How to Decipher Contractions and Apostrophe Clues in Cryptograms
Apostrophes are the easiest vulnerability to exploit in an Aristocrat cryptogram. Because punctuation is never altered by monoalphabetic substitution, an apostrophe immediately pinpoints a small, highly predictable set of English contractions.
Single Letter Post-Apostrophe Endings
When an apostrophe is followed by a single character (e.g. WORD'X), the possibilities are strictly limited: 'T (don't, can't, won't), 'S (it's, that's, he's, possessives), 'D (I'd, you'd), and 'M (I'm). If the word begins with a single letter, I'M and I'D are immediate candidate matches.
Two-Letter Post-Apostrophe Endings
If an apostrophe is followed by two characters (e.g. WORD'XY), the ending is almost guaranteed to be one of three forms: 'LL (we'll, you'll, they'll), 'RE (you're, they're, we're), or 'VE (I've, you've, they've). Notice that 'LL features a doubled letter, which instantly confirms the letter L.
Pre-Apostrophe Root Words
A three-letter word followed by 'T (e.g. XYZ'T) is almost always CAN'T or DON'T. A two-letter word followed by 'S (e.g. XY'S) is typically IT'S or HE'S. Once you lock in the contraction suffix, you immediately gain traction across the rest of the quote.
Put This Strategy Into Practice
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