Reversal and Opposite Letters

1. Same letters? Compare the code's letters with the word's. If they match, it is a rearrangement, and every option with new letters is out. 2. Try the usual moves first: the whole word reversed; the first letter kept and the rest reversed; the last letter kept and the rest reversed; each half reversed; letters swapped in pairs (1st with 2nd, 3rd with 4th, ...); some pairs swapped and others left alone. 3. When none fits, number the places. Write 1, 2, 3, ... under the word and write the code as a list of those numbers (FRAME to MERAF is 4, 5, 2, 3, 1). Take the new word's letters in the same order. 4. Fast route: find where the first letter of the word went, and check only that place in the options.

1. Count the gaps letter by letter. If they form a pattern, the code is only a shift. 2. If they do not, compare the last letter of the word with the first letter of the code. If those two are close, reverse the word and count again. 3. Also try the other moves: swap the first two and last two letters, swap in pairs, reverse each half. Then count the gaps on the rearranged word. 4. Does the order matter? With one shift for every letter, reversing before or after shifting gives the same code. With a pattern of gaps (+1, +2, +3, ...) it does not, so read from the example which step came first. 5. Some codes treat the two halves differently: the first half only shifted, the second half reversed and then shifted. 6. Fast route: once you know the rule, build only the first two letters of the answer from the right end of the word.

• Rule: a letter at position p has its opposite at 27 minus p. So the opposite of G (7) is T (20).
• To write the table fast, put A to M in a row and Z to N under it, backwards. Each column is a pair.
• Spot it: when the gaps between word and code jump about (A to Z, B to Y, K to P), test whether each pair adds to 27.
• Some codes add a shift: the letter just after the opposite (B to Y to Z), or opposites only for the first and last letters.