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A fast and automated cryptogram solver by Edwin Olson. A stand-alone version of the program is available here. Online Help is also available. |
Online Help
1. Solving puzzles
Type the encoded puzzle into the "Cipher Text" box. If you know any letter mappings (e.g., "A=R"), type those into the "Clues" box. Finally, click "Solve".
Hints:
- You can enter clues one at a time ("Q=R W=A B=C") or multiple clues at once, e.g. "QWBYQ=RACER".
- If there are words which should not be considered while solving (because they might not be in the dictionary), include a carat ("^") in front of the word.
- If you don't get any solutions, try clicking the "Include partial solutions" checkbox. Usually, only "good" solutions are printed, but on puzzles which contain many non-dictionary words, this results in no solutions being displayed. At the expense of solving speed, all partial solutions will be given when this checkbox is checked.
The solutions are listed below, ranked according to their "score". The best solutions will be on top, and only the best 200 solutions will be displayed. The score for solutions is computed by considering the (log) probability of the solution according to a table of digram probabilities.
The standard English dictionary is good for a wide variety of puzzles, however there are occasions where a different dictionary will perform better. On very short puzzles that (probably) contain common words, smaller dictionaries will reduce the number of "false positives" while simultaneously decreasing the time required to search. On puzzles containing uncommon words (including names and acronyms), larger dictionaries are generally better.
2. Examples
Cipher text: "PG XOYHLM XOYLY PZ GH TPUUYLYGRY EYXBYYG XOYHLM WGT JLWRXPRY. PG JLWRXPRY, XOYLY PZ." - MHIP EYLLW
Clues: X=T M=Y
Algorithm
A description of the algorithm is available here.Contributions
This program has taken a lot of time to develop. If you would like to contribute a pizza+coke for one more night of hacking, please send it to:
Edwin Olson
61 Harvey St.
Cambridge, MA 02140
Thanks to those who have already contributed!