# How to Solve Cryptograms: Tips for Cracking Letter-Swap Ciphers

Source: https://silverapuzzles.com/guides/how-to-solve-cryptograms

A cryptogram replaces every letter of a quotation with another letter, the same way throughout. To solve one, start with the most constrained words: one-letter words are almost always A or I, and the most common three-letter word is THE. Fill those in everywhere they appear, and the partly revealed words will suggest the rest.

## How the cipher works

Our cryptograms use a simple substitution cipher: each letter of the alphabet is swapped for a different letter, and the swap is the same in every word. If X stands for T once, it stands for T everywhere. No letter stands for itself. Spaces and punctuation are left in place, and they are some of your best clues.

## Start with the short words

- **One-letter words** are almost always A or I.

- **Two-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.

- **Three-letter words**: THE and AND lead by a wide margin, followed by FOR, ARE, BUT, NOT, YOU, ALL.

Example: if the cipher word `XQB` appears several times, try THE. Then every X becomes T, every Q becomes H and every B becomes E across the whole puzzle.

## Look for patterns

- **Apostrophes**: a single letter after an apostrophe is usually S or T (IT’S, DON’T). Two letters after it are often LL, RE or VE.

- **Double letters**: the most common are LL, EE, SS, OO, TT and FF.

- **Repeated shapes**: a cipher word like `ABCA` has the same first and last letter; THAT is a good guess.

- **Word endings**: -ING, -ED, -LY and -TION show up often in quotations.

## Use letter frequency to finish

In ordinary English text the most frequent letters are roughly E, T, A, O, I, N, S, H and R. Count the cipher letters in the puzzle: the most common one is a good candidate for E. Frequency works best on longer quotations and is a tie-breaker, not a rule.

## A worked example

Take this cipher: `UHXX IAQH ZD FHRRHL RTJQ UHXX DJZI.`

1. **Repeated words.** `UHXX` appears twice and ends in a double letter. Four-letter words ending in a double letter include WELL, TELL, WILL and FALL.

2. **The double inside `FHRRHL`.** A six-letter word with a double letter in the middle and the same letter in positions 2 and 5 fits BETTER, so F = B, H = E, R = T and L = R. Then `UHXX` is _ELL, and WELL is the natural choice: U = W, X = L.

3. **Fill in everywhere.** With E, T, R, W and L known, `RTJQ` reads T___ and `IAQH` reads ___E. THAN and DONE fit, which gives H, A, N, D and O.

4. **Finish.** `DJZI` now reads _A_D. SAID fits, so D = S and Z = I, and `ZD` becomes IS.

The quotation is Benjamin Franklin’s: “Well done is better than well said.” Notice how one confident word (BETTER) opened almost the whole puzzle.

## Mistakes to avoid

- **Using a letter twice.** Each plain letter has exactly one cipher partner. If R already stands for T, nothing else can.

- **Sticking with a bad guess.** If a guess creates an impossible word, undo it right away; the longer it stays, the more it misleads.

- **Trusting frequency too much.** In a short quotation, E might appear only once or twice. Patterns beat counting.

## A routine that works

1. Solve one-letter words, then try THE and AND on three-letter words.

2. Fill each guess in everywhere and read the partly revealed words.

3. Use apostrophes, doubles and word endings to confirm or reject guesses.

4. If a guess leads to an impossible word, undo it. In our game, Check marks wrong letters in red and Hint places one correct letter.

Practice: [play a cryptogram](https://silverapuzzles.com/cryptogram).

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the easiest way to start a cryptogram?**
Look for one-letter words (A or I) and a repeated three-letter word (usually THE). Filling those in everywhere reveals parts of many other words.

**Can a letter stand for itself in a cryptogram?**
Not in ours. Every letter is swapped for a different letter.

**What is the most common letter in English?**
E, followed roughly by T, A, O, I and N. In a cryptogram the most frequent cipher letter is often E, but short quotations can break the pattern.