🔐 Cipher Break
Every letter stands for another. Crack the substitution and reveal the saying.
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How to play Cipher Break
- A saying has been encoded by swapping every letter for a different one, consistently throughout.
- Select a letter in the puzzle, then type the letter you think it really stands for.
- Every occurrence of that cipher letter updates at once.
- Decode the whole saying to finish. Punctuation and word breaks are left intact to help you.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Click / tap | Select a cipher letter |
| A–Z | Assign a plain letter to the selection |
| Backspace | Clear the assignment |
| Arrow keys | Move between letters |
| H | Reveal one letter |
| F | Enter or leave full screen |
| Esc | Leave full screen |
Tips & strategy
- Start with the shortest words. A single letter is almost always A or I, and common two-letter words are few.
- The most frequent letter in a long text is usually E, followed by T, A and O.
- Look for doubled letters. LL, EE, SS and OO are common; most other doubles are not.
- An apostrophe followed by one letter is nearly always S or T, which cracks two letters at once.
Frequently asked questions
Where do the sayings come from?
They are proverbs and traditional sayings in the public domain, so the puzzle carries no copyright restrictions.
Is the cipher always a simple substitution?
Yes. Each letter maps to exactly one other letter for the whole puzzle, and no letter ever maps to itself, which rules out a whole class of dead ends.
Does a hint cost anything?
Each hint reveals one letter everywhere it appears and adds thirty seconds to your recorded time, so a hinted solve will not beat a clean one.