R O=Q P=G Q=A R=X S=H T=C U=Z V=N W=K X=B Y=I Z=L
- “A pound of water in the ocean-tempest has no more gravity than in a midsummer pond.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844, Essays: Second SeriesCipher key: A=L B=E C=S D=R E=A F=T G=B H=U I=O J=F K=Y L=G M=X N=M O=D P=C Q=Z R=I S=K T=P U=N V=W W=V X=J Y=Q Z=H