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Continuing from Lesson page 1: We had decided to guess that the word after the comma is 'but'. Also, we decided that instead of using 'S', we'll go ahead and replace it with 'D'. So, now the puzzle stands thus far...

E=B, F=U, U=D

T H E       A L L     T   N E   H A D N ' T   A N Y       U   A   E ,
X Y N   C J K K V   C X Q O N   Y K U O ' X   K O D   S Q F P K I N ,
B U T       A D U A L L Y   I T   B E   A   E   A   L I T T L E   B   U L D E   .
E F X   I P K U F K V V D   A X   E N S K J N   K   V A X X V N   E Q F V U N P .

Cool. Now, we're getting somewhere. Ok. We've got a bunch of words that are mostly filled in. Which should we start with¿ I've an idea... The word after the 'but'. We've got "??adually". Now, I know this word doesn't strike a chord with at least a reader or two, though I'm sure there's at least someone who can figure it out. What about the word "gradually"¿ Oh, ok. Now our brain kicks in :) I'm only playing. So, now we know that

I=G, P=R

T H E       A L L     T   N E   H A D N ' T   A N Y       U R A G E ,
X Y N   C J K K V   C X Q O N   Y K U O ' X   K O D   S Q F P K I N ,
B U T   G R A D U A L L Y   I T   B E   A   E   A   L I T T L E   B   U L D E R .
E F X   I P K U F K V V D   A X   E N S K J N   K   V A X X V N   E Q F V U N P .

Awescome. Now, shall we go further¿ Let's do it. And we'll make our big move with the last word of the sentence. "B?ulder" is what we have. So, who doesn't know what that would be¿ I'll give you a hint: It and the letter 'u' are good friends. I'm talking, of course, about the letter 'o'. If we use that, we'll also add in a little help to the rest of the sentence:

Q=O

T H E       A L L     T O N E   H A D N ' T   A N Y     O U R A G E ,
X Y N   C J K K V   C X Q O N   Y K U O ' X   K O D   S Q F P K I N ,
B U T   G R A D U A L L Y   I T   B E   A   E   A   L I T T L E   B O U L D E R .
E F X   I P K U F K V V D   A X   E N S K J N   K   V A X X V N   E Q F V U N P .

Man, this puzzle is looking real good. Now, let's tackle the word right before the comma. Let's see... "?ourage". Well, naturally that can only start with a 'c'. So,

S=C

T H E       A L L     T O N E   H A D N ' T   A N Y   C O U R A G E ,
X Y N   C J K V V   C X Q O N   Y K U O ' X   K O D   S Q F P K I N ,
B U T   G R A D U A L L Y   I T   B E C A   E   A   L I T T L E   B O U L D E R .
E F X   I P K U F K V V D   A X   E N S K J N   K   V A X X V N   E Q F V U N P .

I'm sure there's at least one person who's already gotten the puzzle solved by now. But if you haven't, we'll keep going. And what better word to continue with than the one that says "beca?e"¿ Now, we know that can't be 'because' since there's one too few letters in there. Though if we need to, we can recite the alphabet, imagining what each word (minus, of course, the ones we already have, and the code letter), would look like. But, either way, we'll ultimately end up with the same result: "beca'm'e". Does that sound right¿ The *subject* became a little boulder.

J=M

T H E     M A L L     T O N E   H A D N ' T   A N Y   C O U R A G E ,
X Y N   C J K K V   C X Q O N   Y K U O ' X   K O D   S Q F P K I N ,
B U T   G R A D U A L L Y   I T   B E C A M E   A   L I T T L E   B O U L D E R .
E F X   I P K U F K V V D   A X   E N S K J N   K   V A X X V N   E Q F V U N P .

Now, with a close look we find that there's two words left, but they require the same letter. ?mall ?tone. Hmmm... Well, we could think logically, but I want to save that for another lesson, so I'll stick to what we've been doing. Anyway, either by running through the alphabet, or by whatever other means you may use, we'll eventually find out that the subject of our sentence is a 's'tone, and that it's 's'mall. See¿ Ok. Now, for the grand finale:

P=S

T H E   S M A L L   S T O N E   H A D N ' T   A N Y   C O U R A G E ,
X Y N   C J K K V   C X Q O N   Y K U O ' X   K O D   S Q F P K I N ,
B U T   G R A D U A L L Y   I T   B E C A M E   A   L I T T L E   B O U L D E R .
E F X   I P K U F K V V D   A X   E N S K J N   K   V A X X V N   E Q F V U N P .

Congratulations! We have just solved our first cryptogram together! If you've kept up with me thus far, you do deserve a round of applause. Yes these puzzles are fairly easy, but they can get confusing to people who're just coming across them. As always, if you have any questions at all, please feel free to e-mail me. The link is on the bio page, which is linked from my Table of Contents page. You can write in the guestbook if you like, but keep in mind that I probably won't get to reading it for a year or two.

Oh yeah... we've solved the puzzle, so let's see it without the tables or the coded letters:


The small stone hadn't any courage, but gradually it became a little boulder (bolder). Now, should we go on¿ Well, you may take a break or even leave if you like, but whenever you're ready and willing I'll have some more for us to solve :) For my next puzzle, I will try to choose carefully, but I will copy down another puzzle from the newspaper (since they're fairly easy and only a sentence long) or even one from my book if it's easy enough (expert section puzzles are only a sentence long too), and I'll make the lesson as I solve it, so we'll both be working with the puzzle at the same time instead of me knowing it already. Let me know if you like it better.

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