Puzzle 1
Starter clue: T = E
FATNVGGTGLHLXBJTLJKTVBTETFFTBHTW,OKLFATW,VDWALXGTWFAVDFATQBHVFATBGPTBT.
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
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- X
- Y
- Z
Wisdom Cryptograms Set 187
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 = E
KYLWAYTXYNESBASLSKREYLPNLZPYTZYDSOYLSXRYYEYTLPYWTXYBLNJYBZRKKCYASBBF.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- T
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- Y
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: B = T
UYULWBDGZVGAVHHQHLCFQ,DUMRTSMHLQUFQMW,ZHBGZGBAUMT,CSBCWGBAOGLOSJABFZOUA.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- Y
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: M = E
YOOFYCCBNXCGDYGCJSSMLGDMTCMOWMCGNKMLMOBCDMEYXEEBHMCGMEYLMKJGTNEMLYGM.
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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- T
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- Y
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: D = T
PDPWGHDFWDFDXDHEXWFZXQUXGDXIXMPGDHBPDAMHVEDZVQZXXQPGNW,BPDAAFQZFAXFID.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
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- Y
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: B = I
BOBNBFXCBFQVECKCFOVEBNDDCEAIHGVGCNOGDEDYWODVQAIBFJBFLDTCAAOGDKVEFBFJ.
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
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- 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)
- “The masses of our people are better fed, clothed, and housed than their fathers were.”— Benjamin Harrison, 1889, Inaugural AddressCipher key: A=H B=R C=Y D=N E=B F=T G=S H=F I=X J=P K=L L=O M=V N=M O=C P=W Q=I R=J S=Z T=E U=G V=A W=D X=U Y=Q Z=K
- “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”— Mark Twain, 1894, The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead WilsonCipher key: A=S B=R C=B D=C E=V F=Y G=J H=Q I=P J=K K=L L=T M=X N=A O=M P=H Q=Z R=I S=O T=N U=G V=F W=U X=D Y=E Z=W
- “Everything is good or bad, helpful or deadly, not in itself, but by its circumstances.”— Robert Louis Stevenson, 1881, Virginibus Puerisque and Other PapersCipher key: A=S B=T C=B D=H E=K F=A G=I H=O I=Q J=M K=Z L=R M=L N=X O=C P=J Q=D R=P S=U T=F U=E V=G W=Y X=W Y=V Z=N
- “All passions that suffer themselves to be relished and digested are but moderate.”— Michel de Montaigne, 1580, Essays, Book I, Chap. II. Of Sorrow (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Q B=I C=S D=H E=D F=P G=T H=G I=Z J=U K=B L=R M=E N=O O=L P=X Q=W R=C S=F T=M U=Y V=K W=V X=N Y=A Z=J
- “It is not a state to be safely entered into with doubtful feelings, with half a heart.”— Jane Austen, 1815, EmmaCipher key: A=H B=W C=Z D=T E=B F=A G=N H=O I=R J=X K=P L=M M=D N=G O=Q P=I Q=L R=C S=K T=J U=Y V=U W=S X=E Y=V Z=F
- “It is in vain for a man to rise early who has the repute of lying in bed all the morning.”— French proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=L B=I C=A D=E E=R F=N G=H H=W I=Y J=G K=M L=B M=K N=S O=T P=J Q=F R=Z S=X T=D U=Q V=O W=U X=V Y=P Z=C