Lexical Riddle: Cipher School, a Train Word Puzzle

About Lexical Riddle: Cipher School

The Cipher School rides the night train with a travelling puzzle newspaper. Each lesson is one page: a grid of letter blocks, and one rule for how a block changes its letter after every word you find. The headmaster shows a worked example, then sets you a test on the same page.

Slide a tile one letter along the alphabet, read the alphabet in a mirror, turn the vowel wheel, jump three, go two back, and finally face the headmaster's riddle. Some changes are shown on the tile before you play; some you must work out yourself, with a key strip to check your sums. Pass a lesson without a hint and the page is stamped SOLVED. With a hint you still finish the page, but it comes round again.

Drag across neighbouring blocks, tap them one by one, steer with the arrow keys, or just type the word. A lesson takes about five minutes. A daily lesson gives everyone the same page. Your records and stamps are kept on this device only; nothing is uploaded.

How to play

Drag across touching letters (corners count) to spell a word of three letters or more, and lift to check it. Or tap the letters one by one and tap the last one again.
With a keyboard, type the word and press Enter, or move with the arrow keys, press Space to pick a tile and Backspace to take one back.
After every word you find, one tile changes its letter by the lesson's cipher. Read the lesson card first: it works one example through.
Find the lesson's number of words to pass. The key strip lists what each letter on the page turns into.
A hint (1 or Ⓧ) points at a word, but a page passed with a hint is not stamped SOLVED and comes round again.
Press P, Escape or Start to pause.

Controls

Drag across letters, or tap them one by one — spell a word
Type the word, then Enter — check it
Arrow keys or D-pad, Space or Ⓐ — move and pick a tile; Backspace or Ⓑ — take one back
1 or Ⓧ — hint
P, Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

What changes after every word?

One tile on the grid changes its letter. Which tile and which letter depend on the lesson: the lesson card explains it with an example, and a key strip on the page lists what each letter becomes.

What does a hint cost?

Nothing in points, but a lesson passed with a hint is not stamped SOLVED. You still finish the page, and the lesson comes round again so you can pass it clean.

Is it always the same page?

No. Every lesson draws a fresh page from a word list of over thirty thousand words. The daily lesson is the same page for everyone on a day.

Can I play without a mouse or touch screen?

Yes. Type the word and press Enter, or move with the arrow keys or a pad's D-pad, press Space or Ⓐ to pick a tile, and Backspace or Ⓑ to take one back.