The concept of cryptogram quotes or puzzles is a century old. Earlier, these were used as a secret message. The message developers used to substitute or eliminate numbers or letters to send secret messages. This practice of sending secret messages dates back to Julius Caesar’s time. This technique played a crucial role even during the Revolution Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War. The risk of the enemy gaining access to confidential messages was eradicated as a result.
Cryptogram puzzles have yet again started gaining traction in the past few years. Leading newspapers like the NYT offer readers this challenging brain exercise along with crossword clues. Besides, there are several free cryptogram online platforms that offer you a wonderful opportunity to solve these brain-teasing puzzles for FREE. So, if you are wondering how to solve these puzzles, then read this post.
This article will help you learn how to solve cryptogram puzzles. So, without wasting any moment, let’s get started with the tricks to solve Cryptogram puzzles. Stay tuned with us until the end of to learn the best tricks to decode encrypted quotes. Here we go…
Top 7 Tricks to Solve Free Online Cryptogram Puzzles
Here are some of the best tricks you can use to solve these puzzles effortlessly. Take a look at them…
TRICK No. 1: Look for One-Letter, Two-Letter, and Three Letter Words
However, there are many strategies to solve cryptogram puzzles, it will be wise if you start with the easiest one. So, start solving the cryptogram puzzle with the one-letter word first. Usually, there are only two one-letter words. You can easily identify I and A as one-letter words. But, if there is any poetic or archaic quote other than I and A words, you will need to focus on them as well.
Next, you try identifying two-letter words. Know that all the two-letter words in this puzzle include a vowel. Knowing this is imperative as it can aid you in solving cryptograms. So you can easily identify the next two letter words in the series. This will help you identify or eliminate vowels without any hassle.
Likewise, you can solve the three–letter words. Discover how the cryptogram setter has arranged those letter words for you. They follow a strategy. Once you come to know the strategy behind the word pattern, you will easily solve the complete series. This will take only a few minutes if you know how to do it. Consider the following example to understand the word pattern:
ABP QRF _
If you need to decode the next word of the series, you should decode the letter pattern first. This is a trial-and-error game. So, it is common that you will make mistakes in the beginning. The next word of the series will be GHV.
Also See: 10 Best Free Crossword Puzzles Online
TRICK NO. 2: Identify and Analyze Double Letter Words
Next trick is to identify the double-letter words. Double-letter words include look, feel, peel, etc. This will help you decode other codes. The more you practice letter frequency in the puzzle game, the more easily you will be able to decode cryptogram codes. The techniques for identifying the word patterns that we have discussed here are great. They not only help you decode the puzzle game but also enhance your mental agility. While playing the game online, you will get some tools that can help you in erasing the wrong answer.
TRICK NO. 3: Search for Contractions
Many puzzle solvers search for contractions ending in ‘T’ or apostrophes ending in ‘S’ to decipher cryptogram puzzles. You can also easily use these contractions and decode many cryptogram codes without any hassle. Take a look at the following examples to understand the role of contractions in cryptogram puzzles:
- Some possessive words that end with an apostrophe S are Let’s, It’s, Your’s, etc.
- Words that end with an apostrophe RE, such as They’re, We’re
- A few common words with LL are He’ll, She’ll, They’ll, We’ll, etc.
- VE words such as They’ve or We’ve
- A word with M is I’m
- A few words that end with D, such as He’d, She’d, We’d, They’d, etc.
- Words that include the N’T at the end are Aren’t, Hasn’t, Hadn’t, Haven’t, etc.
TRICK NO. 4: Consider the Digraphs
Then, there are digraphs that you can use to solve Cryptogram puzzles with ease. As the name says, a digraph is two letter pairs combined together to correspond to one sound (phoneme). These words are commonly used to form words. They can be paired with some common or less common words. Check the cryptogram puzzles to find out the common pairing words that occur again and again in the whole puzzle. Examples of consonant digraphs include ‘CH, SH, TH, and NG.’ Examples of vowel digraphs include ‘EA, OA, OE, IE, UE, AR, ER, IR, OR, UR.’
TRICK NO. 5: Avail the Benefit of Your Spelling Knowledge
Undoubtedly, identifying actual words instantly is not easy when solving Cryptogram puzzles. However, you can always benefit from your spelling knowledge. Yes, if you know how the words are spelled, you can solve a cryptogram puzzle in no time. This will allow you to try possible letters in the puzzle grid. However, it is crucial to keep in mind that you cannot try or reuse those letters that you have already used. This will narrow down the possibilities. Additionally, search for those places that need the fewest letters to fill in the grid. You would be able to solve this puzzle effortlessly using this technique.
TRICK NO. 6: Find out the Unused Letters
Always remember the general rule of thumb for the cryptogram puzzle: You cannot use the same letter combination throughout the puzzle. So, keeping this in mind, you should first look at the unused letters. This will help you solve the remaining clues with ease. However, it is crucial to know that these are not hard and fast rules; puzzle setters can even come up with new or different rules. With regular practice and consistency, you will be able to solve these puzzles with ease.
TRICK NO. 7: Use Hints to Solve Online Cryptograms
Last but not least, you should look for hints. Yeah, it is not wrong to utilize hints to solve these puzzles, especially if you’re just starting to solve these puzzles. As we said earlier, these are challenging puzzles; hence, looking for hints is justifiable. More often than not, online cryptogram puzzle providers include hints for puzzle solvers.
If you are solving this puzzle online, you can make use of hints as and when you find yourself stuck. This is not a cheat sheet that you should not use. Instead, this is only online support that will help you solve the puzzle very well on time. Moreover, we are not asking you to solve the entire puzzle using hints. No, not at all! Just use them when you are stuck and see no way to solve it. The major advantage of using them is that the knowledge that you gain while using them can aid you in solving future cryptogram puzzles.
The Bottom Line
In a nutshell, cryptography has always been a clever method of sending secret messages in encrypted quotes. The trend for learning and solving cryptogram puzzles is on the rise as they enhance cognitive skills. If you know the rule that governs the word pattern, solving these puzzles becomes a breeze.
We hope this article has been informative for you and that the tricks outlined here will help you solve Cryptogram puzzles without any hassle. These tricks are definitely great aids; however, understanding the rules of the games prior to solving them is crucial. Hence, to begin, understand the guidelines, then move on to the techniques and try to understand the patterns, letter sequence, and more. The more you practice, the better your chances are of making fewer mistakes!
Happy Gaming… 😊 😊
