365 Mind-Challenging Cryptograms

Some of the puzzles were already done. And considering that the original price was $6.95 and I paid almost that, I would expect all of the puzzles to be unfinished.

"365 Mind-Challenging Cryptograms" is filled to the brim with celebrity quotes. Your challenge is to decode both the quote, and the name of the person who said it. There is a good set of instructions for solving this type of puzzle right at the beginning - which makes this a great book for the cryptogram novice and pro alike. I really like how the author arranges the hints so that you can receive the hint without having to see the whole answer. You can choose a level 1 hint - which tells you the profession & birth date of the celebrity who made the statement - if you're still stuck, you can move on to the level 2 hint - which gives you a more direct hint for either a letter or a word within the puzzle. If you're still stumped, you may want to check out the index - which provides a list of all of the celebrities quoted in this book. And, if all else fails, you can find the complete answer given at the end of the book. Overall, I found this to be a fun collection of cryptograms. The only reason that I gave it 4 starts instead of 5 is because I found there to be too little room to write the answers - the coded letters are too close together - so I wound up having to write really small.

This inexpensive, sturdy, entertaining book contains a one-a-day collection of 365 amusing, insightful and even witty quotes, drawn from a rich group of personalities whose birthday is celebrated on date under which they are featured. Ranging from poets, novelists, artists and movie stars, to scientists, politicians and philosophers, the quoted authors include William Blake, Lewis Carroll, Edgar Degas, Sophia Loren, Isaac Newton, Richard Nixon, Albert Camus, and 358 others. All the quotes are encoded in substitution cipher, each letter standing for another, and with varying degrees of difficulty they are guaranteed to keep you busy for hours as you find yourself using your intuition, your knowledge of spelling and syntax, and even your familiarity with each quoted personality to figure them out. The book also includes an introduction that gives us general hints for solving cryptograms. Two sections with clues on the solution of each puzzle, one stating the occupation and year of birth of the celebrity being quoted and another stating the correct substitution for one or more letters, are included at the back, along with the solutions for each puzzle. An index of authors for those searching for quotes from a particular individual is also included. If you love cryptograms, buy this book. I guarantee that you won't be able to do them just one a day. --Reviewed by Maritza Volmar

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If you like clever cryptograms, you'll like this book.