Here's another kind of simple code - a substitution code. Simply rearrange the letters of the alphabet so that one letter stands for another. For example, this month's topic is written in a substitution code:
where X = S, W = E, F = C, O = R, R = T, E = O, and B = D.
Substitution codes are used to create word puzzles known as cryptograms. A word, message, or sentence is written in code, often without any clues! Here's an example (a quote from Abraham Lincoln):
This certainly doesn't look like English! How can you solve it?CH HAHCZHG QG RWS VQJH
Q BPZHAX ZG WAH TVW VQG EVH GQ
There are a couple of strategies that can be used. Note that the quote starts with a single letter, Q. How many one-letter words can you think of? Just A and I, right? Let's try replacing all the Q's with A's and see what happens:
OK, now what? We have two two-letter words, ZG and QG. We believe that one starts with an A. What are some common two-letter words that start with A? AN, AS, or AT. Now, ZG must start with a vowel and end with N, S, or T: EN, ES, ET? Umm, no. Real possibilities include IN, IS, IT, ON, or US. Look at the first three words: "A [blank] __...". Which possibilities seem to fit? How about "A [blank] IS..." Let's try changing
Another trick is to count how often letters occur. In English, E is the most common letter, and we see that there are a lot of H's in this puzzle. Let's try replacing the H's by E's, and see if that helps.
What about the word HAHCZHG, which we've now decoded as E_E_IES. What might this word be? How about ENEMIES? So, now we can try N for A and M for C:
Hey, look! We've also decoded the word SAME! This suggests that we're on the right track! A common three-letter word that ends in E is THE - maybe that's what EVH is:
Now look at WAH, which has been partially decoded as _NE. The W must really be an O!
This is getting easier! TVW, which has become _HO must be WHO:
If we're talking about ENEMIES at the end of the sentence, maybe the second word is FRIEND!
What about the last word? HATE? No, because a J is not a T. HAVE?
Can you figure out the last word, _O_?
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