What Got You Started With Cryptograms

[al34434]

how you got started in cryptograms

Uncle Sam.

[Kgun5]

I loved reading The Gold Bug as a kid, and I would have to say that was also my first introduction to cryptograms. I guess you'll have to share any royalties from "The Life and Cryptography of Martayela" with me.

[abra]

I started doing them in the newspaper too. I first started in the mid 1970s,

When we first came on-line in the late 90s, one of the first things I looked for was a
site just like this, but I couldn't find one. Years later, I tried again and found The Baron.
I hate to admit how addicted I am to the cryptograms.

[GtrZan]

in short, my Mom. We have always been a puzzle and game kind of family growing up and this was and still is my Mom's favorite kind of puzzle. Now I'm passing it on to my kids

[staret]

cypto lover

I started doing search word puzzles when I was in junior high. My oldest brother used to give me the puzzles from one of his classes because he didn't like to do them. After high school I bought a lot of word search puzzles. After a while I got bored because they were too easy and would take about a week to finish a book. I tried crossword puzzles but I wasn't good at them. I think I discovered cryptograms in the local paper. I started buying books of them and it was really fun. Every time I went to the store it seemed like there was less books and magazines on cryptograms, I think sodoku puzzles took most of the business.One day I wanted to see if there any cryptograms online so I started looking around and found a few of them. Baron's is without a doubt the best because it has great quotes to solve and a great competition.I have learned to solve cryptograms better than when I started or else my success rate would have been much higher.

[iltquilt]

What Got You Started With Cryptograms

The newspaper cryptoquips were my first introduction and I was hooked right away. While I'm not bad at crossword puzzles, I was always a bit thrown because I think I like the patterns of words and I'm good at recognizing those patterns. In part, I'm a speech language pathologist because I have a love for language and speech, reading, writing, spelling (yes, spelling) and words in general. Cryptograms are just fun patterns to me. I bought many cryptogram books over the years and the ones I always liked best were those that had quotes. The ones that were super-challenging, such as tongue twisters, or ones where the words all started with the same letter, or contained obscure words, were not my forte' and I still don't enjoy them. So many wonderful people on this site and such fun.

[opallady]

I started with the newspaper cryptoquips and later started buying the Penny Press books of cryptograms. Then, several years ago I couldn't fin them at the store so I looked online and found this site.

[CarpeLanam]

I got a codebreaking book out of the library when I was a kid and then started doing the cryptogram in the daily newspaper or puzzle books. I've always loved any kind of word puzzles. Cryptograms have just the right combination of literary quotes with analytical pattern recognition. It got tedious to do them with pencil and paper though - that's why this site is so addictive!

[jnoodles]

I've been doing crosswords all my life. The cryptograms in the newspaper have always been fun to me but a distant second to the crossword until I tried cryptograms online. It's something about not having to fill in all of the letters, just once each as you get them, that makes the experience so much more enjoyable. Doing them by hand is like work. Also, it is rewarding to see how much easier it gets with time.

I would be interested to know why each of you are so interested in solving Cryptograms.
For me it was in my Senior English class in high school where our assignment was to read Edgar Allen Poe's "Gold Bug" (a cryptogram was introduced here). I was fascinated by this idea and have been solving Cryptograms ever since (and I won't even tell you how many years that has been, lol)....

[smoochie222]

Crossword Puzzle Books

My family has always played scrabble and done crossword puzzles. One day, in line at the grocery store with my mom, I decided to buy Variety Puzzles by Penny Press (using my own $$$$). I loved the cryptograms more than all the rest. Years later, I googled Cryptograms and have been here ever since. Well, except when I had my hissy fit.

[skoogie2]

Interest in cryptograms

My dad got me started with word puzzles at an early age, and I went on to be an English teacher for 30 years working with words for a living!. As soon as I retired, I started having time to do word puzzles again! I always did them on paper, but this online playing is so cool. I still like doing them on paper too! I'm relatively new to it online, but so far, it's enjoyable!

[wvwoman]

LLL, you had a hissy?!!

[MmeScherzo]

I can't remember a time when I didn't love language and language learning. Especially languages with different alphabets, like Russian or Hebrew and Arabic. Learning to decipher a new writing system is as much fun as decoding words in English.

[Barnabas]

Years later, I googled Cryptograms and have been here ever since. Well, except when I had my hissy fit.

I have to believe that you must have started a quote... got called away to a phone call or something... forgot you'd started a puzzle and then logged off. The odds of you not solving a puzzle you've begun are about the same as me being struck by lightning... if I'm standing on Mars. Whatever it was that happened, you had a right to your grief and your time away. But I am glad to see that flippy fish climbing the monthly ladder again each month. It belongs there. Welcome back.

[smoochie222]

Thanks

I wasn't my usual hyper-vigilant self