Crypto-List

A Crypto-List puzzle is similar to a Cryptogram with the difference being that instead of a sentence or phrase being encrypted, it is a list of related words that is encrypted. You must decode the words and figure out what they all have in common. As in a cryptogram, each letter has been replaced with another letter. For example, every A in the original list may be replaced with the letter G.

A common technique for solving these types of puzzles is to look for common prefixes and suffixes. For example, "pre-" or "-ing". Another thing you can do is look at the frequency of letters that appear in the list. In English, certain letters are more commonly used than others. Here are the letters, in order: E, T, A, O, I, N, S, R, H, L, D, C, U, M, F, P, G, W, Y, B, V, K, X, J, Q, Z. You can use this help determine the real letters in your Crypto-List.

Once you think you have deciphered one item in the list, you can take a guess as to what the category is and use this to help decipher the remaining items.

Here is an example. Can you decipher each of these words and determine the category for the entire list?

1. FMARUEGFIZIG
2. NZFSXOEGFIZIG
3. BOJUEBESIG
4. LOLFMVEGFIZIG
5. OLIFMEBEM
6. PQLFUEGFIZIG
7. GVQLEGFIZIG
8. VZOSQZFVEJG
9. VRZFMMEGFIZIG
10. TQUESOZFJVEZ

To get the answer, use your cursor to select the text in the black box below.