Puzzle 1
Starter clue: R = I
DTZQLRDRQROTZJTSQVIDLVIOAVDZRIDSVISDTZLCVIIZLSLVIZJCVDZLRVATRORCGLZOORSISBMZVXDRBXADTRIYO.
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 228
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: O = I
OWOHQMHWAOFSGPE'HRPEOWUPENOGYSVWOESEZSWKZPAAPEPEOGPANMGIISZPMHSOWOHNMGIWKTOHNMAAYSVZSYWOKEH.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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- B
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- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 3
Starter clue: K = E
UGKOXLAWHKNAUGKKWLUGCOONAUWSBCJELKOOCQFKQVUGKAKKUNAJKS;WSBONTCUGUGKEWUGOTGCHGUGKJCSBULWPKFO.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: M = E
XCBMPDVCVAMSLUNMD,BLHN,TCUVAMGWLXFGLV,DPSAV,ALETWCRD;XCBMPDVCVAMSLUNMD,BLHN,PLBAMUMLVVAMSLVMLWCDM.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
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Puzzle 5
Starter clue: Q = E
QKQPZLRGYPJWQRY,YDDM,KQGGQM,LILYEDQGYTBYIDPHTLATLYTBGCQQRWBEQ,LGHQMM,BREZQYTQHTDWBEQLYLGRDYYTQPQ.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
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Puzzle 6
Starter clue: M = E
WV,CMWLPMLCWCCMLMQMEXYOEQUNE!BUEOPWXYCNWJMQUEPYOP,WEQIWEVWEMVMPWXQWEZMQCUXMMCPWCTWEEMLYECPMXDV.
Decoder — write your answer under each cipher letter:
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
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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)
- “The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.”— Oscar Wilde, 1891, The Picture of Dorian GrayCipher key: A=L B=F C=M D=T E=K F=Z G=P H=Q I=N J=W K=V L=R M=B N=D O=S P=X Q=C R=I S=O T=H U=J V=A W=Y X=U Y=G Z=E
- “It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.”— Mark Twain, 1906, What Is Man? and Other EssaysCipher key: A=L B=X C=W D=G E=N F=K G=M H=S I=B J=Q K=O L=F M=U N=D O=I P=A Q=J R=V S=E T=H U=Y V=R W=T X=Z Y=P Z=C
- “The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels.”— Henry David Thoreau, 1854, WaldenCipher key: A=F B=D C=I D=G E=P F=L G=H H=C I=Z J=M K=E L=R M=X N=O O=S P=V Q=B R=J S=N T=W U=T V=Y W=A X=U Y=Q Z=K
- “Come into the garden, Maud, For the black bat, night, has flown; Come into the garden, Maud, I am here at the gate alone.”— Alfred Tennyson, 1855, Maud, Part I. XXII. Stanza 1 (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=H B=M C=O D=N E=S F=K G=B H=U I=Y J=V K=Z L=A M=E N=D O=Q P=I Q=X R=W S=G T=F U=R V=T W=L X=C Y=J Z=P
- “Every instrument, tool, vessel, if it does that for which it has been made, is well, and yet he who made it is not there.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=C B=A C=B D=O E=D F=Z G=S H=W I=F J=U K=V L=I M=L N=P O=K P=R Q=E R=N S=X T=H U=Q V=G W=M X=J Y=T Z=Y
- “Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see that banner in the sky.”— Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1836, Poems (1836), Old Ironsides (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=F B=L C=T D=K E=N F=P G=Q H=X I=M J=V K=U L=R M=E N=W O=G P=H Q=D R=Z S=J T=B U=O V=Y W=A X=S Y=I Z=C