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Cryptograms Celebrating USA's 250th Anniversary Hint
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| Genre: Cipher |
Rating: 5 - Medium |
Source: William Armstrong |
| Brain Functions: Analysis / Logic |
Puzzle Solution |
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I made up a short list of things people might mention while celebrating the 250th birthday of the USA. I then encrypted the list using a common substitution cipher. Your puzzle is to decode them.
ULFIGS LU QFOB
GSV ORYVIGB YVOO
LOW MLIGS XSFIXS
QFMVGVVMGS
ORMXLOM NVNLIRZO
HGZIH ZMW HGIRKVH
XZKRGLO
There are several ways to approach a crypto-list like this.
1. You can look at letter frequencies. For example, G and O appear 9 times in the code. V appears 7 times. L appears 6 times. M appears 5 times. The most common letters in the puzzle often represent the most frequently used letters in English text (E, T, A, O, and N). It is useful to bear that in mind, but I don't think that is the best way to start.
2. Create your own list of items that should be on the list, and see if any of my entries have the right letter pattern.
3. A three-letter word is often "THE" or "AND".
4. Look for highly unusual letter patterns in my list (for example, "QFMVGVVMGS" or "HGZIH ZMW HGIRKVH").
Once to get the answer to one item on the list, start substituting its answer letters in other items.
If you need more help, we'll tell you that "S" in the code represents "H" in the answer.
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| Copyright © 2026 William Armstrong |
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