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Cryptle #4 · Thu 3 Sep 2026

This one is from the archive. Play it for practice — past puzzles never count toward a streak. Today’s cipher is here.

3 guesses to crack the cipher. One cipher each day.

How to play Cryptle

The block on the page is an ordinary English sentence with a cipher laid over it. Every letter is still in there. Your job is to read it.

  • We tell you which cipher it is Today it’s A1Z26, and the key is A=1. The work is the decoding, not guessing what you’re looking at.
  • Type the decoded message Capitals, spaces and punctuation are all ignored — the third stone and THETHIRDSTONE both count.
  • 3 guesses, then the day is done A wrong guess tells you whether your answer is even the right length, and which part of your method to doubt.
  • Solve it and your streak grows Miss a day, or run out of guesses, and it goes back to zero. That’s the whole prize — there’s nothing to win but the run itself.
  • A new one lands at midnight Past days stay playable in the archive, but practice never counts toward a streak.

Never solved one before? The guides walk through every cipher we use, one at a time.

A1Z26

A=1

12-15-15-11 23-8-5-18-5 9-20 9-19 4-1-18-11-5-19-20

Need a nudge?

Each number is a letter's position in the alphabet.

Learn the method: how to solve a1z26

The answer

LOOK WHERE IT IS DARKEST

How it works

Every letter has been swapped for another one, and the same swap is used all the way through. Letter shapes stay put — word lengths and spacing are still real clues. This one is A1Z26. The key: A=1. Each number is a letter's position in the alphabet. Apply the key to the first three letters and they resolve to L O O. The answer was LOOK WHERE IT IS DARKEST.

Today’s cipher →

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