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Cryptograms Books
Denise Sutherland
Mark Koltko-Rivera
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Published:
November 2, 2009

Cracking Codes and Cryptograms For Dummies

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Overview

The fast and easy way to crack codes and cryptograms

Did you love Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol? Are you fascinated by secret codes and deciphering lost history? Cracking Codes and Cryptograms For Dummies shows you how to think like a symbologist to uncover mysteries and history by solving cryptograms and cracking codes that relate to Freemasonry, the Knights Templar, the Illuminati, and other secret societies and conspiracy theories.

You'll get easy-to-follow instructions for solving

everything from the simplest puzzles to fiendishly difficult ciphers using secret codes and lost symbols.

  • Over 350 handcrafted cryptograms and ciphers of varying types
  • Tips and tricks for cracking even the toughest code
  • Sutherland is a syndicated puzzle author; Koltko-Rivera is an expert on the major symbols and ceremonies of Freemasonry

With the helpful information in this friendly guide, you'll be unveiling mysteries and shedding light on history in no time!

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About The Author

Denise Sutherland is a syndicated puzzle author. Her crosswords, word searches and other puzzles appear in a range of publications around the world, and she has written many puzzle books, including Cryptic Crossword Puzzles For Dummies and Word Searches For Dummies.

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cracking codes and cryptograms for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

Cryptography offers you the chance to solve all kinds of puzzles. Use basic solving techniques to crack substitution ciphers, including the Freemason’s cipher. Encode your own messages, decode incoming communications, and have fun trying to figure out conspiracies, codes, and cryptograms!Cryptography 101: Basic solving techniques for substitution ciphersIt doesn’t matter whether a cryptogram presents you with letters, numbers, arcane symbols, lines and dots, or weird alien squiggles — if you’re asked to replace each letter in the alphabet with another symbol, you’re dealing with a simple substitution cipher.
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With a Caesar Cipher, the cipher alphabet wraps around the plain alphabet. For example, if there is a +1 shift, A=B, B=C, C=D, and so on to Z=A. Once you have figured out one or two of the letters in a Caesar cipher, the rest of the encryption will fall out easily. Tricky Caesar Cipher 1.When this encrypted letter was deciphered by American codebreakers during World War I, it resulted in a death sentence for the man mentioned in it.
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Letter frequency analysis is the way to crack these cryptograms. You can do a tally of how many times each cipher letter appears within each cipher. The most common letter is likely to be E, with T and A as other good options. You can find more tips on how to crack cryptograms on the Cracking Codes & Cryptograms For Dummies Cheat Sheet.
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There are many distinctive ciphers used by the Freemasons in times past. The Cypher of the Rose Croix (used in Tricky Masonic Cipher 1) is one of these old sets of symbols. Sometimes Masonic ciphers have keywords. A keyword is written into the top of the ‘pigpen’ grid, with two letters per box. The remaining letters are then written into the rest of the boxes in pairs.
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Cracking Codes & Cryptograms For Dummies has something extra — a secret word within the book for you to discover! This secret word isn’t listed in the Hints or Answers, and it isn’t mentioned anywhere within the book. The only way you can discover it is by solving the puzzles. Here are a few pointers to get you started on the trail: The secret word occurs as a keyword within one of the substitution cryptograms.
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Cryptography offers you the chance to solve all kinds of puzzles. Use basic solving techniques to crack substitution ciphers, including the Freemason’s cipher. Encode your own messages, decode incoming communications, and have fun trying to figure out conspiracies, codes, and cryptograms!Cryptography 101: Basic solving techniques for substitution ciphersIt doesn’t matter whether a cryptogram presents you with letters, numbers, arcane symbols, lines and dots, or weird alien squiggles — if you’re asked to replace each letter in the alphabet with another symbol, you’re dealing with a simple substitution cipher.
Read More
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It doesn’t matter whether a cryptogram presents you with letters, numbers, arcane symbols, lines and dots, or weird alien squiggles — if you’re asked to replace each letter in the alphabet with another symbol, you’re dealing with a simple substitution cipher. All substitution ciphers can be cracked by using the following tips: Scan through the cipher, looking for single-letter words.
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Printing out this page will make it easier to solve these cryptograms. Drawing a light vertical pencil line between the words in a symbol cipher makes it easier for you to see the words and letter patterns. Medium Symbol Cipher 1. Adapted from a story told about the last days of traitor Benedict Arnold (who died in 1801): Medium Symbol Cipher 1 Hint Medium Symbol Cipher 1 Answer Medium Symbol Cipher 2.
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These symbol substitution ciphers are extra tricky, but don’t let the level of difficulty dissuade you! You can be quite proud of yourself if you crack these puzzles! Hard Symbol Cipher 1. Be careful: This Illuminati cipher has different symbols for upper- and lower-case letters. The message is from noted Freemason, Albert Pike: Hard Symbol Cipher 1 Hint Hard Symbol Cipher 1 Answer Hard Symbol Cipher 2.
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These five cryptograms are all letter substitution ciphers, at an Easy level. Each letter of the alphabet is substituted by another letter, and no letter is encrypted as itself.To start out on these puzzles, look for the most frequent letter in each cryptogram — you’ll find it’s almost always E. Single-letter words will be A or I.
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The Freemasons have long used ciphers to encrypt their ceremonies and messages. Both the ciphers on this page use the classic Masonic Cipher, which is also known as the Pigpen Cipher, as the alphabet is written into a series of grids, with some passing resemblance to pigpens. Despite appearances, these ciphers are all simple substitution cryptograms, so the frequency of each symbol will give you clues as to which letters are E, T and A.
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Even though these number substitution cryptograms may look terribly confusing, they can be solved with exactly the same strategies as letter substitution puzzles. The numbers within one encrypted word are linked by a dot or a dash. Keep a close eye out for the spaces between words and punctuation. Look for the most frequently occurring numbers, which will probably be E, T and A.
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Some of the cryptograms on this page have keywords. To discover a keyword, write out the plaintext alphabet, and then the ciphertext alphabet beneath it. If there’s a keyword, you’ll find it within the sequence of letters in the cipher alphabet. For example, if A is encrypted as H, B is encrypted as A, and C is encrypted as T, this gives a keyword of HAT.
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Caesar Ciphers are also known as Shift Ciphers — yes, you guessed it, the alphabet is shifted along by a set amount to create the cipher. This is an encryption method that was used by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, hence the name. Once you’ve figured out a few letters, you can easily write out the rest of the encrypted alphabet, and read the cryptogram.
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Although these symbol cryptograms may look extra tricky, they are basic substitution ciphers. You can apply the principles of letter frequency analysis to work through these puzzles. To start out, look for the most frequent letter (or symbol) in each cryptogram — you’ll find it’s almost always E. Single-letter words will be A or I.
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These number substitution cryptograms come from a variety of sources, from ancient times to the modern day. Use your letter frequency skills to crack them! You can find more tips on how to crack cryptograms on the Cracking Codes & Cryptograms For Dummies Cheat Sheet. Tricky Number Cipher 1. The numbers in this cipher have been randomly assigned as any two digit number between 01 and 99.
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Solving cryptograms is a great way to stay mentally fit! Studies have shown that working puzzles of any sort, especially challenging ones, keeps you mentally agile and on the ball. These benefits can help you no matter what your age! Tricky Symbol Cipher 1. This More Code message is an adaptation from the eulogy of George Washington delivered by Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee.
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Freemasons have used ciphers since at least the 18th century. The Freemason’s Cipher is sometimes called the Pigpen Cipher, because the alphabet is written into a grid of lines, which may look like pigpens, and a cross shape from two diagonal lines. A letter is enciphered by drawing the shape of the cell that encompasses it.
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