For our purposes here, we will concentrate on simple ciphers and cryptograms as an exercise in using both sides of the brain. Intuition plays a heavy role in the deciphering process. Whether it is recognizing a pattern in the coded message, or simply remote viewing the cipher key, those who are adept at code-breaking have always credited their art to insightful means. While the bulk of deciphering remains in the analytical realms, the reasoning of the algorithm used to encode the message, both kinds of thought are useful in breaking a code. As an overview, here is some basic terminology used in the art of code-breaking.
Cryptography is the science of keeping written messages secret.
Cryptanalysis is the art of breaking the cipher, or retrieving the message without knowing the proper key. Cryptology is the branch of mathematics that studies the mathematical foundations of cyrptographic methods, i.e. the algorithms useful in creating codes, both public and private. A cipher is a method of encryption and decryption. All ciphers depend upon a key or algorithm to code the message and make it possible for the intended receiver to decode the message. The difference is that the symmetric keys use the same algorithms for encryption and decryption.