5 Best and Worst Cryptic Quotes

As a child, my friend JC and I played a short-lived game. We created "Secret Codes" challenging each other to decipher what our notes said by cracking the code. As a teen I enjoyed solving the daily paper's Cryptoquotes, but not for long. I was still trying to determine what the cryptic code was. "Had the creator re-arranged the alphabet backwards so that a Z was substituted for an A and the code A equaled Z?" This was too much like work to me; games should be fun! As an adult, reading a self-help book, I was annoyed when the authors insisted readers should not proceed until they solved a cryptic message. I grudgingly worked on the puzzle. The answer said something like "Congratulations you have solved a cryptogram". What I learned was I did not need to know the code. Logic could help solve the puzzle faster. A single space word can only be two letters, an A or an I. A three letter word followed by a two letter word is often the first place to start. The placement of double letters in a word is another thing to look at. Many words end in "SS" but few ends in "RR". I started doing the daily paper's Cryptoquotes again. But not too often. It still felt like work not a fun game.

Along came internet technology and I am as addicted to solving Cryptoquotes as any video game junkie. It is much easier to "erase" and start over online than to do it the old-fashion way on paper. My favorite site, Cryptograms.org. has made solving cryptic messages fun. The best and worst feature of the puzzle site is "Hint Me". If the puzzle appears daunting, I cheat by asking for a clue. A difficult challenge prompts me to ask for more hints. I get really annoyed when a message pops up telling me I have used up my quota of hints: "We have faith in you" it says. Bah, humbug! But I have found their faith was well-founded. Left to figure it out myself, I usually do.

"Say What" is Puzzability.com's quote puzzle. There is no code to decipher. The letters of the words in the quote are scrambled. Clicking on the letters to exchange places is what will solve the puzzle. The worst feature of "Say What" is it is updated once a week. Hardly often enough for an internet game junkie. Doing the different type of word games and discovering the quote often has me scurrying to add it to my quote collection. Here is my list of the five best and worst quotes uncovered playing cryptic word games online and the reason why.

The Best:

1."To write well, express yourself like common people, but think like a wise man. Or, think as wise men do, but speak as the common people do."Aristotle
Advice on how to write well is always welcome. Technology writers often lose me in the first sentence. A wise tech writer will use everyday words to make articles readable.

2. "It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever - the one who recognizes the challenges and does something about it." Vince Lombardi
Less Anna Nicole and more Geena Davis please.

3. "It seems to me that any person must see that violence does not change the world and if it does then only temporarily." Martin Scorese
"Make love, not war."

4. "The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime. "Babe Ruth
Sports advice applied to world affairs, simply put, "united we stand, divided we fall".

5. "It is only at the tree loaded with fruit that the people throw stones." French saying
I threw a stone at tech writers out of my desire for an apple of knowledge.

The worst:

1. "Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have." Zig Ziglar
Short quotes are often easy to solve. Almost gave up on this one.

2. "For prying into any human affairs, none are equal to those whom it does not concern." Victor Hugo
Meddling into other people's business is often good advice. A human affair might not affect me personally but does that mean being concerned about injustices is none of my affair?

3. "Broad-minded is just another way of saying a fellow is too lazy to form an opinion." Will Rogers
I disagree and take offense to this one. I am broad or open-minded, but I am also quite opinionated. I am of the opinion that other people's opinions might hold merit and I am broad-minded, not lazy as to hearing their opinion. Often there is a middle ground and there might be less strife in the world if more people were willing to broaden their minds. Being stuck in ones opinion is being close-minded and lazy. It takes work to consider and change an opinion. I am open to your opinion on this subject.

4. "Man may be defined as the animal that can say I, that can be aware of himself as a separate entity." Erich Fromm
Confusing wording made it difficult to solve.

5. "Logicians may reason about abstractions. But the great mass of men must have images. The strong tendency of the multitude in all ages and nations to idolatry can be explained on no other principle. " Thomas B. Macaulay
See #1 of the best!

Perhaps I enjoy playing games because of this sentiment found while playing games: "There is no pleasure in having nothing to do. The fun is having lots to do and not doing it." Andrew Jackson. As I often say, "The hardest work is being idle." (Frank Baer) quoting a quote from my collection. I thank everyone that made it possible for me to play games on the internet. I do not know if anyone coined the phrase, "Play Games, Not War", but it is my philosophy on life.

http://www.cryptograms.org/index.php
http://www.puzzability.com/puzzles/index.shtml