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A cryptogram is a substitution cipher where one letter has been replaced by another, to solve it you
have to find what each of those letters are. The
traditional method of solving cryptograms involves looking at the frequency analysis of the letters and by recognizing letter patterns in words, such as one letter words which, in English, can only be "I" or "A". Double letters, apostrophes, and the fact that no letter can substitute for itself in the cipher also offer clues to the solution. Possible solutions are then written down using a pen and paper to keep track of the substitutions.
This applet makes that process much easier in two ways:
- When the "Edit Cryptogram" checkbox is not checked, then you
can type a character over another one to replace all instances of
that character with the new one you typed. If there were any other
characters the same as the one you typed, they will be replaced
with the one you are replacing.
- The "Solve" button turns on an algorithm for
automatically solving cryptograms which can often correctly
guess most or all of the letters in the puzzle. The algorithm will
continue improving its guesses until you press the "Stop" button.
If it is unable to finish the puzzle (for instance, because the
solution involves words not known to the algorithm) you can often
use its guesses as a starting point for your own solution.
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