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Title: Pictured Puzzles and Word Play

Author: A. Cyril Pearson

Release date: April 20, 2022 [eBook #67886]

Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Original publication: United States: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE f:J SONS, LTD, 1908

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67886

Credits: MFR, Branden Aldridge, Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PICTURED PUZZLES AND WORD PLAY ***

Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text.

PICTURED PUZZLES AND

WORD PLAY

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

STANDARD PUZZLE BOOK

Crown 8vo.          Cloth Extra.          Gilt.

FRONTISPIECE

Can you discover by anagram what the ape is saying to the elephant, from this descriptive sentence?

A sly tree-ape, he tries a rum telephone.

Exactly the same letters must be used.

Solution

PICTURED PUZZLES

AND

WORD PLAY

A COMPANION TO

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY STANDARD

PUZZLE BOOK

EDITED BY

A. CYRIL PEARSON, M.A.

AUTHOR OF

“100 CHESS PROBLEMS,” “ANAGRAMS, ANCIENT AND MODERN,” ETC.

PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED

LONDON

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD.

NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.

CONTENTS.

FRONTISPIECE PUZZLE

PAGE

P  ICTURED PUZZLES AND WORD PLAY

1

E  NIGMAS, CHARADES, PUZZLES, &C., &C.

130

O  DDS AND ENDS

188

S  OLUTIONS TO PICTURED PUZZLES

202

S  OLUTIONS TO WORD PLAY

283

S  OLUTIONS TO ODDS AND ENDS

375

PICTURED PUZZLES

No. I.—A GOOD SPECIMEN

Here is a nest of magic squares, seven of them within the four corners of one diagram:—

149

16

33

196

47

197

44

208

42

203

57

194

38

54

217

177

62

183

52

213

59

160

15

161

85

156

190

105

28

49

56

147

201

146

75

155

2

220

3

153

53

26

209

79

170

162

76

148

180

83

187

41

104

22

195

145

60

78

150

64

74

176

4

124

119

37

154

48

186

138

109

102

222

50

152

221

24

175

63

86

116

93

135

94

127

140

163

51

202

5

10

215

69

159

134

95

98

126

115

131

92

67

157

11

216

219

19

165

1

136

97

130

113

96

129

90

225

61

207

7

8

205

84

191

87

158

111

100

128

68

139

35

142

21

218

214

34

144

27

112

99

133

91

132

110

114

199

82

192

12

14

123

55

106

117

189

72

178

40

88

107

120

171

103

212

206

89

181

166

143

39

185

122

204

31

81

46

45

137

20

58

101

17

80

151

71

224

6

223

73

173

200

25

125

168

118

198

43

174

13

167

66

211

65

141

70

36

121

164

108

9

210

193

30

179

29

182

18

184

23

169

32

188

172

77

Image

As each border is removed a fresh magic square remains, in which the numbers in the cells of each row, column, and diagonal add up to the same sum, while each of these sums is a multiple of the central 113.

No. II.—A BORDERED DIAMOND

By G. Slater

1

91

117

3

20

160

27

25

129

65

156

154

42

38

165

161

15

138

36

103

26

130

153

136

124

81

54

159

162

147

120

69

75

135

151

52

39

22

55

112

111

110

33

64

78

4

152

76

57

56

62

61

63

93

7

168

146

139

100

99

98

97

96

102

142

158

6

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29

45

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49

48

47

133

51

104

157

80

30

88

87

86

85

84

83

82

140

90

13

53

41

134

123

122

121

127

126

125

52

145

79

10

132

89

74

73

72

71

70

34

16

167

105

67

35

109

108

114

113

50

155

143

5

116

137

60

59

58

115

17

14

144

19

107

95

101

94

23

9

11

106

68

46

31

148

40

118

77

37

41

18

8

92

38

128

24

131

163

148

149

166

12

130

2

66

164

169

Image

It is a perfect magic diamond as it stands, and equally perfect are the diamonds that remain when each border of cells is removed, as is indicated by the lines.

WORD PLAY

1. A PARADOX

Two words in our region of puzzledom pose,

And claim, through the passage of years

That neither the pages of Johnson disclose,

While either in Murray appears.

Solution

No. III.—A MULTIFOLD MAGIC SQUARE

Here is a magic square of 81 cells.

53

8

71

28

73

10

51

6

69

62

44

26

19

37

55

60

42

24

17

80

35

61

1

46

15

78

33

66

21

30

14

59

50

34

79

16

3

39

75

77

41

5

25

43

61

48

57

12

32

23

68

70

7

52

31

76

13

72

27

36

11

56

47

22

40

58

9

45

81

74

38

2

67

4

49

54

63

18

29

20

65

If divided, as is shown, into 9 small squares, each of these is also a magic square, and yet another magic square is formed by the totals of these 9 squares arranged thus:—

396

333

378

351

369

387

360

405

342

Images

No. IV.—A MODEL MAGIC SQUARE

This magic square, which has in its cells the first sixteen numbers, is so constructed that these add up to 34 in very many ways.

4

15

14

1

9

6

7

12

5

10

11

8

16

3

2

13

Image

How many of these, in addition to the usual rows, columns, and diagonals, can you discover? They must, of course, be in some sort symmetrical.

Solution

2. A PREDOMINANT VOWEL

Can you fill in the missing letters which are needed to turn the oft-repeated “u” below into rhyming verse:—

.u.. .u.u. .u..u.., ..u...u. .u.. u..u..,

.u... .u.., .u. .u..u.. .u..u... ..u...u. ..u..;

...u.. .u...., .u.. .u..u.. ..u... .u... .u... u..u..,

U. .u...., .u.. ..u..-.u.u., .u..u.’. .u...u. .u..

Solution

No. V.—TESSELATED DIAMOND

By G. Slater

106

13

109

113

16

14

12

110

107

15

42

9

11

100

78

74

81

112

10

56

71

67

53

87

111

83

43

34

27

49

50

35

59

63

84

6

96

26

46

72

68

39

37

115

7

30

95

97

76

75

33

85

3

116

114

91

31

28

94

40

61

82

120

2

5

117

92

90

25

64

89

47

41

119

121

8

29

93

58

62

54

69

86

4

118

32

66

60

57

73

52

80

1

44

79

65

19

45

48

36

51

38

104

18

55

70

88

22

103

105

77

99

23

20

102

100

98

17

21

101

24

Image

In this ingenious diamond all rows and both diagonals add up to 671; in the four corner diamonds all add up to 244; and in the central diamond, and the 16 rows of threes surrounding it, to 183.

3. AN ENIGMA

I see my first, I see my next,

And both I sigh and see

Joined to my third, which much perplexed

And sorely puzzled me.

’Twas fifty, and ’twas something more,

Reversed ’twas scarce an ell,

With first and next it forms a whole

Clear as a crystal bell.

What is my whole? A splendid tear

Upheld in cruel thrall;

Blow soft, ye gales, bright sun appear!

And bid me gently fall.

Solution

No. VI.—MAGIC SQUARE BY MULTIPLICATION

Here is a magic square, in which the rows, columns, and diagonals yield the same product, 4096, by multiplication:—

128

1

32

4

16

64

8

256

2

Image

It will be seen that the numbers in this square, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, are in regular progression, and 4096 is also the cube of the central 16.

No. VII.—ANOTHER BORDERED MAGIC SQUARE

Here is quite a good example of a bordered magic square of sixty-four cells:—

1

56

55

11

53

13

14

57

63

15

47

22

42

24

45

2

62

49

25

40

34

31

16

3

4

48

28

37

35

30

17

61

5

44

39

26

32

33

21

60

59

19

38

27

29

36

46

6

58

20

18

43

23

41

50

7

8

9

10

54

12

52

51

64

Image

It is a perfect specimen itself, and as each border is removed a fresh perfect magic square is revealed.

4. A CHARADE

Take for my first a quadruped,

Transpose one for my second;

My whole, a biped, quick or dead,

Is dainty reckoned.

Solution

5. BYRON’S ENIGMA

I am not in youth, nor in manhood, nor age,

But in infancy ever am known;

I’m a stranger alike to the fool and the sage,

And though I’m distinguish’d in history’s page

I always am greatest alone.

I am not in earth, nor the sun, nor the moon;

You may search all the sky—I’m not there;

In the morning and evening—though not in the noon—

You may plainly perceive me—for, like a balloon,

I am midway suspended in air.

Though disease may possess me, and sickness and pain,

I am never in sorrow nor gloom;

Though in wit and in wisdom I equally reign,

I’m the heart of all sin, and have long lived in vain,

Yet I ne’er shall be found in the tomb!

Solution

No. VIII.—A HARDY ANNUAL

A magic square can be formed with the 81 numbers from 172 to 252 inclusive, which in all its rows, columns, and diagonals will total 1908. It may interest our solvers to complete the square.

216

175

224

240

199

248

247

215

174

190

239

207

206

246

214

230

198

238

213

172

221

244

212

180

203

252

211

186

226

194

210

178

218

217

185

234

250

209

177

176

225

184

200

249

208

Image

We have filled in, as a solid start, 45 of the 81 cells.

Solution

No. IX.—ANOTHER “ANNO DOMINI”

This magic square adds up in rows, columns, and diagonals to 1908:—

469

484

472

483

481

474

478

475

482

471

485

470

476

479

473

480

Image

Can you decide in how many other symmetrical ways the same total is to be made?

Solution

No. X.—A DOMINO MAGIC SQUARE

In this magic square the rows, columns, and diagonals add up always to 33.

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Image

Can you rearrange it so that the first stone (three-ace) shall occupy the centre, now filled by the double six, and it shall still add up in all ways to 33?

Solution

6. SHIFTING LETTERS

I am bright as a whole

Till you cut off my head;

Then as black as a coal,

Or a mortal instead.

Shaken up and recast

We with science are found,

Read us back from the last

And we live underground.

Solution

No. XI.—CHESS AND NUMBERS

The arrangement of numbers in the 36 cells of this square discloses a very close affinity between chess and arithmetic.

30

21

6

15

28

19

7

16

29

20

5

14

22

31

8

35

18

27

9

36

17

26

13

4

32

23

2

11

34

25

1

10

33

24

3

12

Image

Can you follow this out?

Solution

7. A GOOD CHARADE

By Horace Smith, one of the authors of “Rejected Addresses.”

In arts and sciences behold my first the watchword still,

All prejudice must bend the knee before its iron will;

Yet “Onward!” is the Briton’s cry—a cry that doth express

A holy work but half begun, and speaks of hopefulness.

In palace or in lonely cot its name alike is heard,

And in the Senate’s lordly halls sit my second and my third.

Strange paradox, though for my first my total is designed,

Sad marks of vice and ignorance we in that whole may find.

Solution

No. XII.—NUMBERS PATIENCE

Those who combine a fancy for “Patience” with some skill in numbers will find amusement in filling the empty cells of this diagram with appropriate numbers, each of which must consist of two figures:—

17

24

32

46

14

19

16

22

20

Image

It is required that each of the rows across from side to side shall add up, when all the cells are filled, to 143 exactly. No number must be used more than once.

Solution

No. XIII.—THE WINDMILL

Can you divide a square into 15 parts, which can be built up into this windmill?

Solution

8. THRICE BEHEADED

Untouched I tell of budding growth and life;

Beheaded I lead upward more or less;

Again—with varied fragrance I am rife;

Again—but little value I express.

Solution

No. XIV.—A NEST OF RECTANGLES

In this nest of 49 squares it is possible to count a great number of distinct and interlacing figures, whose opposite sides are equal, and whose angles are all right angles.

Image

Can you decide exactly the number of these rectangles, and say how many of them are square?

Solution

9. AN ENIGMA

Search Holy Writ and you will see

A victory was won by me.

Behead me, and I may be found

In water or on hilly ground.

Behead again, and then transpose,

A snare my letters now disclose.

If yet again my head you sever,

No matter how sharp-set or clever

’Tis all in vain you look about,

For no one yet has found me out.

Solution

No. XV.—ANOTHER DOMINO MAGIC SQUARE

Can you, using all the dominoes except double five, five-six, and double six, construct with the twenty-five stones a magic square that adds up in all rows, columns, and diagonals to 27, and in which the stones in the cells marked by the same figures in this diagram also add up to that number?

2

1

2

4

3

4

1

3

3

1

4

3

4

2

1

2

Image

Solution

No. XVI.—DOMINO PATIENCE

The problem is to construct, with all the twenty-eight stones, a domino pyramid of seven stages, starting with a single stone, and adding one stone on each successive stage.

The stones must be so arranged that the number of pips in any row or column are in all cases exactly three times the number of half-dominoes of which that line or column is composed. There are many solutions to exercise the solver’s patience.

Solution

10. LEGAL PLEASANTRIES

Said a lawyer aside to his friend in the court,

“Now I’d bet, were we not in this place,

That my first is my second a bottle of port,”

Then bright with my whole shone his face.

Solution

11. RIVALS ON THE ROAD

Six horse buses and four motor buses travel each hour from Temple Bar to the Bank. The horses take 15 minutes, and the motors 10 minutes on the journey.

If I come to Temple Bar, and wish to reach the Bank as soon as possible, shall I take the first horse bus that turns up, or wait for a motor? It must be assumed that I can only see a bus as it actually passes me.

Solution

No. XVII.—A FRIENDLY HINT

The father of this venturesome lad, who was on the point of breaking out of bounds, came on the scene just in time to warn him in a sentence of nine words, five of which were “Never throw a leg, lad.”

Can you supply the other four words, which are spelt with exactly the same letters?

Solution

No. XVIII.—CATASTROPHE

In this picture we see that a cat has sprung upon the table to interview the parrot.

The title “Catastrophe” recast by anagram, tells the parrot’s happy thought at this critical moment, and the appropriate sentence,

“New parrot-stand in a house,”

tells, also by anagram, how he put this into instant operation.

Solution

12. A HISTORICAL CHARADE

My first, if foolishly or rashly taken,

May mar the future prospects of your life.

My second, by her fickle lord forsaken

(Sad type of many a gentle, patient wife),

May toil and moil to feed his many babies,

While he goes flirting off with other ladies.

The thrifty monarch of a former age

My whole a place in Britain’s history fills.

Immortalised in Shakespeare’s magic pages

As one who’d fain reform his tailor’s bills!

Solution

No. XIX.—A PRECOCIOUS BOY

This is the picture of the first prize boy at a baby show. The judge, noticing the position of one chubby fist, said to the proud mother, “Your lad Tommy likes such tit-bits.”

To his amazement the baby, removing the comforting hand, replied in eight words composed of exactly the same letters, “So to-day, sir,  . ....  ..  ......  .....” Can you complete the sentence?

Solution

No. XX.—AGAINST THE COLLAR

The lady who is sitting at the back of this overloaded waggonette cries out, in her sympathy with the struggling horse, “This big load quite hinders his pull.”

Her husband, full of holiday spirits and energy, answers her in a sentence of mingled reproof and determination, which forms a perfect anagram of the words of his wife, and describes his feelings and action. Can you recast the letters?

Solution

No. XXI.—IN A BILLIARD-ROOM

At the moment when a burly and keen player was in this strange and striking attitude,

a bystander whispered to the marker, “Eh! what a stout player is striking!”

Can you, using exactly the same letters, put into the mouth of the marker a reply appropriate to the position?

Solution

13. A SAUCY MAIDEN

My second, worn with pompous pride,

My first had dangling at his side,

On chain securely hooked.

My first he came from o’er the sea,

A bundle of conceit looked he,

And he was all he looked.

She led him to the village green,

Where in desponding mood was seen

My whole, with drooping head.

“Behold,” she said, “a perfect, true,

And striking likeness, sir, of you!”

And, laughing, gaily fled.

Solution

No. XXII.—EVOLVING A PAINTER

There are two English words which are appropriate to this picture—

One of them has as its anagram the very apposite sentence, “Or not a man first;” the other treated in similar fashion becomes, “O I love nuts!” What are the two words?

Solution

14. DOUBLETS

Who can turn WHEAT into BREAD with six links, changing one letter each time, and preserving the general order of the letters throughout?

Solution

No. XXIII.—THE PICK OF THE PACK

How can we decide by anagram whether this is a fancy portrait of “William or dear Jack?”

Shake up and recast the words in inverted commas.

Solution

15. AN OLD ENIGMA

Can our readers solve this enigma, which was published in 1811, and to which no answer seems to be known?

I’m one among a numerous host,

And very useful in my post;

There’s not a house in all the land

Without me properly can stand.

Though men disputed long ago

Whether I did exist or no,

Once more some thousands have been slain

Because they could not me attain.

Solution

No. XXIV.—A PICTURE PUZZLE

Take this picture in connection with the lines below it, and find out what it represents.

Begin with the end of my first,

then you will find out the rest;

For it all will appeal to your thirst,

Or point to a ponderous guest.

Solution

No. XXV.—AN ANXIOUS POSE

His wife, who chanced to see Jiggers at the trying moment here depicted, said that he seemed to be in a “sad pet.”

How was this literally true?

Solution

No. XXVI.—TOSS NEITHER HEAD NOR TAIL

Never was a cow so troublesome at milking-time.

Our picture was taken at the moment when Farmer Hayseed was exclaiming, as he held on behind, “See, we hold this cow’s horns and tail!”

The same letters, recast by anagram, form this sentence spoken by his foreman—

“She cannot toss,  ...  ....  ....  ..  ..”

Can you fill in the five missing words?

Solution

16. ANAGRAM PROVERBS

These grave lips chatter no ill.

or

Elephants, all to richest giver!

Can you recast the letters of these sentences so that either of them forms the same homely proverb, to which the first anagram is most akin?

Solution

No. XXVII.—ACTION AND PASSION

This very resolute horse and his anxious driver take quite different views of the situation shown in this picture.

We can fancy that the fast trotter, if he could be endowed with speech, would say, “I’m a train’d stepper!”

Can you take these same letters, and recast them into a sentence which would seem to express the driver’s point of view?

Solution

17. A SHORT CHARADE

My first of rudeness has a sound;

The rest is in a city found;

My whole to win its way is bound.

Solution

No. XXVIII.—A FEAT WITHOUT ARMS

In this picture a clever artist who has no arms is seen calmly painting with his feet.

One onlooker says to another, “Why, now I see this fine artist has no hand!” The other replies in a sentence which contains exactly the same letters:

“He draws in any fashion  ....  ...  ...  ... .”

Can you fill in the four missing words?

Solution

No. XXIX.—NOT TAKING ANY

“This is a wine bottle, dear, on a lure,” said a crafty fisher of men to his better half, who was helping him, as he showed her this illustration of their aims.

1834

PORT

She knew, however, that the fish he sought to catch was not to be tempted in this way, and she replied in words spelt with exactly the same letters, “And see, he will not  ....  ..  ...  ....!”

Can you fill in the four missing words?

Solution

No. XXX.—MUSIC HATH CHARMS

This sturdy musical enthusiast, as he settled himself upon his chair, said, “What shall I play?” and some one replied, “Any strains of Beethoven, he charms all!”

This suggestion, however, was not acceptable, and he, as he struck up a piece after his own heart, exclaimed, in a sentence composed of exactly the same letters—

“Nay, for this ’cello  ......  .... .  ......!”

Can you supply the missing words?

Solution

No. XXXI

This picture represents a parsnip lying across a sturdy swede.

Can you so readjust them that they seem to suggest a successful dramatist of the day? We give this broad hint by anagram—

“Here is our parsnip on swede.”

ANAGRAM

Wise and superior person he!

Solution

No. XXXII.—A GOOD LETTER PUZZLE

Can you fill the places of these 21 asterisks with only three different letters, arranging them so that they spell a common English word in twelve different directions?

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Image

Solution

18. A BURIED POTENTATE

My first is in cake, but not in bun;

My second in light, but not in sun;

My third is in night, but not in day;

My fourth is in game, but not in play;

My fifth is in head, but not in tail,

My sixth is in wind, but not in sail;

My seventh in wrong, but not in right,

My eighth is in battle, but not in fight;

My ninth is in sword, but not in knife,

My tenth is in lady, but not in wife;

My whole is a monarch at war with strife.

Solution

No. XXXIII.—ANAGRAM ARITHMETIC

First form a short sentence with the ten letters that are above the line in this diagram:—

S

B

R

E

Y

D

O

T

U

O

O

E

E

Image

Next number the letters of the sentence consecutively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, and then work out a sum in addition with these numbers substituted for the letters with which they correspond.

Solution

No. XXXIV.—A BUNCH OF FLOWERS

Find within these borders twelve specimens of flowers and foliage:—

1  L

2  L

3  B

4  H

5  P

6  E

7  F

8  L

9  Y

10  E

11  L

12  O

13  R

14  N

15  I

16  V

17  B

18  R

19  I

20  V

21  K

22  A

23  L

24  E

25  T

26  O

27  N

28  I

29  C

30  N

31  A

32  S

33  U

34  L

35  P

Image

Move in any direction one square at a time, and so spell out their names, using the same square only once in each case.

Solution

19. A CHARADE

My first except when it is old

Is never seen or heard;

When it is heard the sound is tolled

Out of a Jewish beard.

My next was in Imperial Rome,

It was her power and might;

Then you had but to write you wish,

And straightway ’twas in sight.

My whole was Frank

Of royal rank.

Solution

No. XXXV.—ON A BLACKBOARD

To test the powers of his young pupils, Dr Puzzlewitz set the following little problem on his blackboard:—

A

-

B

=

4

A

÷

B

=

4

Image

What are the values of A and of B, when 4 is the result of dividing A by B, or of subtracting B from A?

Solution

20. RECAST

How great in olden days my power!

Oft have I saved a castle tower

From war’s invading tide.

Transpose me, and how great my fall!

I am then the smallest of the small,

That nothing can divide.

Solution

21. WORD-BUILDING

This compact Enigma take,

All apart its letters shake.

Let your 6, 3, 5 be high,

Like 5, 1, 2 do or die.

Who 4, 6, 5, 1 enjoys

More than 5, 6, 2 by boys?

While 5, 3, 2, 1 are mine,

May 4, 6, 3, 2 be thine.

4, 1, 5 is rich and rare,

6, 5, 1, 2 ends my prayer.

The figures indicate the position of the letters, which spell new words, in the original six-letter word.

Solution

No. XXXVI.—SQUARING A DIAMOND

Can you fill in the empty cells with letters, so that they form English words which read alike from top to bottom and from left to right?

s

s

u

s

s

Image

Solution

22. AN ENIGMA

“Charles the First walked and talked,

Half an hour after his head was cut off.”

Old Couplet.

Cut off my head, I’m every inch a King,

A warrior formed to deal a heavy blow.

Halve what remains, my second is a thing

Which nothing but my third can e’er make go.

My third will vary as you take your line.

This less than human, that way all divine!

Solution

No. XXXVII.

Taking the letters as arranged on this diagram for a starting point, can you place in some of the unoccupied cells five more of A, five of E, five of I, and five of O, making eight in all of each letter, so that in no case shall the same vowel be in the same row, column, or diagonal?

A

I

E

O

O

A

I

E

E

O

A

I

Image

Each vowel is to be regarded without any reference to the other vowels, and, of course, only one may be placed in a cell.

Solution

No. XXXVIII.—AN ANAGRAM SQUARE

Mix together the letters which form the eight words on this draught board—

V

O

T

E

W

O

V

E

P

R

O

W

C

A

L

L

S

T

E

W

N

E

W

S

C

O

R

E

N

A

P

E

Image

and recast them so that they form eight fresh words, which when placed in proper order on the white squares, are a word square in which each word reads alike from left to right, or from top to bottom. The first of the fresh words is CROW.

Solution

No. XXXIX.—ARITHMETIC BY ANAGRAM

Form a short sentence with the letters above the line in this diagram:—

D

U

E

H

E

D

A

P

S

T

D

E

A

Image

Number the letters consecutively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, and then work a sum in addition, substituting these numbers for the letter with which they correspond.

Solution

23. A LOGOGRAPH

Touch me not, I’m firm and sure;

Behead, I’m used by rich and poor;

In house and cottage, hut and hall,

I stand of service to them all.

Behead again, in time of need

I tell that strength and skill succeed.

Solution

No. XL.—ANAGRAMS SQUARED

Shake up the sixteen letters of these four words, and recast them into four other words:—

S

E

E

K

S

L

A

B

L

E

E

K

M

O

A

N

Image

These fresh words, placed on the white squares, must read alike from side to side, and zigzag from top to bottom. The first word is MASK.

Solution

24. A SINGLE ACROSTIC

What river is that, where it is found,

Which Pope says does with eels abound?

What Scottish lake, by high hills bounded,

Is with bright birch and oak surrounded?

What stream is said in Devon to run

Into the sea near Otterton?

What bay on Cuba’s distant coast

Is justly deemed its pride and boast?

The initials of these names will show

A Scotch reformer, who, we know,

Flourished three hundred years ago.

Solution

No. XLI.—A WORD SQUARE BY ANAGRAM

Take the letters which form the words in these sixteen cells—

A

F

A

R

T

A

S

K

S

E

A

T

L

E

A

L

Image

and recast them so that they form a perfect word square.

Solution

25. A CHARADE

My whole may be a mother, not a dad,

So former may, or latter;

But twist my tail, and I become as mad

As any hatter!

Behead me, and behold I am a man,

Who never was called mister;

Cut off my tail, and instantly I can

Become a sister!

Solution

No. XLII.—QUITE A NOVELTY

There are five English words in this square:—

c

h

e

s

s

g

r

e

e

d

c

a

n

e

s

r

e

a

r

s

c

h

e

e

r

Image

Can you shake up their letters, and recast them into five other words which form a perfect word square, and read alike from top to bottom and from left to right? The first fresh word is CRESS.

Solution

No. XLIII.—HIDDEN PROVERBS

Five familiar proverbs are hidden in this square of 169 letters,

R

E

N

O

W

N

E

D

T

H

A

N

W

S

Y

O

U

R

C

A

K

E

A

N

D

A

S

T

E

T

O

B

E

F

E

A

R

H

R

E

A

R

K

S

S

P

O

I

L

E

A

F

L

E

O

O

H

E

R

S

N

T

D

V

O

O

T

M

O

T

L

I

N

O

H

T

E

U

N

O

S

C

A

L

A

G

M

E

H

I

R

S

N

I

Y

G

O

R

S

O

B

A

T

S

E

N

G

N

E

N

O

T

S

R

N

P

A

I

A

O

A

M

O

O

T

S

O

A

E

W

R

C

D

E

V

I

L

A

H

T

D

A

S

O

U

O

Y

N

O

I

L

D

A

E

C

A

T

C

I

V

R

E

H

H

T

A

H

E

Z

Image

The proverbs are arranged in a regular sequence.

Solution

26. RINGING SWEET CHANGES

We are familiar with the anagram that so charmingly points to the ministrations on the battle-field of Florence Nightingale—Flit on, cheering angel—but it is not so well known that her name can also be recast with an appropriate wish for her continuance in our loving memory. Can you frame this?

Solution

No. XLIV.—A CLEVER CRYPTOGRAM

A French sentence of 100 letters in twenty-two words is concealed in these 100 cells.

D

L

A

N

N

E

S

M

P

A

L

I

R

D

L

E

E

M

L

H

I

L

U

E

E

A

I

N

T

J

C

U

R

S

E

M

N

T

U

P

E

U

É

S

N

P

R

E

O

S

O

L

I

É

D

X

S

M

A

N

U

D

E

A

E

É

I

X

N

T

T

E

T

P

E

D

N

U

Q

E

B

U

U

U

F

L

I

J

I

N

Z

U

E

J

I

O

E

U

N

R

Image

It can be deciphered by means of a cardboard mask of similar size, with circular holes cut out in some of its cells. This is placed squarely over the diagram, turned round in four successive positions. And thus the sequence of letters is found, and falls into words.

Solution

No. XLV.—SAM LOYD’S PONY PUZZLE

The instant popularity of this clever puzzle was amazing, and its sale is said to have run into millions years ago in America.

Cut the pony into six pieces, as is indicated in the picture, and rearrange these so that they show a trotting horse.

Solution

27. A REBUS

I am

a man

I rate you

a beast

You know me.

Can you put this into shape?

Solution

No. XLVI.—A CLEVER PUZZLE

Here is another of Sam Loyd’s famous trick pictures:—

Can you rearrange the parts to show jockeys and horses in racing trim?

Solution

28. A CHARADE

(With Latin parts.)

My first, thou knowest, was in ancient Rome,

Rome’s fate my next, and one that all may dread.

Long may it be before that fate shall come,

And sever with my whole thy life’s last thread!

Solution

No. XLVII.—A NICE BALANCE

This boy is sure that if he takes his time, and watches his opportunity, he will be able to reach and secure with his mouth the sugar on the chair. Will he?

Solution

29. BURIED POETS

The names of eight famous British poets are buried in these lines—that is to say, the letters that spell the names form in their proper order parts of different words:—

The sun is darting rays of gold

Upon the moor, enchanting spot,

Whose purpled heights, by Ronald loved,

Up open to his shepherd cot.

And sundry denizens of air

Are flying—aye, each to his nest;

And eager make at such an hour

All haste to reach the mansions blest.

Can you dig them up?

Solution

No. XLVIII.—LEAF-FROG

Here are six little hoptoads, as our cousins across the water call them, three white and three black, going in opposite directions. A frog may jump, one, two, or three steps, but no two may be together at any time.

In how few jumps can the black frogs be seated to the left of their white brothers? It is obvious that one of the white frogs must jump first to the stool marked 1.

Solution

30. AN ENIGMA

This multiplies me, I declare,

Though it reduces one;

A sty is foul if it is there,

By it a deed is done.

Solution

31. MISSING WORDS

Lennie   ...... the words he read,

Studying   ...... fable;

Lennie’s mother   ...... the bread,

Sophy   ...... the table.

“Work while you are   ......,” they said

“  ...... while you are able!”

Solution

No. XLIX.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

A very curious old print, of which this might well be the title, was picked up on a bookstall. This picture shows clever designs for two of the digits:

1

Se Pierot or Lun,

A Figure of One.

2

Again he’s to view,

A Figure of Two.

32. A CHARADE

When I write with my first in my second,

My whole is quite sure to be in.

Divided afresh, there is reckoned

A wit, or a something that’s thin.

Prefix a letter, and, as dear as paint,

You see the name of an old English Saint.

Solution

No. L.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

Here is the second pair of this queer company:—

3

Now ’tis plain you may see,

He’s a Figure of Three.

4

Behold him once more,

A Figure of Four.

33. ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER

My first, though half a noisy bird,

To a slight noise may turn;

My second twist, a stately word,

And it will bend we learn.

Solution

34. AN ENIGMA

To half of ten add one,

Then half a score.

When this is duly done

Almost ten more.

This can be good for none,

But trial sore.

Solution

No. LI.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

Here is the third pair of these quaint characters:—

5

Now here we contrive

To make him a Five

6

He’s a Six here complete,

With his hands to his feet.

35. A BURIED PROVERB

A proverb of eight words is buried here:—

I fancy this Tory outcry, this weary outrageous attempt to show illegality, is as a cat chasing snow-flakes. I must be forgiven if I shun his example.

Solution

36. MISSING WORDS

Quick  ....... in action, now timid, now bold,

Like  ....... of ropes far too rotten to hold,

....... a  .......  ....... and disasters

For a State that  ....... not incapable masters.

The six missing words are spelt with the same seven letters.

Solution

No. LII.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

Here is another pair of these quaint figures:—

7

With some alteration,

A Seven’s his station.

8

Here not being strait,

He forms a good eight.

37. A CHARADE

My first as an heir,

My second a snare,

My whole is the offspring of fancy,

Which I sent on its way

Last Valentine’s Day,

As a token of love to my Nancy.

Solution

38. A LOVER’S VOW

My love shall never know my first,

Shall never be my second;

It shall my all, come best, come worst,

Be surely reckoned.

Solution

No. LIII.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

Here is the final pair:—

9

While drinking his Wine,

He appears like a nine.

0

Nine Forms having past

He’s a Cypher at last.

39. AN ENIGMA

I am a letter, and a word,

I am a tree, I am a name,

Cut me in pieces with a sword,

You and your act would be the same.

Thrice you must leave the aspirate in doubt,

And use it twice if you would find me out.

Solution

40. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

If you “resist disasters,” how may this affect one of your home circle?

Solution

No. LIV.—A FREAK OF FIGURES

1 × 8 + 1 = 9

12 × 8 + 2 = 98

123 × 8 + 3 = 987

1234 × 8 + 4 = 9876

12345 × 8 + 5 = 98765

123456 × 8 + 6 = 987654

1234567 × 8 + 7 = 9876543

12345678 × 8 + 8 = 98765432

123456789 × 8 + 9 = 987654321

41. A CHARADE

My first the rainbow shows

When in rich hues it glows.

My next has vowels three;

My third was once a tree.

My fourth begins the year,

My whole the past makes clear.

Solution

42. ASK A SCHOOLBOY

If you tell a schoolboy that the longest side of a triangular field measures 100 rods, and that each of the other sides measures 50 rods, and ask him to estimate the value of its grass at £1 per acre, how should he answer?

Solution

43. A WHOLE LESS THAN ITS PART

Less than my last, my whole has place

Between my first and second:

Second has body, arms and face;

First is by inches reckoned.

Solution

No. LV.—SPINNING WHEELS

What is the smallest number of straight lines which can be drawn within this square so as to enclose each of the wheels within separate boundaries?

While solving this, rotate the paper in your hand, and see the wheels spin.

Solution

44. A HISTORICAL CHARADE

My first at early morn the camp alarms,

And at its sound the soldier springs to arms;

My second nowadays fair ladies scorn,

Though in less dainty days it oft was worn.

My whole, a battle fought on Scottish ground,

With victory the rebel forces crowned.

Solution

No. LVI.—FOUR QUARTERS AMONG FIVE

A market gardener who has a large square plot of ground wishes to reserve a fourth of it in the shape of a triangle for himself, as is shown in the diagram—

and to divide the remainder among his four sons, so that each shares equally, with plots of similar shape. How did he mark it out for them?

This appears in a less perfect form in “The Twentieth Century Standard Puzzle Book.”

Solution

No. LVII.—USE YOUR PENCIL

Here is a simple little puzzle which may amuse anyone who has paper and pencil at hand:—

Can you combine three figures similar to Fig. A with two similar to Fig. B, so that a perfect Latin cross is formed?

It is, of course, an easier matter to cut out five such pieces in paper or cardboard, and arrange them in the form required.

Solution

45. MISSING WORDS

I love strolling  ....... that wander around,

Each  ....... a  ....... in versatile skill;

Each  ....... so quaint, each idea so profound,

My barn’s at their service, whenever they will.

A company played there last night, but to-day

Ducks  ......., and poultry have vanished away!

The missing words are spelt with the same seven letters.

Solution

No. LVIII.—SUBTLE SELFISHNESS

Four poor men were living in the cottages shown in this diagram, round a central lake well stocked with fish. Four rich men built their houses further afield, and selfishly determined to exclude their neighbours from access to the water.

How could they do this effectually without cutting themselves off from the lake?

Solution

46. AN ARITHMOREM

150 hat robe or tent

Can you form from this the name of a famous British author, treating the 150 as Roman numerals?

Solution

No. LIX.—FOR THE CHILDREN

Cut out in cardboard four pieces of the shape and size of each of the large patterns, and two pieces of the small one:—

Now arrange these ten pieces so that they form a perfect square.

Solution

47. SHEDDING LETTERS

I’m a worker most active, most useful, most known,

Of all that are busy in country and town.

Take from me one letter, and yet my good name

In spite of this loss will continue the same.

Take from me two letters, and still you will see

That precisely the same in effect I shall be.

Take from me three letters, or even take more,

Yet still I continue as sound as before.

Solution

No. LX.

The dotted lines in this diagram show how the figure can be divided into nine parts by four straight cuts

which can be reunited to form a perfect cross.

Solution

48. A SHARP BOY

Tom Larkins, proud of his prize for arithmetic, challenged his sisters to show on a blackboard that if 50 is subtracted from the sum of the nine digits, the result is equal to the number obtained by dividing their sum by 3. How did he prove his point?

Solution

No. LXI.—AN EASY ONE

Take in paper or cardboard a figure made up of a square and half of a similar square, thus:—

How can you, in the simplest way, divide it into four equal and similar parts by four straight cuts?

Solution

49. GEESE TO MARKET

B drove a goodly flock of geese,

And met with Farmer A;

Said Farmer A, “How much apiece

For this lot did you pay?”

Said B, “I paid for all I drive

Just six pounds and a crown,

And I am selling all but five

At the next market town.

If fifteen pence a head I charge

Beyond the price I paid.

I shall secure a sum as large

As he who sold all made.”

Solution

No. LXII

Can you draw twenty-two straight lines within this circle so that they divide it into four similar parts, each having three of the dots within its borders?

Each line must be at right angles to another.

Solution

50. A QUAINT CHARADE

When second held first

For best or for worst,

I thought myself happy to win her.

But what could I say

When the very next day

She gave me the whole for my dinner?

Solution

No. LXIII

Cut up this triangle into 5 parts,

which can be reassembled to form this triangle.

Solution

No. LXIV.—ARITHMETICAL TRIANGLE

The peculiar series of numbers, as arranged in this triangular form, is said to have been perfected by Pascal.

1

2

1

3

3

1

4

6

4

1

5

10

10

5

1

6

15

20

15

6

1

7

21

35

35

21

7

1

8

28

56

70

56

28

8

1

Image

It has the property of showing, without calculation, how many selections or combinations can be made at a time out of a larger number. Thus to find how many selections of 3 at a time can be made out of 8 we look for the third number on the horizontal row that commences with 8, and find the answer 56.

The series is formed thus: Set down the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., as far as you please, in a vertical row. To the right of 2 place 1, add them together, and set 3 under the 1. Then add 3 to 3, and set the result below, and so on, always placing the sum of two numbers that are side by side below the one on the right.

No. LXV.—MULTIPLICATION NO VEXATION

This diagram shows an ancient and curious method of multiplication, which will be novel to most of our readers.

In this instance 534 is multiplied by 342. Draw a square of nine cells with diagonals, fill the three top cells, as is shown, by multiplying the 5 by the 3, the 4 and the 2. Then multiply in similar way the 3 and the 4 by these same figures. Turn the square round so that the diagonals are upright, and add. Of course, placing the numbers thus is the same practically as carrying them by our ordinary rule.

No. LXVI

In this diagram 27 counters are arranged in 9 rows, with 6 in each row.

Can you rearrange them so that with similar conditions they all fall within the borders of one equilateral triangle?

Solution

51. A BURIED ADAGE

The bees’ blithe vernal love-songs softly hum,

Blending so sweetly with the restful air;

The noiseless, deep-laced twilight shadows come,

And well I ken the lass who meets me there.

Can you discover a very familiar saying that is buried in these lines?

Solution

No. LXVII.—AN EIGHT-CARD PUZZLE

Place eight cards of two different colours alternately in one row, then with four moves bring all of one colour together.

A

♠

2

♡

3

♣

4

♢

5

♣

6

♢

7

♣

8

♡

Image

Two cards (without altering their relative position) are to be moved at a time, and placed somewhere in the same line, one of them at least touching another card.

Solution

52. MUTILATIONS

A little beast without its head

Becomes a mighty beast instead;

But then the subject of my riddle

Is cut asunder in the middle;

And nothing this division gains,

Though unknown quantity remains.

Solution

53. MISSING WORDS

Mary sat with  ..... in hand

Writing  ..... dramatic.

Did she  ..... the plots she planned?

Negative emphatic!

..... to us the  ..... may be

But at  ..... they’re new to she!

The missing words are spelt with the same five letters.

Solution

No. LXVIII.—THOUGHT READING

Cut out this diagram, and paste it on a card. Hand it to anyone, and ask him to fix upon whichever number he pleases, and merely to tell you in which columns this appears.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

1

33

65

97

2

34

66

98

4

36

68

100

8

40

72

104

3

35

67

99

3

35

67

99

5

37

69

101

9

41

73

105

5

37

69

101

6

38

70

102

6

38

70

102

10

42

74

106

7

39

71

103

7

39

71

103

7

39

71

103

11

43

75

107

9

41

73

105

10

42

74

106

12

44

76

108

12

44

76

108

11

43

75

107

11

43

75

107

13

45

77

109

13

45

77

109

13

45

77

109

14

46

78

110

14

46

78

110

14

46

78

110

15

47

79

111

15

47

79

111

15

47

79

111

15

47

79

111

17

49

81

113

18

50

82

114

20

52

84

116

24

56

88

120

19

51

83

115

19

51

83

115

21

53

85

117

25

57

89

121

21

53

85

117

22

54

86

118

22

54

86

118

26

58

90

122

23

55

87

119

23

55

87

119

23

55

87

119

27

59

91

123

25

57

89

121

26

58

90

122

28

60

92

124

28

60

92

124

27

59

91

123

27

59

91

123

29

61

93

125

29

61

93

125

29

61

93

125

30

62

94

126

30

62

94

126

30

62

94

126

31

63

95

127

31

63

95

127

31

63

95

127

31

63

95

127

V.

VI.

VII.

16

48

80

112

32

48

96

112

64

80

96

112

17

49

81

113

33

49

97

113

65

81

97

113

18

50

82

114

34

50

98

114

66

82

98

114

19

51

83

115

35

51

99

115

67

83

99

115

20

52

84

116

36

52

100

116

68

84

100

116

21

53

85

117

37

53

101

117

69

85

101

117

22

54

86

118

38

54

102

118

70

86

102

118

23

55

87

119

39

55

103

119

71

87

103

119

24

56

88

120

40

56

104

120

72

88

104

120

25

57

89

121

41

57

105

121

73

89

105

121

26

58

90

122

42

58

106

122

74

90

106

122

27

59

91

123

43

59

107

123

75

91

107

123

28

60

92

124

44

60

108

124

76

92

108

124

29

61

93

125

45

61

109

125

77

93

109

125

30

62

94

126

46

62

110

126

78

94

110

126

31

63

95

127

47

63

111

127

79

95

111

127

Image

You can then in a moment, and at a glance, pick out the number that is chosen.

Solution

No. LXIX.—FROM PILLAR TO POST

Let us suppose that these black dots represent a succession of pillar boxes. It will be seen that a postman, starting from the circle, and going along the dotted lines, turns round 18 corners.

Can he take a course which involves fewer turnings?

Solution

No. LXX.—TRANSFORMATIONS

Here is an ingenious paper and scissors puzzle:—

Divide a square card into three pieces, so that these can be reunited to form No. 2 or No. 3 of this diagram.

Solution

54. COUNTING THE GEESE

(From an old Sanscrit source, quoted by Longfellow in his “Kavanagh.”)

Ten times the square root of a flock of geese, seeing the clouds collect, flew to the Manus lake. One-eighth of the whole flew from the edge of the water among a tangle of water lilies, and three couples were seen playing in the water. Tell me, my young girl with beautiful locks, what was the whole number of geese?

Solution

55. A THIRD IS A HALF

Six hundred and sixty so ordered may be

That if you divide the whole number by three

You find the result will exactly express

The half of six hundred and sixty, no less.

Solution

No. LXXI.—A PUZZLE WITH CHESS PIECES

♚

♖

♘

♖

Image

Leaving the Black King in his position, place the three white men so that he stands checkmated.

Solution

56. PRESS PARODIES

An American paper published the following:—

There was a young damsel, oh, bless her!

It cost very little to dress her;

She was sweet as a rose

In her everyday clothes,

But had no young man to caress her.

Next day this parody appeared in a rival paper:—

There was a young  ......, oh, bless her!

It cost very little to dress her;

Some  ........... and  .....

About Thanksgiving time,

And they  ... the last bit from the  ........

Can you fill in the missing words?

Solution

No. LXXII.—HEXAGONAL ILLUSIONS

If we look with one eye only, or with eyes half-closed, at these groups of circular dots, they assume the appearance familiar to us in honeycomb. This is an effect of the contrast and opposition of the black and white in the sensation of the retina.

Although the black and the white circles are of the same diameter the irradiation is in their case so intense that the white circles appear to be larger than the black.

No. LXXIII.—AN ILLUSION OF ARCHES

This excellent illusion appeared in a recent number of the “Strand Magazine”:—

Most persons will at first see the passages under these arches as running upwards from left to right, but presently, as their line of vision shifts, the arches will take a downward course from right to left. This very curious effect will well repay a little patience, if it is not realised at once.

57. WHERE WAS THE WEDDING?

She loses her head when she joins the brides,

He joins them after tea;

But both are swept by ruthless tides

Away on the western sea.

Solution

58. ON A BANANA BARROW

I have 91 bananas on my barrow, of two qualities; some I sell at four a penny, and the better sort at three a penny. If I had sold them in mixed lots at seven for twopence, I should have made a penny more. How many were there of each quality?

Solution

No. LXXIV.—IN THE TRAIN

The Puzzle Problem—

A passenger in a first-class railway carriage notices that the top of a factory window due S.W. of him coincides with a mark on the carriage window, and does not move from it while the train is running five and a half miles.

At the end of that distance the compass bearing of the chimney is due N.W. How far was the passenger from the chimney when he first noticed it?

is solved by 3^1⁄2 miles.

We give a diagram to make the points clear.

As the chimney top does not move from its place on the window, it is clear that the train is running on a segment of a circle having the chimney for its centre. It follows that the observer’s distance throughout is equal to the radius of that circle, and the radius of a circle of which the quadrant measures 5^1⁄2 miles is 3^1⁄2 miles within about 11 ft.

No. LXXV.—MENDING THE FLAG

The cross had been taken out from the centre of this flag, and its owner, who had an ingenious turn of mind, found that by cutting what remained into two pieces, and rejoining them, he could make it into a perfect flag without any waste of material.

How did he accomplish this?

Solution

No. LXXVI.—FOR THE CHILDREN

Add two more pieces similar in shape and size to that marked A, and one similar to B, C, and D respectively, and then readjust the eleven parts so that they form a perfect square.

Solution

59. MISSING WORDS

How does the sluggard’s garden grow?

When  ..... are high results are low.

His borders  ..... and bindweed spoil,

No careful culture  ..... the soil;

But weeds that  ..... are all alive

Where  ..... pink or rose should thrive.

The missing words are spelt with the same letters.

Solution

No. LXXVII.—AN EASY MATCH PUZZLE

This is a simple arrangement of eight matches, by which two squares and four similar triangles are formed.

60. WHAT AM I?

Correctly drawn results I yield.

Varied, but welcome everywhere;

But met with in the open field

I’m banned if frequent, blest if rare.

To this peculiar difference the clue

Is called with much significance the cue.

Solution

61. BURIED TOWNS

Wait while I think the matter over,

On holiday intent;

The best I’ve seen is surely Dover,

That pretty port of Kent.

Three towns are buried in these lines.

Solution

No. LXXVIII.—WALKING THE ROUNDS

A hospital was built in six detached blocks, and it was the duty of the night watchman to go completely round every block at fixed hours to see that all was safe.

What was his shortest course?

Solution

62. THE ARAB AND HIS ASS

An Arab came to the river side

With a donkey bearing an obelisk,

But he did not venture to ford the tide,

For he had too good an *.

So he camped all night by that river side,

Secure till the tide had ceased to swell,

For he knew that whenever the donkey died

No other could be its ‖.

Solution

No. LXXIX

Can you rearrange the twelve counters on this board of 36 squares so that there are two counters on each row, column, and diagonal?

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

Image

There must not be more than these two counters in the same straight line.

Solution

63. A CHARADE

What ho, my jolly second! never say my first

While my final you can find in Amsterdam.

Think how a sound whole stays your hunger and your thirst,

Deftly readjusting bread and meat and jam.

Solution

No. LXXX.—THE QUEEN’S TOUR

This is a course by which the queen on a chessboard, starting from K R sq., passes over every square in fourteen moves.

64. AFTER THE MATCH

“Did you score a score?” said Funniman to his schoolboy nephew, after a local cricket match. “No, uncle,” said the youngster, “but if I had made as many more runs, half as many more, and two runs and a half, I should have made my twenty.” How many runs did he get?

Solution

No. LXXXI.—A NEST OF TRIANGLES

In the “Twentieth Century Standard Puzzle Book” we gave a figure similar to this, in which there were 653 interlacing triangles in four tiers of this character.

We now add a fifth tier at the base, and ask our solvers to determine how many triangles of all shapes and sizes can be counted within its enlarged borders.

Solution

65. AN ENIGMA

Six letters spell the happy state

Of two in love made one.

The same six letters tell the fate

Of marriage ties undone.

Solution

No. LXXXII.—A SIMPLE MATCH PUZZLE

Place eight matches in a row, about an inch apart, as indicated in the diagram.

The puzzle is to form these into four pairs in four moves, by moving one match clear over two matches every time.

Solution

66. A TOPICAL RIDDLE

My First’s a bond, my Seconds weigh;

These own the Rest of all my lay;

Busy my Third; Fourth like the Pole,

Whose opposite my Fifth makes goal.

Solution

67. MISSING WORDS

For two months at the  .... we played,

Ere we were  .... to Lord’s;

Alas! the score our champion made

Was what a  .... affords!

The crowd in  .... of thousands came

But took scant notice of the game.

Solution

No. LXXXIII.—A MATCH PUZZLE

Place twelve matches, as is shown in the diagram, so that they form four squares.

Now remove three of the matches, and readjust the nine that remain so that they represent three squares.

Solution

68. MARCONIGRAMS

Edwin and Angelina were far apart, when this message, with its touch of jealous resentment, reached her on the wings of a Marconigram—

“No fickle girl is bonnie to my mind!”

Quite equal to the occasion, she flashed back the reply—

“In love inconstant I no pleasure find!”

How did these messages reveal the places from which they were despatched?

Solution

No. LXXXIV.—MATHEMATICS WITH MATCHES

In the four corner and four central cells of this nest of squares four matches are so placed as to represent 1⁄2, 1, 4, 1⁄50, 11, 12, 41, and 49.

Can you, still using only four matches in each case, fit different whole numbers or fractions in similar fashion into the other 28 cells?

Solution

69. EASY MENTAL ARITHMETIC

Set down three figures in a line,

Then multiply by four;

This, if you use the proper sign,

Makes five and nothing more.

Solution

No. LXXXV.—MANY READINGS

Can you complete the top and bottom rows, the two side columns, and the two diagonals of this square by forming in each of them the same sentence so that it can be read in twenty different directions?

R

I

V

I

R

I

I

I

I

V

V

V

I

I

I

I

R

I

V

I

R

Image

There are four words in the sentence of thirteen letters.

Solution

No. LXXXVI.—TOLD AT A GLANCE

Ask anyone to fix upon a number between 1 and 60 inclusive, and to point out to you the square or squares in which it appears:—

3

5

7

9

11

1

5

6

7

13

12

4

13

15

17

19

21

23

14

15

20

21

22

23

25

27

29

31

33

35

28

29

30

31

36

37

37

39

41

43

45

47

52

38

39

44

45

46

49

51

53

55

57

59

47

53

54

55

60

13

9

10

11

12

13

8

3

6

7

10

11

2

14

15

24

25

26

27

14

15

18

19

22

23

28

29

30

31

40

41

26

27

30

31

34

35

42

43

44

45

46

47

38

39

42

43

46

47

56

57

58

59

60

13

50

51

54

55

58

59

17

18

19

20

21

16

33

34

35

36

37

32

22

23

24

25

26

27

38

39

40

41

42

43

28

29

30

31

48

49

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

30

60

56

57

58

59

60

41

Image

You can find the number at a glance, by simply adding together the numbers in the right-hand top corner cells of the square indicated. Thus, if 45 has been chosen, 32 + 8 + 4 + 1 = 45.

No. LXXXVII.

Here is a little subtraction sum, which is not quite so simple as it appears to be:—

miles

furlongs

rods

yards

feet

inches

1

„

0

„

0

„

0

„

0

„

0

7

„

39

„

5

„

1

„

5

Image

Try it as it stands, without reducing the distance to inches.

Solution

70. A DOUBLET BY MISSING WORDS

Can you, by supplying the missing words, turn a grilse into a salmon? One letter is changed each time, and, except in one case, the order of the letters varies:—

To silver Tweed, or broader Spey,

The grilse of  ......,  ...... gay,

Glides on; the  ......  ...... draws

When salmon follows Nature’s laws.

Solution

71. AN ENIGMA

I never move, and yet I run

From place to place all day;

Some loving swain, hot foot for fun,

Sees Dora in my way.

Solution

No. LXXXVIII.—RANGING THE DIGITS

These are the arrangements of the nine digits, by which they add up alike in rows, columns, and diagonals in a square; on all sides in a triangle; and from top to bottom and from side to side in a cross:—

8

1

6

3

5

7

4

9

2

5

3

7

4

6

8

1

9

2

5

4

3

6

9

7

2

8

1

Image

The totals are 15, 20, and 27 respectively.

72. WHAT IS THIS WORD?

HAATTCEUMSSSS

Solution

73. MULTUM IN PARVO

Seven words in one of letters five we fix,

Five English, and one Latin;

No need to twist them, or afresh to mix,

If puzzles you are pat in.

Solution

74. THE GENTLE CRAFT

The question was asked in a puzzle competition—“Why is every angler ipso facto an Ananias?” Although no such method was asked for or expected, we find that the very letters of the question can be recast into a most apposite reply. Our answer by anagram runs thus—

A liar,  ..  ..... gay fancies to a  .....  ....

Can you complete the sentence by filling in the missing words?

Solution

No. LXXXIX.—NO TWO IN A ROW

On a board of sixty-seven squares, arranged as is shown in the diagram, place nine counters, so that no two are in the same row, column, or diagonal.

Image

The indentations do not affect the simple conditions.

Solution

75. A QUAINT RIDDLE

Peter White

Will never go right;

Shall I tell you the reason why?

Wherever he goes,

He follows his nose;

And that stands all awry!

If this appendage had slanted more

Why would it serve a hole to bore?

Solution

No. XC.—EXACT ALIGNMENT

Can you arrange these nine cards so that they form ten rows with three cards in each row?

A

♣

A

♢

10

♡

A

♠

Q

♠

K

♣

K

♢

J

♢

K

♡

Image

This may, of course, be done with any nine cards.

Solution

76. A MISSING LETTER

Thieaonunhinemileuchtormapa

Aitutoaeucceorlo;

Pringweetnetillpoeemoygra,

Aummertreemaofthadeacro.

Separate these strings of letters into words that scan and rhyme, adding the same missing letter in 55 places.

Solution

No. XCI.—AT A FANCY BALL

Two ladies and their squires, here represented by the White Knights and the Black, were dressed to impersonate Light, Liberty, Love, and Learning, and took their places on the corners of a pavement chequered to represent a chessboard, as is shown below:—

♘

♞

♞

♘

Image

They undertook to step a figure which should exhibit at each pause a revolving square, and in three paces bring them together in the centre, by a course traced upon the lines of their combined monograms. What were their successive steps?

Solution

No. XCII.—PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY IN CELLS

Can you disentangle all this good advice?

tell

you know

tells

knows

tells

he should not

do

you think of

does

thinks of

does

is not good

believe

you hear

believes

hears

believes

is false

spend

you have

spends

has

spends

he needs

judge

you see

judges

sees

judges

is not there

never

all

he who

all he

often

what

Image

It forms 5 excellent maxims in its 36 cells.

Solution

77. THRICE DOCKED

Protected, open, plain,

Without my tail I’m flat;

I’m round curtailed again;

Again, you have me pat.

Solution

No. XCIII.—A DISLOCATED CIRCLE

Study this quaint figure carefully, and try to discover how it can be divided into two pieces, so that these can be reunited to form a perfect circle.

Solution

78. A LOGOGRIPH

When all are gay this holds the sway,

But take a letter out,

That change of fare is ruling there,

You see, without a doubt.

Behead me twice; it is not nice

To have this in your skin;

Lop head and tail, and find a nail

Or tack to drive it in.

Behind his right, and in your sight

A little word you find;

But you will never make it out,

Though it is in your mind.

Solution

No. XCIV.

When Tommy was offered all the money by his uncle if he could place 15 half-crowns and 15 pennies in such order in a circle that, counting always by nines, and starting at a fixed point, he came always upon a penny, and removed it from the circle, he found the key to success in this Latin line, given to him by a school friend, who shared the spoil—“Populeam virgam mater regina ferebat.” The vowels, from a to u, are numbered from 1 to 5, and when they are thus marked in the sentence—

“

P

o

p

u

l

e

a

m

v

i

r

g

a

m

m

a

t

e

r

r

e

g

i

n

a

f

e

r

e

b

a

t

,

”

4

5

2

1

3

1

1

2

2

3

1

2

2

1

they show the necessary sequence of half-crowns and pennies.

Start counting with the half-crown marked a, and remove each penny as you come to it on counting up to nine, and the conditions are fulfilled.

No. XCV.—A BUSINESS ANAGRAM

This smart advertisement of a polish known as “Old Dutch Cleanser” appeared in an American paper:—

Cleans Scrubs

Scours Polishes

Old Dutch

Cleanser

If the eyes of the proprietor should fall upon this column, he will be surprised to find that his catch words Cleans, Scrubs, Scours, Polishes, can be recast into a perfect anagram, singularly appropriate to the powder advertised.

The opening words of the anagram are “O rub on, sir.”—Can our solvers complete the sentence?

Solution

No. XCVI.—A NEW CHESS PUZZLE

By Henry E. Dudeney.

Replace all these 51 pieces on the chessboard, so that no Queen attacks another Queen, no Rook another Rook, no Bishop another Bishop, and no Knight another Knight.

Q

Q

Q

Q

Q

Q

Q

Q

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

B

R

R

R

R

R

R

R

R

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Kt

Image

No account is to be taken of the intervening pieces, but each type of piece is to be considered as if it stood alone upon the board.

Solution

No. XCVII.—A GOOD KNIGHT’S TOUR

Here is a beautifully symmetrical specimen of the Knight’s tour:—

No. XCVIII.—A KNIGHT’S TOUR

Here is another beautifully symmetrical Knight’s tour:—

It starts from the corner square, and the second half of the course has dotted lines.

79. MISSING WORDS

He  ...... himself much on his skill,

In many a burglary tried;

But when he  ...... open the till

There was only a  ...... inside.

The missing words are spelt with the same six letters.

Solution

No. XCIX.—A KNIGHT’S TOUR

Here is quite a curious pattern described by another Knight’s tour:—

80. AN ENIGMA

Three-fourths of me an act display,

Three-fourths a bed for man;

Three-fourths have legs that cannot stray,

Three-fourths have legs that can.

I have a back without a spine;

An arm without a bone is mine.

Solution

81. A CHARADE

My first is the French for my second,

My whole a narcotic is reckoned.

Solution

No. C.—A GOOD PATTERN

Here is a very symmetrical Knight’s tour, in which half of the moves are indicated by dotted, and half by unbroken lines:—

82. PALINDROME WORDS

The letters of this sentence “Arrive to vote at it,” can be so recast as to form two palindrome words, or words that read alike from either end. What are they?

Solution

No. CI.—A KNIGHT’S TOUR

Here is another specimen of the Knight’s tour, which is beautifully symmetrical—

Half of the course is marked with dotted lines.

83. AN ENIGMA

Sweet till I lose my head,

Sweet-hearted then I show;

Decapitate again, I spread,

And cannot be below.

Served so once more, I am not dead,

But with fresh beauty glow.

Solution

No. CII.—A KNIGHT’S POETIC TOUR

On the board below a verse of eight lines runs on the course of a Knight’s move from square to square:—

sor

to

king

good

say

luck

loy

eth

and

moth

a

soon

dis

our

to

bad

place

ry

church

his

force

is

hat

al

er

queen

him

wight

he

to

may

truth

man

his

and

and

chess

es

knight

op’s

a

sneer

the

and

un

lawn

of

tates

cas

that

at

less

pawn

no

bish

lant

eth

faith

tles

hath

the

gal

in

love

Image

Can you disentangle the little poem?

Solution

84. TOMMY’S MONEY BOX

“Dad,” said little Tommy, “give me as much as I have in my purse, and I will put a shilling in my money-box.” This was done, and the process was repeated for three more days. How much had Tommy originally in his purse, which was now quite empty?

Solution

No. CIII.—THE MANX RABBITS

This is the way to draw three rabbits so that they have but three ears among them all:—

85. AN ENIGMA

Two articles of English make,

And three from foreign source.

All these together you must take

Where dramas run their course.

Solution

No. CIV.—SCORING A CENTURY

On this table is shown in ten different ways how exactly 100 can be arrived at by the use of the nine digits, each appearing only once.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1

1

4

95

3⁄7

56

98

6

15

15

3

45

53

4

16⁄28

34

1

2

2

36

5

7

6

7

3⁄6

8

79

47

8

9

8

1

27⁄54

9

8⁄4

98

9

62

71

98

1

6⁄3

2

26

38

29

2

3

74

4

75

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

9 × 8 + 7 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 100.

Image

86. IF WE COULD CHOOSE

“If it were possible, I should choose,” said young Hopeful, “a life double as long.”

“Yes,” said old Sobersides, “and you might turn it to better account if it was also begun old.”

How did their actual words bear this out?

Solution

No. CV.—SEEING THROUGH A VEIL

On a piece of clear tracing paper draw with pen and ink a close network of lines, such as is shown in this diagram, near enough together to conceal type of ordinary size.

Place this on the page of a book, and challenge any one to read a sentence, or even a word, through it, saying that you can do so easily. How can you succeed?

Solution

87. A CHARADE

Lop head and tail, and you will find

I have both tail and head.

Or if for spirits you’ve a mind

Set my tail first instead.

Life, as “a vapour full of woes,”

With many a darker page,

My whole in picture will disclose,

For “all the world’s a stage!”

Solution

No. CVI.—THE PAPER RINGS

In the diagram a strip of paper is shown (1), with its ends simply gummed together; (2), with a single twist; and (3), with a double twist. Can you decide, without actual experiment, what will be the result in each case if these are cut completely round, as is indicated by the dotted lines?

Solution

88. MISSING WORDS

A glowing   ........ window, graced

With   ........ that true art has traced.

Solution

89. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

How do the actual letters of these words in their union prove that anæsthetics are “blessed in pain?”

Solution

No. CVII.—THE MAGIC BUTTONS

Make two parallel cuts with a penknife along the centre of a slip of leather or other material, and below them a hole of the same width. Pass a piece of string under the slit, and through the hole, and tie two buttons, each much larger than the hole, to the ends of the string.

How can the string be released without removing either of the buttons?

Solution

No. CVIII.—THE CAPTIVE SCISSORS

Fasten a pair of scissors securely with a piece of string to some convenient article, as is shown in this diagram:—

Can you release them without cutting or unfastening the string?

Solution

90. A BURIED QUOTATION

“What sin was it, sonny?” said an American negress to her lover, when she sat on his best hat, which was flattened. Wearily he heard her musical laugh, and arose to go. His hobby was botany, but not hers, for she was then a merry girl. “Bother the flowers! I would prefer this mellow pine-apple, Leonidas,” she said; “I guess we Ethiopians just love fruit!”

Solution

No. CIX.—A PRIMITIVE TRAP

This diagram represents in the simplest outline a primitive wolf-trap.

The dotted line is a gate opening into a circular enclosure. How was the trap set and the wolf caught?

Solution

91. LADIES AT A SALE

They  .... the dress with grip so keen

That half the  .... gives way;

And home return with purses lean

To  .... of “bargain-day!”

What are the missing words?

Solution

No. CX.—A SPINNING NEEDLE

To balance a needle on the head of a pin, push the pin into the cork of a wine bottle, and the needle into a separate cork.

With the aid of three forks, as is shown in the picture, the needle may be balanced and spun round on the head of the pin.

92. MISSING WORDS

Air—“Three fishers went sailing.”

Three  ...... went sailing out into the west,

Out into the west as the sun sank low;

Each thought as they  ...... of the lad she loved best,

For they all had  ......, and each had a beau.

But seas will rise, and spirits will sink,

And they all were too ill of  ...... to think,

So these  ......  ...... back moaning.

Each missing word has the same six letters.

Solution

No. CXI.—AFTER DINNER

This diagram shows how, as an after-dinner trick, four similar wineglasses can be placed on the table

so that the centres of the lowest parts of their stems are equidistant from each other.

93. A CHARADE

Lurking in riddles oft my first is found;

My second should in ample stores abound,

Or help to make the sweetest songster heard.

Peculiar, and quite proper, is my third.

My whole has found with England’s monarch grace,

The verdant home of many a goodly race.

Solution

No. CXII.—SECOND SIGHT

Ask any one, with this diagram to work upon, to think of any number between 5 and 15, and, while your back is turned, to count up to it, beginning at the lowest step, and saying one, two, three, four, and so on, as each step of cards or single card is reached in the direction indicated by the arrow. When the number thought of has been thus arrived at, tell him to stop, and beginning afresh on that card, to count one, two, three, etc., backwards, this time skipping over the double six and the 3 steps until he again reaches the number thought of, and notices which card he has touched last.

How can you, without having seen any of his movements, at once find that card?

Solution

No. CXIII.—AN AFTER DINNER TRICK

Cut a wedge out of an apple, as is indicated in the diagram, and make six gashes as is shown.

When this has been done, challenge anyone to divide the apple into six pieces by only two straight cuts, so that there shall be one of the gashes in each piece.

Solution

94. ALIKE TO THE EYE

Accent my head,

An opening I appear

In other fashions said

I charm all far and near.

Solution

No. CXIV.—A TOY BOOMERANG

Cut out in cardboard a boomerang as nearly as possible of the size and pattern given here:—

Place it flat on the back of the first three fingers of the left hand, sloping them upward; then flick it smartly with the second finger of the right hand. It will fly off and return to your lap. Try it.

95. LONDON BY ANAGRAM

Here are two simple sentences:—

A lamp shines out for thee.

Win me best by tears.

Can you recast the letters, so that they form the names of two of the most important buildings in London?

Solution

96. HEARD ON THE BRIGHTON BEACH

It was low tide; two children were throwing pebbles into the sea, and sending their excited collie in pursuit of them. The Puzzle Editor, who was on holiday, quickened perhaps by the salt air, bethought him of this appropriate riddle:—What is the difference between that dog and a hungry man?

Solution

No. CXV.—IN THE GRIP OF A RADISH

Cut a radish in half, press the lower surface firmly against a plate, as is shown in the diagram:—

and you can lift the plate, to which it clings as closely as a boy’s wet leather disc to the pavement.

97. FIND THE ANIMAL

A part of me in rain,

A part in hail must be,

A part belongs to pain,

A part in bones we see,

A part in gleaming gold,

A part in common copper.

A part in peace behold,

A part in any topper;

Two parts are heard in sound,

And in our finals found.

Solution

No. CXVI.—ELASTIC PAPER

The countryman who cut one hole in his door for the cat and another for the kitten would find it difficult to pass a penny through a hole the size of a shilling cut in a stout piece of paper.

This diagram shows how easily it can be done:—

Fold the paper across the centre of the hole, place the penny in the fold, and bend the lower corners of the paper upwards. This elongates the opening, and the coin falls through.

98. A SMART ENIGMA

Men commonly say I am clever,

Book-learning I never could boast;

Yet I turn the leaves inside the cover,

And when I am found I am lost.

Solution

99. MISSING WORDS

. ... is like a  ..... or what is most

Comparative, a  ..... is like a  . ...;

For when their substances in liquor sink

Both properly are said to be in drink.

One of the letters of the two short words is used twice in the longer word.

Solution

No. CXVII.—THE NIMBLE SIXPENCE

Place a sixpence on the tablecloth, and over it set a tumbler, as is shown in the picture below.

How can you pocket the sixpence without removing the glass, or having it removed?

Solution

100. A PIED PROVERB

abdeefiinnnoopprrrsssttuw

Solution

101. SELF-DEFINED

A wordy warfare waged with wit,

In youth its joys none need descry;

But where our elders take to it

Its name points loss of dignity.

Solution

No. CXVIII.—HOW TO DRAW A SPIRAL

How can you draw such a spiral as this with very simple appliances?

This spiral is drawn rapidly without removing the pencil from the paper.

Solution

102. FIND THE HERO

My first’s in garb, but not in dress;

My next’s in praise, but not in bliss;

My third’s in man, but not in miss;

My fourth’s in we.

My fifth’s in boar, but not in hog;

My sixth’s in cat, but not in dog;

My next’s in calm, but not in fog;

My eighth’s in we.

My ninth’s in rope, but not in twine;

My tenth’s in light, but not in shine;

My next’s in four, but not in nine;

My twelfth’s in we.

Solution

No. CXIX.—FOR HANDY FINGERS

Take a piece of stout paper or thin cardboard, about 10 in. by 8 in., and cut it as is shown below, removing the parts that are shaded in the diagram.

If you hold this between a plain wall, or other surface, and a strong light, you will, with a little practice, be able to cast a shadow similar to one or other of these Madonna heads, which will vary in intensity and expression with the positions of the paper and the light.

No. CXX.—THE FOUR KINGS

This excellent and easy little card trick will commend itself for fireside use in the long evenings.

Take the four Kings from a pack, and two other cards. Hold the Kings thus, in the form of a fan—

hiding the two other cards behind the King of Diamonds.

After showing them, place the six cards at the bottom of the pack. Now move the lowest card to the top, and the two next cards to any part of the pack, apparently leaving but one King at the bottom. Ask some one to cut the pack, and all the Kings will be found together. Some appropriate patter will help the effect.

103. PROVERB BY ANAGRAM

Can you recast this sentence—

A defeat whose test is very sure—

so that the same letters form an appropriate proverb?

Solution

No. CXXI.—DOMINO SQUARE

Its cells add up in columns and rows to 22, and those of the corner squares add up to 10 and 12 respectively.

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Image

104. PHONETIC MISSING WORDS

’Tis  ..... that no one takes a  .....

To  .... a  .... of  ....s;

A  .... may often take a  ....

To  .... away the  ....s.

Solution

No. CXXII.—THE TALKING HEAD

This, though quite an old illusion, may be a mystery to some of our readers, so we give it a place among our many curiosities.

The table is placed on the middle of a platform, well away from the background, and the head, which is very much alive, is prepared to answer questions, or to whistle, or to sing, at the will of the audience. “How it is done” will be explained.

Solution

105. A QUEER OBSTACLE

I’m in everyone’s way,

Yet no one I stop.

My four horns each day

Horizontally play,

And my head is nailed on at the top.

Solution

No. CXXIII.—A GENERAL OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

With a little ingenuity, and by slightly warming the wax, and shredding the matches for some effects, all sorts of comical figures can be contrived, similar in character to this dignified general on his high-stepping charger.

106. AN OLD ENIGMA

(By a former Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.)

Take five from five, and then

Put fifty in the middle;

Twice ten times five times ten

Will finish off my riddle,

And bring it to your ken

As fit as any fiddle!

Solution

No. CXXIV.—ANOTHER BOOMERANG

Cut out in cardboard a cross similar to that shown in this diagram:—

Place one of its limbs under the thumbnail of the left hand, and give the next projecting limb a sharp flick with the middle finger of the right hand. The little boomerang will fly sharply forward, and invariably return rapidly on its tracks. Try it.

107. PHONETIC GAPS

Can you fill these gaps with words of similar sound?

No  ..... will  ..... before the wind

A  ..... will  ... before it;

We cannot  .... the  ...., or find

That earthly powers  ..... o’er it.

The gaps in line 1 take words that sound alike; so do those in line 2; and so do the other three in lines 3 and 4.

Solution

No. CXXV.—A PICTURE CHARADE

Can you fill in the missing words so as to complete this picture charade?

My first may  .... candle  ...,

My second then  .....  ..;

My whole in  ..... moves  .....

....... an oar or  ...

Solution

108. SOUND SENSE

We seem to sound a note of lavish bounty;

Reverse us, and we indicate a county.

Solution

109. A CRYPTOGRAM

FTHNMLKBRNGSLLCTTN

LLSKMTMXTTLLTSTHN!

Can you so deal with this as to form a rhyming couplet?

Solution

No. CXXVI.—WALNUTS AND COBS

A good after dinner trick

Place four walnuts and four cobnuts in a row, as indicated on the diagram.

Now, moving always two that stand together, transfer them to some other positions along the line, and in four such moves leave them so that the large and small nuts range alternately. It may, of course, be done with large and small coins, or with other things that are at hand.

Solution

110. A BURIED PROVERB

Yet I see them all! on golden wings that fly

Old memories steal anew;

With a tear, with a sigh, with an old, old cry

They return in ghostly hue!

Solution

111. DOUBLETS

Here is another exercise in Doublets, from Lewis Carroll’s book on the subject:—

Turn ELM into OAK by seven links, introducing the name of another tree as one of them.

Solution

No. CXXVII.—A PICTURE RIDDLE

Can you read in this picture the question of our riddle?

Solution

112. TWO POSERS

1.

My dear Mr Bird,

We are giving a ball;

First second we third,

Pray give us your all.

2.

Second, I did my first and last,

Till I became my whole;

And told the tale of my repast,

A sad and greedy soul.

Solutions

No. CXXVIII.—BUY A BROOM

Here is an excellent example of how a characteristic figure may be contrived by shredding, warming, and uniting a few wax matches:—

Many similar figures can be made by handy fingers.

113. A CHARADE

My whole, industrious, wends his way

His daily task to meet;

Behead, transpose, and lo! a sound

Of music soft and sweet;

Behead again, I make my way

With swiftness past belief;

Again, and where the fields are gay

My bounty brings relief.

Solution

No. CXXIX.—JEU DE PARQUET

(For the children)

An old book, published more than 100 years ago, gives the following samples of patterns which may be formed with very simple materials:—

All that is needed for this pastime is a set of 128 coloured triangles, 64 of each colour, with which an endless variety of patterns can be arranged by the exercise of taste and ingenuity.

114. LINES BY AN OLD OXBRIDGE DON

’Tis an absurdity to say

Women should try for a B.A.

To College honours forward looking;

They’d best confine themselves to cooking!

How could a Girton girl retort, using the same words?

Solution

115. LESS AND MORE

Eight letters (start with b)

Three syllables contain;

Take one away, and see

Four syllables remain!

Solution

116. BURIED BEASTS

Can you dig out nineteen beasts that are buried in these lines?—

Ireland’s lot heals slowly. Troubles came long ago—at times in battalions—to attack and harass her. Ambitious democrats now countermine famous enthusiasts nearly akin to heroes. Anarchy enables cowards to sow hot terror and all amazement.

Solution

117. PALINDROMIC VERSE

Can you recast the following sentences so that their words form a verse of four lines, which makes good sense, with lines that rhyme alternately, when read from either end?:—

Fading slowly day dies, mournful winds sigh, Stars are waking brightly; owlet holding high revel flies hooting, breaking nightly silence.

Solution

118. AN ANAGRAM IN THE MAKING

“The Observatory at Greenwich, in England,” has been turned into an excellent anagram, which starts—On landing here begin—Can you complete it?

Solution

119. AN ENIGMA

No man at all am I

And, if you turn me round,

To hear my warning cry

Not any men are found.

Solution

120. ASK A SAILOR

How can our sailors fare the best

When times are harder?

How do they greet with merry jest

An empty larder?

Solution

121. AN ENIGMA

I lose my head when I am here,

Transpose me I am three;

Look in a book, you find me there,

And with me her and he.

Solution

122. MISSING WORDS

Jack did  ....... that he could square

The circle to a  .......;

His friends  ....... that a brain so rare

Required attention  ........

The missing words are spelt with the same seven letters.

Solution

123. A HUMAN PRODIGY

My father is my son,

And I’m my mother’s mother;

My daughter and sister are one,

I’m grandam to my brother!

How was this?

Solution

124. A CHARADE

Catch my first with nimble wit,

Add a simple word;

Then my whole may help a bit

Opportunely heard.

Solution

125. A PARADOX

My mate and I from home did start,

Some little space we were apart.

When we had run a mile or more

We kept our distance, as before;

Shade of Colenso! could this be,

When twice as fast as I ran he?

Solution

126. AN ENIGMA

(From Lewis Carroll’s Papers.)

A monument all men agree

Am I in all sincerity,

Half cat, half hindrance made.

If head and tail removed should be,

Then most of all you strengthen me.

Replace my head, the stand you see

On which my tail is laid.

Solution

127. A CHARADE

I’m known to the poorest and worst,

And my worth by a child may be reckoned;

The least thing in nature is double my first,

And my whole is just half of my second.

Solution

128. WHAT IS IT?

My first without its head and tail

Is one and undivided;

My second shows its teeth, is frail,

And as a rule one-sided.

The two to hold my first avail,

My busy toil provided.

Solution

129. BURIED TOWNS

In each of these sentences a town is buried:—

His sister played the piano while we sang.

I saw Nell out here last evening.

The general rode a large black mare.

I have ordered a cab at half-past one.

Meet me in the lane at half-past nine.

Can you dig them out?

Solution

130. A GOOD ANAGRAM

“The leaning tower of Pisa, in Tuscany, Italy.” The first seven words of its anagram are “A funny spot in a sweet city.” Can you complete the anagram by adding four more appropriate words?

Solution

131. MISSING WORDS

When they found that catacomb

Near the  ....... at Rome

’Twas the  ....... discussion of the season;

But the  ....... effect

Of the skeletons select

Deprived the poor Professor of his reason!

Solution

132. A CHARADE

My first is pretence,

My second a dandy;

When fogs are most dense

My whole will be handy.

Solution

133. A DECISIVE ANAGRAM

Can you prove by anagram that, whatever may be true of other plays accredited to Shakespeare, Bacon had certainly no hand in “Much Ado About Nothinge,” if we adopt the old spelling of the final word?

Solution

134. RATHER OBSCURE

Use all your wits to guess my all,

Can any guess it right?

Transposed, and never seen at all,

It still is felt in sight.

Behead, transpose, then let it be,

And you at last a clue may see.

Solution

135. SHUFFLE THE LETTERS

Can you recast “Insanitary” and “Sanitary Reform” so as to form two very appropriate anagrams?

Solution

136. A CHARADE

Let my second cut my first

When I come to table;

Though I cannot quench your thirst

Eat me—you are able.

Solution

137. MISSING LETTERS

whtmrslndsosdlyswr?

whtdyssdrksdysthtwrslrm?

lssknyskthndfr,

llshllcllwrhrssndhrm.

whycllsblldstlkthtghstlyrt

llgllntctsgrndndmntyprt?

Can you supply the missing letters?

Solution

138. A CHARADE

To me when whole, for I am sweet,

The moon fresh brightness brings;

Cut off my tail, I’m blunt, but meet

To sharpen other things.

Behead me twice, and I have led

Soldiers to face the foe;

Headless and tailless, one remains

Though all the rest may go.

Solution

139. IS IT BANTING?

We start when the ninth hour is past,

Then there’s an end of you.

A vengeful goddess shows at last

What Antifat will do.

Solution

140. A CHARADE

When on charades intent I take my pen,

To seek some hidden goal,

Over my first my second comes, and then

Quite overcomes my whole.

Solution

141. A PRIZE CRYPTOGRAM

The following cryptic lines were sent as a reliable tip before a race in which Petronel was to run:—

“Tell me, Ben, who tore it

Seek a plant for it, see Bob.”

Can you discover their hidden meaning?

Solution

142. AN ENIGMA

I have no form, I have no friend,

From me all come, in me all end.

And it is strange but very true

That I am here and nowhere too.

Solution

143. FACING BOTH WAYS

Can you fill in this broken sentence, first to describe a curse, and then to proclaim its cure:—

A     sed    end    ought   eat        ease         ain.

using 16, and then 17, extra letters.

Solution

144. A CHARADE

My first is a cover,

My second a city;

The whole you discover

With this if you’re witty.

Solution

145. BURIED RIVERS

The deaf and dumb girl began gesticulating with a message, and her delivery was ever neat, with graceful pose in every attitude.

Four rivers are buried here.

Solution

146. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

If the “shingle” on the beach at Brighton could speak, what would be its boast?

Solution

147. A SIMPLE RECIPE

She is as deaf as any post,

Incurable I fear;

She is my guest, I am her host,

How can I make her hear?

Solution

148. THE PLAINT OF THE REJECTED

A May-Day Dirge

Refused, rejected as before!

Yes,[A]  ...  .. I know of yore.

..... of youth, and deadly foe

To genius. Eastward then I go

With  ..... undaunted, and my name

Through  ..... shall yet resound with fame;

And subjects shall be mine by scores

From far  ..... to Ganges’ shores.

[A] More than one word.

Solution

149. “BETA IN GREEK MEANS LETTER B.”

The clever play-writer who suggested these words as a phonetic excuse for wife-beating might in another fashion invite a man to beat his wife by merely calling him. What would he say?

Solution

150. A REBUS

storm?

a th

an umbrella

me who

with

alls

all

mud.

Solution

151. BONES OF A PALINDROME

NRNRMMHDLVLDHMMRNRN.

Can you, keeping these consonants in their order, fill in vowels so as to form a sentence which is a perfect palindrome, and reads alike from either end?

Solution

152. A NICE POINT

“Can you tell me,” said an undergraduate to his tutor, who was great at Ecclesiastical Law, “whether the Pope would be allowed to bury the Archbishop of Canterbury?” As some slight stress was laid on the syllables Canterbury, the tutor for a moment suspected some trick, but being assured that it was quite a serious question, promised to consider the point. What should he reply?

Solution

153. A BURIED PROVERB

While there are very many as kind as this, they know no task unkind. Can you dig a proverb out from this sentence?

Solution

154. IN THE OPEN

Kate gathers me where children three,

Tom, Jane, and Mary, chatter;

He leads the way, and then we see

The other two come at her!

Solution

155. A BURIED QUOTATION

(From Shakespeare)

Strange weather! What could equal it? Yesterday sunshine and soft breezes, to-day a summer cyclone raging noisily; then other changes, as floods of fiercest rain eddy beneath the blast.

Solution

156. PALINDROME ON A BEETROOT

Fill in the necessary vowels, and form thus with these consonants in their present order a perfect palindrome:—

RDRTPTPTRDR

It must read alike from either end.

Solution

157. A CHARADE

My first we all do when we fail;

My next is heard in rain or hail;

My fourth a sheep of gender male;

My third is one without its tail;

My whole for foreign countries sail.

Solution

158. AMBIGUOUS

On the outer wall of a Western college this was written: “Young women should set a good example, for young men  ....  ......  ....!” What three words will give a most ambiguous sense to the inscription?

Solution

159. AN ENIGMA

I’m but a little letter, still

I have my duties to fulfil;

If off you take

My tail, and make

An alteration in my lot,

Though I seem shorter I am not.

Solution

160. DIABOLUS!

Says Tom to Bill, “Pray tell me, sir,

Why is it that the devil,

In spite of all his naughty ways,

Can never be uncivil?”

Says Bill to Tom, “The answer’s plain

To any mind that’s bright;

Because the  ...  .’  ........, sir,

Cannot be  ...  .’  .....!”

Can you supply the missing words?

Solution

161. MISSING WORDS

Beneath the  ..... which shade the lawn

Her bicycle she mounted,

And with a  ....., ere she had gone

An hour, ten  ..... she counted.

It rained, it snowed, but nought could stop her,

Till in the  ..... she came a cropper!

Solution

162. AN INSCRIPTION WITH A POINT

On the comparatively new organ at Ober Ammergau, on a brass plate above the keyboard, is the following Latin inscription:—

QVI CHRISTI LAVDES CANTANT

SANCTÆ PASSIONIS SVÆ VIRTVTE

IN IPSO ET PATRE VNVM SINT

which may be freely rendered—“May those who sing the praises of Christ be, by virtue of His Sacred Passion, one in the Father and in Him.”

These lines contain a hidden point, beyond their obvious interpretation. Can you discover it?

Solution

163. BY ANAGRAM

A woman’s name

Of foreign fame,

Hers was a noble mind.

Now, sir, transpose,

And I suppose

No smaller thing you’ll find.

Solution

164. A FRENCH CHARADE

Pour avoir mon premier

Femme qui cache mon dernier

Manque souvent mon entier.

Solution

165. A CHARADE

Let go! let go! you naughty first,

Or you will make my second;

A stream of words will then outburst,

Swift as my whole is reckoned.

Solution

166. OUT OF DATE

My first is first when cruisers charge in line,

And oft in frosty skies is seen to shine.

Don’t spare my second if you would suggest

To an impulsive child the way that’s best.

My sporting whole, though now neglected grown,

Travelled by tube before the tube was known.

Solution

167. AN ENIGMA

First of men we lead a measure,

Last we end the same.

Starting merrily, our pleasure

Is to finish lame.

Solution

168. TESTED BY DICTATION

Tom, home for the holidays, and in teasing mood, declared that he could give his sister quite a simple sentence of seven common words of one syllable, which she could not produce with her new typewriter. What was his sentence?

Solution

169. ASCRIBED TO VOLTAIRE

This French charade, ascribed by some to Lady Waterford, and by others to Voltaire, has neat points:—

Mon premier est un tyran, mon second un horreur,

Mon tout est le diable lui-même.

Mais si mon premier est bon, mon second ne fait rien,

Et mon tout est le bonheur suprême.

Solution

170. AT THE GUILDHALL

Sydney Smith, when questioned as to the value and satisfaction of a City feast, said: “I cannot wholly value a dinner by the  ....  ...  ..” Can you supply the finish of his witty reply?

Solution

171.

In youth exalted high in air,

Or bathing in the streamlet fair,

Nature to form me took delight

And clothed my body all in white;

My person tall and slender waist

On either side with fringes graced;

Till me that tyrant Man espied,

And dragg’d me from my mother’s side.

No wonder that I look so thin,

The monster stripp’d me to the skin;

My body flay’d, my hair he cropp’d,

And head and foot both off he lopp’d;

And then, with heart more hard than stone,

Pick’d all the marrow from my bone.

To vex me more, he took a freak

To slit my tongue, and make me speak.

But that which wonderful appears,

I speak to eyes and not to ears.

All languages I now command

Yet not a word I understand.

Solution

172. A YOUNG SHAVER

Happy in the possession of a KEEN KUT, the newest form of safety razor, and meeting a friend whose chin bore painful traces of a less trusty blade, an undergraduate who had a turn for puzzles propounded this riddle: “What is the difference between my razor and yours?” Can you answer it?

Solution

173. DECAPITATIONS

The ship rode in an  ....... bay,

Asleep  ...... the master lay.

A  ..... and rugged man was he

And, like a  .... at home at sea.

Like swooping  ... he caught his prey

Whene’er an  .. came his way.

But while due  . the needle kept

He in his cabin lay and slept.

The missing word in the first line has seven letters; its first letter is cut off to form the second missing word, and this process is repeated throughout the seven lines.

Solution

174. A CHARADE

When the tempest roars the loudest

Oft my first a shelter proves.

Say what fair one, though the proudest,

Spurns my next from one she loves?

When the storms of life are past

Earth provides my whole at last.

Solution

175. SHUFFLE THE LETTERS

One syllable, I help to turn the scale

Of party strife or faction;

Recast me, and two syllables avail

To stop all further action.

Solution

176. FILL IN THE VOWELS

Lines to an owl:—

HNLDTWRSTHGLMWL

THLVSTTHTTHLVSTTHWL

RNLDKSRHLLWTN

SLSTSSLMNSNDSLN

SMRNFLNNLVSTG

RFRHTNGHWLSTKNW

As a hint, the last line is:—

Or of your hooting howls to know.

Solution

177. ARMY ANAGRAMS

Here is an excellent little exercise for patient or quick-witted solvers:—

I’m free to-day, the old sire said,

O no cell now have I to dread;

For this one happy day to me

Are glen and hill and forest free.

I, if I will, can ride, or fish,

A pit can enter, if I wish,

In search of chalk or sand.

In peace alone I now can dine,

And sing to Anna’s lute at nine,

Nor fear a reprimand.

Each word or group of words in italics forms, when the letters are shuffled and recast as an anagram, a military title. Can you decipher them?

Solution

178. A CHARADE

My first transposed becomes a name

Which may quite mean be reckoned,

Two syllables combine the same,

With one or two for second.

My whole when fields are fresh and green,

And softly blows the wind,

Where the first signs of spring are seen

Within the woods we find.

Solution

179. AN ANAGRAM ENIGMA

Silent long is the wood-bird’s song,

Bare is the woodland bough;

For waving trees in wintry breeze

Have “no buds now.”

Can you recast the three words at the end, so that their letters form a word descriptive of the scene?

Solution

180. A QUESTION OF TIME

A farmer with children sixteen

Killed the fattest young lamb of his flock.

To divide it these children between,

What must be the time by the clock?

Solution

181. A DONKEY DRIVE

To the far end of any train

Hitch on a pair of neddies;

Then you will hear, like steps of Cain,

The threat that in their tread is.

Solution

182. EATING BY ALPHABET

Take all the alphabet and cast

Its final letter out;

Then set the first where was the last,

And this you bring about:

Without a cook, without a fire,

A dainty dish which men desire.

Solution

183. A CHARADE

My second with my first we greet;

My whole in earlier days

Gave understanding to the feet

That moved in tragic plays.

Solution

184. PROVERB ANAGRAM

Here is another proverb in anagram:—

Behest on thy lips, Society!

Can you recast it, and so recover the proverb, with which it is quite in keeping?

Solution

185. WHAT’S IN A NAME?

An epidemic of anagrams broke out in a public school, and eight of the prefects, having turned their Christian names into other words, fashioned from them this sentence, which contains them all in order.

“I, thy Tom, am sober and lie or live in dew, but her brain sinned.”

Can you decipher them?

Solution

186. AN ENIGMA

In any coward’s company you find

That I have place.

Cut off my head, and from your mind

All wrong erase.

Solution

187. A DOUBLE ACROSTIC

(From Punch, 1875)

My first elect among the few,

Chooses my second to expose his view.

1. Of various colours, changed at will,

I sit or stand for good or ill.

2. I rule alone from noon till night,

And when I am not am is right.

Solution

188. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

Why should a man in a rage go to a “shooting gallery?” Each word has its complete anagram.

Solution

189. QUITE A BEATITUDE

Let her be or beat her,

Give her little ease;

Then in safety seat her

All among the bees!

Solution

190. CLEARING IT UP

“We,” cried my first and second,

“Are not quite satisfied.”

“The story may be reckoned

Imperfect,” fourth replied.

Said third, “The fact indeed I tell,”

And so at last all ended well.

Solution

191. PROVERB IN ANAGRAM

“I dare not admit faint women.”

Can you recast these words so that their letters form a well-known proverb?

Solution

192. A CHARADE

My first and second are as best they should be,

My third in Latin mouth is what it would be.

My whole would soon be ashes if it could be.

Solution

193. MISSING WORDS

Since Spooks, a  ...... man is he,

...... this haunted house to me,

In  ...... funk I  ...... round,

And fear a ghost in every sound!

The missing words are spelt with the same letters.

Solution

194. WHAT IS IT?

What is that which is found in the centre of Australia and of America, and in no other place?

Solution

195. GRANDFATHER’S TURN

“It’s grandfather’s turn,” cried the children at a Christmas party where jokes and riddles have been rife.

With a quiet twinkle in his eye, the old man said, “Do you know why is the fourth of July?” Not one of them could understand or answer his question, which seemed to lack finish and grammar. Can you?

Solution

196. A CHARADE

My first is never far away,

My next in Latin found;

My third may rage by night or day;

All make melodious sound.

Solution

197. MISSING WORDS

Through the  ...... trees

Softly coo the doves;

Let a  ...... breeze

...... youthful loves!

Solution

198. AN ENIGMA

At starting, half your income take,

Then for my second write;

And let your table help to make

The total cosy quite.

Solution

199. A CHARADE

My whole is a circle complete,

Beheaded I fall to your feet.

Behead me again and I fry,

Or am baked in a savoury pie.

Solution

200. ANAGRAM WORDS

Can you recast these short sentences into six single words?

See a pug dog.   Red paper.

Fat reward.

Stay, O morn.   Set on a dish.

Solution

201. AN ENIGMA

If my whole by my second and first you divide,

One more than ten thousand it gives.

In the land of my birth I have dwindled and died,

In museums my memory lives.

Solution

202. A PARADOX

Though never present, I appear,

Of perfect form a token;

And all that centres round my ear

Is heard, though never spoken.

Solution

203. BEST WHEN BEHEADED

Behead me twice, and it shall be

That I my perfect self regain;

Restore both heads and you shall see

That most perfect I remain.

Solution

204. MISSING WORDS

Grant, lady, grant your  ..... his whim,

And give the coming  ..... to him,

For this will  ..... his jealous heart,

Stricken so sore by Cupid’s dart.

If not he  ..... his hands of you,

To seek fresh  ..... and pastures new.

Solution

205. A SEASONABLE PUZZLE

(Quite an ice one)

“Yes, yes, I know,” said Jack to Jill,

“That thirty-two is freezing-point;

And I can tell you, if you will,

Exactly what is squeezing-point!”

Solution

206. ILLUMINATING FIGURES

To fifty add a third of one,

A third to five attach;

You have the means, when this is done,

To kindle any match.

Solution

207. MISSING WORDS

The untrained  .......... in the City

Is robbed by  .......... without pity.

The missing words are spelt with the same ten letters.

Solution

208. A CHRISTMAS CRACKER

Comes Christmas merry? Hungry birds; no bright berries; rents high, not paid; long bills; empty barns; no peace and prosperity.

How can we amend this gloomy forecast?

Solution

209. ANAGRAM FLOWERS

Six common plants are concealed by anagram in the following sentence. The letters which spell each plant follow each other, but are in disorder.

O rise love it lad never let this lamb chase trains.

Solution

210. AN ENIGMA

My first is quite a sin by name,

My third its simple cure;

My second puts an end to fame,

My whole of ease is sure.

Solution

211. A PARADOX

Cut off my head, it is unshaken,

Cut off my tail, you turn it round;

But if both head and tail are taken,

Unconquered still I hold my ground.

Solution

212. WHAT ARE THEY?

Why should we quarrel, First and Third,

With nought between us but a word?

Let Third leave Second unessayed

To heal the breach these letters made.

If your solution be but fair

You find my whole disjointed there.

Solution

213. A CRYPTIC ADDRESS

“Next week,” wrote Funniboy from Naples to his friend, “I am going to ‘plant onions, etc.’ Let me hear from you.” How did his friend gather his destination from these words?

Solution

214. AMONG THE GHOSTS

In haunted house to sleep I tried

My dread first was my chum.

“With second of my first,” I cried,

“My whole I should become.”

Solution

215. AN ENIGMA

My first is possessive and second;

My second possessive and first.

Such banks most attractive are reckoned

By those for rich treasure athirst.

Solution

216. BONES OF A PALINDROME

RPLVLSLVLPR

Can you insert the missing letters, and complete the palindrome so that it reads alike from either end?

Solution

217. A WORD AND A BLOW

“Now, dad,” said Tom Pickles to his father in the Christmas holidays, “take this bottle in your left hand, and when I say ‘three!’ try how far you can blow the cork into it.”

The cork, smaller than the neck of the bottle, was placed just inside, and as Tom cried, “One, two, three!” his father gave a lusty blow. What was the result?

Solution

218. A GOOD RIDDLE

When are acorns as strong as oaken posts?

Solution

219. THE BONES OF A PALINDROME

PTTPBTNTNTBPTTPBTNTNTBPTTP.

Can you add the vowels, and make a palindrome that reads alike from either end?

Solution

220. MISSING WORDS

The  ..... of Shakespeare and of song

Have fair and dainty features;

But she I  ..... my hopes upon

Excels those lovely creatures.

From  ..... she  ..... her name so dear,

She lives on  ..... and honey;

She cannot  ..... but she can steer,

And Madeline has money.

Solution

221. A NOVEL ANAGRAM

A politician used a high-flown phrase, which implied inaccurate wording, though some spoke of it as dust thrown in people’s eyes. Can you recover the two long words which he used, by anagram, from this sentence?

Axiomatic intelligence, or dust.

Solution

222. A CHARADE

My first your bosom friend, or man or maid,

Whom you can trust, secure and unafraid.

My second, sounded double, tells of fate,

Or sounded single puts an end to hate.

My whole a hall’s arched roof, or soft or hard,

That lies beyond the gate with ivory barr’d.

Solution

223. IS THIS TRUE?

Woman without her man would be helpless.

Solution

224. SOME ANAGRAMS

Can you recast these short sentences so that each of them forms a single word?

A moment’s cure.    The old rocks.

Cod is nice.    It lures a cat.

Solution

225. AN ENIGMA

Without my head I circulate

With speed and inclination;

Without my tail, at any rate,

I still have circulation.

Transpose three letters, in unbroken state,

I then receive the ashes of the great.

Solution

226. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

Many will remember how often the great tenor, Sims Reeves, was prevented from singing by his delicate throat. An excellent anagram can be evolved from his name which, with some exaggeration, proclaims this. Can you discover it?

Solution

227. MISSING WORDS

Consuming lust for  ....., now so rife,

Like  .....  ..... mars both love and life.

Solution

228. FROM BEDLAM

Here are the bones of a palindrome sentence that might be spoken by some unhappy criminal lunatic. Can you clothe them with their vowels, so that the sentence reads alike from either end?

MNCLVDDVLCNM.

Solution

229. FRUITS AND FLOWERS.

And as trim bees rise or go,

A long aim I’d say, a libel O!

Fruit and flowers are hidden here in anagrams, each in its order separately.

Solution

230. ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM

NOW ONE OLD FORT.

What place is this?

RABID OWL.

Change this bird into a beast.

Solution

231. CHARADE

By W. M. Praed

Alas, for that forgotten day

When chivalry was nourish’d,

When none but friars learn’d to pray,

And beef and beauty flourish’d;

And fraud in kings was held accursed,

And falsehood sin was reckon’d,

And mighty chargers bore my first,

And fat monks wore my second!

Ah, then I carried sword and shield

And casque with flaunting feather,

And earn’d my spurs in battle-field,

In winter and rough weather;

And polish’d many a sonnet up

To ladies’ eyes and tresses;

And learn’d to drain my father’s cup,

And loose my falcon’s jesses!

But dim is now my grandeur’s gleam,

The mongrel mob grows prouder;

And everything is done by steam,

And men are kill’d by powder;

And now I feel my swift decay,

And give unheeded orders;

And rot in paltry state away

With sheriffs and recorders.

Solution

232

My first you oft savagely pierce through and through;

My next harbours nonsense, and wisdom, and dust;

But, oh! what disaster might chance to accrue,

Should my whole, from my second, step into my first!

Solution

233. DECAPITATION

My whole describes the action of a gale,

Decapitation makes an organ play.

Behead again, it sounds o’er hill and vale;

Again, it tells of what we do not pay.

Take nothing off, it is an eagle’s sail.

Again behead, and half a string denote;

Again, and lo! a horse’s head and tail;

And last of all on music’s notes I float.

Solution

234. A BURIED PROVERB

Society—how her enthusiasts worship at her Juggernaut car. Cases exist here, proving how illogical are these eagle-sighted, place-hunting beings, scoffing at hereditary position, yet striving to get her smile.

A well-known proverb is buried in this sentence. Can you dig it out?

Solution

235. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

What should we put on a bird’s tail to catch it without a steel trap?

Solution

236. AN ENIGMA

By Praed

Across my first, with flash and roar,

The stately vessel glides alone.

And mournful on the crowded shore

There stands an aged crone,

Watching my second’s parting smile,

As he bids farewell to his native isle.

My whole comes back to other eyes,

With beauteous change of fruit and flowers,

But dim to her are those bright skies,

And sad those joyous hours;

For, alas! my first is dark and deep,

And my second cannot hear her weep.

Solution

237. THE ARAB AND HIS ASS

THE SEQUEL

When morning dawned, and the tide was out,

The pair crossed over ’neath Allah’s  ..........,

And the Arab was happy beyond a doubt,

For he had the best donkey in all that §.

You are wrong! They were drowned in crossing over,

Though the donkey was bravest of all his  ....;

He luxuriates now in perpetual clover,

And his master has gone to the prophet’s em⏞.

Solution

238. MISSING WORDS

A  .....  ..... on  ....’. strands

Caught Pat’s heart in her meshes;

He left the  ..... in Cupid’s hands,

And watched her  ..... her tresses;

Tresses of  ..... coloured gold,

Veiling, like any frock,

A tail which, as it did unfold,

Gave to poor Pat a shock.

Solution

239. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

Where can you be “in a stone-pine garden”?

Solution

240. MISSING WORDS

No  ..... sympathy was ever shown,

Than when  ..... news from Kingston  ..... was known.

The three missing words are spelt with the same five letters.

Solution

241. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

What bodily discomfort follows an ague-fit?

Solution

242. A TANGLED SQUARE

Can you readjust the 16 letters in this square so that they form a perfect word square?

I

E

I

T

I

S

A

S

A

S

I

S

E

D

E

D

Image

Solution

243. RIVERS IN ANAGRAM

What European rivers are concealed in these eight anagrams:—Set in red robe Henri Le Roi O sell me red pine nerves biter.

Solution

244. A PIED PALINDROME

Rearrange these letters so that they form a palindrome, or sentence that reads alike from either end:—

F PPPP RRRR SSSS TT

EEEEII OOOO

Solution

245

What political parrot cry can be evolved by anagram from this sentence, which condemns it?

O fool! O musty cry! O lurid woe!

Solution

246. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

What statesman’s name was a “terrible poser?”

Solution

247. A PROVERB IN ANAGRAM

Can you recast the letters of this sentence into a well-known English proverb?

Yea, a glad sun rose red.

Solution

248. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

Has there been a poet of unusual solemnity?

Solution

249. ANAGRAM ENIGMA

No, no, I hardly ever touch

The thing which many love so much.

It has a place within these lines,

But is taboo where Delia dines.

Solution

250. HE SQUARED THE CIRCLE

“Yes,” said young Biceps of St Boniface, who had failed to satisfy the examiners, “they have ploughed me in Euclid, and yet if I had half a chance I could teach them how to square a circle!”

“Bravo, Biceps!” cried his chum, who was helping him to drown dull care in fruity port, “don’t keep the great secret to yourself!” And so he told him—what?

Solution

251. TO EXTRACT A CIRCLE FROM A GIVEN SQUARE

When his friend had recovered from the shock of the atrocity described in our last, he retaliated by assuring Biceps that he could extract a circle from a given square. What was his method?

Solution

252. MISSING WORDS

He said, “You  ......” when one lied,

He said, “Don’t  ......” when one sped,

His glass held  ...... at his side;

He can  ...... what he denied.

As all your wits “entranced” you bend

To find the key omit the end.

Solution

253. A CHARADE

My captive second, sulking in my first,

Might surlily bemoan his fate accurst;

Bemoan, or as alternative you find

My whole the word that fits his state of mind.

For meet enclosure, you can take a score

Of captive seconds, first deducting four.

Solution

254. A CIPHER ADVERTISEMENT

THGLBDWNWSLLLDSTFTHLT,

MNFTNRDRNRGTNNTHSPT.

Add two vowels alternately to complete the couplet.

Solution

255. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

Can you discover by anagram what his brother was when he put “Tim in a pet?”

Solution

256. MISSING WORDS

Who knows the  .... a land may know

Famed for its  ...., and long ago

A  .... of sage and seer.

The native there, so full of tricks,

To  .... his hunger  .... with sticks,

Nor knows his ways are queer!

Solution

257. A CHARADE

If doubled you would see my first

Let third and second be reversed.

But if my last you would behold

Increase my first a hundredfold.

Combine them all, and you can trace

The four within an empty space.

Solution

258. IN THE HAY-FIELD

In the words welcome to a thirsty toiler, “Mower, I will tap the cask!” are hidden by anagram the names of an English poet and of one of his poems. Can you discover them?

Solution

259. A CHARADE

My first is small, and seldom reverential;

My next not large enough to heed or prize;

My whole is altogether consequential;

My third, though small, is counted very wise.

Solution

260. A LETTER PUZZLE

To be

aaaaaaaaaa

tCrIiOfUlSes

standing

is the mark of a mean

Solution

261. WITH IVORY LETTERS

Can you recast the letters that spell RED NUTS AND GIN so that they form one long word?

Solution

262. A HIDDEN NOVEL

Can you rearrange these letters so that they form the title of a well-known novel by Charles Dickens?

CDEHHIILOOOPRSSTTUY

Solution

263. “COME OUT, ’TIS NOW SEPTEMBER!”

—Old Song.

In swift  ...... the beaters add

Fresh  ...... to the heaps of slain;

And still, with lust of slaughter mad,

The  ...... plies his hand amain!

The missing words are spelt with the same six letters.

Solution

264. A CHARADE

My first is nothing but a name,

My second still more small,

My whole shows such a lack of fame

It has no name at all.

Solution

265. A BREAKFAST TABLE PUZZLE

“If father gives us a new dog, it will wake the lazy ones!” Can you discover from these words which of his children were often late for breakfast?

Solution

266. A CIPHER

NGOTRDSREAOHR

ETNSVEENUDOEO

Can you decipher the common proverb here concealed?

Solution

267. AN UNKNOWN NAME

Well known by story, not by name,

I died a death unknown before,

Nor ever to corruption came;

My shroud the waves cast on the shore.

Solution

268. UNDA WATER

How might an oyster, if it could speak, and knew that unda is Latin for wave or water, complain in similar phonetic iteration when disturbed by thunder under unda?

Solution

269. MISSING WORDS

When  ....., our puppy, sets out for a run,

Over  ..... he  ....., all frolic and fun;

For no whistle  ..... he in his desperate hurry,

The slow sheep to  ....., and the old cow to worry.

The five missing words are spelt with the same five letters.

Solution

270. FIND THE GIRLS

Bad hero set by thy door hurt me ma. Army may get ruder daily.

Ten girls’ names are here in anagrams.

Solution

271. A GOOD DESCRIPTION

Lord Beaconsfield’s statue,

True as old ———

Can you can complete this anagram?

Solution

272. SHAKESPEARE ANAGRAMS

These three lines are perfect anagrams of three consecutive lines in “Romeo and Juliet,” Act II., Scene V.:—

The tub sold has old rough shelves.

And e’en this fisherman caught best white smelts.

A living lord’s black dress, worn high, I vow!

Can you discover the original lines?

Solution

273. MISSING WORDS

That mystical gnome never flinches from toil

Who  ...... the  ...... in Orient soil;

Yet  ...... mortals will ever abound

To  ...... all the soil till the treasure is found.

Solution

274. A PUZZLE ACROSTIC

My feathered first has wings and sings,

Unfledged my second swings its wings;

My third on blackest pinions flies,

My fourth can float beneath the skies.

The letters to my first that fall

Are the initials of them all.

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

●

●

●

◯

●

●

●

◯

●

●

●

Image

Can you substitute words which fulfil the conditions?

Solution

275. DROP LETTER PUZZLE

My first was of the  ...... breed,

Their  ..... captain, hot and riled,

To  .... his men found vain indeed,

They only  ... and smoked, and smiled!

One letter is dropped each time.

Solution

276. DOUBLETS

Can you convert HARE into SOUP, using not more than six links, changing only one letter with each link, and preserving the order of the letters from link to link?

Solution

277. A NEW ENIGMA

Putting two small beasts that you take

To the beginning of an end,

A pointed weapon you will make

To wound a foe or praise a friend.

Solution

278. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

If a “newspaper” could speak, what might it say of the general work of its staff?

Solution

279. BY RULE OF THUMB

How can you turn the positive quantity 1011 into a negative?

Solution

280. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

What one word can you form from the sentence—

“O, I’m man’s trial!”

Solution

281. A REBUS

EEE and xxx URXXI XXX and eee.

Solution

282. A RIDDLE

Why may not the owner of a pine forest fell his timber?

Solution

283. MISSING WORDS

He  ....... to be  ....... as a wonderful shot

But he potted the dog, and  ....... was his lot!

The missing words are spelt with the same seven letters.

Solution

284. DOUBLETS

Can you change ARMY into NAVY with seven links, changing one letter every time, and preserving their sequence?

Solution

285. BY ANAGRAM

‘I excel not by a pun’—

Turn these six words into one.

Solution

286. CAN SUCH THINGS BE?

When is an onion like music?

Solution

287. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

What is the bitter cry of “Christianity?”

Solution

288. NO TURNCOAT

Show by anagram that a Conservative is constant to his cause.

Solution

289. WHY NOT?

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall as a rule upon the same day of the week. Can any ingenious reader discover why they will not fall upon the same day of the week in the year 1910.

Solution

290

“War is a game which, were their subjects wise,

Kings would not play at,” wrote the poet’s pen;

But in war’s issue will be staked the prize,

While kings and subjects are but erring men;

So Britain—native empress of the seas—

On ocean cradled, by her storm-king nursed—

Friend of the fallen, guardian of the free,

Rests on her well-tried last and trusty first.

Her first alone can well maintain her right,

Unscathed by any threat or mutinous blast;

And though, when needed, foremost in the fight,

Her first (strange paradox!) is always last!

But should the tide of war approach the shore

And threaten to engulf her island seat,

My whole, replying with defiant roar,

Would crash the audacious foe beneath her feet!

Solution

291. AN EASY CHARADE

My first is flogged to make it move the faster,

And turns at once to satisfy its master.

My next will ripen as a pleasant fruit,

For those whose simple taste its flavours suit.

My whole, when breezes blow and pennons fly,

Stands up aloft and points us to the sky.

Solution

292. NOT BY CANNING

A noun there is, of plural number,

In daily use from here to Humber.

Now almost any noun you take

By adding “S” you plural make;

But if you add an “S” to this,

Strange is the metamorphosis!

Plural is plural now no more;

Useless what useful was before.

Solution

293

First, a semi-circle make,

Add to this another

Figure of two little lines

Meeting with each other;

Then a perfect circle form,

Truly, neat, compactly,

Add another form to these,

Like the first exactly;

Then, to make it all complete,

Form a kind of angle,

With a straight line, that should meet

In a kind of tangle;

When you this have rightly done

(’Tis the truth I’m telling),

You will get an article

Useful in a dwelling:

Should you this decapitate,

You may have another

Article, which, in its place,

Is useful as the other.

Solution

294. A CHARADE

Veiling the leas, my first may steep

Late autumn’s listless air;

And with my tainting second creep

On idle spade and share.

When happy days link soul to soul,

And sunny faces shine,

May both combined, a subtle whole,

Be far from me and mine!

Solution

295. A CHARADE

By Mark Lemon

Old Charlie Brown, who a big rogue was reckoned,

Was brought up at my first for making my second;

He was fined, and because he no money would pay

Had to work with my whole on the King’s highway.

Solution

296

Complete, I grow within a field

And pleasant pasture often yield;

Behead me once, a suitor then

Is quickly brought before your ken;

Behead again, I am a word

That on the cricket-ground is heard.

Restore my heads, cut off my tail,

To name a spice you’ll not then fail;

Behead me now, and you will find

The master passion left behind.

Put on my head, my tail restore,

Complete me as I was before,

My second letter take away,

An envelope I am, you’ll say;

But now curtail me just once more,

I am an inlet on the shore.

Solution

297

My second is double my first,

My first is but half of my second;

And I’m sure you’ll admit that my whole

Is ten times the latter when reckon’d.

Solution

298

My first I went the other day,

And pretty surely reckon’d

A basket of fine fish to catch,

With hook and rod and second.

But I was out in reckoning;

A very pretty she

Of her fair face show’d just my whole—

And pretty soon hook’d me.

Solution

299

Of mirth the parent, though the child of art,

A stranger to myself in every part;

Each India has a native in my breast,

The West my sweetness, and my fire the East.

While milder climes my virtue to complete,

Quicken my softness, and correct my heat;

My dearest friends upon my vitals prey,

And as they see me sinking, grow more gay.

Solution

300. A FLIGHT OF FANCY

When my whole takes a flight in the air you will find

That my next is not left a great distance behind;

But join them together, and plain to your view

It all is as firm and as tight as a screw.

Solution

301

To three-fourths of a cross, add a circle complete;

Then, let two semi-circles a perpendicular meet;

Next, add a triangle that stands on two feet;

Then, two semi-circles, and a circle complete.

Solution

302. A CHARADE

Leader of Vandals and of vice

My head is reckoned;

A Turkish captain will suffice

To be my second.

My third is firm if well selected;

My whole a wanderer neglected.

Solution

303

One thousand, two hundred,

Nothing, and one,

Transposed, give a word

Expressive of fun.

Solution

304. A CHARADE

By Praed

My first was creeping on his way

Through the mists of a dull October day,

When a minstrel came to its muddy bed,

With a harp on his shoulder, a wreath on his head;

“And how shall I reach,” the poor boy cried,

“To the courts and the cloisters on t’other side?”

Old Euclid came, and he frown’d a frown,

And he dash’d the harp and the garland down;

Then he led the bard, with a stately march,

O’er my second’s long and cellar’d arch;—

“And see,” said the sage, “how every ass

Over the sacred stream must pass!”

The youth was mournful, the youth was mute,

He sigh’d for his laurel, he sobb’d for his lute;—

The youth took comfort, the youth took snuff,

And follow’d the lead of that teacher gruff;

And he sits, ever since, in my whole’s kind lap,

In a silken gown and a trencher cap.

Solution

305

Upright and honest is my first;

My second you may see

Upon the frozen lake or stream;

My whole is equity.

Solution

306

Never wearied, see us stand,

A glittering and a stately band—

Of sturdy stuff, but graceful form,

In summer cold, in winter warm;

From hottest duty never swerving,

Night and day our place preserving;

Each serving to a different use,

Not to be changed without abuse.

And, pray, mark well another fact—

In unison we never act,

Except, as on occasion dread,

We watch the ashes of the dead;

When we are ranged, as you may see

As awful sentries, one, two, three.

Solution

307. A CHARADE

My first, though naught, with others is a fruit,

My next is vital to both man and brute.

It should be dear to all who hate the devil,

For it is ever the reverse of evil.

My all, when whole, is eloquent of peace,

Divided it invokes to life that will not cease.

Solution

308. A CHARADE

In English Sapphics

Guess at my first, ’tis easy to discover,

Covered with rings, and whiskered like a dandy.

Wrapped up in furs, ’tis often on the housetop,

Oft in the chimney!

See where my second, scorning to be hidden,

Stands at the head of quite a band of others,

Like a virago, straddling with feet apart,

And arms akimbo.

Surely my next is happy in its office,

Parting the lovelocks on Neæra’s forehead;

Setting the golden lines wherewith she angles

For the unwary.

If by my whole at any time you pass, you

Tread on the dust of holy saints and martyrs,

Holy the place, may holy thoughts attend you,

Peacefully dreaming!

Solution

309

Offspring of nature and of art, I stand

Chief ’midst the monuments of every land;

I may not lengthen life, but I

For centuries forbid to die.

The greatest truth in me you meet

Is but deception most complete.

Unchanged I last the changing crowds among,

And as I older grow, I grow too young.

Solution

310

Pronounced as one letter, and written with three,

Two letters there are, and two only in me;

I’m double, I’m single, I’m black, blue, and gray,

I’m read from both ends, and the same either way.

Solution

311

My first is false as false can be;

My next old ladies wear;

My whole’s my first, as you will see,

As false, I do declare.

Solution

312. SHUFFLED LETTERS

When whole I am indeed a thing

To puzzle you a bit;

Though parts of me are hard, at Bridge

The others make a hit;

Or you may make a car of some,

And fix a head to it.

Solution

313. FIVE VOWELS

A word of nine letters explains

How to mitigate bodily pains;

The five vowels are there,

And four consonants share

This function for medical brains.

Solution

314. A CHARADE

My second guides my first and third

For pleasure, trade, and war;

My first and second by my third

Are oft transported far.

But when my first my third doth pull,

’Tis then his lot is worst;

And should my second lack my whole,

He’s apt to leave my first.

Solution

315. MISSING WORDS

It is a  ...... fact that neither  ...... nor  ...... grow  ..  .....

Solution

316. THE BONES OF A PALINDROME

DRWNDRRDNWRD.

Insert the missing letters, and so form a perfect palindrome, which reads alike from either end.

Solution

317

The schoolboy likes me well,

For healthful sport I bring,

Yet I can harm create,

Though such a little thing:

Connubial bliss is form’d by me;

My nature is equality.

Solution

318. A RIDDLE

What person’s name is doubly evil?

The answer may be given in a line that rhymes.

Solution

319

I’m a district near London;

If made wrong, I come undone;

O’er sweet strings I swift run,

Or appear with the bright sun,

And though by me fights were won,

I can greet you every one.

Solution

320. A CHARADE

I am my first when seen with you,

My next is always bad.

A rogue in grain much harm may do

And make the farmer mad.

Solution

321. A CHARADE

When winter comes with frost and cold,

My first is welcome, as of old;

And though its grip may make you thinner,

It helps to cook your Christmas dinner.

Let me but hear my next rejoice

At early dawn with cheerful voice,

I haste to find, with eager pleasure,

Some specimen of hidden treasure.

A traveller my whole may find

Far from his English kith and kind;

Though some at home, to England’s shame,

Are this in fact, if not in name.

Solution

322.

It was to-morrow, and

It will be yesterday;

Now it is near at hand

What is it? Who can say?

Solution

323. A CHARADE

My first doth fill with light his father’s eyes,

The second shadows all the mother’s brow;

My whole all men, all women, girls and boys,

Have had, and long to lose, and lost for ever now;

But know not, nor can know, when it was lost, and how.

Solution

324. ON THE BLOCK

Complete, though not of human race,

A soul in me may dwell;

Behead, I held a higher place,

Until, like man, I fell.

Again behead, and in the song

Of Burns I’m all your own;

Behead once more, it would be wrong

To find me out when known.

Solution

325. AN ENIGMA

With head good for naught,

And with tail always drunk,

You know well what to say

Of the worth of my trunk.

First cut off my tail,

I am Greek, and I’m not;

Then cut off my head,

And some Latin you’ve got.

Lopping both you know best

What remains, as I said,

For I really am you

If I lose tail and head!

Solution

326. AN ENIGMA

One guiding eye I need

In running through the gaps;

My tail, as on I speed,

Is caught in many traps.

Solution

327. A CHESS CHARADE

By H. J. C. Andrews

In the ’seventies no one was more popular at Simpson’s Chess Room in the Strand than the gentle and brilliant subject of these lines, a clever water-colourist. The charade is by his friend, the well-known problem composer. Both have passed away, but they are not forgotten by those who had the happiness to know them:—

Of all the birds that ever sought a mate,

My first is to but one appropriate,

So speak the word! nor silence shyly woo.

To find my next, go! wander in the Zoo!

My whole is a magician of the squares,

But Art, with Chess, his best affections shares,

So this, indeed, to him may be a law

When winning’s hopeless, grandly still to draw.

Solution

328. WHAT AM I?

Though poor and humble was my birth

I sit enthroned on high;

My footsteps far above the earth,

My canopy the sky.

O’er toiling subjects thus in state

I bear despotic sway;

Yet on them hand and foot I wait

At break and close of day.

Solution

329.

I am not of flesh and blood,

Yet have I many a bone;

No limbs, except one leg,

And can’t stand on that alone.

My friends are many, and dwell

In all lands of the human race;

But they poke my poor nose into the mud,

And shamefully spatter my face.

Thrust me into each other’s ribs,

Stick me in gutter and rut;

I have never a window, and never a door,

Yet I often open and shut.

Solution

330. AN ENIGMA

Before the crown descended on

The head of England’s Queen,

Four Kings upon that royal throne

Of the same name had been.

Now if the signs which marked their name

Be joined unto a beast,

We have a food on which the same

(A quadruped) will feast.

Solution

331. AN OLD ENIGMA

By Charles James Fox

I am pretty, and useful in various ways,

Though I tempt some poor mortals to shorten their days;

Behead me, and then in my place will appear

What youngsters admire every day in the year;

Behead me once more, and without any doubt,

You must be what is left if you don’t find it out.

Solution

332. A CHARADE

My first, when skilfully performed

(Its doer by applauses warmed),

Bespeaks both skill and vigour.

When with my whole, so soft and light,

I saw my second gay bedight,

She made a splendid figure.

Solution

333. MISSING WORDS

The man who  ..... the common  .....

Above the  ..... chaste,

..... as he may, the world declares

Is not a man of taste.

And though my sympathy he shares,

No  ..... on him I waste!

Solution

334. A CHARADE

When a monk in old times, unexpectedly heated,

Endangered the peace of his soul,

To atone for my second my first he repeated

Quite ten times a day on my whole.

Solution

335. AN ENIGMA

An insect small and fell

Makes a weird sound,

If, as its name you spell,

You turn it round.

One letter cast, and still

Shift what remains,

Another insect will

Reward your pains.

Solution

336. A DECAPITATION

Where head and body duly meet

I am as slender as a bee;

Whether I stand on head or feet

My figure shows its symmetry.

But when my head is cut away

The metamorphosis is strange;

Though both of them unaltered stay,

Body and head to nothing change.

Solution

337. A NUT TO CRACK

First is in coast, second in ghost,

Third must be reckoned part of second;

Fourth in boat, fifth in float,

Sixth you will find within your mind.

Seventh in blue, eighth in true,

These letters tell a fruit that they spell.

Solution

338.

The hunter and his steed are known

My first to see.

Though men may call my next a stone,

Wood it may be.

My whole, an exile from his home,

Is doomed from place to place to roam.

Solution

339. A CHARADE

My first expresses power to do,

My next that it is done.

To be my whole belongs to few,

And perfectly to none.

Solution

340. A CHARADE

In my first, as in a shell,

All the sweetest sounds may dwell;

In my second, shells abound

That can catch no sort of sound;

In my whole securely rest

Those who neither jeer nor jest.

Solution

341. A CHARADE

My first, though of the feathered kind

Is never known to fly;

My next all who improve their mind

Seize as it passes by.

My whole may much occasion find

To make the truthful lie.

Solution

342. AN ENIGMA

Divide a piece of beef or pork

Without the aid of knife and fork;

It gives a shelf, rejoined with skill,

Where you may set this if you will.

Strike off instead the end, its place

Is plain as nose upon your face.

Cut this asunder in your mind,

And what is first put now behind;

Part of our foot you thus discover,

And in a measure all is over.

Solution

343. A CHARADE

Seen as a whole, my form is now

Akin to strife and malice;

Split, it may grace a princely brow,

Or crown the curls of Alice.

Recast my letters, and I tell

That nourishment is lacking;

Stir them afresh until they spell

The needle’s help in tacking.

Solution

344. AN ENIGMA

If I write with my first in my second

My whole you can never find out;

Add a letter, and all will be reckoned

A patron of water devout.

Solution

345. WHAT DID THE COLONEL SAY?

After officers’ mess, when cigars were well alight, the old conundrum was propounded, “What is most like a cornet of horse?” A sharp sub. was ready with the reply, “A hornet, of course”; it was presently capped by this variant which occurred to a married captain, “a corset of horn”; and yet another reading was suggested by the deaf old colonel, “How much did you say the  ..............” Can you complete this?

Solution

346. WHERE WAS IT?

Loss of love between us

Never can be nice;

Yet we live where Venus

Changes us to ice.

Solution

347. A LOVER TO HIS LASS

Tell me, my sweet,

Why are your feet

Like fairy tales?

Solution

348. MISSING WORDS

Our parson  ....... every man who has leisure

To study  ....... windows, the glory of fanes;

And  ....... of devoting his income to pleasure,

Our  ....... old dean spends his money on panes.

Solution

349. AN EASY ONE

Though much attached to merriment,

Or crime for a variety,

To prison I am never sent,

But sparkle in society.

Solution

350. A CHARADE

Without my first and second’s aid

No pudding worth its sauce is made.

Take on my third, my fourth I am,

My fifth includes myself and Sam.

My whole describes the royal fiddler Nero,

And shows him as an unheroic hero.

Solution

351. BURIED PLACES

What geographical names are buried in these lines?

He has my R. N. as a monogram

I am her stupid sister.

The calmest man is sometimes made irate.

Solution

352.

My first’s a fruit of foreign clime,

Sweet to the taste, in price not dear;

My second does my first produce,

And yet my whole my first doth bear.

Solution

353. AN ENIGMA

A thing of beauty, scattered by a breath,

My firm embrace is harbinger of death;

Not made by hands, a work of wondrous art,

Complete and perfected in every part;

Crush me to-day with all-determined care,

Then look to-morrow, and I shall be there!

Solution

354. AN ENIGMA

Six letters in my name are found,

Though only three we see and sound;

The shepherd by the running river

May hear me where the rushes quiver;

And should a stroke my whole divide,

Leaving but half on either side,

These, backward read, will surely tell

What many a toper loves too well.

Solution

355. A RIDDLE

Upon a battle-field of learned men

Hundred and fifty were by none divided.

“Now,” said the bishop, “add two-thirds of ten

And so you’ll guess the riddle just as I did.”

Solution

356.

Though the stations of mortals are many

And the last is the head of his race;

Yet he, just as often as any,

Is won by my first’s fell embrace;

Yet we most of us apt are to fall,

When our heads cease our hearts to control,

Let us hope that not one of us all

May be e’er in the state of my whole.

Solution

357. WHAT IS IT?

My whole is no matter,

And light as the air,

Yet it is good on the platter,

And excellent fare.

Curtail and transpose,

And a lady you see,

Who will flatter and pose,

And with many do me.

Solution

358. WHAT IS IT?

My first, for ages out of mind,

All men have always worn behind;

And yet alike by sea and land

They carry it upon their hand.

My second, carefully matured,

Is never ill but often cured.

My whole, within unchanging lines

Black men and white alike confines.

Solution

359. WHAT IS THIS?

“We westand fall.”

Solution

360. A CHARADE

My second is pressed tightly round

To guard from any ill;

And when preparing to engage,

Men find it useful still.

My first against attraction set

Will neutralise its power;

Aided by it, with bargains, some

May spend a happy hour.

You find my whole by careful search

Which must not be forsaken;

It stands before what comes beyond,

Which may from it be taken.

Solution

361. A GOOD ANAGRAM

George Thompson, the zealous anti-slavery advocate, was asked to go into Parliament, the better to press his point and cause. When he hesitated a friend produced, as a conclusive reason, this anagram, spelt with the letters of his name—“O go, the negro’s M.P.!”

362. WHAT AM I?

Scorned by the meek and humble mind,

And often by the vain possessed,

Heard by the deaf, seen by the blind,

I give the troubled spirit rest.

Solution

ODDS AND ENDS

1. A SUM WITHOUT FIGURES

Here is a long-division sum without figures:—

U

G

I

)

G

E

V

P

P

N

D

O

(

I

D

T

P

O

G

V

N

I

D

N

T

P

U

G

I

N

E

T

N

N

E

O

T

D

U

D

O

D

U

D

O

Image

These letters form a sentence of three words  ....  ....  .., and represent the figures 1234 5678 90; the puzzle is to discover this key sentence, by working out the sum in the corresponding figures.

Solution

2. A DAY’S SPORT

At the invitation of a farmer in the country I went out with my gun for a day’s shooting on his farm. “What sport had you?” said a friend afterwards at the Club. “I shot only birds and rabbits,” was my reply, “and the bag showed 36 heads and 100 feet.” How many birds were there, and how many bunnies?

Solution

3. THE SQUAREST WORD

D

E

L

F

E

V

I

L

L

I

V

E

F

L

E

D

Image

How many distinct readings of these four words can you find, taking their letters in any “go as you please” direction, without jumping over any letter?

Solution

4. A CROSS PURPOSE

Can our readers rearrange these letters in the form of a similar cross, so that they form two words familiar to us all?

A

A

E

D

N

R

E

G

D

N

I

T

V

S

Image

One of the letters, to be placed where the lower E now stands, is common to both words.

Solution

5.

“Take this sovereign, my boy,” said a man to his son who had a turn for arithmetic, “and buy for yourself and for your three sisters the best present possible for each, of different values, expending in each case an aliquot part of the pound, that is to say, a fraction of it whose numerator is one. If there is any change you can give it to the Fresh Air Fund.” How was this commission carried out?

Solution

6. A WORD SQUARE

Can you complete this word-square?

.

E

.

A

.

E

.

A

.

E

.

A

.

.

E

A

.

.

E

.

.

E

E

.

.

Image

Solution

7. VERBAL ARITHMETIC

First find a word that is spelt with the ten letters above the line, and number its letters consecutively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.

A

I

L

C

P

R

U

N

B

E

E

C

C

Image

Substitute the corresponding figures for the letters, and then work out the addition sum which they represent.

Solution

8. A WORD SQUARE

Can you complete this word square?

T

.

.

.

T

.

T

.

.

.

.

.

O

.

.

.

E

.

S

.

T

.

.

.

S

Image

Solution

9.

Take the twelve first prime numbers, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, which have no factors but themselves and unity, and write down the value of their product, using no figures but 0, 1, 2, and 3, and of these using 2 and 3 only once.

Solution

10. AT THE WASH

Six collars seven cuffs there be

When pence we charge you thirty-three;

Seven collars and six cuffs to do

The charge is only thirty-two;

The work is good and up-to-date,

So figure out in pence the rate.

Solution

11. GAPS TO FILL

Can you complete this word square?

W

.

E

.

S

.

.

.

.

.

E

.

U

.

E

.

.

.

.

.

S

.

E

.

R

Image

Solution

12. IS IT POSSIBLE?

Fill a wineglass with water to the brim, and set it on the corner of a table-napkin, which should be in immediate contact with the polished surface of a table, allowing the rest of the napkin to fall over the edge. Can you remove the napkin without touching the glass or spilling any of the water?

Solution

13. A NICE CALCULATION

My third and fourth are a quarter of my first and second; my fourth is half of them, and my third is half. What am I?

Solution

14. FOR THE CHILDREN

A London firm, having sent an order by telegram to a manufacturer in Paris for 480 sets of Diabolo, received to their amazement a huge consignment of 6336 sets. How did this mistake arise?

Solution

15. A WINTER VALENTINE

Thy heart is like some icy lake

On whose cold brink I stand;

On my sore plight sweet pity take,

And lead me by the hand.

Then buckle on my spirit’s skate

Where all the ice is thin,

That it may break beneath my weight,

And let a lover in!

16. A QUESTION OF AGES

“My husband’s age,” said Mrs Evergreen, “is represented by the figures of my age reversed. He is older than I am, and the difference between our ages is one-eleventh of their sum.” What were their respective ages?

Solution

17. MISSING FIGURES

Can you complete this multiplication sum?

4

*

*

3

*

3

6

*

*

*

*

7

*

*

*

3

*

*

Image

Solution

18. STRANGE ADDITION

Add 3 to 10, and then divide

Till 8 the sum has satisfied.

Solution

19. BEDDING OUT

I bought less than 100 plants for my new rosery, and found that if I set them 3 in a row there would be one over; if 4 in a row there would be two over; if 5 in a row, three over; and if 6 in a row, four over. How many rose trees did I buy?

Solution

20.

Can you arrange three nines so that they represent exactly 20?

Solution

21.

A house has nine windows on its front. How many signals can be given by merely leaving one or more of them open?

Solution

22. ON MY BIRTHDAY

(By Sir John Evans)

“Reader, whether man or woman,

Write my age in figures Roman.

My first divided by my second

Will make my third, if rightly reckoned;

Ten times the whole, and then you see

My university degree.”

Solution

23. MOSAIC VERSE

The heath this night must be my bed, (Scott)

Ye vales, ye streams, ye groves, adieu! (Pope)

Farewell for aye; e’en love is dead; (Proctor)

Would I could add remembrance too! (Byron)

Solution

24. SIGNS AND SEASONS

The springs spring forth in spring, and shoots

Shoot forward one and all;

Though summer kills the flowers, it leaves

The leaves to fall in fall!

25. THE TEN DIGITS

This arrangement of the digits represents 20, one being a whole number, the others a fraction:—

6

13258

947

= 20

26. CHRONOGRAM

The battle of Montl’héry was fought in 1465. Its date can be committed to memory in the sentence which might have been a battle-cry—“A cheval, à cheval, gendarmes, à cheval!” For it is arrived at by the addition of the Roman numerals which this contains, thus:—

C

=

100

V

=

5

L

=

50

C

=

100

V

=

5

L

=

50

M

=

1000

C

=

100

V

=

5

L

=

50

Total

=

1465

27. A TOUR DE FORCE

In this most remarkable sentence of only twenty-eight letters, every letter of the alphabet is used—

IF JACK QUIZ BALD NYMPHS GROW VEXT.

28. AN OLD TALE OF A TUB

Tom Hood, seeing over the door of a public-house BEAR SOLD HERE, said that it was rightly spelt if it was the landlord’s own bruin!

29. ALL THE ALPHABET

Here is an ingenious rhyming couplet of only 33 letters, in which every letter of the alphabet is used—

Quick! go on, Jim! why

Stop lazy fox? Drive by!

30. AN IMPERIAL ANAGRAM

A sa Majesté impériale le Tsar Nicolas, souverain et autocrate de toutes les Russies.

The same letters exactly spell—

O, ta vanité sera ta perte. O, elle isole la Russie; tes successeurs te maudiront à jamais!

This most remarkable anagram was published in the early days of the Crimean war.

31. A FOURFOLD ANAGRAM

“Notes and Queries.”

A question sender.

Enquires on dates.

Reasoned inquest.

I send on a request.

32. A GOOD ANAGRAM

The name of John Abernethy, a very brusque doctor of bygone days, lends itself to this most apposite anagram—Johnny the bear!

33. TWO EXCELLENT ANAGRAMS

(After the Irish famine.)

Duchess of Marlborough.

She labours much for God.

Or,

The Duchess of Marlborough.

Lo, she sought much for bread.

34. “ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE”

French guest to his host after a big shoot:—

“How many braces have you to your bags?”

35. A PRIZE ANAGRAM

It would be difficult to find a more ingenious and appropriate anagram than this, which took a prize in “Truth” in 1902, and connects the King’s recovery with the Coronation.

The sentence set was—

“God save our newly crowned King and Queen! Long life to Edward and Alexandra!”

The letters of this were recast thus—

Can we wonder an anxious devoted England followed drear danger quakingly?

36. A PRIZE ANAGRAM

“Truth” offered a prize for the best anagram on the sentence—“‘Truth’ Toy and Doll Fund, Christmas, nineteen hundred and seven.” The winning anagram, by the Editor of these pages, was, “A sunny tender mind understands that the children do love fun!”

37. TAKE CARE OF THE PENCE

In a moment of economy I told my wife that I would put by a farthing the first week of the New Year, a halfpenny the second week, a penny the third, and so on, doubling the sum each week to the end of the year. She had a turn for figures, and staggered me by showing that I should have to provide £4,691,249,611,844, 5s. 3^3⁄4d. to carry out my plan!

38

Now that Ellen Terry has written “The Story of My Life,” this anagram has a special interest:—

LYCEUM THEATRE, STRAND.

Teach and melt us, Terry!

38a. RING OUT, WILD BELLS!

More startling than the well-known calculation of payment by continuously doubling the farthing given for the first nail in a horse’s shoe, is the fact that the possible changes on a peal of 24 bells would not be exhausted if every minute of 4000 years were prolonged to a period of 10,000 years!

39. A SCHOLAR AT PLAY

Erasmus himself was responsible in one of his lighter moments for the following ingenious play upon his name:—

Quæritur unde mihi sit nomen Erasmus, eras mus;

Si sum mus ego, te judice, summus ero!

40. QUITE AN EYESORE!

“Well!” cried an agitated carpenter to his mate, “of all the saws that I ever saw saw, I never saw a saw saw as this saw saws!”

41. THE PUNSTER’S LAMENT

If I be duly punished

For every foolish pun I shed,

I shall not find one puny shed

In which to hide my punnish head!

42. A GOOD ANAGRAM

CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER.

The same letters recast spell—

If so, man, refuse poison at once!

43. A TOUR DE FORCE

The following curiosity, constructed some years ago for prize purposes by the Editor, shows how, in word or letter juggling, difficulties can be overcome:—

A sentence in which each letter of the alphabet is used exactly twice:

“XLV gruff nymphs jerk XLV jaws,” quoth wag B. Dick, Q.C., to Ben Dizzy, M.P.

44. THE MISSING LINK

If anagrams count, our “ancestor” was not a monkey but a Norse cat!

45. A STRIKING ANAGRAM

The name of Randle Holmes, author of a notable book on heraldry, was so recast that it formed the words: “Lo, men’s herald!”

46. A CURIOUS PALINDROME

Dog as a devil deified lived as a god.

47. AFTER THE EVENT

An Anagram.

The Oxford and Cambridge annual Boat-race.

Cantab blue had raced in an extra good form.

48. TO FIND THE GOLD

Tell a person who holds a sovereign in one hand and a shilling in the other to reckon 4 for the gold, and 3 for the silver. Then bid him triple what is in the right hand, and double what is in the left, and give you the added product. If this is an even number the gold is in the right hand, if odd it is in the left.

49. A MUSICAL ANAGRAM

ADELINA PATTI.

Adept Italian.

50. A HAPPY THOUGHT

Sir Charles Napier’s witty despatch, “Peccavi!” “I have Scinde!” is familiar to us. Not so well known is the happy phrase attributed to Sir Colin Campbell, “Nunc sum fortunatus!” “I am in Lucknow!”

51. A CLEVER TRIPLE ANAGRAM

Owen, the Welsh epigrammatist, composed this very clever Latin line:—

In verbis, ubi res postulat, esto brevis.

(“In words, where the matter requires it, be brief.”)

The words in italics are spelt with the same six letters.

52. CAN SUCH THINGS BE?

Take a long strip of paper, say 9 in. by 2 in., which will have, of course, an upper and an under surface and two edges along its length. How can you arrange this strip, by quite a simple method so that it will have only one surface and one edge?

Solution

53.

Can you divide nine into two parts which are together equal to ten?

Solution

54. FOLDING A FLOCK

A shepherd had a flock of sheep in a fold enclosed by 100 hurdles. His master made a large purchase at the annual fair, and required him to pen some pigs with 16 of the hurdles, and to arrange the remainder so that they could accommodate nine times as many sheep as the 100 hurdles had contained. How was this possible?

Solution

55. A NEAT TRICK

Here is a neat final trick, if you have some reputation for sleight of hand. Place three biscuits on the table in a row, and cover each of them with a borrowed hat. Raise each hat in turn, gravely eat the biscuit, and replace the hat. Then undertake that the three biscuits shall be under whichever hat is selected. How can you contrive this?

Solution

56. VERY SMALL CHANGE

In how many different ways can 7s. 3d. be paid away in current coin of the realm, without ever using exactly the same set of coins a second time?

Solution

SOLUTIONS

FRONTISPIECE

The words which describe this picture can be recast, letter for letter, into the perfect anagram—

“Please, Mister Elephant, are you there?”

Return to description

No. IV.

It is said that there are 86 ways in which the numbers in this model magic square can be added up so that they make 34.

4

15

14

1

9

6

7

12

5

10

11

8

16

3

2

13

Image

It is not difficult to discover more than half this number that are symmetrical, including, of course, the 4 rows, 4 columns and 2 diagonals. Here are a dozen samples, from which others can be seen—

4,

1,

16,

13.

15,

14,

3,

2.

14,

12,

5,

3.

6,

7,

10,

11.

15,

8,

9,

2.

1,

6,

11,

16.

14,

8,

9,

3.

9,

15,

2,

8.

4,

5,

12,

13.

4,

5,

11,

14.

4,

9,

8,

13.

9,

14,

3,

8.

Return to description

No. VIII

Here is the completed magic square—

216

175

224

183

232

191

240

199

248

247

215

174

223

182

231

190

239

207

206

246

214

173

222

181

230

198

238

237

205

245

213

172

221

189

229

197

196

236

204

244

212

180

220

188

228

227

195

235

203

252

211

179

219

187

186

226

194

243

202

251

210

178

218

217

185

234

193

242

201

250

209

177

176

225

184

233

192

241

200

249

208

Image

Every row, column and diagonal adds up to exactly 1908.

Return to description

No. IX

This up-to-date magic square adds up to 1908 in quite 56 different symmetrical ways.

469

484

472

483

481

474

478

475

482

471

485

470

476

479

473

480

Image

Here are 44 of them—

Rows

4

Columns

4

Diagonals

2

The corners

1

Corners of squares of 9 cells

4

Squares of 4 cells

9

Opposite pairs of outside cells

6

Opposite pairs of short diagonals

Such combinations as 469, 481, 485, 473

8

Such combinations as 482, 484, 472, 470

Total

44

There are a dozen other ways, more or less symmetrical, such as 481, 474, 483, 470; or 474, 485, 470, 479.

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No. X

This is the rearrangement of the domino magic square—

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The three-ace, which was a corner stone in the former diagram now occupies the centre, and the rearrangement was effected by first transferring the two bottom rows to the top, and then the fourth and fifth columns to the extreme left. This method of shifting the stones does not affect the magic quality of the square.

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No. XI

The affinity between chess and numbers is well illustrated by the Knight’s tour on this diagram—

The Knight starts from the square marked 1, and returns at last to it. The constant difference between any opposite and corresponding numbers in cells that are equidistant from the centre is 18.

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No. XII

Here are the cells in the diagram of our Numbers Patience, so filled in that each of the rows across from side to side adds up exactly to 143.

17

30

41

31

24

18

32

13

46

34

11

12

14

50

56

51

19

42

16

15

22

21

35

45

20

Image

Each cell contains, in accordance with the conditions, a different number.

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No. XIII

This is the division of a square into fifteen parts, which will form the windmill:—

This puzzle may, of course, be reversed, the parts of the square being given, and the solver asked to form with them a symmetrical windmill.

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No. XIV

In this nest of 49 squares it is possible to count 784 distinct interlacing figures, whose opposite sides are equal, and whose angles are all right angles.

Image

Of these 784 rectangles 140 are squares.

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No. XV

This is the domino magic square, in which all the stones are used except double-six, double-five and six-five.

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All rows, columns and diagonals add up to 27, as do the stones in the four corner cells and the four central border cells of the full square, and of the square of nine cells in the middle.

Return to description

No. XVI

Those to whom games of Patience appeal will find an interesting and pretty form of it in the construction of a pyramid with a complete set of dominoes.

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Image

Solvers may like to study the position given, which is one of many that are possible, and to discover for themselves the ruling conditions which are its characteristics.

Return to description

No. XVII

When the boy’s father came up just in time to stop him from breaking out of bounds, and said, “Never throw a leg, lad,”

the rest of the sentence, spelt with exactly the same letters, was “over the garden wall!”

Return to description

No. XVIII

“Catastrophe,” the title of the tragedy foreshadowed, can be recast into “A cat! stop her!” By similar process the words, “New parrot stand in a house,” become “He turns on a soda-water tap!”

The parrot’s ready resource and triumph is depicted here with striking effect.

Return to description

No. XIX

When the judge at a baby show said to the mother of the small boy whose thumb was in his mouth, “Your lad Tommy likes such tit-bits,” the precocious child replied, as he removed his comforting hand, in a sentence spelt with exactly the same letters, “So to-day, sir, I suck my little thumb.”

Return to description

No. XX

When the lady sitting at the back of this overloaded wagonette said to her husband, “This big load quite hinders his pull,” in her sympathy with the struggling horse,

he made this very practical reply, in a sentence spelt with exactly the same letters: “Do sit quiet, girl; I shall push behind!”

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No. XXI

When a bystander whispered to the marker, “Eh! what a stout player is striking!”

an appropriate reply, spelt with exactly the same letters, would have been: “He plays without taking a rest, sir.”

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No. XXII

The two English words appropriate to this picture—

which have as their anagrams “Or not a man first,” and “O I love nuts!” are Transformation and Evolutions.

Return to description

No. XXIII

This is a fancy portrait of William—

We decide by anagram whether this is William or dear Jack, for these words, when recast, spell “I am Will, a card joker!”

Return to description

No. XXIV

The word indicated by this picture in combination with the lines below it—

Begin with the end of my first,

And then you will find out the rest;

For it all will appeal to your thirst,

Or point to a ponderous guest.

is Stout.

Return to description

No. XXV

The words of Jigger’s wife, when she said that he seemed to be in a “sad pet,” were true by anagram.

His ball hugs the cushion so closely as to be completely pasted.

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No. XXVI

When, as they held on to the fractious cow, the farmer exclaimed, “See, we hold this cow’s horns and tail,”

his foreman, using exactly the same letters in his sentence, said—

“She cannot toss, her wild head is low.”

Return to description

No. XXVII

While the horse shown in this picture might be saying, if it could speak, “I’m a train’d stepper!”—

the driver, from his point of view, might say, as he held him in check, “Spirit and a temper!” making use in his words of exactly the same letters.

Return to description

No. XXVIII

When one onlooker, seeing the artist working with his feet, said—

“Why, now I see this fine artist has no hand!”

the other replied, using exactly the same letters,

“He draws in any fashion with his ten toes!”

Return to description

No. XXIX

When her husband, showing this picture

said to his wife, “This is a wine bottle, dear, on a lure,” she, knowing that temptation in this form would fail, said, as she glanced at his illustration of their aims, in words spelt with exactly the same letters:—

“And see, he will not rise at our bait!”

Return to description

No. XXX

The sturdy musician, who had said, “What shall I play?” to which some one replied, “Any strains of Beethoven, he charms all!” as this was not an acceptable suggestion, struck up a piece after his own heart.

He said, as he struck the strings, in a sentence composed of exactly the same letters—“Nay, for this ’cello heaven sent a Brahms!”

Return to description

No. XXXI

Here is the picture of a parsnip lying across a swede readjusted and reversed.

We gave as a clue the anagram—

“Here is our parsnip on swede.”

ANAGRAM

Wise and superior person he!

but this is now hardly needed to show who is thus represented in friendly caricature: (With apologies to G. B. S.)

Return to description

No. XXXII

The letter puzzle is solved thus—

L

E

V

E

L

E

E

E

E

V

V

V

E

E

E

E

L

E

V

E

L

Image

Within this square the word LEVEL runs in twelve different directions, being itself a palindrome.

Return to description

No. XXXIII

The sentence formed with the ten letters above the line, which is the key to this sum, is Do your best. If these letters are numbered consecutively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, and the corresponding figures are substituted for the letters, the sum works out as is shown in the second diagram—

S

B

9

7

R

E

6

8

Y

D

3

1

O

T

4

0

U

O

5

2

O

E

E

2

8

8

Image

Return to description

No. XXXIV

The twelve names of flowers and foliage that may be gathered within these borders, by moving in any direction one square at a time,

1  L

2  L

3  B

4  H

5  P

6  E

7  F

8  L

9  Y

10  E

11  L

12  O

13  R

14  N

15  I

16  V

17  B

18  R

19  I

20  V

21  K

22  A

23  L

24  E

25  T

26  O

27  N

28  I

29  C

30  N

31  A

32  S

33  U

34  L

35  P

Image

are 18, 26, 32, 24, Rose; 25, 33, 34, 28, 35, Tulip; 35, 28, 27, 21, Pink; 31, 32, 25, 24, 18, Aster; and, in similar ways, Verbena; Salvia; Ivy; Lily; Lilac; Heliotrope; Fern; and Bell.

Return to description

No. XXXV

The solution of this little problem, set by Dr Puzzlewitz on his blackboard to test the powers of his young pupils—“What are the values of A and B, when 4 is the result of dividing A by B, or of subtracting B from A?”—

A

-

B

=

4

A

÷

B

=

4

Image

is that A = 5^1⁄3 and B = 1^1⁄3.

Return to description

No. XXXVI

This is the diamond squared:—

s

h

i

s

h

i

n

t

s

s

i

n

u

o

u

s

s

t

o

r

m

s

u

m

s

Image

in which the words read alike from top to bottom, and from left to right.

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No. XXXVII

This is the arrangement of the 32 letters in the 64 cells—

A

E

I

O

E

O

A

I

A

I

E

O

I

O

A

E

O

I

E

A

E

O

A

I

A

I

E

O

E

A

O

I

Image

No A is in the same column, row, or diagonal with another A, no E with another E, no I with another I, and no O with another O.

Return to description

No. XXXVIII

This is the anagram square, with the letters, which in the former diagram spelt the words vote, wove, prow, call, stew, news, core, nape, recast into fresh words which now read alike from top to bottom and from left to right of the square.

C

R

O

W

C

L

A

W

L

O

V

E

R

O

P

E

A

P

E

S

O

V

E

N

W

E

N

T

W

E

S

T

Image

The empty squares and diagonal setting are necessary for this particular puzzle, as the words would not form a word square if their letters were placed below one another in the usual way.

Return to description

No. XXXIX

The sentence formed with the ten letters above the line, which is the key to this sum, is—Add these up. If these letters are numbered consecutively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, and the corresponding figures are substituted for the numbers, the sum works out as is shown below.

D

U

2

9

E

H

6

5

E

D

8

3

A

P

1

0

S

T

7

4

D

E

A

2

6

1

Image

Return to description

No. XL

The four words, seek, slab, leek, moan, which were placed on the white squares when recast form the following combination:—

M

A

S

K

A

B

L

E

S

L

O

E

K

E

E

N

Image

These fresh words read alike from side to side, and zigzag from top to bottom.

Return to description

No. XLI

These are the four words, recast by anagram from afar, task, seat, leal, and which now form a perfect word square.

F

A

S

T

A

R

E

A

S

E

A

L

T

A

L

K

Image

Return to description

No. XLII

The word square is recast thus—

c

r

e

s

s

r

e

a

c

h

e

a

g

e

r

s

c

e

n

e

s

h

r

e

d

Image

Its words are spelt with the same letters as the words chess, greed, canes, rears, cheer, which formed the original square, but did not read alike from top to bottom, and from left to right, as these do.

Return to description

No. XLIII

The five familiar proverbs hidden in this square of 169 letters are: A rolling stone gathers no moss. Too many cooks spoil the broth. A live dog is more to be feared than a dead lion. You cannot eat your cake and have it. Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.

R

E

N

O

W

N

E

D

T

H

A

N

W

S

Y

O

U

R

C

A

K

E

A

N

D

A

S

T

E

T

O

B

E

F

E

A

R

H

R

E

A

R

K

S

S

P

O

I

L

E

A

F

L

E

O

O

H

E

R

S

N

T

D

V

O

O

T

M

O

T

L

I

N

O

H

T

E

U

N

O

S

C

A

L

A

G

M

E

H

I

R

S

N

I

Y

G

O

R

S

O

B

A

T

S

E

N

G

N

E

N

O

T

S

R

N

P

A

I

A

O

A

M

O

O

T

S

O

A

E

W

R

C

D

E

V

I

L

A

H

T

D

A

S

O

U

O

Y

N

O

I

L

D

A

E

C

A

T

C

I

V

R

E

H

H

T

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H

E

Z

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Return to description

No. XLIV

If the shaded circles are cut out and the diagram is placed squarely over the jumbled letters, with the I., II., III., IV. in turn at the top left-hand corner, this sentence is disclosed—

Le premier Supplément du Journal de la Jeunesse a été publié dans le Numéro du Dix-neuf Juin Mil huit cent soixante-quinze.

Return to description

No. XLV

This is the way to reconstruct Sam Loyd’s black pony—so that, while its legs and tail are strangely misplaced, they form the spirited outline of a white galloping horse.

Return to description

No. XLVI

Here is the key to Sam Loyd’s ingenious puzzle—

which shows the jockeys and horses in full racing trim.

Return to description

No. XLVII

This is the inevitable result of the boy’s attempt to annex with his mouth the sugar on the chair—

Return to description

No. XLVIII

The leap-frog puzzle is solved in nine hops thus:—

First jump from stool 2, then from 5, 3, 6, 7, 1, 3, and 6 in turn to the vacant stools.

Return to description

No. LV

This diagram shows that the seven wheels, which spin so merrily when the paper is rotated in the hand, can be divided off into separate enclosures by only three straight lines—

Return to description

No. LVI

The diagram below shows how the market-gardener, keeping one-fourth of his square field for himself in the shape of a triangle, was able to divide the remainder so that each of his four sons had an equal portion of similar shape—

Return to description

No. LVII

Here is a drawing of the perfect Latin cross—

The position of the two long pieces does not readily suggest itself to those who try to arrange the five on paper with a pencil.

Return to description

No. LVIII

This diagram shows the effectual means taken by four rich men, whose houses were further afield, to exclude four poor men from all access to a central lake, that they might reserve the fishing for themselves.

They built a high wall on the lines that are indicated which, while it left a way for each of them to the water, altogether shut it away from their poor neighbours.

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No. LIX

This is the square that can be formed with the ten pattern pieces given—

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No. LX

The dotted lines in this diagram show how the figure can be divided into nine parts by four straight cuts

which can be reunited to form a perfect cross.

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No. LXI

This is a simple way by which the figure given can be divided by four straight cuts into four equal and similar parts—

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No. LXII

This is the way to draw twenty-two straight lines within the circle at right-angles to each other, so that they divide it into four similar parts—

and each part has three dots within its borders.

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No. LXIII

These diagrams show how the upper triangle is divided into five parts, which can be rearranged to form the equilateral triangle below.

The originator of this ingenious novelty says, “The method of construction is not shown, but its application is general, and the result is easily verified by measurement.”

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No. LXVI

This is an arrangement of the twenty-seven counters in nine rows, six in a row, within the borders of an equilateral triangle.

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No. LXVII

All the cards of one colour, when placed alternately, can be brought together in four moves, two at a time, thus—

A

♠

2

♡

3

♣

4

♢

5

♣

6

♢

7

♣

8

♡

Image

Place two and three beyond eight;

Place five and six between one and four;

Place eight and two between four and seven;

Place one and five between seven and three.

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No. LXVIII

You can in a moment tell the number chosen on these cards, when you are told on which of them it appears,

I.

II.

III.

IV.

1

33

65

97

2

34

66

98

4

36

68

100

8

40

72

104

3

35

67

99

3

35

67

99

5

37

69

101

9

41

73

105

5

37

69

101

6

38

70

102

6

38

70

102

10

42

74

106

7

39

71

103

7

39

71

103

7

39

71

103

11

43

75

107

9

41

73

105

10

42

74

106

12

44

76

108

12

44

76

108

11

43

75

107

11

43

75

107

13

45

77

109

13

45

77

109

13

45

77

109

14

46

78

110

14

46

78

110

14

46

78

110

15

47

79

111

15

47

79

111

15

47

79

111

15

47

79

111

17

49

81

113

18

50

82

114

20

52

84

116

24

56

88

120

19

51

83

115

19

51

83

115

21

53

85

117

25

57

89

121

21

53

85

117

22

54

86

118

22

54

86

118

26

58

90

122

23

55

87

119

23

55

87

119

23

55

87

119

27

59

91

123

25

57

89

121

26

58

90

122

28

60

92

124

28

60

92

124

27

59

91

123

27

59

91

123

29

61

93

125

29

61

93

125

29

61

93

125

30

62

94

126

30

62

94

126

30

62

94

126

31

63

95

127

31

63

95

127

31

63

95

127

31

63

95

127

V.

VI.

VII.

16

48

80

112

32

48

96

112

64

80

96

112

17

49

81

113

33

49

97

113

65

81

97

113

18

50

82

114

34

50

98

114

66

82

98

114

19

51

83

115

35

51

99

115

67

83

99

115

20

52

84

116

36

52

100

116

68

84

100

116

21

53

85

117

37

53

101

117

69

85

101

117

22

54

86

118

38

54

102

118

70

86

102

118

23

55

87

119

39

55

103

119

71

87

103

119

24

56

88

120

40

56

104

120

72

88

104

120

25

57

89

121

41

57

105

121

73

89

105

121

26

58

90

122

42

58

106

122

74

90

106

122

27

59

91

123

43

59

107

123

75

91

107

123

28

60

92

124

44

60

108

124

76

92

108

124

29

61

93

125

45

61

109

125

77

93

109

125

30

62

94

126

46

62

110

126

78

94

110

126

31

63

95

127

47

63

111

127

79

95

111

127

Image

by adding together the numbers at the top left-hand corner of these.

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No. LXIX

This diagram shows that the postman can take a course which involves fewer turnings than that indicated, when he had to pass round eighteen corners.

It will be seen that he has to turn only fifteen times.

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No. LXX

This shows how a square can be divided into three parts, so that these can be reunited to form No. 2 and No. 3 of the diagram.

Try it with scissors and paper or cardboard.

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No. LXXI

♘

♖

♚

♖

Image

This position fulfils the conditions of the puzzle. Obviously it could not occur in actual play.

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No. LXXV

The dotted lines in this diagram show where the flag with a cross taken out from its centre must be cut, so that the two pieces can be rejoined to form a perfect flag.

The piece on the right is moved upward, and to the left.

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No. LXXVI

This is a way in which the eleven parts can be readjusted to form a square:—

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No. LXXVIII

This shows the shortest course—

This track takes him completely round every block, passing only once round four of them.

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No. LXXIX

Here is a very simple and symmetrical arrangement, by which on a board of 36 squares twelve counters are so placed that there are two, and two only, on each line, column, and diagonal.

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

◎

Image

There are other arrangements which fulfil the conditions.

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No. LXXXI

In this nest of triangles of five tiers there are 1196 separate triangles, or nearly double the number (653) of a similar nest of four tiers.

In such a figure with 10,000 tiers there would be 6,992,965,420,332 different triangles!

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No. LXXXII

The match puzzle, in which eight matches set in a row are to be rearranged in four pairs, by passing one match over two four times—

is solved, if the matches are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, by moving 4 to 7, 6 to 2, 1 to 3, and 5 to 8.

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No. LXXXIII

The lower diagram shows how, when three matches are removed from the four squares, the remaining nine can be readjusted to represent three squares—

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No. LXXXIV

This diagram shows how different arrangements of four matches are possible in all the thirty-six cells of the square.

In every case a whole number or a fraction is represented, with such signs or lines as are necessary, and only four matches are used.

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No. LXXXV

It will be seen from the diagram below that the sentence, when filled in as required, is “Rise to vote, sir.”

R

I

S

E

T

O

V

O

T

E

S

I

R

I

I

I

I

S

S

S

S

E

E

E

E

T

T

T

T

O

O

O

O

V

V

V

O

O

O

O

T

T

T

T

E

E

E

E

S

S

S

S

I

I

I

I

R

I

S

E

T

O

V

O

T

E

S

I

R

Image

As this sentence is a perfect palindrome, and reads alike from either end, it can be traced in a great number of different directions.

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No. LXXXVII

This subtraction sum may be very neatly worked, without reducing the distances to inches, thus:—

miles

furlongs

rods

yards

feet

inches

1

„

0

„

0

„

0

„

0

„

0

7

„

39

„

5

„

1

„

5

0

„

0

„

0

„

0

„

0

„

1

Image

Instead of borrowing one foot, we borrow half-a-foot—i.e., 6 inches; taking 5 from the 6 we have 1 as a remainder; now carrying the 6 inches to the 1 foot, and borrowing half a yard, and subtracting, we have 0 as remainder; carrying the half-yard to the 5 yards, we borrow the full 5^1⁄2 yards, which are one rod, and proceed in the usual manner afterwards, with the result that is shown.

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No. LXXXIX

This is an arrangement of nine counters on the irregular board of 67 squares.

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

●

Image

No two counters are in the same row, column, or diagonal.

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No. XC

This is the arrangement of nine cards in ten rows, three in each row—

K

♢

Q

♠

K

♡

A

♣

A

♢

A

♠

10

♡

K

♣

J

♢

Image

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No. XCI

The following diagram shows how the two ladies and their squires represented by white Knights and black, and dressed to impersonate Light, Liberty, Love, and Learning, started from the four comer squares, and stepped a figure which exhibited at each pause a revolving square, and in three paces came together in the centre, by a course traced upon the lines of their combined monograms.

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No. XCII

The 5 maxims in these 36 cells—

tell

you know

tells

knows

tells

he should not

do

you think of

does

thinks of

does

is not good

believe

you hear

believes

hears

believes

is false

spend

you have

spends

has

spends

he needs

judge

you see

judges

sees

judges

is not there

never

all

he who

all he

often

what

Image

are disentangled by reading the lowest line with each of the upper ones in turn. Thus the first maxim runs:—“Never tell all you know, he who tells all he knows often tells what he should not,” and so on throughout.

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No. XCIII

The dislocated circle is solved by making a single cut through the dotted line shown in the diagram below, and join up the pieces.

The second diagram shows how this figure is arrived at, by drawing three similar and intersecting circles, which have their centres at the angles of an equilateral triangle. The piece cut off by the dotted line corresponds to the section that completes the circle below.

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No. XCV

The catch-words Cleans, Scrubs, Scours, Polishes, which proclaim the merits of an “Old Dutch Cleanser” on the sails of this windmill,

can be recast so that the same letters form the singularly appropriate sentence—

“O rub on, sir, success spells cash!”

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No. XCVI

The following diagram shows the solution of this new chess puzzle, and fulfils its conditions that no Queen should attack a Queen, no Rook a Rook, no Bishop a Bishop, and no Knight a Knight.

B

B

B

B

Q

R

B

B

Kt

R

Kt

Kt

Q

Kt

R

Kt

Q

Kt

Kt

B

Q

Kt

Kt

R

Kt

B

B

Kt

Kt

Q

R

B

Q

Kt

Kt

R

Kt

Kt

Kt

R

Kt

Q

Kt

R

B

Q

Kt

B

B

B

Kt

Image

Mr Dudeney explains that only 8 Queens or 8 Rooks can be thus placed upon the board, while the greatest number of Bishops is fourteen, and of Knights thirty-two. But as all Knights must be placed on squares of the same colour, while the Queens occupy four of each colour, and the bishops seven of each colour, it follows that only twenty-one Knights can be placed, and the arrangement shown above contains the maximum number of these pieces under the conditions.

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No. CII

This diagram shows the order in which the syllables or words of the eight-line verse are to be read on the course of a Knight’s moves at chess—

14

sor

55

to

22

king

37

good

12

say

51

luck

18

loy

35

eth

23

and

38

moth

13

a

54

soon

17

dis

36

our

11

to

50

bad

56

place

15

ry

40

church

21

his

52

force

9

is

34

hat

19

al

39

er

24

queen

53

him

16

wight

33

he

20

to

49

may

10

truth

2

man

57

his

28

and

41

and

8

chess

61

es

32

knight

47

op’s

25

a

42

sneer

1

the

60

and

29

un

48

lawn

7

of

62

tates

58

cas

3

that

44

at

27

less

64

pawn

5

no

46

bish

31

lant

44

eth

26

faith

59

tles

4

hath

45

the

30

gal

63

in

6

love

Image

They run thus:—

The man that hath no love of chess,

Is, truth to say, a sorry wight;

Disloyal to his King and Queen,

A faithless and ungallant Knight.

He hateth our good mother Church,

And sneereth at the bishop’s lawn;

May bad luck force him soon to place

His castles and estates in pawn!

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No. CV

If such a network as is shown in the diagram below is drawn on clear tracing-paper and placed on the page of a book, it will conceal the words beneath it.

But if, while lying close to the page, it is moved quickly round and about, the letters and words will be distinctly seen, just as objects on the other side of close lattice-work become visible as we pass them quickly in a train.

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No. CVI

These are the results of cutting, in the direction of the dotted lines, completely round a simple paper ring, a ring with one twist, and a ring with a double twist.

We have (1) two simple rings; (2) one large-twisted ring; (3) two rings linked together. If a third twist is given before cutting, a curious knot is formed.

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CVII

The string when it has been placed in the position shown in the diagram, and two buttons larger than the hole have been fixed upon its ends can be easily removed if the narrow slip of the leather is drawn through the hole.

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CVIII

The scissors, when securely fastened, as is shown in the diagram,

can be easily released by passing the loop upward through the handle, and then completely over them.

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CIX

The primitive wolf-trap consisted of two circular fences higher than a wolf could scale, with a gate as was shown on the former diagram. To set the trap a lamb was placed in the safe centre, and the gate was opened as is shown below—

Attracted by the bleating of the lamb, the wolf entered the outer circle, made his way round, and presently pushed aside the gate, which closed with a spring, and shut off all escape.

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No. CXII

When you have told someone to think of a number between 5 and 15, and while you are not looking, to count upwards from the lowest card step, and round in the direction indicated by the arrow, until that number is reached, and then, starting afresh with “one” on that card to count backwards round the semi-circle, this time not including the central upright or the steps below it, until the number thought of is again reached, you can tell at once which is the final card arrived at, for it will be as many places upwards on the left as there are step cards and their upright.

Thus if there are 3 steps, it must always be the fourth card upwards on the left of the semi-circle. To keep up the puzzle, the number of steps should each time be changed, on the pretext that their number does not signify.

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No. CXIII

This diagram shows how the apple may be divided into six pieces by two straight cuts, so that there shall be a gash in each piece.

First cut the apple through the dotted line, then place the upper piece shown at the side of the larger piece, and make the second cut straight through, where the line is drawn.

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No. CXVII

The sixpence under the middle of the tumbler can be easily removed thus—

Slip larger coins under opposite edges of the tumbler to raise it slightly, and then scratch firmly on the cloth, from just outside the rim, in the direction you wish the sixpence to take. It will at once respond, and makes its own way gradually outside the circle that had surrounded it.

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No. CXVIII

This is the way to draw the spiral—

Tie a piece of strong thread with a loop at its end round the upper part of the windings of a screw. Drive the screw into a board, through the middle of a card, wind the thread down the screw so that its loop just reaches the card, place a pencil in this loop, and draw the spiral freely, unwinding the thread from the grooves of the screw, and keeping it always taut. A perfect spiral is the result.

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No. CXXII.

The secret of the talking head is simple indeed when you know it.

Between the front and two side legs of the table mirrors are fixed, which reflect the similar surroundings, so that the performer, kneeling behind these, and putting his head through a hole in the table top, completely conceals his body and limbs from the audience.

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No. CXXV

The picture charade is completed thus—

My first may blow the candle out,

My second then comes in;

My whole in water moves about

Without an oar or fin—

and is solved by Puffin.

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No. CXXVI

When the walnuts and cobnuts have been arranged as is shown on the diagram—

they can be shifted so that they stand alternately, by moving two that are close together at a time, in four moves, as follows:—

(1) Move 2 and 3 beyond 8.

(2) Move 5 and 6 between 1 and 4.

(3) Move what are now 6th and 7th in the gap.

(4) Move what are now 1st and 2nd in the gap, and the alternate arrangement is complete.

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No. CXXVII

The question suggested by this picture riddle is: Why is a waiter like a racehorse? And the solution is: Because he runs for cups and plates.

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WORD PLAY SOLUTIONS

1

The paradox—

Two words in our region of puzzledom pose,

And claim, through the passage of years,

That neither the pages of Johnson disclose,

While either in Murray appears.

is solved by the lines—

This key unlocks our puzzle-box,

Johnson and Murray both give “neither,”

While, to complete the paradox,

Murray and Johnson both give “either!”

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2

The verse is completed thus—

Rude Eurus murmurs, trustful buds uncurl,

Bulbs push, due culture nurtures fruitful flush;

Thrush builds, full sunhued plumes furze tufts unfurl,

Up bursts, pure flute-fugue, Bulbul’s tuneful gush.

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3

The enigma—

I see my first, I see my next,

And both I sigh and see

Joined to my third, which much perplexed

And sorely puzzled me.

’Twas fifty, and ’twas something more,

Reversed ’twas scarce an ell,

With first and next it forms a whole

Clear as a crystal bell.

What is my whole? A splendid tear

Upheld in cruel thrall;

Blow soft, ye gales, bright sun, appear!

And bid it gently fall.

is solved by ICICLE.

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4

The charade—

Take for my first a quadruped,

Transpose one for my second;

My whole, a biped, quick or dead

Is dainty reckoned.

is solved by Pigeon (one becomes eon).

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5

Byron’s enigma—

I am not in youth, nor in manhood, nor age,

But in infancy ever am known;

I’m a stranger alike to the fool and the sage,

And though I’m distinguish’d in history’s page

I always am greatest alone.

I am not in earth, nor the sun, nor the moon;

You may search all the sky—I’m not there;

In the morning and evening—though not in the noon—

You may plainly perceive me—for, like a balloon,

I am midway suspended in air.

Though disease may possess me, and sickness and pain,

I am never in sorrow nor gloom;

Though in wit and in wisdom I equally reign,

I’m the heart of all sin, and have long lived in vain,

Yet I ne’er shall be found in the tomb!

is solved by the letter I.

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6

I am bright as a whole

Till you cut off my head;

Then as black as a coal,

Or a mortal instead.

Shaken up and recast

We with science are found,

Read us back from the last

And we live underground.

is solved by Star, tar, arts, rats.

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7

Horace Smith’s charade—

In arts and sciences behold my first the watchword still,

All prejudice must bend the knee before its iron will;

Yet “Onward!” is the Briton’s cry—a cry that doth express

A holy work but half begun, and speaks of hopefulness.

In palace or in lonely cot its name alike is heard,

And in the Senate’s lordly halls sit my second and my third.

Strange paradox, though for my first my total is designed,

Sad marks of vice and ignorance we in that whole may find.

is solved by Reformatory.

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8

Untouched I tell of budding growth and life;

Beheaded I lead upward more or less;

Again—with varied fragrance I am rife;

Again—but little value I express.

is solved by Nascent, ascent, scent, cent.

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9

The enigma—

Search Holy Writ and you will see

A victory was won by me.

Behead me, and I may be found

In water or on hilly ground.

Behead again, and then transpose,

A snare my letters now disclose.

If yet again my head you sever,

No matter how sharp-set or clever,

’Tis all in vain you look about,

For no one yet has found me out.

is solved by Sling, ling, gin, in.

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10

The charade—

Said a lawyer aside to his friend in the court,

“Now I’d bet, were we not in this place,

That my first is my second a bottle of port,”

Then bright with my whole shone his face.

is solved by Pleasure.

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11

The answer to the problem—

Six horse ’buses and four motor ’buses travel each hour from Temple Bar to the Bank. The horses take 15 minutes, and the motors 10 minutes on the journey.

If I come to Temple Bar, and wish to reach the Bank as soon as possible, shall I take the first horse ’bus that turns up, or wait for a motor? It must be assumed that I can only see a ’bus as it actually passes me—

is (1) Take a motor if it comes first.

(2) Take a horse ’bus if it comes first, and comes within 2^1⁄2 minutes of waiting.

(3) Wait for a motor if a horse ’bus comes first, but does not come till after 2^1⁄2 minutes.

As I may have to wait 0 minutes or 15 minutes, the average time of waiting will be 7^1⁄2 minutes.

If I wait x min., and a horse ’bus arrives, I should reach the Bank in 15 mins, if I took it.

If I waited longer for a motor, which, on the average, will now turn up in 7^1⁄2 - x mins., I should reach the Bank in 17^1⁄2 - x mins.

If, therefore, x is greater than 2^1⁄2, the motor is the quicker.

Return to description

12

The historical charade—

My first, if foolishly or rashly taken,

May mar the future prospects of your life.

My second, by her fickle lord forsaken

(Sad type of many a gentle, patient wife).

May toil and moil to feed his many babies,

While he goes flirting off with other ladies.

The thrifty monarch of a former age

My whole a place in Britain’s history fills.

Immortalised in Shakespeare’s magic pages

As one who’d fain reform his tailor’s bills!

is solved by Stephen (Step-hen).

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13

My second, worn with pompous pride,

My first had dangling at his side,

On chain securely hooked.

My first he came from o’er the sea,

A bundle of conceit looked he,

And he was all he looked.

She led him to the village green,

Where in desponding mood was seen

My whole, with drooping head.

“Behold,” she said, “a perfect, true

And striking likeness, sir, of you!”

And, laughing, gaily fled.

is solved by Donkey.

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14

Lewis Carroll turns WHEAT into BREAD, changing one letter each time, and preserving their general order throughout, thus—

WHEAT; cheat; cheap; cheep; creep; creed; breed; BREAD.

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15

Unity is a probable solution of the old enigma, part of which evidently refers to “a house divided against itself”—

I’m one among a numerous host,

And very useful in my post;

There’s not a house in all the land

Without me properly can stand.

Though men disputed long ago

Whether I did exist or no,

Once more some thousands have been slain

Because they could not me attain.

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16

The anagram proverbs, “These grave lips chatter no ill,” and “Elephants, all to richest giver,” are both founded on Little pitchers have long ears, and spelt with exactly the same letters.

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17

The charade—

My first of rudeness has a sound;

The rest is in a city found;

My whole to win its way is bound.

is solved by Pertinacity.

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18

The buried potentate in the lines—

My first is in cake, but not in bun;

My second in light, but not in sun;

My third is in night, but not in day;

My fourth is in game, but not in play;

My fifth is in head, but not in tail;

My sixth is in wind, but not in sail;

My seventh in wrong, but not in right;

My eighth is in battle, but not in fight;

My ninth is in sword, but not in knife,

My tenth is in lady, but not in wife;

My whole is a monarch at war with strife.

is King Edward.

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19

The charade—

My first except when it is old

Is never seen or heard;

When it is heard the sound is tolled

Out of a Jewish beard.

My next was in imperial Rome,

It was her power and might;

Then you had but to write you wish,

And straightway ’twas in sight.

My whole was Frank

Of royal rank.

is solved by Clovis (vis in Latin is both power and you wish).

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20

How great in olden days my power,

Oft have I saved a castle tower

From war’s invading tide.

Transpose me, and how great my fall!

I am then the smallest of the small,

That nothing can divide.

is solved by Moat—atom.

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21

The puzzle—

This compact Enigma take,

All apart its letters shake.

Let your 6, 3, 5 be high,

Like 5, 1, 2 do or die.

Who 4, 6, 5, 1 enjoys

More than 5, 6, 2 by boys?

While 5, 3, 2, 1 are mine,

May 4, 6, 3, 2 be thine.

4, 1, 5 is rich and rare,

6, 5, 1, 2 ends my prayer.

is solved by the word Enigma, from which are formed, as is indicated, the words aim, men, game, man, mine, gain, gem, and amen.

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22

The enigma—

“Charles the First walked and talked,

Half an hour after his head was cut off.”

Old Couplet.

Cut off my head, I’m every inch a King,

A warrior formed to deal a heavy blow.

Halve what remains, my second is a thing

Which nothing but my third can e’er make go,

My third will vary as you take your line,

This less than human, that way all divine!

is solved by Dog (Og, go, dog, God).

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23

The logograph—

Touch me not, I’m firm and sure;

Behead, I’m used by rich and poor;

In house and cottage, hut and hall,

I stand of service to them all.

Behead again, in time of need

I tell that strength and skill succeed.

is solved by Stable, table, able.

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24

The names that satisfy the conditions of this Single Acrostic—

What river is that, where it is found,

Which Pope says does with eels abound?

What Scottish lake, by high hills bounded,

Is with bright birch and oak surrounded?

What stream is said in Devon to run

Into the sea near Otterton?

What bay on Cuba’s distant coast

Is justly deemed its pride and boast?

The initials of these names will show

A Scotch reformer, who, we know,

Flourished three hundred years ago.

are Kennet, Ness, Otter, Xagua, which give Knox.

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25

The charade—

My whole may be a mother, not a dad,

So former may, or latter;

But twist my tail, and I become as mad

As any hatter!

Behead me, and behold I am a man,

Who never was called mister;

Cut off my tail, and instantly I can

Become a sister!

is solved by Madam (ma, dam, mad, Adam, Ada).

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26

In addition to the singularly appropriate anagram that has been so happily attached to the name of Florence Nightingale, Flit on, cheering angel, the same group of letters can be recast as an aspiration for her continuance in our loving memory, so that they form the sentence, Cling on, feeling heart.

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27

The rebus—

I am

a man

I rate you

a beast

You know me

reads thus:—I rate you lower than a man, above a beast. Know between you and me I am above the rest.

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28

The charade—

My first, thou knowest, was in ancient Rome,

Rome’s fate my next, and one that all may dread.

Long may it be before that fate shall come

And sever with my whole thy life’s last thread!

is solved by Scissors (Lat. scis, thou knowest; sors, a lot).

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29

The poets’ names buried in the lines—

The sun is darting rays of gold

Upon the moor, enchanting spot;

Whose purpled heights, by Ronald loved,

Up open to his shepherd cot.

And sundry denizens of air

Are flying—aye, each to his nest;

And eager make at such an hour

All haste to reach the mansions blest.

are Gray, Moore, Byron, Pope, Dryden, Gay, Keats and Hemans.

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30

The enigma—

This multiplies me, I declare,

Though it reduces one;

A sty is foul if it is there,

By it a deed is done.

is solved by the letter n (me becomes men; one, none; a sty, nasty.)

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31

Lennie parsed the words he read,

Studying Praed’s fable;

Lennie’s mother rasped the bread,

Sophy drapes the table.

“Work while you are spared,” they said,

“Spread while you are able!”

The words in italics have the same letters.

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32

The charade—

When I write with my first, in my second,

My whole is quite sure to be in.

Divided afresh, there is reckoned

A wit, or a something that’s thin.

Prefix a letter, and, as clear as paint,

You see the name of an old English Saint,

is solved by Within (Swithin).

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33

The puzzle lines—

My first, though half a noisy bird,

To a slight noise may turn;

My second-twist, a stately word,

And it will bend we learn.

are solved by Pardon (rap-nod).

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34

The enigma—

To half of ten add one

Then half a score.

When this is duly done

Almost ten more.

This can be good for none,

But trial sore.

is solved by Vixen.

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35

The buried proverb—

I fancy this Tory outcry, this weary outrageous attempt to show illegality, is as a cat chasing snow-flakes. I must be forgiven if I shun his example—is—

If you swear you will catch no fish.

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36

Quick veerers in action, now timid, now bold,

Like reevers of ropes far too rotten to hold,

Reserve a severer reverse and disasters

For a State that reveres not incapable masters.

The six words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

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37

My first is an heir,

My second a snare,

My whole is the offspring of fancy,

Which I sent on its way

Last Valentine’s Day,

As a token of love to my Nancy.

is solved by Sonnet.

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38

The lover’s vow—

My love shall never know my first,

Shall never be my second;

It shall my all, come best, come worst,

Be surely reckoned.

is solved by Endless.

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39

The enigma—

I am a letter, and a word,

I am a tree, I am a name,

Cut me in pieces with a sword,

You and your act would be the same.

Thrice you must leave the aspirate in doubt,

And use it twice if you would find me out.

is solved by U, You, Hugh, Yew, How.

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40

If you “resist disasters,” this may, by anagram, distress a sister.

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41

The charade—

My first the rainbow shows

When in rich hues it glows.

My next has vowels three;

My third was once a tree.

My fourth begins the year,

My whole the past makes clear.

is solved by Archæology.

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42

If you ask a schoolboy to estimate the value of the grass in a triangular field, of which the longest side measures 100 rods, and each of the other sides 50 rods, at £1 per acre, it may take him some little time to see that he is being sold, since the condition is not fulfilled that any two sides of a triangle must be greater than the third side.

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43

Less than my last, my whole has place

Between my first and second:

Second has body, arms and face;

First is by inches reckoned.

is solved by waistcoat.

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44

The historical charade—

My first at early morn the camp alarms,

And at its sound the soldier springs to arms;

My second nowadays fair ladies scorn,

Though in less dainty days it oft was worn.

My whole, a battle fought on Scottish ground,

With victory the rebel forces crowned.

is solved by the battle of Drumclog.

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45

I love strolling troupes that go wandering round,

Each spouter a Proteus in versatile skill;

Each posture so quaint, each idea so profound,

My barn’s at their service, whenever they will.

A company played there last night, but to-day

Ducks, pouters, and poultry have vanished away!

The five words in italics are spelt with the same seven letters.

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46

The Arithmorem “150 hat robe or tent” forms the name Charlotte Bronte.

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47

The Shedding Letters enigma—

I’m a worker most active, most useful, most known,

Of all that are busy in country and town.

Take from me one letter, and yet my good name

In spite of this loss will continue the same.

Take from me two letters, and still you will see

That precisely the same in effect I shall be.

Take from me three letters, or even take more,

Yet still I continue as sound as before.

is solved by The Postman!

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48

When Tom Larkins challenged his sisters to prove on a blackboard that if 50 is subtracted from the sum of the nine digits the result equals the number obtained by dividing their sum by 3, he showed them that the sum of the digits may be written thus: XLV, and that if the L, which represents 50, is removed, XV, or 15, the third of 45, remains.

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49

In the “Geese to Market” problem—

B drove a goodly flock of geese,

And met with Farmer A;

Said Farmer A, “How much apiece

For this lot did you pay?”

Said B, “I paid for all I drive

Just six pounds and a crown,

And I am selling all but five

At the next market town.

If fifteen pence a head I charge

Beyond the price I paid,

I shall secure a sum as large

As he who sold all made.”

B bought 25 geese at 5s. each, and proposed to sell 20 of them at 6s. 3d.

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50

The charade—

When second held first

For best or for worst,

I thought myself happy to win her.

But what could I say

When the very next day

She gave me the whole for my dinner?

is solved by Herring.

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51

In the lines—

The bees’ blithe vernal love-songs softly hum,

Blending so sweetly with the restful air;

The noiseless, deep-laced twilight shadows come,

And well I ken the lass who meets me there—

the familiar adage, “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home” is buried.

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52

The mutilations in—

A little beast without its head

Becomes a mighty beast instead:

But then the subject of my riddle

Is cut asunder in the middle;

And nothing this division gains,

Though unknown quantity remains.

are Fox, ox, o, x.

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53

Mary sat with slate in hand,

Writing tales dramatic.

Did she steal the plots she planned?

Negative emphatic!

Stale to us the tales may be,

But at least they’re new to she!

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54

The old Sanscrit problem, quoted by Longfellow in his “Kavanagh,”

Ten times the square root of a flock of geese, seeing the clouds collect, flew to the Manus lake. One-eighth of the whole flew from the edge of the water among a tangle of water lilies, and three couple were seen playing in the water. Tell me, my young girl with beautiful locks, what was the whole number of geese?

is solved by 144.

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55

The enigma—

Six hundred and sixty so ordered may be

That if you divide the whole number by three

You find the result will exactly express

The half of six hundred and sixty, no less—

is solved by turning the sixes of 660 upside down, when it becomes 990, and satisfies the conditions.

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56

The press parody ran thus—

There was a young turkey, oh, bless her!

It cost very little to dress her;

Some breadcrumbs and thyme

About Thanksgiving time,

And they ate every bit from the dresser!

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57

She loses her head when she joins the brides,

He joins them after tea;

But both are swept by ruthless tides

Away on the western sea.

is solved by Hebrides.

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58

If I have 91 bananas on my barrow, and find, when I have sold one quality at four a penny, and the other at three a penny, that in mixed lots at seven for twopence I should have made a penny more, I had 64 of inferior and 27 of better sort.

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59

The words in italics have the same letters—

How does the sluggard’s garden grow?

When rates are high, results are low.

His borders tares and bindweed spoil,

No careful culture tears the soil;

What weeds that stare are all alive

Where aster, pink, or rose should thrive.

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60

Correctly drawn results I yield,

Varied, but welcome everywhere;

But met with in the open field

I’m banned if frequent, blest if rare.

To this peculiar difference the clue

Is called with much significance the cue.

is solved by Cheque, check (the letter Q).

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61

The three towns buried in the lines—

Wait while I think the matter over,

On holiday intent;

The best I’ve seen is surely Dover,

That pretty port of Kent.

are Leith, Thebes, St Ives.

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62

An Arab came to the river side,

With a donkey bearing an obelisk;

But he did not venture to ford the tide,

For he had to good an ass to risk (asterisk).

So he camped all night by that river side,

Secure till the tide had ceased to swell,

For he knew that whenever the donkey died,

No other could be its parallel (‖).

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63

The charade—

What ho, my jolly second! never say my first

While my final you can find in Amsterdam.

Think how a sound whole stays your hunger and your thirst,

Deftly readjusting bread and meat and jam.

is solved by Dietary (Amsterdam is on the River Y).

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64

The schoolboy who calculated that if he had made as many more runs at a cricket match, and half as many more, and two runs and a half, he would have made a score, scored seven runs.

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65

The enigma—

Six letters spell the happy state

Of two in love made one.

The same six letters tell the fate

Of marriage ties undone.

is solved by United, untied.

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66

The riddle—

My first’s a bond, my second’s weigh;

These own the rest of all my lay;

Busy my third; fourth like the pole,

Whose opposite my fifth makes goal.

is solved by Shackle, Tons, Ant, Arctic Expedition.

[Lieutenant Ernest H. Shackleton, R.N., leader of his South Polar Expedition.]

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67

For two months at the nets we played,

Ere we were sent to Lord’s;

Alas! the score our champion made

Was what a nest affords.

The crowd in tens of thousands came,

But took scant notice of the game.

The words in italics have the same letters.

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68

When Edwin and Angelina received these mutual Marconigrams—

“No fickle girl is bonnie to my mind.”

“In love inconstant I no pleasure find,”

he was at Lisbon and she was at Constantinople, as is indicated by the fact that the names of these places are “buried” in the messages.

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69

The Mental Arithmetic—

Set down three figures in a line,

Then multiply by four;

This, if you use the proper sign,

Makes five, and nothing more.

is solved by 1.25. In 1^1⁄4 the figures are not in a line.

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70

The doublet by missing words, in which a grilse is turned into a salmon, is solved thus—

To silver Tweed, or broader Spey,

The grilse of silver, sailer gay,

Guides on; the sailor morals draws

When salmon follows Nature’s laws.

One letter is changed in each link.

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71

The enigma—

I never move, and yet I run

From place to place all day;

Some loving swain, hot foot for fun,

Sees Dora in my way—

is solved by Road, which spells also Dora.

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72

The Letters—

HAATTCEUMSSSS

form the name of the State Massachusetts.

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73

The enigma—

Seven words in one of letters five we fix,

Six English, and one Latin;

No need to twist them, or afresh to mix,

If puzzles you are pat in.

is solved by There: the words are—there, here, her, the, ere, he, re.

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74

The full solution of the answer by anagram to the question, “Why is every angler ipso facto an Ananias?” is—

A liar, he spins gay fancies to a woven yarn.

Question and answer are spelt with the same letters.

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75

The quaint riddle—

Peter White

Will never go right;

Shall I tell you the reason why?

Wherever he goes,

He follows his nose,

And that stands all awry!

If this appendage had slanted more.

Why would it serve a hole to bore?

is solved thus—It would be Askewer (a skewer!)

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76

“S” is the missing letter which occurs 55 times, and these are the four lines:—

This season’s sunshine smiles, such storms as pass

Assist us to assess success or loss.

Spring’s sweetness still possesses mossy grass,

As summer’s tresses mass soft shades across.

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77

The enigma—

Protected, open, plain,

Without my tail I’m flat;

I’m round, curtailed again;

Again, you have me pat!

is solved by Patent, paten, pate, pat.

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78

The logogriph—

When all are gay this holds the sway,

But take a letter out,

That change of fare is ruling there,

You see, without a doubt.

Behead me twice; it is not nice

To have this in your skin;

Lop head and tail, and find a nail

Or tack to drive it in.

Behead this right, and in your sight

A little word you find;

But you will never make it out,

Though it is in your mind.

is solved by feasting, fasting, sting, tin, in.

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79

He prides himself much on his skill,

In many a burglary tried;

But when he prised open the till

There was only a spider inside.

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

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80

The enigma—

Three-fourths of me an act display,

Three-fourths a bed for man;

Three-fourths have legs that cannot stray,

Three-fourths have legs that can.

I have a back without a spine,

An arm without a bone is mine.

is solved by Coat.

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81

The charade—

My first is the French for my second,

My whole a narcotic is reckoned

is solved by Lethe.

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82

The two palindrome words which can be formed from the letters of the sentence “Arrive to vote at it,” are Rotator and Evitative.

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83

The enigma—

Sweet till I lose my head,

Sweet-hearted then I show;

Decapitate again, I spread,

And cannot be below.

Served so once more, I am not dead,

But with fresh beauty glow.

is solved by Clover, lover, over, ver (Latin for Spring).

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84

When Tommy undertook to put a shilling in his money-box if his father would give him as much as he had in his purse, and after repeating the process for three more days found himself penniless, he had elevenpence farthing in his purse at first.

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85

Two articles of English make,

And three from foreign source.

All these together you must take

Where dramas run their course.

is solved by Theatres (tres, Latin for three).

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86

When young Hopeful said, “If it were possible I should choose a life double as long,” and old Sobersides answered, “Yes, and you might turn it to better account if it was also begun old,” and the fact that their actual words “double as long,” and “also begun old,” were spelt with exactly the same letters, gave emphasis to the reply.

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87

The charade—

Lop head and tail, and you will find

I have both tail and head.

Or if for spirits you’ve a mind

Set my tail first instead.

Life, as “a vapour full of woes,”

With many a darker page,

My whole in picture will disclose,

For “all the world’s a stage!”

is solved by Drama, ram, a dram.

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88

A glowing transept window, graced

With patterns that true art has traced.

The words in italics have the same letters.

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89

The proof by anagram that the words of commendation “blessed in pain,” are properly applied to anæsthetics, is that exactly the same letters spell indispensable.

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90

The quotation buried in the sentence—

“What sin was it, sonny?” said an American negress to her lover, when she sat on his best hat, which was flattened. Wearily he heard her musical laugh, and arose to go. His hobby was botany, but not hers, for she was then a merry girl. “Bother the flowers! I would prefer this mellow pineapple, Leonidas,” she said; “I guess we Ethiopians just love fruit!”

is “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

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91

They grab the dress with grip so keen

That half the garb gives way:

And home return with purses lean

To brag of “bargain-day”!

The words in italics are spelt with the same four letters.

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92

Three ladies went sailing out into the West,

Out into the West as the sun sank low;

Each thought as she sailed of the lad she loved best

For they all had ideals, and each had a beau.

......

But seas will rise, and spirits will sink,

And they all were too ill of ideals to think,

So these ladies sailed back moaning!

The words in italics have the same six letters.

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93

The charade—

Lurking in riddles oft my first is found;

My second should in ample stores abound,

Or help to make the sweetest songster heard.

Peculiar, and quite proper, is my third.

My whole has found with England’s monarch grace,

The verdant home of many a goodly race,

is solved by Punchestown.

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94

The enigma—

Accent my head,

An opening I appear;

In other fashion said

I charm all far and near—

is solved by Entrance.

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95

The two sentences—

A lamp shines out for thee,

Win me best by tears,

are anagrams of The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

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96

When on the Brighton beach an excited collie in pursuit of stones thrown into the sea, suggested the riddle, “What is the difference between that dog and a hungry man?” The appropriate answer was, “The one stops and shakes himself; the other chops and steaks himself!”

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97

The hidden animal in—

A part of me in rain,

A part in hail must be,

A part belongs to pain,

A part in bones we see,

A part in gleaming gold,

A part in common copper.

A part in peace behold,

A part in any topper,

Two parts are heard in sound,

And in our finals found.

is Rhinoceros.

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98

The smart enigma—

Men commonly say I am clever,

Book-learning I never could boast;

Yet I turn the leaves inside the cover,

And when I am found I am lost.

is solved by A Fox.

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99

A sot is like a toast, or what is most

Comparative, a toast is like a sot;

For when their substances in liquor sink

Both properly are said to be in drink.

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters, the t being repeated in toast.

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100

The pied proverb is “Fine words butter no parsnips.”

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101

The puzzle verse—

A wordy warfare waged with wit,

In youth its joys none need descry;

But where our elders take to it

Its name points loss of dignity,

is solved by Badinage (bad in age).

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102

The hero’s name, hidden in—

My first’s in garb, but not in dress;

My next’s in praise, but not in bliss;

My third’s in man, but not in miss;

My fourth’s in we.

My fifth’s in boar, but not in hog;

My sixth’s in cat, but not in dog;

My next’s in calm, but not in fog;

My eighth’s in we.

My ninth’s in rope, but not in twine;

My tenth’s in light, but not in shine;

My next’s in four, but not in nine;

My twelfth’s in we.

is General Wolfe.

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103

Here is the sentence given with its appropriate and perfect anagram—

A defeat whose test is very sure.

Sweet are the uses of adversity.

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104

The phonetic missing words are given in italics:—

’Tis plain that no one takes a plane

To pare a pair of pears;

A rake may often take a rake

To tear away the tares.

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105

The queer obstacle—

I’m in everyone’s way,

Yet no one I stop.

My four horns each day

Horizontally play,

And my head is nailed on at the top.

is A turnstile.

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106

The old enigma—

Take five from five, and then

Put fifty in the middle;

Twice ten times five times ten

Will finish off my riddle,

And bring it to your ken

As fit as any fiddle!

is solved thus—

When Jacky Barrett, learned Don,

Composed his famous riddle,

His thoughts, perhaps, were resting on

The strings of his old FIDDLE.

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107

The phonetic gaps are filled thus—

No quail will quail before the wind,

A bough will bow before it;

We cannot rein the rain, or find

That earthly powers reign o’er it.

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108

We seem to sound a note of lavish bounty;

Reverse us, and we indicate a county—

is solved by X S—S X.

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109

The cryptogram—

FTHNMLKBRNGSLLCTTN

LLSKMTMXTTLLTSTHN!

is solved by inserting the letter “I” throughout, when this rhyming couplet is formed—

If thin milk brings illicit tin,

I’ll skim it, mix it, till it’s thin!

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110

The buried proverb in—

Yet I see them all! on golden wings that fly

Old memories steal anew;

With a tear, with a sigh, with an old, old cry

They return in ghostly hue!

is ’Tis a long lane that has no turning.

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111

Lewis Carroll’s doublet, which changes ELM into OAK by seven links, introducing the name of another tree as one of them, is solved thus by him—

ELM, ELL, ALL, AIL, AIR, FIR, FAR, OAR, OAK.

A shorter solution is by these six links—Ely, sly, say, bay, bat, oat; and one of these (bay) is also a tree, as was fir, so that the conditions given are fulfilled.

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112

My dear Mr Bird,

We are giving a ball;

First second we third,

Pray give us your all.

is solved by attendance.

Second, I did my first and last,

Till I became my whole,

And told the tale of my repast,

A sad and greedy soul.

is solved by satiate.

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113

The charade—

My whole, industrious, wends his way

His daily task to meet;

Behead, transpose a, lo! a sound

Of music soft and sweet;

Behead again, I make my way

With swiftness past belief;

Again, and where the fields are gay

My bounty brings relief.

is solved by Artisan, strain, train, rain.

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114

The lines by an old Oxbridge don—

“’Tis an absurdity to say

Women should try for a B.A.

To College honours forward looking;

They’d best confine themselves to cooking!”

can be happily met by this retort in the same words, recast by a Girton girl—

“Women should try for a B.A.,

To College honours forward looking;

’Tis an absurdity to say

They’d best confine themselves to cooking!”

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115

The enigma—

Eight letters (start with b)

Three syllables contain;

Take one away, and see

Four syllables remain!

is solved by Beautify, Beatify.

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116

The beasts buried in the lines—

Ireland’s lot heals slowly. Troubles came long ago—at times in battalions—to attack and harass her. Ambitious democrats now countermine famous enthusiasts nearly akin to heroes. Anarchy enables cowards to sow hot terror and all amazement, are—

eland, sloth, camel, goat, bat, lion, stoat, ass, ram, fat, ermine, mouse, yak, roe, hyena, cow, sow, otter and llama.

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117

This is the palindrome verse that reads and rhymes from either end—

Dies slowly fading day, winds mournful sigh,

Brightly stars are waking;

Flies owlet hooting, holding revel high,

Nightly silence breaking.

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118

The anagram recast from “The Observatory at Greenwich in England” is completed thus—

On landing here begin to watch every star.

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119

The enigma—

No man at all am I,

And, if you turn me round,

To hear my warning cry

Not any men are found.

is solved by Nemo, omen, o men.

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120

The question—

How can our sailors fare the best

When times are harder?

How do they greet with merry jest

An empty larder?

is solved thus—

FOWL IS FARE.

Wind that blows foul and chops about,

With lighter puffs,

And finds the thirsty sailor stout,

Brings food enough!

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121

The enigma—

I lose my head when I am here,

Transpose me I am three;

Look in a book, you find me there,

And with me her and he—

is solved by There.

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122

Jack did declaim that he could square

The circle to a decimal;

His friends claimed that a brain so rare

Required attention medical.

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

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123

A Mr Harwood had two daughters by his first wife, the elder of these was married to John Coshick. This Coshick had a daughter by his first wife, whom old Harwood married. Thus Harwood’s daughter could say—

My father is my son,

And I’m my mother’s mother;

My daughter and sister are one,

I’m grandam to my brother!

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124

The charade—

Catch my first with nimble wit,

Add a simple word;

Then my whole may help a bit

Opportunely heard.

is solved by Catchword.

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125

The paradox—

My mate and I from home did start,

Some little space we were apart.

When we had run a mile or more

We kept our distance, as before;

Shade of Colenso! could this be,

When twice as fast as I ran he?

is solved by the fact that the lines apply to the large and small wheels of a bicycle.

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126

The enigma from Lewis Carroll’s Papers—

A monument all men agree

Am I in all sincerity,

Half cat, half hindrance made.

If head and tail removed should be,

Then most of all you strengthen me.

Replace my head, the stand you see

On which my tail is laid.

is solved by Tablet.

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127

The charade—

I’m known to the poorest and worst,

And my worth by a child may be reckoned;

The least thing in nature is double my first,

And my whole is just half of my second.

is solved by Halfpenny.

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128

My first without its head and tail

Is one and undivided;

My second shows its teeth, is frail,

And as a rule one-sided.

The two to hold my first avail,

By busy toil provided.

is solved by Honeycomb.

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129

The towns buried in the sentences—

His sister played the piano while we sang.

I saw Nell out here last evening.

The general rode a large black mare.

I have ordered a cab at half-past one.

Meet me in the lane at half-past nine.

are Lewes, Louth, Deal, Bath and Neath.

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130

The anagram on “The leaning tower of Pisa, in Tuscany, Italy,” is completed thus—

A funny spot in a sweet city; I o’erhang it all.

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131

When they found that catacomb

Near the Capitol at Rome

’Twas the topical discussion of the season;

But the optical effect

Of the skeletons select

Deprived the poor Professor of his reason!

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

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132

The charade—

My first is pretence,

My second a dandy;

When fogs are most dense

My whole will be handy.

is solved by Flambeau.

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133

If we adopt the old spelling of the final word, we can prove by anagram that Bacon had no hand at anyrate in Shakespeare’s play “Much Ado About Nothinge,” for the same letters exactly spell “Bacon? O, naught due to him!”

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134

Use all your wits to guess my all,

Can any guess it right?

Transposed, and never seen at all,

It still is felt in sight.

Behead, transpose, then let it be,

And you at last a clue may see.

is solved by Left, felt, let.

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135

“Insanitary” and “sanitary reform” are very happily recast by anagram thus—In nasty air; Former air nasty.

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136

The charade—

Let my second cut my first

When I come to table;

Though I cannot quench your thirst

Eat me—you are able.

is solved by Cutlet.

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137

These are the completed lines—

What mars a land so sadly as a war?

What days as dark as days that wars alarm?

Alas! ask any, ask at hand, afar,

All shall call war a harass and a harm.

Why call, as ballads talk, that ghastly art

All gallant acts—a grand and manly part?

It will be seen that “a” was the only missing letter.

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138

The charade—

To me when whole, for I am sweet,

The moon fresh brightness brings;

Cut off my tail, I’m blunt, but meet

To sharpen other things.

Behead me twice, and I have led

Soldiers to face the foe;

Headless and tailless, one remains

Though all the rest may go.

is solved by Honey (honey-moon; hone; Ney; one).

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139

The enigma—

We start when the ninth hour is past,

Then there’s an end of you.

A vengeful goddess shows at last

What Antifat will do.

is solved by Attenuate:—at ten, u, Ate, goddess of Revenge.

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140

The charade—

When on charades intent I take my pen,

To seek some hidden goal,

Over my first my second comes, and then

Quite overcomes my whole.

is solved by Overcomes.

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141

The cryptogram which was sent as a reliable tip before a race in which Petronel was to run—

Tell me, Ben, who tore it.

Seek a plant for it, see Bob.

is deciphered thus—

Take every third letter, and you arrive at Lenortepnoteb. Read this backwards, and you have the tip, “Bet on Petronel!”

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142

The enigma—

I have no form, I have no friend,

From me all come, in me all end.

And it is strange but very true

That I am here and nowhere too—

is solved by Nothing.

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143

The broken sentence—

A     sed    end    ought   eat        ease         ain.

is thus filled in to describe a curse and to proclaim its cure—

A cursed fiend brought death, disease and pain;

A blessed friend brought breath and ease again.

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144

The charade—

My first is a cover,

My second a city;

The whole you discover

With this if you’re witty.

is solved by Capacity.

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145

The four rivers buried in the sentence—

The deaf and dumb girl began gesticulating with a message, and her delivery was ever neat, with graceful pose in every attitude.

are Ganges, Thames, Severn and Seine.

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146

If the “shingle” on the Brighton beach could speak, it might boast by anagram, “I am English!”

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147

The enigma—

She is as deaf as any post,

Incurable I fear;

She is my guest, I am her host,

How can I make her hear?

is solved by adding an a to her, which becomes hear.

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148

The missing words in the “Plaint of the Rejected” are—The R.A., hater, heart, earth, Herat.

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149

The man who could attach a phonetic meaning to the words “Beta in Greek means letter B,” could in another fashion invite others to beat his wife by merely calling them and saying, “Hither!” (hit her).

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150

The rebus—

storm?

a th

an umbrella

me who

with

alls

all

mud

is solved thus—Who follows me under an umbrella, with overalls all over mud, after a thunderstorm?

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151

This is the completed palindrome:—

Nor I nor Emma had level’d a hammer on iron.

It reads alike from either end.

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152

The tutor came to the conclusion that there is nothing in Ecclesiastical Law to prevent the Pope from burying the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the undergraduate who had proposed the question demurred to this reply; pressed for his reason he said, as his face broke into a smile, “He cannot do so, because the Archbishop is not dead!”

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153

The proverb buried in the sentence, “While there are very many as kind as this, they know no task unkind,” is, “Let every man skin his own skunk.”

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154

Kate gathers me where children three,

Tom, Jane, and Mary, chatter;

He leads the way and then we see

The other two come at her!

is solved by Heather (he, at her).

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155

The quotation from Shakespeare buried in—

Strange weather! What could equal it? Yesterday sunshine and soft breezes, to-day a summer cyclone raging noisily; then other changes, as floods of fiercest rain eddy beneath the blast.

is “The quality of mercy is not strained.”

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156

The beetroot palindrome, which reads alike from either end is—

RED ROOT PUT UP TO ORDER

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157

My first we all do when we fail;

My next is heard in rain or hail;

My fourth a sheep of gender male;

My third is one without its tail;

My whole for foreign countries sail.

is solved by Missionaries.

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158

The words written on the walls of a Western college gained their ambiguous sense from the three final words, printed in italics—“Young women should set a good example, for young men will follow them!”

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159

The enigma—

I’m but a little letter, still

I have my duties to fulfil;

If off you take

My tail, and make

An alteration in my lot,

Though I seem shorter I am not.

is solved by Note.

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160

This is the full text—

Says Tom to Bill, “Pray tell me, sir,

Why is it that the devil,

In spite of all his naughty ways

Can never be uncivil?”

Says Bill to Tom, “The answer’s plain

To any mind that’s bright;

Because the imp o’ darkness, sir,

Cannot be imp o’ light!”

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161

Beneath the limes which shade the lawn

Her bicycle she mounted;

And with a smile, ere she had gone

An hour, ten miles she counted.

It rained, it snowed, but nought could stop her,

Till in the slime, she came a cropper!

The words in italics have the same letters.

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162

The date of the new organ given by the English is concealed in the lines of this inscription above its keyboard at Ober Ammergau—

QVI CHRISTI LAVDES CANTANT

SANCTÆ PASSIONIS SVÆ VIRTVTE

IN IPSO ET PATRE VNVM SINT.

If the Roman numerals that occur in the words are added together, they amount to 1894, the date of its completion.

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163

A woman’s name

Of foreign fame,

Hers was a noble mind.

Now, sir, transpose,

And I suppose

No smaller thing you’ll find.

is solved by Stael, least.

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164

The French charade—

Pour avoir mon premier

Femme qui cache mon dernier

Manque souvent mon entier.

is solved by Mari-age.

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165

The charade—

Let go! let go! you naughty first,

Or you will make my second;

A stream of words will then outburst,

Swift as my whole is reckoned.

is solved by Current.

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166

My first is first when cruisers charge in line,

And oft in frosty skies is seen to shine.

Don’t spare my second if you would suggest

To an impulsive child the way that’s best.

My sporting whole, though now neglected grown,

Travelled by tube before the tube was known.

is solved by Ramrod.

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167

The enigma—

First of men we lead a measure,

Last we end the same.

Starting merrily, our pleasure

Is to finish lame.

is solved by the letters me.

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168

When Tom declared that he could give his sister quite a simple sentence of seven common English words of one syllable, which she could not produce on her typewriter, he had in his mind, “We can spell (to, too, two) in three ways,” which cannot, of course, be expressed in seven written words.

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169

The French charade—

Mon premier est un tyran, mon second un horreur,

Mon tout est le diable lui-même.

Mais si mon premier est bon, mon second ne fait rien,

Et mon tout est le bonheur suprême.

is solved by Mariage.

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170

Sydney Smith’s conclusion as to the value and satisfaction of a City dinner was completed thus:—“I cannot wholly value a dinner by the test you do!” (Turtle, in Latin, testudo).

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171

DEAN SWIFT’S ENIGMA—

In youth exalted high in air,

Or bathing in the streamlet fair,

Nature to form me took delight

And clothed my body all in white;

My person tall and slender waist

On either side with fringes graced;

Till me that tyrant Man espied,

And dragg’d me from my mother’s side.

No wonder that I look so thin,

The monster stripp’d me to the skin;

My body flay’d, my hair he cropp’d,

And head and foot both off he lopp’d;

Pick’d all the marrow from my bone.

And then, with heart more hard than stone,

To vex me more, he took a freak

To slit my tongue, and make me speak.

But that which wonderful appears,

I speak to eyes and not to ears.

All languages I now command

Yet not a word I understand.

is solved by A Goose-quill.

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172

The answer to the riddle propounded by the possessor of a new KEEN KUT razor to his friend whose chin was disfigured by scars, “What is the difference between my razor and yours?” is—“Mine cuts thoroughly; yours also cuts, tho’ roughly!”

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173

The decapitated words are in italics—

The ship rode in an eastern bay,

Asleep astern the master lay,

A stern and rugged man was he,

And, like a tern, at home at sea.

Like swooping ern he caught his prey

Whene’er an R.N. came his way;

But while due N. the needle kept

He in his cabin lay and slept.

The ern, or erne, is the sea-eagle.

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174

When the tempest roars the loudest

Oft my first a shelter proves.

Say what fair one, though the proudest,

Spurns my next from one she loves?

When the storms of life are past

Earth provides my whole at last.

is solved by Covering.

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175

One syllable, I help to turn the scale

Of party strife or faction;

Recast me, and two syllables avail

To stop all further action.

is solved by vote, veto.

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176

The lines to an owl are filled in thus—

Oh, on old towers, thou gloomy owl,

Thou lovest to hoot, thou lovest to howl.

Or on old oaks your hollow tone

So lost, so solemn, sounds alone,

So mournful no one loves to go

Or of your hooting howls to know.

The vowel “o” occurs forty-six times in the six lines.

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177

In the Army anagram—

I’m free to-day, the old sire said,

O no cell now have I to dread;

For this one happy day to me

Are glen and hill and forest free,

I, if I will, can ride, or fish,

A pit can enter, if I wish,

In search of chalk or sand.

In peace alone I now can dine,

And sing to Anna’s lute at nine,

Nor fear a reprimand.

the words in italics spell also soldier, colonel, general, captain, and lieutenant.

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178

My first transposed becomes a name

Which may quite mean be reckoned,

Two syllables combine the same,

With one or two for second.

My whole when fields are fresh and green,

And softly blows the wind,

Where the first signs of spring are seen

Within the woods we find.

is solved by Anemone, the wind flower (name, mean, anem, one, o, ne).

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179

The anagram enigma—

Silent long is the wood-bird’s song,

Bare is the woodland bough;

For waving trees in wintry breeze

Have “no buds now.”

is solved by snowbound, which contains exactly the same letters as “no buds now.”

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180

The question of time—

A farmer with children sixteen

Killed the fattest young lamb of his flock.

To divide it these children between,

What must be the time by the clock?

is solved by a quarter to four.

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181

The Donkey drive—

To the far end of any train

Hitch on a pair of neddies;

Then you will hear, like steps of Cain,

The threat that in their tread is.

is solved by Ass-ass-in.

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182

The “Eating by Alphabet” enigma—

Take all the alphabet, and cast

Its final letter out;

Then set the first where was the last,

And this you bring about:

Without a cook, without a fire,

A dainty dish which men desire.

is solved by A past Y (a pasty).

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183

The charade—

My second with my first we greet;

My whole in earlier days

Gave understanding to the feet

That moved in tragic plays.

is solved by Buskin.

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184

The sentence—

Behest on thy lips, Society;

forms an Anagram of the proverb

“Honesty is the best policy.”

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185

This sentence, fashioned by eight schoolboys as anagrams on their Christian names, arranged in order—

“I thy Tom am sober and lie or live in dew, but her brain sinned”—

reveals, when deciphered, the names Timothy, Ambrose, Daniel, Oliver, Edwin, Hubert, Brian and Dennis.

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186

The enigma—

In any coward’s company you find

That I have place.

Cut off my head, and from your mind

All wrong erase.

is solved by Fright.

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187

The double acrostic—

From “Punch,” 1875.

My first, elect among the few,

Chooses my second to expose his view.

1. Of various colours, changed at will,

I sit or stand for good or ill.

2. I rule alone from noon till night,

And when I am not am is right.

is solved

M. P.

P. M.

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188

A man in a rage should go to a “shooting gallery,” because by its Anagram it is largely soothing.

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189

The beatitude—

Let her be or beat her,

Give her little ease;

Then in safety seat her

All among the bees,

is solved by A Queen Bee. The Bee is made up of the letter b (let her be), in Greek called Beta (beat her), and two little e’s (ease).

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190

The puzzle-lines—

“We,” cried my first and second,

“Are not quite satisfied.”

“The story may be reckoned

Imperfect,” fourth replied.

Said third, “The fact indeed I tell,”

And so at last all ended well.

are cleared up by Satisfactory.

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191

The English proverb which is concealed under its anagram—

“I dare not admit faint women,”

is Time and tide wait for no man.

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192

The charade—

My first and second are as best they should be,

My third in Latin mouth is what it would be,

My whole would soon be ashes if it could be.

is solved by Asbestos (os is Latin for mouth).

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193

Since Spooks, a subtle man is he,

Sublet this haunted house to me,

In bluest funk I bustle round,

And fear a ghost in every sound.

The four words in italics have the same letters.

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194

That which is found in the centre of Australia and of America, and in no other place, is the letter “r” (no other place).

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195

Grandfather’s riddle, “Do you know why is the fourth of July?” is solved by the fact that the fourth letter of that word is y!

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196

My first is never far away,

My next in Latin found;

My third may rage by night or day;

All make melodious sound.

is solved by Nightingale.

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197

Through the forest trees

Softly coo the doves;

Let a softer breeze

Foster youthful loves!

The words in italics have the same letters.

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198

The enigma—

At starting half your income take,

Then for my second write;

And let your table help to make

The total cosy quite.

is solved by Comfortable.

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199

The charade—

My whole is a circle complete,

Beheaded I fall to your feet.

Behead me again and I fry,

Or am baked in a savoury pie.

is solved by Wheel, heel, eel.

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200

The anagram sentences are recast thus into single words—

See a pug dog.   Red paper.

Pedagogues.   Prepared.

Fat reward.

Afterward.

Stay, O morn.   Set on a dish.

Astronomy.   Astonished.

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201

The enigma—

If my whole by my second and first you divide,

One more than ten thousand it gives.

In the land of my birth I have dwindled and died,

In museums my memory lives.

is solved by Do-do.

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202

The paradox—

Though never present, I appear,

Of perfect form a token;

And all that centres round my ear

Is heard, though never spoken.

is solved by the word heard.

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203

The enigma—

Behead me twice, and it shall be

That I my perfect self regain;

Restore both heads, and you shall see

That most imperfect I remain.

is solved by Incomplete.

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204

Grant lady, grant your slave his whim,

And give the coming valse to him,

For this will salve his jealous heart,

Stricken so sore by Cupid’s dart.

If not, he laves his hands of you,

To seek fresh vales and pastures new.

The words in italics have the same letters.

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205

“Yes, yes, I know,” said Jack to Jill,

“That thirty-two is freezing point:

And I can tell you, if you will,

Exactly what is squeezing-point!”

is solved by Two in the shade!

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206

The puzzle—

To fifty add a third of one,

A third to five attach;

You have the means, when this is done,

To kindle any match.

is solved by Love.

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207

The missing words are in italics—

The untrained speculator in the City

Is robbed by peculators without pity.

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208

Read backwards it becomes—

Prosperity and peace; no barns empty; bills long paid; not high rents; berries bright; no birds hungry; merry Christmas comes.

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209

The anagram plants concealed in the sentence—O rise love it lad never let this lamb chase trains, are: Osier, violet, lavender, thistle, balm, china asters.

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210

The enigma—

My first is quite a sin by name,

My third its simple cure;

My second puts an end to fame,

My whole of ease is sure.

is solved by Sinecure.

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211

The paradox—

Cut off my head, it is unshaken,

Cut off my tail, you turn it round,

But if both head and tail are taken,

Unconquered still I hold my ground.

is solved by TIT.

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212

The charade—

Why should we quarrel, first and third,

With nought between us but a word?

Let third leave second unessayed

To heal the breach these letters made.

If your solution be writ fair

You find my whole disjointed there.

is solved by I.O.U.

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213

When Funniboy wrote from Naples to his friend, “Next week I am going ‘to plant onions, etc.,’” it was an intimation by anagram that he was bound for Constantinople.

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214

In haunted house to sleep I tried,

My dread first was my chum.

“With second of my first,” I cried,

“My whole I should become.”

is solved by Fearless.

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215

The enigma—

My first is possessive and second:

My second possessive and first.

Such banks most attractive are reckoned

By those for rich treasure athirst.

is solved by Thymy (thy, my).

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216

This is the completed palindrome—

REPEL EVIL AS A LIVE LEPER,

which reads alike from either end.

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217

When Tom Pickles’s father tried with a lusty puff to blow the small cork into the bottle, the sudden compression of the air inside, followed by its expansion, drove the cork in an unexpected direction, so that it flew out and struck him sharply on the mouth.

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218

Acorns are as strong as oaken posts when they propagate (prop-a-gate).

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219

The completed palindrome runs thus—

“Put it up but not on tub, put it up but not on tub, put it up,” which reads alike from either end.

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220

The Kates of Shakespeare and of song

Have fair and dainty features;

But she I stake my hopes upon

Excels those lovely creatures.

From Keats she takes her name so dear,

She lives on steaks and honey:

She cannot skate, but she can steer,

And Madeline has money.

The words in italics have the same letters.

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221

The two long words used recently by a politician which can be recast by anagram to form the sentence, “Axiomatic intelligence, or dust” are—

TERMINOLOGICAL INEXACTITUDES.

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222

My first your bosom friend, or man or maid,

Whom you can trust, secure and unafraid.

My second, sounded double, tells of fate,

Or sounded single puts an end to hate.

My whole a hall’s arched roof, or soft or hard,

That lies beyond the gate with ivory barr’d.

is solved by Palate (Até, goddess of fate).

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223

The sentence “Woman without her man would be helpless” takes on a distinct meaning if the words “without her” are read together, and a comma is placed after “woman.” Thus—“Woman, without her man would be helpless.”

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224

The short sentences are recast into single words thus—

A moment’s cure.    The old rocks.

Commensurate.    Stockholder.

Cod is nice.    It lures a cat.

Coincides.    Articulates.

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225

The enigma—

Without my head I circulate

With speed and inclination.

Without my bait, at anyrate,

I still have inclination.

Transpose three letters, in unbroken state

I then receive the ashes of the great.

is solved by Hearth, earth, heart (transpose eat to ate).

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226

Here is a metrical account of the anagram which, with some exaggeration, proclaims that Sims Reeves was often prevented from singing by his delicate throat—

The audience in wrapt impatience sits;

Comes an excuse, and disappointment hisses,

Strange that Sims Reeves, whose singing ever hits,

By a mere shift of letters ever misses!

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227

Consuming lust for lucre, now so rife,

Like cruel ulcer mars both love and life.

The words in italics have the same letters.

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228

This is the completed palindrome—

I maniac lived, a devil Cain am I.

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229

The lines—

And as trim bees rise or go,

A long aim I’d say, a libel O!

contain in anagram and in proper order the fruits tamarinds, gooseberries, and the flowers magnolia, daisy, lobelia.

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230

These are the anagrams—

Now one old fort

Tower of London.

Rabid owl

Wild Boar.

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231

Alas, for that forgotten day

When chivalry was nourish’d,

When none but friars learn’d to pray,

And beef and beauty flourish’d;

And fraud in kings was held accursed,

And falsehood sin was reckon’d,

And mighty chargers bore my first,

And fat monks wore my second!

Ah, then I carried sword and shield

And casque with flaunting feather,

And earn’d my spurs in battle-field,

In winter and rough weather;

And polish’d many a sonnet up

To ladies’ eyes and tresses;

And learn’d to drain my father’s cup,

And loose my falcon’s jesses!

But dim is now my grandeur’s gleam,

The mongrel mob grows prouder;

And everything is done by steam,

And men are kill’d by powder;

And now I feel my swift decay,

And give unheeded orders;

And rot in paltry state away

With sheriffs and recorders.

is solved by Knighthood.

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232

My first you oft savagely pierce through and through;

My next harbours nonsense, and wisdom, and dust;

But, oh! what disaster might chance to accrue,

Should my whole, from my second, step into my first!

is solved by Earwig.

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233

My whole describes the action of a gale,

Decapitation makes an organ play.

Behead again, it sounds o’er hill and vale;

Again, it tells of what we do not pay.

Take nothing off, it is an eagle’s sail.

Again behead, and half a string denote;

Again, and lo! a horse’s head and tail;

And last of all on music’s notes I float.

is solved by A’blowing (n-a-g).

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234

The proverb buried in the sentence—

Society—how her enthusiasts worship at her Juggernaut car. Cases exist here, proving how illogical are these eagle-sighted, place-hunting beings, scoffing at hereditary position, yet striving to get her smile.

is “Where the carcase is there will the eagles be gathered together.”

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235

The answer by anagram to—What should we put on a bird’s tail to catch it without a steel-trap? is Saltpetre.

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236

The charade—

Across my first, with flash and roar,

The stately vessel glides alone.

And mournful on the crowded shore

There stands an aged crone,

Watching my second’s parting smile,

As he bids farewell to his native isle.

My whole comes back to other eyes,

With beauteous change of fruit and flowers,

But dim to her are those bright skies,

And sad those joyous hours;

For, alas! my first is dark and deep,

And my second cannot hear her weep.

is solved by Season.

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237

The sequel to the Arab and his ass runs thus—

When morning dawned, and the tide was out,

The pair crossed over ’neath Allah’s protection,

And the Arab was happy beyond a doubt,

For he had the best donkey in all that section.

You are wrong! They were drowned in crossing over,

Though the donkey was bravest of all his race;

He luxuriates now in perpetual clover,

And his master has gone to the prophet’s embrace.

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238

A siren, risen on Erin’s strands,

Caught Pat’s heart in her meshes;

He left the reins in Cupid’s hands,

And watched her rinse her tresses;

Tresses of resin coloured gold,

Veiling, like any frock,

A tail which, as it did unfold,

Gave to poor Pat a shock.

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

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239

The answer by anagram to “Where can you be ‘in a stone-pine garden’?” is Pontresina, Engadine.

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240

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters—

No wider sympathy was ever shown

Than when weird news, from Kingston wired, was known.

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241

According to its anagram, the bodily discomfort which follows an ague-fit is fatigue.

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242

This is the adjustment of the tangled square—

I

S

I

S

S

I

D

E

I

D

E

A

S

E

A

T

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243

The European rivers concealed in the eight anagrams: Set in red robe Henri Le Roi O sell me red pine nerves biter, are Dniester, Ebro, Rhine, Loire, Moselle, Dnieper, Severn, Tiber.

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244

The palindrome runs thus—

STOP ROSE, I PREFER PIES OR POTS.

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245

“Your food will cost you more!”

is the political parrot cry which can be evolved by anagram from—

O fool! O musty cry! O lurid woe!

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246

Sir Robert Peel was the statesman from whose name a “terrible poser” is formed by anagram.

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247

The letters of the sentence, “Yea, a glad sun rose red” can be recast into the well-known proverb Delays are dangerous.

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248

The question, “Has there been a poet of unusual solemnity?” is answered by “Yes, Milton.”

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249

The anagram enigma—

No, no, I hardly ever touch

The thing which many love so much,

It has a place within these lines,

But is taboo where Delia dines.

is solved by Onion (no, no, I).

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250

When young Biceps, who had been plucked in Euclid declared that he could teach the examiners how to square a circle, this was his tricky method:—A circle may be aptly described as a “copper” or “Brown.” Having at hand your “copper” (P. C. Brown), when he has caught you on his rounds, proceed to square him in the customary way.

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251

As Biceps could not tell how to extract a circle from a square, his friend gave him the following solution: “Let the given square be Sloane Square; find the Inner Circle, and take its lines to any point, at any distance from that square, paying the proper fare. That’s the ticket!”

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252

Every Cretan is said to lie,

And steeds that canter pant.

The gods drank nectar, old and dry,

And all men may recant.

Finally this key extend

Take from en(trance)d the end.

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253

The charade—

My captive second, sulking in my first,

Might surlily bemoan his fate accurst;

Bemoan, or as alternative you find

My whole the word that fits his state of mind.

For meet enclosure, you can take a score

Of captive seconds, first deducting four.

is solved by Denounce (16 ozs. = 1 Pound).

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254

The cipher—

THGLBDWNWSLLLDSTFTHLT;

MNFTNRDRNRGTNNTHSPT.

becomes by the addition of E and O alternately—

The “Globe” do we now sell, oldest of the lot;

Men often order one, or get one on the spot.

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255

When his brother put “Tim in a pet,” the explanation by anagram is that he was impatient.

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256

Who knows the East a land may know

Famed for its teas, and long age

A seat of sage and seer.

The native there, so full of tricks,

To sate his hunger eats with sticks,

Nor knows his ways are queer.

The missing words are in italics.

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257

The charade—

If doubled you would see my first

Let third and second be reversed.

But if my last you would behold

Increase my first a hundredfold.

Combine them all, and you can trace

The four within an empty space.

is solved by Void.

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258

In the words spoken in the hay-field to a thirsty toiler, “Mower, I will tap the cask!” are concealed by anagram the poet and his poem—William Cowper, The task.

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259

The charade—

My first is small, and seldom reverential;

My next not large enough to heed or prize;

My whole is altogether consequential;

My third though small is counted very wise—

is solved by Important.

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260

To be

aaaaaaaaaa

tCrIiOfUlSes

standing

is the mark of a mean

is solved by To be tenacious in the midst of trifles is the mark of a mean understanding.

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261

The letters which spell RED NUTS AND GIN can be recast to form the one word UNDERSTANDING.

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262

The novel by Charles Dickens hidden in the pied letters—

CDEHHIILOOOPRSSTTUY

is The Old Curiosity Shop.

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263

In swift relays the beaters add

Fresh layers to the heaps of slain;

And still, with lust of slaughter mad,

The slayer plies his hand amain!

The words in italics have the same six letters.

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264

The charade—

My first is nothing but a name,

My second still more small,

My whole shows such a lack of fame

It has no name at all.

is solved by Nameless.

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265

When one of the children said, “If father gives us a new dog it will wake the lazy ones”—the words pointed to Susan and Ethel, whose names are buried in the sentence.

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266

The cipher—

NGOTRDSREAOHR

ETNSVEENUDOEO

is solved by starting with last letter of the second line, followed by the first letter of the first line, and so on throughout, taking always the last and first unused letters alternately, and forming thus the proverb “One good turn deserves another!”

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267

The enigma—

Well known by story, not by name,

I died a death unknown before,

Nor ever to corruption came;

My shroud the waves cast on the shore.

is solved by Lot’s wife.

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268

The question—

How might an oyster, if it could speak and knew that unda is Latin for wave or water, complain in similar phonetic iteration when disturbed by thunder under unda?

is answered thus—

He could exclaim, “a noise annoys an oyster!”

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269

The words in italics have the same five letters—

When Cesar, our puppy, sets out for a run,

Over acres he races, all frolic and fun.

For no whistle cares he, in his desperate hurry,

The slow sheep to scare, and the old cow to worry.

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270

The girls’ names shown by anagram in the sentence—“Bad hero set by thy door hurt me ma. Army may get ruder daily,” are Deborah, Betsy, Dorothy, Ruth, Emma, Mary, Amy, Gertrude, Lydia.

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271

The anagram is completed thus—

“Lord Beaconsfield’s statue.”

True as old Ben’s stolid face!

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272

The Shakespeare anagrams—

The tub sold has old rough shelves.

And e’en this fisherman caught best white smelts.

A living lord’s black dress, worn high, I vow!

are formed, letter for letter and line for line, from this passage in “Romeo and Juliet”—

“Love’s heralds should be thoughts,

Which ten times faster glide than the sun’s beams,

Driving black shadows over low’ring hills.”

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273

The mystical gnome never flinches from toil

Who buries the rubies in Orient soil;

Yet busier mortals will ever abound,

Who bruise all the soil till the treasure is found.

The words in italics are spelt with the same six letters.

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274

The Puzzle acrostic—

My feathered first has wings and sings,

Unfledged my second swings its wings;

My third on blackest pinions flies,

My fourth can float beneath the skies.

The letters to my first that fall

Are the initials of them all.

is solved thus—

◯

◯

◯

◯

◯

●

●

●

◯

●

●

●

◯

●

●

●

L

A

R

K

A

R

M

Y

R

O

O

K

K

I

T

E

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275

My first was of the pirate breed,

Their irate captain, hot and riled,

To rate his men found vain indeed,

They only ate and smoked, and smiled!

One letter is dropped each time.

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276

In the doublets puzzle HARE is made into SOUP by the following six links, changing one letter each time, and preserving their order—

HARE, hark, hack, sack, sock, soak, soap, SOUP.

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277

The enigma—

Putting two small beasts that you take

To the beginning of an end,

A pointed weapon you will make

To wound a foe or praise a friend.

is solved by Epigram.

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278

If a “newspaper” could speak, it might say by anagram of the general work of its staff, We pen pars.

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279

The positive quantity 1011 is turned into a negative thus:—

NO.

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280

The one word formed by anagram from “O, I’m man’s trial” is Matrimonials.

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281

The rebus—

EEE and xxx URXXI XXX and eee.

is solved by “Great ease and small crosses before you are twenty-one, great crosses and little ease after that.”

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282

The answer to the riddle “Why may not the owner of a pine forest fell his timber?” is—Because no one is allowed to cut when it is his own deal.

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283

He aspired to be praised as a wonderful shot,

But he potted the dog, and despair was his lot!

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

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284

In the doublet, as solved by Lewis Carroll, ARMY is changed into NAVY with seven links, and preserving the sequence while changing a letter every time—thus: ARMY, arms, aims, dims, dams, dame, name, nave, NAVY.

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285

The anagram puzzle—

‘I excel not by a pun’

Turn these six words into one!

is solved by Unexceptionably, which contains exactly the same letters.

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286

The answer to the strange riddle, “When is an onion like music?” is “When you find it smell odious!” (it’s melodious).

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287

The bitter cry of Christianity is, by its anagram: I cry that I sin.

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288

That a Conservative is constant to his cause is shown by the anagram: Not vice versâ.

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289

As a rule Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall upon the same day of the week, but they will not fall upon the same day of the week in 1910 (or indeed in any year), because the New Year’s Day must be after the Christmas Day to fulfil the conditions!

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290

“War is a game which, were their subjects wise,

Kings would not play at,” wrote the poet’s pen;

But in war’s issue will be staked the prize,

While kings and subjects are but erring men;

So Britain—native empress of the seas—

On ocean cradled, by her storm-king nursed—

Friend of the fallen, guardian of the free,

Rests on her well-tried last and trusty first.

Her first alone can well maintain her right,

Unscathed by any threat or mutinous blast;

And though, when needed, foremost in the fight,

Her first (strange paradox!) is always last!

But should the tide of war approach the shore

And threaten to engulf her island seat,

My whole, replying with defiant roar,

Would crash the audacious foe beneath her feet!

is solved by Armstrong.

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291

My first is flogged to make it move the faster,

And turns at once to satisfy its master.

My next will ripen as a pleasant fruit,

For those whose simple taste its flavours suit.

My whole, when breezes blow and pennons fly,

Stands up aloft and points us to the sky.

is solved by Top-mast.

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292

A noun there is, of plural number,

In daily use from here to Humber.

Now almost any noun you take

By adding “S” you plural make;

But if you add an “S” to this,

Strange is the metamorphosis!

Plural is plural now no more;

Useless what useful was before.

is solved by Needles, needless.

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293

First, a semi-circle make,

Add to this another

Figure of two little lines

Meeting with each other;

Then a perfect circle form,

Truly, neat, compactly,

Add another form to these,

Like the first exactly;

Then, to make it all complete,

Form a kind of angle,

With a straight line, that should meet

In a kind of tangle;

When you this have rightly done

(’Tis the truth I’m telling),

You will get an article

Useful in a dwelling:

Should you this decapitate,

You may have another

Article, which, in its place,

Is useful as the other.

is solved by Clock, lock.

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294

Veiling the leas, my first may steep

Late autumn’s listless air;

And with my tainting second creep

On idle spade and share.

When happy days link soul to soul,

And sunny faces shine,

May both combined, a subtle whole,

Be far from me and mine!

is solved by Mistrust.

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295

Mark Lemon’s charade—

Old Charlie Brown, who a big rogue was reckoned,

Was brought up at my first for making my second;

He was fined, and because he no money would pay

Had to work with my whole on the King’s highway.

is solved by Barrow.

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296

Complete, I grow within a field

And pleasant pasture often yield;

Behead me once, a suitor then

Is quickly brought before your ken;

Behead again, I am a word

That on the cricket-ground is heard.

Restore my heads, cut off my tail,

To name a spice you’ll not then fail;

Behead me now, and you will find

The master passion left behind.

Put on my head, my tail restore,

Complete me as I was before,

My second letter take away,

An envelope I am, you’ll say;

But now curtail me just once more,

I am an inlet on the shore.

is solved by Clover, lover, over, clove, love, cover, cove.

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297

My second is double my first,

My first is but half of my second;

And I’m sure you’ll admit that my whole

Is ten times the latter when reckon’d.

is solved by Ten score.

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298

My first I went the other day,

And pretty surely reckon’d

A basket of fine fish to catch,

With hook and rod and second.

But I was out in reckoning;

A very pretty she

Of her fair face show’d just my whole—

And pretty soon hook’d me.

is solved by Outline.

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299

Of mirth the parent, though the child of art,

A stranger to myself in every part;

Each India has a native in my breast,

The West my sweetness, and my fire the East.

While milder climes my virtue to complete,

Quicken my softness, and correct my heat;

My dearest friends upon my vitals prey,

And as they see me sinking, grow more gay.

is solved by Punch.

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300

When my whole takes a flight in the air you will find

That my next is not left a great distance behind;

But join them together, and plain to your view

It all is as firm and as tight as a screw.

is solved by Dovetail.

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301

To three-fourths of a cross, add a circle complete;

Then, let two semi-circles a perpendicular meet;

Next, add a triangle that stands on two feet;

Then, two semi-circles, and a circle complete.

is solved by Tobacco.

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302

Leader of Vandals and of vice

My head is reckoned;

A Turkish captain will suffice

To be my second.

My third is firm if well selected;

My whole a wanderer neglected.

is solved by Vagabond.

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303

One thousand, two hundred,

Nothing, and one,

Transposed, give a word

Expressive of fun.

is solved by COMIC.

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304

Praed’s charade—

My first was creeping on his way

Through the mists of a dull October day,

When a minstrel came to its muddy bed,

With a harp on his shoulder, a wreath on his head;

“And how shall I reach,” the poor boy cried,

“To the courts and the cloisters on t’other side?”

Old Euclid came, and he frown’d a frown,

And he dash’d the harp and the garland down;

Then he led the bard, with a stately march,

O’er my second’s long and cellar’d arch;—

“And see,” said the sage, “how every ass

Over the sacred stream must pass!”

The youth was mournful, the youth was mute,

He sigh’d for his laurel, he sobb’d for his lute;—

The youth took comfort, the youth took snuff,

And follow’d the lead of that teacher gruff;

And he sits, ever since, in my whole’s kind lap,

In a silken gown and a trencher cap.

is solved by Cambridge.

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305

Upright and honest is my first;

My second you may see

Upon the frozen lake or stream;

My whole is equity.

is solved by Justice.

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306

Never wearied, see us stand,

A glittering and a stately band—

Of sturdy stuff, but graceful form,

In summer cold, in winter warm;

From hottest duty never swerving,

Night and day our place preserving;

Each serving to a different use,

Not to be changed without abuse.

And, pray, mark well another fact—

In unison we never act,

Except, as on occasion dread,

We watch the ashes of the dead;

When we are ranged, as you may see

As awful sentries, one, two, three.

is solved by Fire-irons.

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307

My first, though naught, with others is a fruit,

My next is vital to both man and brute.

It should be dear to all who hate the devil,

For it is ever the reverse of evil.

My all, when whole, is eloquent of peace,

Divided it invokes to life that will not cease.

is solved by Olive.

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308

Guess at my first, ’tis easy to discover,

Covered with rings, and whiskered like a dandy.

Wrapped up in furs, ’tis often on the housetop,

Oft in the chimney!

See where my second, scorning to be hidden,

Stands at the head of quite a band of others,

Like a virago, straddling with feet apart,

And arms akimbo.

Surely my next is happy in its office,

Parting the lovelocks on Neæra’s forehead;

Setting the golden lines wherewith she angles

For the unwary.

If by my whole at any time you pass, you

Tread on the dust of holy saints and martyrs,

Holy the place, may holy thoughts attend you,

Peacefully dreaming!

is solved by Catacomb.

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309

Offspring of nature and of art, I stand

Chief ’midst the monuments of every land;

I may not lengthen life, but I

For centuries forbid to die.

The greatest truth in me you meet

Is but deception most complete.

Unchanged I last the changing crowds among,

And as I older grow, I grow too young.

is solved by A portrait.

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310

Pronounced as one letter, and written with three,

Two letters there are, and two only in me;

I’m double, I’m single, I’m black, blue, and gray,

I’m read from both ends, and the same either way.

is solved by Eye.

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311

My first is false as false can be;

My next old ladies wear;

My whole’s my first, as you will see,

As false, I do declare.

is solved by Falsehood.

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312

When whole I am indeed a thing

To puzzle you a bit;

Though parts of me are hard, at Bridge

The others make a hit;

Or you may make a car of some,

And fix a head to it.

is solved by Charade.

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313

A word of nine letters explains

How to mitigate bodily pains;

The five vowels are there,

And four consonants share

This function for medical brains.

is solved by Inoculate.

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314

My second guides my first and third

For pleasure, trade, and war;

My first and second by my third

Are oft transported far.

But when my first my third doth pull,

’Tis then his lot is worst;

And should my second lack my whole,

He’s apt to leave my first.

is solved by Horsemanship.

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315

It is a fact that neither melons nor lemons grew on elms.

The words in italics have the same letters.

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316

The completed palindrome, which reads alike from either end, is—

DRAW NO DRAY A YARD ONWARD.

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317

The schoolboy likes me well,

For healthful sport I bring,

Yet I can harm create,

Though such a little thing:

Connubial bliss is form’d by me;

My nature is equality.

is solved by Match.

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318

What person’s name is doubly evil?

Sinbad reminds us of the devil.

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319

I’m a district near London;

If made wrong, I come undone;

O’er sweet strings I swift run,

Or appear with the bright sun,

And though by me fights were won,

I can greet you every one.

is solved by Bow.

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320

I am my first when seen with you,

My next is always bad.

A rogue in grain much harm may do

And make the farmer mad.

is solved by Weevil.

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321

When winter comes with frost and cold,

My first is welcome, as of old;

And though its grip may make you thinner,

It helps to cook your Christmas dinner.

Let me but hear my next rejoice

At early dawn with cheerful voice,

I haste to find, with eager pleasure,

Some specimen of hidden treasure.

A traveller my whole may find

Far from his English kith and kind;

Though some at home, to England’s shame,

Are this in fact, if not in name.

is solved by Heathen.

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322

It was to-morrow, and

It will be yesterday;

Now it is near at hand

What is it? Who can say?

is solved by To-day.

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323

My first doth fill with light his father’s eyes,

The second shadows all the mother’s brow;

My whole all men, all women, girls and boys,

Have had, and long to lose, and lost for ever now;

But know not, nor can know, when it was lost, and how.

is solved by Childhood.

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324

Complete, though not of human race,

A soul in me may dwell;

Behead, I held a higher place,

Until, like man, I fell.

Again behead, and in the song

Of Burns I’m all your own;

Behead once more, it would be wrong

To find me out when known.

is solved by Train, rain, ain, in.

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325

With head good for naught,

And with tail always drunk,

You know well what to say

Of the worth of my trunk.

First cut off my tail,

I am Greek, and I’m not;

Then cut off my head,

And some Latin you’ve got.

Lopping both you know best

What remains, as I said,

For I really am you

If I lose tail and head!

is solved by Out.

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326

One guiding eye I need

In running through the gaps;

My tail, as on I speed,

Is caught in many traps.

is solved by A Needle.

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327

The Chess charade—

Of all the birds that ever sought a mate,

My first is to but one appropriate,

So speak the word! nor silence shyly woo.

To find my next, go! wander in the Zoo!

My whole is a magician of the squares,

But Art, with Chess, his best affections shares,

So this, indeed, to him may be a law

When winning’s hopeless, grandly still to draw.

is solved by Boden.

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328

Though poor and humble was my birth

I sit enthroned on high;

My footsteps far above the earth,

My canopy the sky.

O’er toiling subjects thus in state

I bear despotic sway;

Yet on them hand and foot I wait

At break and close of day.

is solved by A coachman.

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329

I am not of flesh and blood,

Yet have I many a bone;

No limbs, except one leg,

And can’t stand on that alone.

My friends are many, and dwell

In all lands of the human race;

But they poke my poor nose into the mud,

And shamefully spatter my face.

Thrust me into each other’s ribs,

Stick me in gutter and rut;

I have never a window, and never a door,

Yet I often open and shut.

is solved by An umbrella.

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330

Before the crown descended on

The head of England’s Queen,

Four Kings upon that royal throne

Of the same name had been.

Now if the signs which marked their name

Be joined unto a beast,

We have a food on which the same

(A quadruped) will feast.

is solved by Grass.

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331

Fox’s enigma—

I am pretty, and useful in various ways,

Though I tempt some poor mortals to shorten their days;

Behead me, and then in my place will appear

What youngsters admire every day in the year;

Behead me once more, and without any doubt,

You must be what is left if you don’t find it out.

is solved by Glass, lass, ass.

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332

My first, when skilfully performed

(Its doer by applauses warmed),

Bespeaks both skill and vigour.

When with my whole, so soft and light,

I saw my second gay bedight,

She made a splendid figure.

is solved by Feather.

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333

The man who rates the common tares

Above the aster chaste.

Stare as he may, the world declares

Is not a man of taste.

And, though my sympathy he shares,

No tears on him I’ll waste.

The words in italics have the same letters.

Return to description

334

When a monk in old times, unexpectedly heated,

Endangered the peace of his soul,

To atone for my second my first he repeated

Quite ten times a day on my whole.

is solved by Average.

Return to description

335

An insect small and fell

Makes a weird sound,

If, as its name you spell,

You turn it round.

One letter cast, and still

Shift what remains,

Another insect will

Reward your pains.

is solved by Gnat, tang, ant.

Return to description

336

Where head and body duly meet

I am as slender as a bee;

Whether I stand on head or feet

My figure shows its symmetry.

But when my head is cut away

The metamorphosis is strange;

Though both of them unaltered stay,

Body and head to nothing change.

is solved by The figure 8.

Return to description

337

First is in coast, second in ghost,

Third must be reckoned part of second;

Fourth in boat, fifth in float,

Sixth you will find within your mind.

Seventh in blue, eighth in true,

These letters tell a fruit that they spell.

is solved by Cocoanut.

Return to description

338

The hunter and his steed are known

My first to see.

Though men may call my next a stone,

Wood it may be.

My whole, an exile from his home,

Is doomed from place to place to roam.

is solved by Runagate.

Return to description

339

My first expresses power to do,

My next that it is done.

To be my whole belongs to few,

And perfectly to none.

is solved by Candid.

Return to description

340

In my first, as in a shell,

All the sweetest sounds may dwell;

In my second, shells abound

That can catch no sort of sound;

In my whole securely rest

Those who neither jeer nor jest.

is solved by Earnest.

Return to description

341

My first, though of the feathered kind,

Is never known to fly;

My next all who improve their mind

Seize as it passes by.

My whole may much occasion find

To make the truthful lie.

is solved by Bed-time.

Return to description

342

Divide a piece of beef or pork

Without the aid of knife and fork;

It gives a shelf, rejoined with skill,

Where you may set this if you will.

Strike off instead the end, its place

Is plain as nose upon your face.

Cut this asunder in your mind,

And what is first put now behind;

Part of our foot you thus discover,

And in a measure all is over.

is solved by Chine, niche, chin, inch.

Return to description

343

Seen as a whole, my form is now

Akin to strife and malice;

Split, it may grace a princely brow,

Or crown the curls of Alice.

Recast my letters, and I tell

That nourishment is lacking;

Stir them afresh until they spell

The needle’s help in tacking.

is solved by Hatred, hat red, dearth, thread.

Return to description

344

If I write with my first in my second

My whole you can never find out;

Add a letter, and all will be reckoned

A patron of water devout.

is solved by Within, Swithin.

Return to description

345

After officers’ mess, when cigars were well alight, the old conundrum was propounded, “What is most like a cornet of horse?” A sharp sub. was ready with the reply, “A hornet, of course”; it was presently capped by this variant which occurred to a married captain, “a corset of horn”; and yet another reading was suggested by the deaf old colonel, “How much did you say the ‘horse ate of corn’?”

Return to description

346

Loss of love between us

Never can be nice;

Yet we live where Venus

Changes us to ice.

is solved by Venice (Venus changes to Venice).

Return to description

347

The very prosaic reply to the dainty lines—

“Tell me, my sweet,

Why are your feet

Like fairy-tales?”

is: Because they are leg ends (legends)!

Return to description

348

Our parson detains every man who has leisure

To study stained windows, the glory of fanes;

And instead of devoting his income to pleasure,

Our sainted dean spends his money on panes.

The words in italics have the same letters.

Return to description

349

Though much attached to merriment,

Or crime for a variety,

To prison I am never sent,

But sparkle in society.

is solved by The letter E.

Return to description

350

Without my first and second’s aid

No pudding worth its sauce is made.

Take on my third, my fourth I am,

My fifth includes myself and Sam.

My whole describes the royal fiddler Nero,

And shows him as an unheroic hero.

is solved by Suetonius.

Return to description

351

The geographical names buried in the sentences—

He has my R.N. as a monogram on all his paper.

I am her stupid sister.

The calmest man is sometimes made irate—

are Smyrna; Amherst; and Madeira.

Return to description

352

My first’s a fruit of foreign clime,

Sweet to the taste, in price not dear;

My second does my first produce,

And yet my whole my first doth bear.

is solved by Date-palm.

Return to description

353

A thing of beauty, scattered by a breath,

My firm embrace is harbinger of death;

Not made by hands, a work of wondrous art,

Complete and perfected in every part;

Crush me to-day with all-determined care,

Then look to-morrow, and I shall be there!

is solved by A spider’s web.

Return to description

354

Six letters in my name are found.

Though only three we see and sound;

The shepherd by the running river

May hear me where the rushes quiver;

And should a stroke my whole divide,

Leaving but half on either side,

These, backward read, will surely tell

What many a toper loves too well.

is solved by Murmur.

Return to description

355

Upon a battle-field of learned men

Hundred and fifty were by none divided.

“Now,” said the bishop, “add two-thirds of ten

And so you’ll guess the riddle just as I did.”

is solved by Colenso.

Return to description

356

Though the stations of mortals are many

And the last is the head of his race;

Yet he, just as often as any,

Is won by my first’s fell embrace;

Yet we most of us apt are to fall,

When our heads cease our hearts to control,

Let us hope that not one of us all

May be e’er in the state of my whole.

is solved by Sinking.

Return to description

357

My whole is no matter,

And light as the air,

Yet it is good on the platter,

And excellent fare.

Curtail and transpose,

And a lady you see,

Who will flatter and pose,

And with many do me.

is solved by trifle, flirt.

Return to description

358

My first, for ages out of mind

All men have always worn behind,

And yet alike by sea and land

They carry it upon their hand.

My second, carefully matur’d,

Is never ill but often cured.

My whole, within unchanging lines,

Black men and white alike confines.

is solved by Backgammon.

Return to description

359

The Rebus—“We westand fall,”—is solved by United we stand, divided we fall.

Return to description

360

My second is pressed tightly round

To guard from any ill;

And when preparing to engage

Men find it useful still.

My first against attraction set

Will neutralise its power;

Aided by it, with bargains, some

May spend a happy hour.

You find my whole by careful search,

Which must not be forsaken;

It stands before what comes beyond,

Which may from it be taken.

is solved by Counterfoil.

Return to description

362

Scorned by the meek and humble mind,

And often by the vain possessed,

Heard by the deaf, seen by the blind,

I give the troubled spirit rest.

is solved by Nothing.

Return to description

ODDS AND ENDS

SOLUTIONS

1

Here is both the sum without figures, and its counterpart in numbers:—

U

G

I

)

G

E

V

P

P

N

D

O

(

I

D

T

P

O

G

V

N

I

D

N

T

P

U

G

I

N

E

T

N

N

E

O

T

D

U

D

O

D

U

D

O

9

5

6

)

5

8

7

0

0

3

1

2

(

6

1

4

0

2

5

7

3

6

1

3

4

0

9

5

6

3

8

4

3

3

8

2

4

1

9

1

2

1

9

1

2

Image

The key sentence is: DON’T GIVE UP, the letters of which correspond to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.

Return to description

2

When I shot only birds and rabbits, and my bag at the end of the day showed 36 heads and 100 feet, I had killed 22 birds and 14 rabbits.

Return to description

3

There are no fewer than 40 distinct readings of the four words which form the square—

D

E

L

F

E

V

I

L

L

I

V

E

F

L

E

D

Image

DELF and FLED have each four straight readings, while EVIL and LIVE can each be traced in 16 different ways, and the four words run straight from every side of the square.

Return to description

4

A

A

E

D

N

R

E

G

D

N

I

T

V

S

S

T

A

E

V

E

N

I

N

G

D

A

R

D

Image

Return to description

5

When a man gave a sovereign to his son to be spent on presents of different values for him and his three sisters, each to cost an aliquot part of the pound, and each to be as good as possible; and told him to give the change to the Fresh Air Fund, the presents cost 1⁄3, 1⁄4, 1⁄5, 1⁄6 of a pound respectively, or 6s. 8d., 5s., 4s., and 3s. 4d., and there was a shilling over for the Fresh Air Fund.

Return to description

6

This is the complete word-square—

M

E

T

A

L

E

R

A

S

E

T

A

S

T

E

A

S

T

E

R

L

E

E

R

S

Image

Return to description

7

The key word to the addition sum is REPUBLICAN. It works out thus—

R

1

E

2

P

3

U

4

B

5

L

6

I

7

C

8

A

9

N

0

A

I

L

C

P

R

U

N

B

E

E

C

C

9

7

6

8

3

1

4

0

5

2

2

8

8

Image

Return to description

8

The word square is completed thus—

T

O

A

S

T

O

T

T

E

R

A

T

O

N

E

S

E

N

S

E

T

R

E

E

S

Image

Return to description

9

The product of the first twelve prime numbers, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, can be written down by using no figures but 0, 1, 2, and 3, and of these 2 and 3 once only, thus—

10 × 1001 × 2001 × 10013:—

or

10 =  1 ×  2 ×  5

1001 =  7 × 11 × 13

2001 =  3 × 23 × 29

10013 = 17 × 19 × 31

Return to description

10

The question—

Six collars seven cuffs there be

When pence we charge you thirty-three;

Seven collars and six cuffs to do,

The charge is only thirty-two;

The work is good and up-to-date,

So figure out in pence the rate.

is answered by—Collars, 2d. Cuffs, 3d.

Return to description

11

The word square is completed thus—

W

E

E

K

S

E

L

L

E

N

E

L

U

D

E

K

E

D

G

E

S

N

E

E

R

Image

Return to description

12

To remove the table-napkin on a corner of which a wine-glass full of water stands near the edge of a polished table, take hold with the left hand of the part that hangs over the edge and raise it to a horizontal position. Then strike hard downward with the right hand, at about six inches from the table, and the cloth will come away, leaving the wineglass altogether undisturbed—an illustration of what is known as the vis inertiæ.

Return to description

13

My third and fourth are a quarter of my first and second; my fourth is half of them, and my third is half. What am I?

is solved by Twopence-half-penny.

Return to description

14

The London firm who had sent a telegram to Paris for 480 sets of Diabolo, and received to their surprise a huge consignment of 6336 sets, had worded their order thus: “Send us twenty two-dozen cases of Diabolo,” knowing that they were put up two dozen in a case. The wholesale firm read the order as twenty-two dozen cases—i.e., 264 cases of 24 in a case!

Return to description

16

When Mrs Evergreen said: “My husband’s age is represented by the figures of mine reversed; he is older than I am, and the difference between our ages is one-eleventh of their sum,” he was 54, and she was 45.

Return to description

17

This is the completed multiplication sum—

4

*

*

3

*

3

6

*

*

*

*

7

*

*

*

3

*

*

4

5

7

3

8

3

6

5

6

1

3

7

1

1

7

3

6

6

Image

Return to description

18

Add 3 to 10, and then divide

Till 8 the sum has satisfied—

is solved by writing 13 in Roman numerals, XIII.; and then drawing a line across their middle, so that the upper half forms VIII.

Return to description

19

I bought fifty-eight plants for my new rosery, when I found that if I set them three in a row there would be one over; if four in a row two over; if five in a row three over; and if six in a row four over.

Return to description

20

Three nines arranged thus represent 20—

9 + 9

·9

Return to description

21

If a house has nine windows on its front, as many as 511 signals can be given by merely leaving one or more of them open, including the case in which all are left open.

Return to description

22

The birthday puzzle by Sir John Evans is solved thus—

“Reader, whether man or woman,

Write my age in figures Roman (LXV.).

My first, divided by my second,

Will make my third, if rightly reckoned,

Ten times the whole, and then you’ll see

My university degree (D.C.L.).”

Return to description

52

This is the way to arrange a strip of paper 9 in. by 2 in. so that it has only one surface and one edge.

Gum the ends together with a half twist in the slip. If a continuous line is now drawn along the middle of the band it will traverse the whole length of the paper and finish at its starting point. Again, if a mark is made on the edge, and the finger or a pencil starting from this runs along the edge, it also will return to its starting point.

Return to description

53

To divide nine into two parts which shall be together equal to ten, write IX in bold Roman numerals on a sheet of paper, and fold this across the middle of the figures, thus—

IX —

IV

IɅ

This gives a six on one side of the fold and a four upon the other side.

Return to description

54

The shepherd who had folded his flock with 100 hurdles, and whose master bade him the next day use 16 of these to pen some pigs, and to enclose nine times as many sheep with the remaining 84 as the 100 had contained, had originally placed the hurdles in two rows of 49 each, with one hurdle at each end. He made room for nine times as many sheep within 84 hurdles by arranging them in a square, with 21 on every side, thus increasing the area ninefold.

Return to description

55

When you have lifted three hats that cover three biscuits in a row, eaten the biscuits and replaced the hats, you can carry out your undertaking that the three biscuits shall be under whichever hat is selected by solemnly placing that hat upon your head!

Return to description

56

The number of different ways in which 7s. 3d. can be paid away in current coin of the realm, without ever using exactly the same set of coins a second time, is 1,062,102!

Return to description

PRINTED AT THE MERCAT PRESS, EDINBURGH.

Images

No. I.—A GOOD SPECIMEN

Return to description

No. II—A BORDERED DIAMOND

Return to description

No. III.—A MULTIFOLD MAGIC SQUARE

Return to descriptions

No. IV.—A MODEL MAGIC SQUARE

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No. V.—TESSELATED DIAMOND

Return to description

No. VI.—MAGIC SQUARE BY MULTIPLICATION

Return to description

No. VII.—ANOTHER BORDERED MAGIC SQUARE

Return to description

No. VIII.—A HARDY ANNUAL

Return to description

No. IX.—ANOTHER “ANNO DOMINI”

Return to description

No. X.—A DOMINO MAGIC SQUARE

Return to description

No. XI.—CHESS AND NUMBERS

Return to description

No. XII.—NUMBERS PATIENCE

Return to description

No. XIV.—A NEST OF RECTANGLES

Return to description

No. XV.—ANOTHER DOMINO MAGIC SQUARE

Return to description

No. XXXII.—A GOOD LETTER PUZZLE

Return to description

No. XXXIII.—ANAGRAM ARITHMETIC

Return to description

No. XXXIV.—A BUNCH OF FLOWERS

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No. XXXV.—ON A BLACKBOARD

Return to description

No. XXXVI.—SQUARING A DIAMOND

Return to description

No. XXXVII.

Return to description

No. XXXVIII.—AN ANAGRAM SQUARE

Return to description

No. XXXIX.—ARITHMETIC BY ANAGRAM

Return to description

No. XL.—ANAGRAMS SQUARED

Return to description

No. XLI.—A WORD SQUARE BY ANAGRAM

Return to description

No. XLII.—QUITE A NOVELTY

Return to description

No. XLIII.—HIDDEN PROVERBS

Return to description

Return to solution

No. XLIV.—A CLEVER CRYPTOGRAM

Return to description

No. LXIV.—ARITHMETICAL TRIANGLE

Return to description

No. LXVII.—AN EIGHT-CARD PUZZLE

Return to description

No. LXVIII.—THOUGHT READING

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No. LXXI.—A PUZZLE WITH CHESS PIECES

Return to description

No. LXXIX

Return to description

No. LXXXV.—MANY READINGS

Return to description

No. LXXXVI.—TOLD AT A GLANCE

Return to description

No. LXXXVII.

Return to description

No. LXXXVIII.—RANGING THE DIGITS

Return to description

No. LXXXIX.—NO TWO IN A ROW

Return to description

No. XC.—EXACT ALIGNMENT

Return to description

No. XCI.—AT A FANCY BALL

Return to description

No. XCII.—PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY IN CELLS

Return to description

No. XCVI.—A NEW CHESS PUZZLE

Return to description

No. CII.—A KNIGHT’S POETIC TOUR

Return to description

No. CIV.—SCORING A CENTURY

Return to description

No. CXXI.—DOMINO SQUARE

Return to description

242. A TANGLED SQUARE

Return to description

274. A PUZZLE ACROSTIC

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1. A SUM WITHOUT FIGURES

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3. THE SQUAREST WORD

Return to description

4. A CROSS PURPOSE

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6. A WORD SQUARE

Return to description

7. VERBAL ARITHMETIC

Return to description

8. A WORD SQUARE

Return to description

11. GAPS TO FILL

Return to description

17. MISSING FIGURES

Return to description

No. IV

Return to solution

No. VIII

Return to solution

No. IX

Return to solution

No. X

Return to solution

No. XII

Return to solution

No. XIV

Return to solution

No. XV

Return to solution

No. XVI

Return to solution

No. XXXII

Return to solution

No. XXXIII

Return to solution

No. XXXIV

Return to solution

No. XXXV

Return to solution

No. XXXVI

Return to solution

No. XXXVII

Return to solution

No. XXXVIII

Return to solution

No. XXXIX

Return to solution

No. XL

Return to solution

No. XLI

Return to solution

No. XLII

Return to solution

No. LXVII

Return to solution

No. LXVIII

Return to solution

No. LXXI

Return to solution

No. LXXIX

Return to solution

No. LXXXV

Return to solution

No. LXXXVII

Return to solution

No. LXXXIX

Return to solution

No. XC

Return to solution

No. XCII

Return to solution

No. XCVI

Return to solution

No. CII

Return to solution

1

Return to solution

3

Return to solution

4

Return to solution

6

Return to solution

7

Return to solution

8

Return to solution

11

Return to solution

17

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53

Return to solution

Transcriber’s Notes

Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, etcetera have been retained, unless listed under Changes below.

Unless listed below, the riddles, puzzles and tricks and their solutions are given here as printed in the source document, even though some of them arguably contain ambiguities, errors and/or misprints. Inconsistencies in lay-out between the puzzles and their solutions have not been standardised.

The source document has several pages that contain a Pictured Puzzle at the top (Roman numerals) and one or more Word Play puzzles or jokes (Latin numerals). This has been retained in this text; any auto-generated Tables of Contents may therefore look jumbled up with intermixed Roman and Latin numerals.

Depending on the hard- and software used to read this text and on their settings, not all elements may display as intended. The larger diagrams may be illegible on small screens or in small windows.

Where possible and relevant, illustrations have been “transcribed”, occasionally discarding some of the ornamentation. For reference and for the sake of completeness, images of the transcribed illustrations have been provided at the end of this e-book, with hyperlinks (“Image”) pointing to them. Hyperlinks from these images point back to the riddle, puzzle, etc. (“Return to description”) or to its solution (“Return to solution”). In addition, hyperlinks are provided from the puzzles etc. to their solutions (“Solution”) and from the solutions back to the puzzle etc. (“Return to description”).

Table of Contents, page 130: The Enigmas, Charades, Puzzles, &c., &c. do not actually start on this page (they start on page 2), but there are no more Pictured Puzzles and Word Play from this page on.

Page 49, Se Pierot or Lun: possibly an error for See Pierot or L’un or Le Pierot or L’un.

Page 60, No. LX: the description is confusing, as the puzzle consists of drawing the four dotted lines, and they are therefore not given.

Page 89 and 263, Pictured puzzle LXXXIX and solution: either the puzzle or the solution has been printed upside-down in the source document.

Page 114, ... as nearly as possible of the size and pattern ...: based on the size of the physical book (around 7″ or 18 cm tall), the boomerang’s width would be some 3″ or 7.5 cm.

Page 149, ... six single words: the solution provided gives five single words.

Page 205, Solution IX: the table as printed lacks values for Opposite pairs of short diagonals (of which there are four) and Such combinations as 482, 484, 472, 470 (of which there ought to be two in order to reach the given total).

Changes made

In the source document, jokes, riddles and puzzles may be split over multiple pages (for example, Word Play 5 may be found on page 7 (first part) and page 9 (second part)). In this e-text, the second part has been re-combined with the first, and references to the separate first and second parts have been deleted.

Some minor obvious typographical errors have been corrected silently. Similarly, minor discrepancies (such as the number of blanks or periods) have been rectified silently. Fractions (the forms x⁄y,

x

y

and x-y all occur in the source document) have (bar a single exception) been standardised to x⁄y.

Unless they fitted better within the text paragraphs, illustrations, verses, diagrams, etc. have been moved out of the text paragraphs. The footnote has been moved to directly underneath the Word Play in which it is referenced.

Texts in  a dashed box  has been transcribed from the accompanying diagram or illustration, and does not appear as text in the source document.

Page 10: ... cut of my head; changed to ... cut off my head;

Page 62: ... thought myself happy to win her ... changed to ... I thought myself happy to win her ... (cf. solution).

Page 89: ... indentations do not effect ... changed to ... indentations do not affect ....

Page 93: the logogriph has been laid out as in the solution on page 305.

Page 110-111: Word Play 92 in this text (Missing Words) was erroneously numbered 93 (first part) and 39 (second part) in the source document.

Page 130: “Tis an absurdity to say ... changed to ’Tis an absurdity to say ....

Page 139: !” inserted after the dots cf. solution.

Page 144, Nr. 176, last line: space inserted between F and R in R FR H; H T G changed to H T N G.

Page 152: ... his destination from these words.” changed to ... his destination from these words?

Page 196: ... sa Majéste impériale ... changed to ...sa Majesté impériale ...; ... a jamais! changed to ... à jamais!

Page 197-198: Odds and Ends 38 appears twice; the second one has been renamed 38a.

Page 201: ... a flock of sheep in a fold enclosed by 10 hurdles ... changed to ... a flock of sheep in a fold enclosed by 100 hurdles ....

Page 294: Number 34 inserted before first solution.

Page 309: The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey changed to The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

Page 310: The words italics are spelt ... changed to The words in italics are spelt ....

Page 379: vis inertiœ changed to vis inertiæ.

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Table of Contents

PICTURED PUZZLES AND WORD PLAY

CONTENTS.

PICTURED PUZZLES

No. I.—A GOOD SPECIMEN

No. II.—A BORDERED DIAMOND By G. Slater

WORD PLAY

1. A PARADOX

No. III.—A MULTIFOLD MAGIC SQUARE

No. IV.—A MODEL MAGIC SQUARE

2. A PREDOMINANT VOWEL

No. V.—TESSELATED DIAMOND By G. Slater

3. AN ENIGMA

No. VI.—MAGIC SQUARE BY MULTIPLICATION

No. VII.—ANOTHER BORDERED MAGIC SQUARE

4. A CHARADE

5. BYRON’S ENIGMA

No. VIII.—A HARDY ANNUAL

No. IX.—ANOTHER “ANNO DOMINI”

No. X.—A DOMINO MAGIC SQUARE

6. SHIFTING LETTERS

No. XI.—CHESS AND NUMBERS

7. A GOOD CHARADE By Horace Smith, one of the authors of “Rejected Addresses.”

No. XII.—NUMBERS PATIENCE

No. XIII.—THE WINDMILL

8. THRICE BEHEADED

No. XIV.—A NEST OF RECTANGLES

9. AN ENIGMA

No. XV.—ANOTHER DOMINO MAGIC SQUARE

No. XVI.—DOMINO PATIENCE

10. LEGAL PLEASANTRIES

11. RIVALS ON THE ROAD

No. XVII.—A FRIENDLY HINT

No. XVIII.—CATASTROPHE

12. A HISTORICAL CHARADE

No. XIX.—A PRECOCIOUS BOY

No. XX.—AGAINST THE COLLAR

No. XXI.—IN A BILLIARD-ROOM

13. A SAUCY MAIDEN

No. XXII.—EVOLVING A PAINTER

14. DOUBLETS

No. XXIII.—THE PICK OF THE PACK

15. AN OLD ENIGMA

No. XXIV.—A PICTURE PUZZLE

No. XXV.—AN ANXIOUS POSE

No. XXVI.—TOSS NEITHER HEAD NOR TAIL

16. ANAGRAM PROVERBS

No. XXVII.—ACTION AND PASSION

17. A SHORT CHARADE

No. XXVIII.—A FEAT WITHOUT ARMS

No. XXIX.—NOT TAKING ANY

No. XXX.—MUSIC HATH CHARMS

No. XXXI

No. XXXII.—A GOOD LETTER PUZZLE

18. A BURIED POTENTATE

No. XXXIII.—ANAGRAM ARITHMETIC

No. XXXIV.—A BUNCH OF FLOWERS

19. A CHARADE

No. XXXV.—ON A BLACKBOARD

20. RECAST

21. WORD-BUILDING

No. XXXVI.—SQUARING A DIAMOND

22. AN ENIGMA

No. XXXVII.

No. XXXVIII.—AN ANAGRAM SQUARE

No. XXXIX.—ARITHMETIC BY ANAGRAM

23. A LOGOGRAPH

No. XL.—ANAGRAMS SQUARED

24. A SINGLE ACROSTIC

No. XLI.—A WORD SQUARE BY ANAGRAM

25. A CHARADE

No. XLII.—QUITE A NOVELTY

No. XLIII.—HIDDEN PROVERBS

26. RINGING SWEET CHANGES

No. XLIV.—A CLEVER CRYPTOGRAM

No. XLV.—SAM LOYD’S PONY PUZZLE

27. A REBUS

No. XLVI.—A CLEVER PUZZLE

28. A CHARADE (With Latin parts.)

No. XLVII.—A NICE BALANCE

29. BURIED POETS

No. XLVIII.—LEAF-FROG

30. AN ENIGMA

31. MISSING WORDS

No. XLIX.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

32. A CHARADE

No. L.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

33. ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER

34. AN ENIGMA

No. LI.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

35. A BURIED PROVERB

36. MISSING WORDS

No. LII.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

37. A CHARADE

38. A LOVER’S VOW

No. LIII.—DIGITS IN THE FIDGETS

39. AN ENIGMA

40. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

No. LIV.—A FREAK OF FIGURES

41. A CHARADE

42. ASK A SCHOOLBOY

43. A WHOLE LESS THAN ITS PART

No. LV.—SPINNING WHEELS

44. A HISTORICAL CHARADE

No. LVI.—FOUR QUARTERS AMONG FIVE

No. LVII.—USE YOUR PENCIL

45. MISSING WORDS

No. LVIII.—SUBTLE SELFISHNESS

46. AN ARITHMOREM

No. LIX.—FOR THE CHILDREN

47. SHEDDING LETTERS

No. LX.

48. A SHARP BOY

No. LXI.—AN EASY ONE

49. GEESE TO MARKET

No. LXII

50. A QUAINT CHARADE

No. LXIII

No. LXIV.—ARITHMETICAL TRIANGLE

No. LXV.—MULTIPLICATION NO VEXATION

No. LXVI

51. A BURIED ADAGE

No. LXVII.—AN EIGHT-CARD PUZZLE

52. MUTILATIONS

53. MISSING WORDS

No. LXVIII.—THOUGHT READING

No. LXIX.—FROM PILLAR TO POST

No. LXX.—TRANSFORMATIONS

54. COUNTING THE GEESE

55. A THIRD IS A HALF

No. LXXI.—A PUZZLE WITH CHESS PIECES

56. PRESS PARODIES

No. LXXII.—HEXAGONAL ILLUSIONS

No. LXXIII.—AN ILLUSION OF ARCHES

57. WHERE WAS THE WEDDING?

58. ON A BANANA BARROW

No. LXXIV.—IN THE TRAIN

No. LXXV.—MENDING THE FLAG

No. LXXVI.—FOR THE CHILDREN

59. MISSING WORDS

No. LXXVII.—AN EASY MATCH PUZZLE

60. WHAT AM I?

61. BURIED TOWNS

No. LXXVIII.—WALKING THE ROUNDS

62. THE ARAB AND HIS ASS

No. LXXIX

63. A CHARADE

No. LXXX.—THE QUEEN’S TOUR

64. AFTER THE MATCH

No. LXXXI.—A NEST OF TRIANGLES

65. AN ENIGMA

No. LXXXII.—A SIMPLE MATCH PUZZLE

66. A TOPICAL RIDDLE

67. MISSING WORDS

No. LXXXIII.—A MATCH PUZZLE

68. MARCONIGRAMS

No. LXXXIV.—MATHEMATICS WITH MATCHES

69. EASY MENTAL ARITHMETIC

No. LXXXV.—MANY READINGS

No. LXXXVI.—TOLD AT A GLANCE

No. LXXXVII.

70. A DOUBLET BY MISSING WORDS

71. AN ENIGMA

No. LXXXVIII.—RANGING THE DIGITS

72. WHAT IS THIS WORD?

73. MULTUM IN PARVO

74. THE GENTLE CRAFT

No. LXXXIX.—NO TWO IN A ROW

75. A QUAINT RIDDLE

No. XC.—EXACT ALIGNMENT

76. A MISSING LETTER

No. XCI.—AT A FANCY BALL

No. XCII.—PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY IN CELLS

77. THRICE DOCKED

No. XCIII.—A DISLOCATED CIRCLE

78. A LOGOGRIPH

No. XCIV.

No. XCV.—A BUSINESS ANAGRAM

No. XCVI.—A NEW CHESS PUZZLE By Henry E. Dudeney.

No. XCVII.—A GOOD KNIGHT’S TOUR

No. XCVIII.—A KNIGHT’S TOUR

79. MISSING WORDS

No. XCIX.—A KNIGHT’S TOUR

80. AN ENIGMA

81. A CHARADE

No. C.—A GOOD PATTERN

82. PALINDROME WORDS

No. CI.—A KNIGHT’S TOUR

83. AN ENIGMA

No. CII.—A KNIGHT’S POETIC TOUR

84. TOMMY’S MONEY BOX

No. CIII.—THE MANX RABBITS

85. AN ENIGMA

No. CIV.—SCORING A CENTURY

86. IF WE COULD CHOOSE

No. CV.—SEEING THROUGH A VEIL

87. A CHARADE

No. CVI.—THE PAPER RINGS

88. MISSING WORDS

89. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

No. CVII.—THE MAGIC BUTTONS

No. CVIII.—THE CAPTIVE SCISSORS

90. A BURIED QUOTATION

No. CIX.—A PRIMITIVE TRAP

91. LADIES AT A SALE

No. CX.—A SPINNING NEEDLE

92. MISSING WORDS

No. CXI.—AFTER DINNER

93. A CHARADE

No. CXII.—SECOND SIGHT

No. CXIII.—AN AFTER DINNER TRICK

94. ALIKE TO THE EYE

No. CXIV.—A TOY BOOMERANG

95. LONDON BY ANAGRAM

96. HEARD ON THE BRIGHTON BEACH

No. CXV.—IN THE GRIP OF A RADISH

97. FIND THE ANIMAL

No. CXVI.—ELASTIC PAPER

98. A SMART ENIGMA

99. MISSING WORDS

No. CXVII.—THE NIMBLE SIXPENCE

100. A PIED PROVERB

101. SELF-DEFINED

No. CXVIII.—HOW TO DRAW A SPIRAL

102. FIND THE HERO

No. CXIX.—FOR HANDY FINGERS

No. CXX.—THE FOUR KINGS

103. PROVERB BY ANAGRAM

No. CXXI.—DOMINO SQUARE

104. PHONETIC MISSING WORDS

No. CXXII.—THE TALKING HEAD

105. A QUEER OBSTACLE

No. CXXIII.—A GENERAL OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

106. AN OLD ENIGMA (By a former Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.)

No. CXXIV.—ANOTHER BOOMERANG

107. PHONETIC GAPS

No. CXXV.—A PICTURE CHARADE

108. SOUND SENSE

109. A CRYPTOGRAM

No. CXXVI.—WALNUTS AND COBS

110. A BURIED PROVERB

111. DOUBLETS

No. CXXVII.—A PICTURE RIDDLE

112. TWO POSERS

No. CXXVIII.—BUY A BROOM

113. A CHARADE

No. CXXIX.—JEU DE PARQUET (For the children)

114. LINES BY AN OLD OXBRIDGE DON

115. LESS AND MORE

116. BURIED BEASTS

117. PALINDROMIC VERSE

118. AN ANAGRAM IN THE MAKING

119. AN ENIGMA

120. ASK A SAILOR

121. AN ENIGMA

122. MISSING WORDS

123. A HUMAN PRODIGY

124. A CHARADE

125. A PARADOX

126. AN ENIGMA (From Lewis Carroll’s Papers.)

127. A CHARADE

128. WHAT IS IT?

129. BURIED TOWNS

130. A GOOD ANAGRAM

131. MISSING WORDS

132. A CHARADE

133. A DECISIVE ANAGRAM

134. RATHER OBSCURE

135. SHUFFLE THE LETTERS

136. A CHARADE

137. MISSING LETTERS

138. A CHARADE

139. IS IT BANTING?

140. A CHARADE

141. A PRIZE CRYPTOGRAM

142. AN ENIGMA

143. FACING BOTH WAYS

144. A CHARADE

145. BURIED RIVERS

146. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

147. A SIMPLE RECIPE

148. THE PLAINT OF THE REJECTED

149. “BETA IN GREEK MEANS LETTER B.”

150. A REBUS

151. BONES OF A PALINDROME

152. A NICE POINT

153. A BURIED PROVERB

154. IN THE OPEN

155. A BURIED QUOTATION (From Shakespeare)

156. PALINDROME ON A BEETROOT

157. A CHARADE

158. AMBIGUOUS

159. AN ENIGMA

160. DIABOLUS!

161. MISSING WORDS

162. AN INSCRIPTION WITH A POINT

163. BY ANAGRAM

164. A FRENCH CHARADE

165. A CHARADE

166. OUT OF DATE

167. AN ENIGMA

168. TESTED BY DICTATION

169. ASCRIBED TO VOLTAIRE

170. AT THE GUILDHALL

171.

172. A YOUNG SHAVER

173. DECAPITATIONS

174. A CHARADE

175. SHUFFLE THE LETTERS

176. FILL IN THE VOWELS

177. ARMY ANAGRAMS

178. A CHARADE

179. AN ANAGRAM ENIGMA

180. A QUESTION OF TIME

181. A DONKEY DRIVE

182. EATING BY ALPHABET

183. A CHARADE

184. PROVERB ANAGRAM

185. WHAT’S IN A NAME?

186. AN ENIGMA

187. A DOUBLE ACROSTIC (From Punch, 1875)

188. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

189. QUITE A BEATITUDE

190. CLEARING IT UP

191. PROVERB IN ANAGRAM

192. A CHARADE

193. MISSING WORDS

194. WHAT IS IT?

195. GRANDFATHER’S TURN

196. A CHARADE

197. MISSING WORDS

198. AN ENIGMA

199. A CHARADE

200. ANAGRAM WORDS

201. AN ENIGMA

202. A PARADOX

203. BEST WHEN BEHEADED

204. MISSING WORDS

205. A SEASONABLE PUZZLE (Quite an ice one)

206. ILLUMINATING FIGURES

207. MISSING WORDS

208. A CHRISTMAS CRACKER

209. ANAGRAM FLOWERS

210. AN ENIGMA

211. A PARADOX

212. WHAT ARE THEY?

213. A CRYPTIC ADDRESS

214. AMONG THE GHOSTS

215. AN ENIGMA

216. BONES OF A PALINDROME

217. A WORD AND A BLOW

218. A GOOD RIDDLE

219. THE BONES OF A PALINDROME

220. MISSING WORDS

221. A NOVEL ANAGRAM

222. A CHARADE

223. IS THIS TRUE?

224. SOME ANAGRAMS

225. AN ENIGMA

226. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

227. MISSING WORDS

228. FROM BEDLAM

229. FRUITS AND FLOWERS.

230. ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM

231. CHARADE By W. M. Praed

232

233. DECAPITATION

234. A BURIED PROVERB

235. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

236. AN ENIGMA By Praed

237. THE ARAB AND HIS ASS The Sequel

238. MISSING WORDS

239. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

240. MISSING WORDS

241. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

242. A TANGLED SQUARE

243. RIVERS IN ANAGRAM

244. A PIED PALINDROME

245

246. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

247. A PROVERB IN ANAGRAM

248. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

249. ANAGRAM ENIGMA

250. HE SQUARED THE CIRCLE

251. TO EXTRACT A CIRCLE FROM A GIVEN SQUARE

252. MISSING WORDS

253. A CHARADE

254. A CIPHER ADVERTISEMENT

255. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

256. MISSING WORDS

257. A CHARADE

258. IN THE HAY-FIELD

259. A CHARADE

260. A LETTER PUZZLE

261. WITH IVORY LETTERS

262. A HIDDEN NOVEL

263. “COME OUT, ’TIS NOW SEPTEMBER!” —Old Song.

264. A CHARADE

265. A BREAKFAST TABLE PUZZLE

266. A CIPHER

267. AN UNKNOWN NAME

268. UNDA WATER

269. MISSING WORDS

270. FIND THE GIRLS

271. A GOOD DESCRIPTION

272. SHAKESPEARE ANAGRAMS

273. MISSING WORDS

274. A PUZZLE ACROSTIC

275. DROP LETTER PUZZLE

276. DOUBLETS

277. A NEW ENIGMA

278. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

279. BY RULE OF THUMB

280. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

281. A REBUS

282. A RIDDLE

283. MISSING WORDS

284. DOUBLETS

285. BY ANAGRAM

286. CAN SUCH THINGS BE?

287. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

288. NO TURNCOAT

289. WHY NOT?

290

291. AN EASY CHARADE

292. NOT BY CANNING

293

294. A CHARADE

295. A CHARADE By Mark Lemon

296

297

298

299

300. A FLIGHT OF FANCY

301

302. A CHARADE

303

304. A CHARADE By Praed

305

306

307. A CHARADE

308. A CHARADE In English Sapphics

309

310

311

312. SHUFFLED LETTERS

313. FIVE VOWELS

314. A CHARADE

315. MISSING WORDS

316. THE BONES OF A PALINDROME

317

318. A RIDDLE

319

320. A CHARADE

321. A CHARADE

322.

323. A CHARADE

324. ON THE BLOCK

325. AN ENIGMA

326. AN ENIGMA

327. A CHESS CHARADE By H. J. C. Andrews

328. WHAT AM I?

329.

330. AN ENIGMA

331. AN OLD ENIGMA By Charles James Fox

332. A CHARADE

333. MISSING WORDS

334. A CHARADE

335. AN ENIGMA

336. A DECAPITATION

337. A NUT TO CRACK

338.

339. A CHARADE

340. A CHARADE

341. A CHARADE

342. AN ENIGMA

343. A CHARADE

344. AN ENIGMA

345. WHAT DID THE COLONEL SAY?

346. WHERE WAS IT?

347. A LOVER TO HIS LASS

348. MISSING WORDS

349. AN EASY ONE

350. A CHARADE

351. BURIED PLACES

352.

353. AN ENIGMA

354. AN ENIGMA

355. A RIDDLE

356.

357. WHAT IS IT?

358. WHAT IS IT?

359. WHAT IS THIS?

360. A CHARADE

361. A GOOD ANAGRAM

362. WHAT AM I?

ODDS AND ENDS

1. A SUM WITHOUT FIGURES

2. A DAY’S SPORT

3. THE SQUAREST WORD

4. A CROSS PURPOSE

5.

6. A WORD SQUARE

7. VERBAL ARITHMETIC

8. A WORD SQUARE

9.

10. AT THE WASH

11. GAPS TO FILL

12. IS IT POSSIBLE?

13. A NICE CALCULATION

14. FOR THE CHILDREN

15. A WINTER VALENTINE

16. A QUESTION OF AGES

17. MISSING FIGURES

18. STRANGE ADDITION

19. BEDDING OUT

20.

21.

22. ON MY BIRTHDAY (By Sir John Evans)

23. MOSAIC VERSE

24. SIGNS AND SEASONS

25. THE TEN DIGITS

26. CHRONOGRAM

27. A TOUR DE FORCE

28. AN OLD TALE OF A TUB

29. ALL THE ALPHABET

30. AN IMPERIAL ANAGRAM

31. A FOURFOLD ANAGRAM

32. A GOOD ANAGRAM

33. TWO EXCELLENT ANAGRAMS (After the Irish famine.)

34. “ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE”

35. A PRIZE ANAGRAM

36. A PRIZE ANAGRAM

37. TAKE CARE OF THE PENCE

38

38a. RING OUT, WILD BELLS!

39. A SCHOLAR AT PLAY

40. QUITE AN EYESORE!

41. THE PUNSTER’S LAMENT

42. A GOOD ANAGRAM

43. A TOUR DE FORCE

44. THE MISSING LINK

45. A STRIKING ANAGRAM

46. A CURIOUS PALINDROME

47. AFTER THE EVENT An Anagram.

48. TO FIND THE GOLD

49. A MUSICAL ANAGRAM

50. A HAPPY THOUGHT

51. A CLEVER TRIPLE ANAGRAM

52. CAN SUCH THINGS BE?

53.

54. FOLDING A FLOCK

55. A NEAT TRICK

56. VERY SMALL CHANGE

SOLUTIONS

FRONTISPIECE

No. IV.

No. VIII

No. IX

No. X

No. XI

No. XII

No. XIII

No. XIV

No. XV

No. XVI

No. XVII

No. XVIII

No. XIX

No. XX

No. XXI

No. XXII

No. XXIII

No. XXIV

No. XXV

No. XXVI

No. XXVII

No. XXVIII

No. XXIX

No. XXX

No. XXXI

No. XXXII

No. XXXIII

No. XXXIV

No. XXXV

No. XXXVI

No. XXXVII

No. XXXVIII

No. XXXIX

No. XL

No. XLI

No. XLII

No. XLIII

No. XLIV

No. XLV

No. XLVI

No. XLVII

No. XLVIII

No. LV

No. LVI

No. LVII

No. LVIII

No. LIX

No. LX

No. LXI

No. LXII

No. LXIII

No. LXVI

No. LXVII

No. LXVIII

No. LXIX

No. LXX

No. LXXI

No. LXXV

No. LXXVI

No. LXXVIII

No. LXXIX

No. LXXXI

No. LXXXII

No. LXXXIII

No. LXXXIV

No. LXXXV

No. LXXXVII

No. LXXXIX

No. XC

No. XCI

No. XCII

No. XCIII

No. XCV

No. XCVI

No. CII

No. CV

No. CVI

CVII

CVIII

CIX

No. CXII

No. CXIII

No. CXVII

No. CXVIII

No. CXXII.

No. CXXV

No. CXXVI

No. CXXVII

WORD PLAY SOLUTIONS

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360

362

ODDS AND ENDS SOLUTIONS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

52

53

54

55

56

Images

No. I.—A GOOD SPECIMEN

No. II—A BORDERED DIAMOND

No. III.—A MULTIFOLD MAGIC SQUARE

No. IV.—A MODEL MAGIC SQUARE

No. V.—TESSELATED DIAMOND

No. VI.—MAGIC SQUARE BY MULTIPLICATION

No. VII.—ANOTHER BORDERED MAGIC SQUARE

No. VIII.—A HARDY ANNUAL

No. IX.—ANOTHER “ANNO DOMINI”

No. X.—A DOMINO MAGIC SQUARE

No. XI.—CHESS AND NUMBERS

No. XII.—NUMBERS PATIENCE

No. XIV.—A NEST OF RECTANGLES

No. XV.—ANOTHER DOMINO MAGIC SQUARE

No. XXXII.—A GOOD LETTER PUZZLE

No. XXXIII.—ANAGRAM ARITHMETIC

No. XXXIV.—A BUNCH OF FLOWERS

No. XXXV.—ON A BLACKBOARD

No. XXXVI.—SQUARING A DIAMOND

No. XXXVII.

No. XXXVIII.—AN ANAGRAM SQUARE

No. XXXIX.—ARITHMETIC BY ANAGRAM

No. XL.—ANAGRAMS SQUARED

No. XLI.—A WORD SQUARE BY ANAGRAM

No. XLII.—QUITE A NOVELTY

No. XLIII.—HIDDEN PROVERBS

No. XLIV.—A CLEVER CRYPTOGRAM

No. LXIV.—ARITHMETICAL TRIANGLE

No. LXVII.—AN EIGHT-CARD PUZZLE

No. LXVIII.—THOUGHT READING

No. LXXI.—A PUZZLE WITH CHESS PIECES

No. LXXIX

No. LXXXV.—MANY READINGS

No. LXXXVI.—TOLD AT A GLANCE

No. LXXXVII.

No. LXXXVIII.—RANGING THE DIGITS

No. LXXXIX.—NO TWO IN A ROW

No. XC.—EXACT ALIGNMENT

No. XCI.—AT A FANCY BALL

No. XCII.—PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY IN CELLS

No. XCVI.—A NEW CHESS PUZZLE

No. CII.—A KNIGHT’S POETIC TOUR

No. CIV.—SCORING A CENTURY

No. CXXI.—DOMINO SQUARE

242. A TANGLED SQUARE

274. A PUZZLE ACROSTIC

1. A SUM WITHOUT FIGURES

3. THE SQUAREST WORD

4. A CROSS PURPOSE

6. A WORD SQUARE

7. VERBAL ARITHMETIC

8. A WORD SQUARE

11. GAPS TO FILL

17. MISSING FIGURES

No. IV

No. VIII

No. IX

No. X

No. XII

No. XIV

No. XV

No. XVI

No. XXXII

No. XXXIII

No. XXXIV

No. XXXV

No. XXXVI

No. XXXVII

No. XXXVIII

No. XXXIX

No. XL

No. XLI

No. XLII

No. LXVII

No. LXVIII

No. LXXI

No. LXXIX

No. LXXXV

No. LXXXVII

No. LXXXIX

No. XC

No. XCII

No. XCVI

No. CII

1

3

4

6

7

8

11

17

53

Transcriber’s Notes

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