The cryptogram

The Cryptogram
A cryptogram, or crypt for short, is a coded message in which each letter is
replaced throughout by another letter wherever it appears. No letter may stand for
itself, and no letter may represent more than one other letter. For example, the
message Meet me here at two o’clock, or else! might be encrypted as PXXF PX AXJX
HF FIZ Z’DKZDU, ZJ XKOX!
Punctuation and the original word divisions are retained. Capitalized words are
asterisked; thus, Lily Tomlin might be encrypted as *EGEC *YQNEGM; Richard III
might be encrypted as *WSOTUWV *S*S*S. (This doesn’t apply to words that are
capitalized only because they begin a sentence.) Words that are capitalized only
because of their use are tagged with carets: ^Uncle *Remus, ^The ^Mill on the
*Floss.
Enigma cryptograms are arranged roughly in order of difficulty, from easiest to
hardest. However, what one solver finds easy, another will find hard; also, the
editor’s guesses at difficulty may not always be on target.
Tags
Unlike answers to flats (which are tagged if they don’t appear in 11C), words in
cryptograms are tagged only if they don’t appear in any of our official references
(11C, NI3, and NI2).
Rules for Cryptograms
Cryptograms in The Enigma must conform to certain rules, designed to ensure that
they are fair to the solver:
1. Each crypt must contain from 75 to 90 letters in all.
2. A letter that is used only once (such as A, H, K, S, and W in the message
“Meet me here at two o’clock or else!”) is called a singleton. You may have
no more than six singletons in a crypt.
3. Ordinarily, no more than four capitalized words should be used. (Words
capitalized only because they appear in a title are not counted.)
4. All words must appear in one of our official references or be noted as “not
MW.” “Reformed spellings” (from NI2) are not allowed.
5. The message must be a complete and coherent statement, grammatically
stated and correctly punctuated. Lists of words set off by commas are not
acceptable.
6. Each cryptogram must have a brief, appropriate title, providing some
indication of the crypt’s subject or theme, but not so directly as to give away
the answer. If you don’t supply a suitable title, the editor or crypt-checker will
write one.