Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 4: Learning the Basics
• Part 2 of 4: Deciphering the first letters
• Part 3 of 4: Recognizing common word patterns
• Part 4 of 4: Think outside the box
• Tips
• Warnings

A code breaker can be a wonderful brain teaser, but sometimes you want to quickly throw your pen against the wall. But with the help of a few simple common patterns and tricks, you can decipher the codes more easily and make it a lot more fun. Do you want to solve one completely? Start by understanding the basics, then learn the patterns and start thinking outside the box to fill those empty squares. See Step 1 for more information.

To step

Part 1 of 4: Learning the Basics

1. Understand how a code breaker works. Most code breaker problems are simple replacement techniques, that is, the letters of the alphabet are represented by other letters. Other symbols are used in some systems. The rules are usually described somewhere along with your puzzle. A code breaker in Klingon is then no more difficult than one in Cyrillic, because the symbols also simply appear as patterns. When you discover the pattern, you have deciphered the code.
   • General rule: the more you can detach yourself from the letters themselves and search for the patterns below the letters, the closer you are to the solution. Try to get away from the letters you are looking at as much as possible.
   • Code crackers aren't meant to fool you, no matter how difficult they can be. In almost all code crackers the letters mean something different. For example, the "X" in the puzzle you are doing certainly does not represent the letter "X" in the alphabet.
2. Solve one letter at a time. It is quite unlikely that you will immediately recognize a particular word in a pile of jumbled letters, no matter how long you look at it. First, try to find the most likely one-letter words, and then run that code throughout the puzzle; you fill in as many boxes as possible with your discovery, and then you look at the remaining empty boxes.
   • Filling in a code breaker is a lengthy process that requires a lot of gambling. You have to weigh up endless possibilities and always choose what seems best at that moment. If that turns out to be wrong later, you will have to change it.
3. Guess the best you can, then start over. If you have a lot of empty boxes in a word, you will eventually just have to work systematically. If you're done with all the short words and one-letter words very quickly, you don't have much to build on. Recognizing common word patterns can help you choose the most likely possibilities, so you can gamble to improve your chances of making the right choice.
4. Work with pencil. Even if you're an expert at code crackers, it's still about trying and checking, so it's almost certain that you'll have to change things over time. The best way to solve a code breaker is with a pencil and a piece of paper in front of you.
   • It's also a good idea to keep a dictionary handy to look up the correct spelling of a word, and a piece of paper to cross out options. Write all the letters in order of occurrence in the language on a piece of paper, so that when it comes to gambling, you can try the most likely options first.
   • The English alphabet, ordered by frequency of occurrence, looks like this: E, T, A, O, I, N, S, H, R, D, L, U, C, W, M, F, Y, G , P, B, V, K, J, X, Q, Z. When you know what each letter means, write it above the corresponding letter on your scrap paper.
5. Learn from your mistakes. Working with a wrong starting point can turn out well. If you've been through the entire puzzle and find out that you've been working with a wrong code for the "G" for the past hour: Yeah! Now you know another letter that you can exclude as a possibility, so you are one step closer to the solution of your code breaker. Every moment you know for sure is positive!

Part 2 of 4: Deciphering the first letters

1. Join the E.T.A.O.I.N club. No, that's not a vague puzzle association with coded rings and secret handshakes. The letters e, t, a, o, i and n are the most common in the English language, so this is an extremely useful series to memorize. If you learn to recognize the patterns in which they occur quickly and efficiently, you will be an accomplished decipherer in no time.
   • First, find the most common letters in your code breaker and circle them. Chances are that that letter is one from the above list. The codes become clear when you learn to combine frequency of occurrence with pattern recognition.
2. Try to track down the one-letter words. Because code crackers often use citations from people, the word "I" (I) is almost as common as the word "a" (a), so don't be too quick with your conclusions about letters that you see as separate. You can find out if it is "i" or "a" by experimenting with these letters in different words and looking for common patterns.
   • If you see a three-letter word that starts with the same letter, it is almost certainly the letter "a." There are some common three-letter words that start with an "a"; very few start with an "i".
   • If a possible three-letter word is not a good guide, try the "a" first, which is the third most common in the English language. Fill it in the rest of the puzzle and try it out. If it turns out not to be correct, you at least know that it must be an "i".
3. Look for concatenations and possessive pronouns. Your second secret weapon to decipher your first few letters is the existence of the apostrophe. That means either a conjugation (can't) or a possessive pronoun (her's); so that gives you a wonderful clue as to what is behind the apostrophe, or at least helps you narrow down the possibilities.
   • If there is one letter after the astrophotography it is a t, s, d, or m.
   • A two letter apostrophe must be either "re", "ve", or "ll".
   • To choose between possessive pronouns and conjugations, look at the letter before the apostrophe. If it is always the same, you almost certainly have the "n" combination. If not, you are probably dealing with a possessive pronoun.
4. Start with the two-letter words. Using your knowledge of the frequency of occurrences of letters and what you have discovered about one-letter words and apostrophes, you can decipher more by starting with the two-letter words.
   • The most common two-letter words are: or, to, in, it, is, be, as, at, so, we, he, by.
   • If you find two-letter words with the letters reversed, you have "no" and "on". You just have to find out what is what!
5. Start with the three letter words. The word "the" is very general and can be compared to "that" if you want a good clue. For example, if a sentence contains both 'BGJB' and 'BGD', you can assume that you are on the right track, and that B = T. In that same code breaker, 'BGDL' is probably 'then' and 'BGDZD' is then 'there'.
   • The most common three-letter words in English are: the, and, for, are, but, not, you, all, any, can, her, was, one, our, out, day, get, has, him, his how man.

Part 3 of 4: Recognizing common word patterns

1. Look for general prefixes and endings. Words longer than 5 or 6 letters usually have a prefix or an ending; if you learn how to find them, it will be a lot easier to decipher the codes.
   • Common prefixes are: anti-, de-, dis-, en-, em-, in-, im-, pre-, il-, ir-, mid-, mis-, non-.
   • Common endings are: -able, -ible, -al, -ment, -ness, -ous, -ious, -ly.
2. Track digraphs. A digraaf is a combination of two letters that are pronounced together as one sound; usually one of those letters is a "h". This is especially useful if you find a "h" at the end of a word, because there aren't that many letters that can be combined with an "h" that way. Then it is probably ac, p, s or t.
   • Other common digraphs are: ck, sk, lk, ke, qu, ex.
   • Another kind of two-letter combination that is very useful is double letters. These are not very common in code crackers, but if you find them they are very useful. "LL" is the most common double letter, followed by "ee".
3. Look for vowel patterns. Vowels occur in every English word and make up nearly 40% of every text. There are hardly ever three or four in a row. To narrow the choices and fill in more empty boxes, learn a few vowel tips.
   • The most common vowel is an "e"; the least common is a "you".
   • Unless the text is about skiing or vacuuming, a double vowel is likely to be an "e" or an "o".
   • A pattern of repeating letters in a long word usually means vowels, such as the "i" that appears repeatedly in the word "civilization". But if the repeating letters are next to each other, it is usually a consonant.
4. Use the directions provided by the punctuation you give. If your code breaker contains punctuation, pay special attention to the words on either side of it. Commas, periods, and other punctuation can give you clues to narrow down the possibilities and guess smarter.
   • Conjunctions such as "but" and "and" often come after a comma.
   • A question mark often indicates a word with "wh" in the sentence before it. Look at these kinds of possibilities if you see a question mark at the end of the code sentence.
5. Learn to recognize common code breaker words with familiar patterns. As with crosswords, word searches and other puzzle formats, code crackers have a specific sense of humor and a deep understanding of the game rules and the problems of solving the puzzles. Look for the following fairly common words that can appear in code crackers with recognizable patterns:
   • That (or: high, says, else, dead, died)
   • There / Where / These (wherever you traced an "h" and an "e")
   • People
   • Always
   • Everywhere
   • Somewhere
   • William or Kennedy (if it is a name; otherwise search for "million" or "letters")
   • Never (or: state, fewer, color, level)

Part 4 of 4: Think outside the box

1. Let the content of the code breaker guide you in your thinking. Most code crackers are rather obscure quotes, usually an aphorism about "man" or "society," that is, the solution is a compact philosophical statement. Since you can be sure of that, you can sometimes try to narrow your search to the content area of ​​your code breaker to guess the words more intelligently. Big and ideas and abstract concepts are daily work for most code crackers.
   • Comparative words and superlatives such as "always" and "everywhere" are common in code crackers because of the content. Other common words in this category are more, less, nobody, usually, better, worse, everything, often, and rarely.
2. Search the solution for the author's name. Code crackers usually end with the name of the author of the quote. Authors are usually named by first name and last name, but there are exceptions as well. For example, "Anomymous" has written many wonderful quotes.
   • A two-letter word at the beginning of the author's name is most likely Dr.
   • A two-letter word at the end of the author's name is likely a suffix like "Jr" or "Sr" or a Roman number as in "Pope Paul VI".
   • A short word in the middle of the name can be something as fancy as "de" or "von".
3. Use the structure of English sentences to fill in the blanks. You probably won't need to decipher the entire sentence of your code breaker, but if you can figure out where definite and indefinite pronouns, auxiliary verbs, and other common forms go, you're well on your way.
   • Search for a noun after personal pronouns such as "his" or "hers".
   • Recognizing auxiliary verbs such as "am", "be", "been" or "have" that precede another verb, such as "I am helping", can help resolve your code breakers. They never have more than 5 letters.
4. Learn to recognize repetitions and contradictions and use them in your solution. Many sentences have some sort of parallel structure and repeat a different form or inflection of the same word later in the sentence. And because code crackers are often taken from quotes and speeches, you often come across these rhetorical techniques.
   • Many aphorisms use linked words to compare and reinforce a rhetorical argument. If the word "truth" appears, you can also search for "lie" later in the sentence.
   • Look for other forms of the same word. "Pleasure" and "pleasurable" can co-exist in a code breaker. Don't get overly complicated about that other word that looks almost the same.

Tips

• If you think you have deciphered a word, you can try your solution on other words in the text.
• If you have found the t, h, n, e and a, you are already well on your way to solving your puzzle.
• In a code breaker you can try to find the words based on the number, frequency and order of the letters. For example, the text ABCCD is code for a five-letter word where the third and fourth letters are the same, and the other three are unique. This code word could be the word "hello".
• A special phrase often used in code crackers is "The magic words are squeamish ossifrage," a tribute to a famous solution to a 1977 coding challenge.
• Most puzzle makers ensure that in their code crackers every letter is replaced by a different letter. So if the encoded text contains the word "A" and you have to choose between an "a" and an "i", it is likely an "i".
• If you have an I, an N or a G in the last three positions of a word, chances are that the word ends with ING. And if you often see the same three letters at the end of several words, it can also be an indication that those words end with ING.

Warnings

• These tips only apply to crackers where the letters simply have to be replaced by others, and where no standard groups of five letters are used.
• It can be very helpful to look at the frequencies of the letters, but don't rely on them too much. A text about puzzles and quotes (quotes) sometimes has more "z" and "q" than average.