Puzzle 1
Starter clue: A = E
VCAFCAZFCALXFHCAZOFZXUAFCAOFKTA,KZFCAOFKTAFCALXFHCAZ,VKAIAFKFCALXFHCAZ.
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 188
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: W = E
UKANSYPHW,UKYAOWLDHZWZNKUINWUAJKRCYDUFWJ,JOSHHKIAHDBWAODJCKQWYRIHYOVNW.
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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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: W = E
JIGQVJCHCLGDQFW,IGPMZWBJMRWVQKLTWIQVRRWB'QJKMVP,ALHCMVHMVBQXWJLIKAMGPWB?
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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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: C = L
IQROATXOFRAABUCYCLOEICCOEBFIOOARAEBWHRTXU,IXUICCAEBNRHCUOEICCQRTHXEBH.
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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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: F = E
DFLDNLYJJLZMWRFPHBYPXWNPPSLUSZVFLLDFQZFWYSMJLZFNJMZFSUDYJFOFJYVDLBSJL.
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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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: C = E
MZZHWCACHWDEYAWMVVCEHRHWCGIOQCMARERJHWCDQDYERQMEBCRJNWMHDAYRRTMETCSDZ.
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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- 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)
- “Whether the pitcher strike the stone, or the stone the pitcher, woe be to the pitcher.”— Spanish proverb, 1857, Recorded with English translation in Henry G. Bohn, A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (London, 1857)Cipher key: A=E B=X C=H D=Q E=J F=T G=U H=C I=B J=G K=O L=P M=L N=F O=S P=V Q=M R=D S=A T=N U=K V=W W=Y X=I Y=Z Z=R
- “Not marble, nor the gilded monuments of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme.”— William Shakespeare, 1609, Sonnets, LV (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=V C=P D=I E=K F=C G=X H=L I=U J=S K=O L=G M=Q N=M O=H P=B Q=W R=F S=A T=Z U=N V=Y W=E X=J Y=R Z=D
- “Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer's cloud, Without our special wonder?”— William Shakespeare, 1606, Macbeth, Act III. Sc. 4 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=W B=R C=H D=G E=Q F=B G=N H=T I=A J=C K=L L=I M=O N=J O=F P=D Q=S R=M S=X T=K U=Y V=U W=E X=P Y=Z Z=V
- “A most unspotted lily shall she pass to the ground, and all the world shall mourn her.”— William Shakespeare, 1592, King Henry VI, II. Act V. Sc. 5 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=T B=E C=L D=K E=H F=P G=B H=R I=A J=Q K=V L=Y M=J N=W O=S P=C Q=M R=O S=X T=U U=D V=Z W=G X=N Y=I Z=F
- “He that is strucken blind cannot forget the precious treasure of his eyesight lost.”— William Shakespeare, 1595, Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Sc. 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=Q B=L C=X D=H E=M F=E G=J H=B I=W J=S K=Z L=T M=U N=A O=Y P=N Q=P R=K S=O T=V U=F V=G W=C X=D Y=I Z=R
- “All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=S B=C C=E D=I E=N F=Q G=M H=T I=B J=F K=X L=J M=A N=W O=Y P=Z Q=R R=O S=V T=D U=K V=P W=H X=U Y=G Z=L