Puzzle 1
Starter clue: H = A
HTTCIFQLZALFQRGRMNFZAYP,FZHFZRLHNYQFVRHIAMDHMAI,HTHMDRF-OYAPZF,VCFHIAYRKN,ZHMUN,HYUGAPQMQCINQCYPLHY.
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 230
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: S = E
VUPMSXSCPFWZFSIZSDZCDPWD,JTLDMQSRZZI;ALDMPDJHMUSRZGI,ZCMUSSTSCPGI,ZCMUSKLCKGS,VSCSPGVPWDDPWJFRMUJD.
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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- U
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- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 3
Starter clue: J = E
JZJWBFNLBTSOJHPQLWJHRJAMHHJTV-UPLJUJQ.SMSHPYWJPMLJPTFJMMJWMNFJUPLJSQMXPMIPBMXPQQNMMNFJUPLJPMPTT.
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
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Puzzle 4
Starter clue: L = E
RELHLRRLKXVRELAXDBRYRSRYXDCYBLHINLAHMKLNMBLWMKMRYXD,GSRRELYZWSHBLXVAXZZXDWSKWXBLNLAHMKLBMSDYXD.
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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- U
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- W
- X
- Y
- Z
Puzzle 5
Starter clue: W = A
IABAVNWZNDZGAWUWIZYRBFDYGWMMBRIBGWNYFWEMAWYU;WZGUYRFBRYUIBFYVUWFBUVEIQWUZYIUIFDMIETMYZMBDSWCEB.
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 6
Starter clue: H = S
LSFTKYOXFKRFHBMCXLSTJREFBLFSTHVEFYFEFKRFH,STHBAFEHTCKH,STHVCOTLTRH,STHLBHLFH,STHJCEBOH,STHEFOTDTCK.
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)
- “Accustom him to everything, that he may not be a Sir Paris, a carpet-knight, but a sinewy, hardy, and vigorous young man.”— Michel de Montaigne, 1580, Essays, Book I, Chap. XXV. Of the Education of Children (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=I B=F C=U D=P E=Z F=T G=V H=A I=S J=L K=W L=M M=R N=Y O=K P=G Q=O R=E S=Q T=C U=D V=B W=X X=J Y=N Z=H
- “Whatever any one does or says, I must be good; just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple, were always saying this.”— Marcus Aurelius, 1862, Meditations (George Long translation, 1862)Cipher key: A=J B=C C=R D=S E=Q F=N G=L H=F I=D J=I K=P L=U M=T N=X O=Z P=A Q=B R=G S=E T=M U=H V=W W=Y X=V Y=K Z=O
- “Everybody likes and respects self-made men. It is a great deal better to be made in that way than not to be made at all.”— Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1858, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, I (in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 9th ed., 1891)Cipher key: A=C B=Y C=J D=Q E=Z F=B G=X H=S I=W J=E K=U L=D M=T N=O O=K P=A Q=N R=P S=I T=L U=M V=F W=R X=H Y=G Z=V
- “The letter of the Constitution wisely declared a separation, but the impulse of common purpose declares a union.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1934, State of the Union AddressCipher key: A=C B=S C=W D=N E=H F=X G=B H=L I=Y J=V K=R L=E M=A N=D O=J P=Q Q=Z R=T S=U T=G U=K V=F W=P X=O Y=I Z=M
- “The human mind has at no period accepted a moral chaos; and so preposterous a result was not strictly conceivable.”— George Eliot, 1872, MiddlemarchCipher key: A=H B=E C=B D=I E=L F=R G=D H=J I=T J=X K=G L=K M=C N=M O=Q P=F Q=W R=P S=V T=Y U=S V=U W=A X=Z Y=O Z=N
- “The influences about him create his preferences, his aversions, his politics, his tastes, his morals, his religion.”— Mark Twain, 1906, What Is Man? and Other EssaysCipher key: A=V B=A C=O D=G E=R F=E G=J H=S I=Q J=M K=N L=T M=B N=W O=L P=D Q=K R=C S=H T=I U=X V=P W=Z X=U Y=F Z=Y