Twentieth Century Standard Puzzle Book

Part I

Contents

PAGE
Magic Squares, Puzzles, Tricks, Enigmas
Charades, Etc.
Riddles and Conundrums
Nuts to Crack
Solutions

Magic Squares

No. I.—Four Hundred Years Old!

In Albert Dürer’s day, as in Milton’s, “melancholy” meant thoughtfulness, and on this ground we find on his woodcut, “Melancholia, or the Genius of the Industrial Science of Mechanics,” a very early instance of a Magic Square, showing that Puzzles had a recognised place in mental gymnastics four hundred years ago.

No. Ii.—A Simple Magic Square

Much time was devoted in olden days to the construction and elaboration of Magic Squares. Before we go more deeply into this fascinating subject, let us study the following pretty and ingenious method of making a Magic Square of sixteen numbers, which is comparatively simple, and easily committed to memory:—

1	15	14	4
12	6	7	9
8	10	11	5
13	3	2	16

Start with the small square at the top left-hand corner, placing there the 1; then count continuously from left to right, square by square, but only insert those numbers which fall upon the diagonals—namely, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, and 16.

Then start afresh at the bottom right-hand corner, calling it 1, and fill up the remaining squares in order, from right to left, counting continuously, and so placing in their turn 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, and 15. Each row, column, diagonal, and almost every cluster of four has 34 as the sum of its numbers.

No. Iii.—Another Magic Square

1	20	16	23	5
15	7	12	9	22
24	18	13	8	2
4	17	14	19	11
21	3	10	6	25

In this Magic Square the rows, columns, and diagonals add up to 65, and the sum of any two opposite and corresponding squares is 26.

Enigmas

1 A Mystic Enigma

He stood himself beside himself
And looked into the sea;
Within himself he saw himself,
And at himself gazed he.
Now when himself he saw himself
Within himself go round,
Into himself he threw himself,
And in himself was drowned.
Now if he had not been himself,
But other beast beside,
He would himself have cut himself
Nor in himself have died.

Solution

No. Iv.—A Nest of Centuries

22	47	16	41	10	35	4
5	23	48	17	42	11	29
30	6	24	49	18	36	12
13	31	7	25	43	19	37
38	14	32	1	26	44	20
21	39	8	33	2	27	45
46	15	40	9	34	3	28

The numbers in this Magic Square of 49 cells add up in all rows, columns, and diagonals to 175. The four corner cells of every square or rectangle that has cell 25 in its centre, and cells 1, 7, 49, 43, add up to 100.

2

One morning Chloe, to avoid the heat,
Sat in a corner of a shady seat.
Young Strephon, on the self-same errand bound,
This fairest flower of all the garden found.
Her peerless beauty set his heart aflame,
Three monosyllables expressed his aim.

At a respectful distance he conversed
About the weather; then became immersed
In other topics, lessening the while
The space between them, heartened by her smile.
The same three simple words, now joined in one,
Expressed their happy state at set of sun.

Solution

No. V.—The Making of a Magic Square

An ideal Magic Square can be constructed thus:

Place 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in any order in the five top cells, set an asterisk over the third column, as shown in the diagram; begin the next row with this figure, and let the rest follow in the original sequence; continue this method with the other three rows.

Preparatory Square No. 1.

		*
1	3	5	2	4
5	2	4	1	3
4	1	3	5	2
3	5	2	4	1
2	4	1	3	5

Preparatory Square No. 2.

			*
5	15	0	10	20
10	20	5	15	0
15	0	10	20	5
20	5	15	0	10
0	10	20	5	15

Make a similar square of 25 cells with 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, as is shown in No. 2, placing the asterisk in this case over the fourth column of cells, and proceeding as before, in an unchanging sequence. Using these two preparatory squares, try to form a Magic Square in which the same number can be counted up in forty-two different ways.

Solution

No. Vi.—Another Way to Make a Magic Square

Here is one of many methods by which a Magic Square of the first twenty-five numbers can readily be made.

				1
			2		6
		3	20	7	24	11
	4	16	8	25	12	4	16
5		9	21	13	5	17		21
	10	22	14	1	18	10	22
		15	2	19	6	23
			20		24
				25

This is done by first placing the figures from 1 to 25 in diagonal rows, as is shown above, and then introducing the numbers that are outside the square into it, by moving each of them five places right, left, up, or down. A Magic Square is thus formed, the numbers of which add up to 65 in lines, columns and diagonals, and with the centre and any four corresponding numbers on the borders.

No. Vii.—A Monster Magic Square

Here is what may indeed be called a Champion Magic Square:—

23	464	459	457	109	111	108	110	132	133	130	131	373	371	357	356	372	382	370	335	30	22
25	41	436	435	433	432	196	195	241	242	200	225	284	287	246	245	288	261	51	58	47	460
27	45	13	474	469	467	82	81	72	90	91	83	401	400	396	398	399	397	20	12	440	458
461	55	15	34	450	449	447	446	156	157	180	181	326	327	306	307	44	37	33	470	430	24
456	56	17	42	3	484	479	477	66	65	68	67	422	421	416	415	10	2	443	468	429	29
137	428	471	41	5	127	126	125	361	362	363	364	365	366	118	117	116	480	444	14	57	348
153	431	466	31	7	347	148	338	339	145	143	342	142	344	345	139	138	478	454	19	54	332
154	439	98	453	481	325	161	169	168	318	319	320	321	163	162	324	160	4	32	387	46	331
384	266	407	445	476	292	293	191	190	299	298	297	186	185	184	302	193	9	40	78	219	101
383	268	406	442	424	270	280	272	273	211	210	209	208	278	279	205	215	61	43	79	217	102
379	265	392	172	60	248	227	250	251	230	232	231	233	256	257	258	237	425	313	93	220	106
378	267	391	173	59	226	249	228	229	252	254	253	255	234	235	236	259	426	312	94	218	107
351	282	405	176	74	204	214	206	207	277	276	275	274	212	213	271	281	411	309	80	203	134
350	263	390	177	73	182	192	301	300	189	187	188	296	295	294	183	303	412	308	95	222	135
334	199	77	330	423	171	315	323	322	164	165	166	167	317	316	170	314	62	155	408	286	151
333	216	96	311	413	149	346	147	146	340	341	144	343	141	140	337	336	72	174	389	269	152
100	221	76	310	414	369	359	360	124	123	122	121	120	119	367	368	358	71	175	409	264	385
99	223	75	291	483	1	6	8	419	420	417	418	63	64	69	70	475	482	194	410	262	386
104	202	97	452	35	36	38	39	329	328	305	304	159	158	179	178	441	448	451	388	283	381
105	238	473	11	16	18	403	404	393	395	394	402	84	85	89	87	86	88	465	472	247	380
136	438	49	50	52	53	289	290	244	243	285	260	201	198	239	240	197	224	434	427	437	349
463	21	26	28	376	374	377	375	353	352	355	354	112	114	128	129	113	103	115	150	455	462

Its 484 cells form, as they are numbered, a Magic Square, in which all rows, columns, and diagonals add up to 5335, and it is no easy matter to determine in how many other symmetrical ways its key-number can be found.

When the cells outside each of the dark border lines are removed, three other perfect Magic Squares remain.

Collectors should take particular note of this masterpiece.

No. Viii.—A Novel Magic Square

A Magic Square of nine cells can be built up by taking any number divisible by 3, and placing, as a start, its third in the central cell. Thus:—

28	29	24
23	27	31
30	25	26

Say that 81 is chosen for the key number. Place 27 in the centre; 28, 29, in cells 1, 2; 30 in cell 7; 31 in 6; and then fill up cells 3, 4, 8, and 9 with the numbers necessary to make up 81 in each row, column, and diagonal.

Any number above 14 that is divisible by 3 can be dealt with in this way.

3

Enriched I am with much that’s fat,
Yet money I possess not;
Enlightening all who come to me,
True wisdom I express not.
I may be wicked, but protest
That sinful none have found me;
Though I destroy myself to be
Of use to those around me.

Solution

No. Ix.—Twin Magic Squares

Among the infinite number of Magic Squares which can be constructed, it would be difficult to find a more remarkable setting of the numbers 1 to 32 inclusive than this, in which two squares, each of 16 cells, are perfect twins in characteristics and curious combinations.

1	8	29	28	11	14	23	18
30	27	2	7	21	20	9	16
4	5	32	25	10	15	22	19
31	26	3	6	24	17	12	13

There are at least forty-eight different ways in which 66 is the sum of four of these numbers. Besides the usual rows, columns, and diagonals, any square group of four, both corner sets, all opposite pairs on the outer cells, and each set of corresponding cells next to the corners, add up exactly to 66.

4

Of Spanish extraction, my hue
Is as dark as a negro can be;
I am solid, and yet it is true
That in part I am wet as the sea,
My second and first are the same
In all but condition and name;
My second can burst
The abode of my first,
And my whole from the underground came.

Solution

No. X.—A Bordered Magic Square

Here is a notable specimen of a Magic Square:—

4	5	6	43	39	38	40
49	15	16	33	30	31	1
48	37	22	27	26	13	2
47	36	29	25	21	14	3
8	18	24	23	28	32	42
9	19	34	17	20	35	41
10	45	44	7	11	12	46

The rows, columns, and diagonals all add up to exactly 175 in the full square. Strip off the outside cells all around, and a second Magic Square remains, which adds up in all such ways to 125.

Strip off another border, as is again indicated by the darker lines, and a third Magic Square is left, which adds up to 75.

5 An Old Enigma By Hannah More

I’m a strange contradiction: I’m new and I’m old,
I’m sometimes in tatters and sometimes in gold,
Though I never could read, yet letter’d I’m found,
Though blind I enlighten, though free I am bound.

I’m English, I’m German, I’m French, and I’m Dutch;
Some love me too dearly, some slight me too much.
I often die young, though I sometimes live ages,
And no Queen is attended by so many pages.

Solution

No. Xi.—A Larger Bordered Magic Square

Here is another example of what is called a “bordered” Magic Square:—

5	80	59	73	61	3	63	12	13
1	20	55	30	57	28	71	26	81
4	14	31	50	29	60	35	68	78
76	58	46	38	45	40	36	24	6
7	65	33	43	41	39	49	17	75
74	64	48	42	37	44	31	18	8
67	10	47	32	53	22	51	72	15
66	56	27	52	25	54	11	62	16
69	2	23	9	21	79	19	70	77

These 81 cells form a complete magic square, in which rows, columns, and diagonals add up to 369. As each border is removed fresh Magic Squares are formed, of which the distinctive numbers are 287, 205, and 123. The central 41 is in every case the greatest common divisor.

No. Xii.—A Century of Cells

Can you complete this Magic Square, so that the rows, columns, and diagonals add up in every case to 505?

91	2	3	97	6	95	94	8	9	100
20				16	15				81
21				25	26				30
60				66	65				41
50	49	48	57	55	56	54	43	42	51
61	59	58	47	45	46	44	53	52	40
31				35	36				70
80				75	76				71
90				86	85				11
1	99	98	4	96	5	7	93	92	10

We have given you a substantial start, and, as a further hint, as all the numbers in the first and last columns end in 0 or 1, so in the two next columns all end in 2 or 9, in the two next in 3 or 8, in the two next in 4 or 7, and in the two central columns in 5 or 6.

Solution

6 Hallam’s Unsolved Enigma

I sit on a rock while I’m raising the wind,
But the storm once abated I’m gentle and kind.
I’ve Kings at my feet, who await but my nod
To kneel in the dust on the ground I have trod.
Though seen to the world, I am known to but few,
The Gentile detests me, I’m pork to the Jew.
I never have passed but one night in the dark,
And that was with Noah alone in the ark.
My weight is three pounds, my length is a mile.
And when I’m discovered you’ll say, with a smile,
That my first and my last are the pride of this isle.

Solution

No. Xiii.—A Singular Magic Square

In this Magic Square, not only do the rows, columns, and diagonals add up to 260, but this same number is produced in three other and quite unusual ways:—

18	63	4	61	6	59	8	41
49	32	51	14	53	12	39	10
2	47	36	45	22	27	24	57
33	16	35	46	21	28	55	26
31	50	29	20	43	38	9	40
64	17	30	19	44	37	42	7
15	34	13	52	11	54	25	56
48	1	62	3	60	5	58	23

(1) Each group of 8 numbers, ranged in a circle round the centre; there are six of these, of which the smallest is 22, 28, 38, 44, 19, 29, 35, 45, and the largest is 8, 10, 56, 58, 1, 15, 49, 63. (2) The sum of the 4 central numbers and 4 corners. (3) The diagonal cross of 4 numbers in the middle of the board.

No. Xiv.—Squaring the Year

On another page we give an interesting Magic Square of 121 cells based upon the figures of the year 1892. Here, in much more condensed form, is one more up to date.

637	630	635
632	634	636
633	638	631

The rows, columns, and diagonals of these nine cells add up in all cases to the figures of the year 1902.

The central 634 is found by dividing 1902 by its lowest factor greater than 2, and this is taken as the middle term of nine numbers, which are thus arranged to form a Magic Square.

7 Rank Treason By an Irish Rebel, 1798

The pomps of Courts and pride of Kings
I prize above all earthly things;
I love my country, but the King
Above all men his praise I sing.
The royal banners are displayed,
And may success the standard aid!

I fain would banish far from hence
The “Rights of Men” and “Common Sense;”
Confusion to his odious reign,
That Foe to princes, Thomas Payne.
Defeat and ruin seize the cause
Of France, its liberties and laws!

Where does the treason come in?

Solution

No. Xv.—Squaring Another Year

The following square of numbers is interesting in connection with the year 1906.

A	B	C	D
476	469	477	484
E	F	G	H
483	478	470	475
I	J	K	L
471	474	482	479
M	N	O	P
480	481	473	472

Add	the rows	—	ABCD, EFGH, IJKL, MNOP.
or	the squares	—	ABEF, CDGH, IJMN, KLOP.
or	semi-diagonals	—	AFIN, BEJM, CHKP, DGLO,
			AFCH, BEGD, INKP, MJOL.

and the sum, in every case, is 1906.

No. Xvi.—Manifold Magic Squares

Here is quite a curious nest of clustered Magic Squares, which is worth preserving:—

2	13	24	10	16	2	13	24	10	16	2
9	20	1	12	23	9	20	1	12	23	9
11	22	8	19	5	11	22	8	19	5	11
18	4	15	21	7	18	4	15	21	7	18
25	6	17	3	14	25	6	17	3	14	25
2	13	24	10	16	2	13	24	10	16	2
9	20	1	12	23	9	20	1	12	23	9
11	22	8	19	5	11	22	8	19	5	11
18	4	15	21	7	18	4	15	21	7	18
25	6	17	3	14	25	6	17	3	14	25
2	13	24	10	16	2	13	24	10	16	2
9	20	1	12	23	9	20	1	12	23	9
11	22	8	19	5	11	22	8	19	5	11

Every square of every possible combination of 25 of these numbers in their cells, such as the two with darker borders, is a perfect Magic Square, with rows, columns, and diagonals that add up in all cases to 65.

8 An Enigma for Christmas Holidays

Formed half beneath and half above the earth,
We owe, as twins, to art our second birth.
The smith’s and carpenter’s adopted daughters,
Made upon earth, we travel on the waters.
Swifter we move as tighter we are bound,
Yet never touch the sea, or air, or ground.
We serve the poor for use, the rich for whim,
Sink if it rains, and if it freezes swim.

Solution

No. Xvii.—Larger Auxiliary Magic Squares

A very interesting method of constructing a Magic Square is shown in these three diagrams:—

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	1	2
5	6	7	8	9	10	11	1	2	3	4
7	8	9	10	11	1	2	3	4	5	6
9	10	11	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
11	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	1
4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	1	2	3
6	7	8	9	10	11	1	2	3	4	5
8	9	10	11	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
10	11	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

0	11	22	33	44	55	66	77	88	99	110
33	44	55	66	77	88	99	110	0	11	22
66	77	88	99	110	0	11	22	33	44	55
99	110	0	11	22	33	44	55	66	77	88
11	22	33	44	55	66	77	88	99	110	0
44	55	66	77	88	99	110	0	11	22	33
77	88	99	110	0	11	22	33	44	55	66
110	0	11	22	33	44	55	66	77	88	99
22	33	44	55	66	77	88	99	110	0	11
55	66	77	88	99	110	0	11	22	33	44
88	99	110	0	11	22	33	44	55	66	77

1	13	25	37	49	61	73	85	97	109	121
36	48	60	72	84	96	108	120	11	12	24
71	83	95	107	119	10	22	23	35	47	59
106	118	9	21	33	34	46	58	70	82	94
20	32	44	45	57	69	81	93	105	117	8
55	56	68	80	92	104	116	7	19	31	43
79	91	103	115	6	18	30	42	54	66	67
114	5	17	29	41	53	65	77	78	90	102
28	40	52	64	76	88	89	101	113	4	16
63	75	87	99	100	112	3	15	27	39	51
98	110	111	2	14	26	38	50	62	74	86

It will be noticed that each row after the first, in the two upper auxiliary squares, begins with a number from the same column in the row above it, and maintains the same sequence of numbers. When the corresponding cells of these two squares are added together, and placed in the third square, a Magic Square is formed, in which 671 is the sum of all rows, columns, and diagonals.

No. Xviii.—Squaring by Anno Domini

Here is a curious form of Magic Square. The year 1892 is taken as its basis.

112	124	136	148	160	172	184	196	208	220	232
147	159	171	183	195	207	219	231	122	123	135
182	194	206	218	230	121	133	134	146	158	170
217	229	120	132	144	145	157	169	181	193	205
131	143	155	156	168	180	192	204	216	228	119
166	167	179	191	203	215	227	118	130	142	154
190	202	214	226	117	129	141	153	165	177	178
225	116	128	140	152	164	176	188	189	201	213
139	151	163	175	187	199	200	212	224	115	127
174	186	198	210	211	223	114	126	138	150	162
209	221	222	113	125	137	149	161	173	185	197

Within this square 1892 can be counted up in all the usual ways, and altogether in 44 variations. Thus any two rows that run parallel to a diagonal, and have between them eleven cells, add up to this number, if they are on opposite sides of the diagonal.

9

The sun, the sun is my delight!
I shun a gloomy day,
Though I am often seen at night
To dart across the way.
Sometimes you see me climb a wall
As nimble as a cat,
Then down into a pit I fall
Like any frightened rat.
Catch me who can—woman or man—
None have succeeded who after me ran.

Solution

No. Xix.—A Magic Square of Seven

						1
					8		2
				15		9		3
			22	47	16	41	10	35	4
		29	5	23	48	17	42	11	29	5
	36		30	6	24	49	18	36	12		6
43		37	13	31	7	25	43	19	37	13		7
	44		38	14	32	1	26	44	20		14
		45	21	39	8	33	2	27	45	21
			46	15	40	9	34	3	28
				47		41		35
					48		42
						49

This Magic Square of 49 cells is constructed with a diagonal arrangement of the numbers from 1 to 49 in their proper order. Those that fall outside the central square are written into it in the seventh cell inwards from where they stand. It is interesting to find out the many combinations in which the number 175 is made up.

10 What Moved Him?

I grasped it, meaning nothing wrong,
And moved to meet my friend,
When lo! the stalwart man and strong
At once began to bend.
The biped by the quadruped
No longer upright stood,
But bowed the knee and bent his head
Before the carved wood.

Solution

No. Xx.—Curious Squares

These are two interesting Magic Squares found on an antique gong, at Caius College, Cambridge:—

6	13	8
11	9	7
10	5	12

7	14	9
12	20	8
11	6	13

In the one nine numbers are so arranged that they count up to 27 in every direction; and in the other the outer rows total 30, while the central rows and diagonals make 40.

11 Ringing the Changes

My figure, singular and slight,
Measures but half enough at sight.
I rode the waters day and night.
I tell the new in Time’s quick flight,
Or how old ages rolled in might.
Cut off my tail, it still is on!
Put on my head, and there is none!

Solution

No. Xxi.—A Moorish Magic Square

Among Moorish Mussulmans 78 is a mystic number.

40	10	20	8
7	21	9	41
12	42	6	18
19	5	43	11

Here is a cleverly-constructed Magic Square, to which this number is the key.

The number 78 can be arrived at in twenty-three different combinations—namely, ten rows, columns, or diagonals; four corner squares of four cells; one central square of four cells; the four corner cells; two sets of corresponding diagonal cells next to the corners; and two sets of central cells on the top and bottom rows, and on the outside columns.

No. Xxii.—A Choice Magic Square

Here is a Magic Square of singular charm:—

31	36	29	76	81	74	13	18	11
30	32	34	75	77	79	12	14	16
35	28	33	80	73	78	17	10	15
22	27	20	40	45	38	58	63	56
21	23	25	39	41	43	57	59	61
26	19	24	44	37	42	62	55	60
67	72	65	4	9	2	49	54	47
66	68	70	3	5	7	48	50	52
71	64	69	8	1	6	53	46	51

The 81 cells of this remarkable square are divided by parallel lines into 9 equal parts, each made up of 9 consecutive numbers, and each a Magic Square in itself within the parent square. Readers can work out for themselves the combinations in the larger square and in the little ones.

12 Canning’s Enigma

There is a noun of plural number,
Foe to peace and tranquil slumber.
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,
And sweet what bitter was before.

Solution

Xxiii.—The Twin Puzzle Squares

1	2	3			2	3
							5	6		4	5
									7				8			7	8	9

Fill each square by repeating two of its figures in the vacant cells. Then rearrange them all, so that the sums of the corresponding rows in each square are equal, and the sums of the squares of the corresponding cells of these rows are also equal; and so that the sums of the four diagonals are equal, and the sum of the squares of the cells in corresponding diagonals are equal.

Solution

13

There is an old-world charm about this Enigma:—

In the ears of young and old
I repeat what I am told;
And they hear me, old and young,
Though I have no busy tongue.
When a thunder-clap awakes me
Not a touch of terror takes me;
Yet so tender is my ear
That the softest sound I fear.
Call me not with bated breath,
For a whisper is my death.

Solution

No: Xxiv.—Magic Fractions

Here is an arrangement of fractions which form a perfect Magic Square:—

38	512	524
16	13	12
1124	14	724

If these fractions are added together in any one of the eight directions, the result in every case is unity. Thus ³⁄₈ + ¹⁄₃ + ⁷⁄₂₄ = 1, ¹⁄₆ + ¹⁄₃ + ¹⁄₂ = 1, and so on throughout the rows, columns, and diagonals.

14 “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble!”

“By hammer and hand
All arts do stand”—
So says an ancient saw;
But hammer and hand
Will work or stand
By my unwritten law.
Behold me, as sparks from the anvils fly,
But fires lie down at my bitter cry.

Solution

No. Xxv.—More Magic Fractions

We are indebted to a friend for the following elaborate Magic Square of fractions, on the lines of that on the preceding page.

1980	720	140	1180	14
1340	18	980	940	1780
110	780	15	516	310
316	740	2380	1140	340
320	2180	38	120	1380

The composer claims that there are at least 160 combinations of 5 cells in which these fractions add up to unity, including, of course, the usual rows, columns, and diagonals.

15

Two brothers wisely kept apart,
Together ne’er employed;
Though to one purpose we are bent
Each takes a different side.

We travel much, yet prisoners are,
And close confined to boot,
Can with the fleetest horse keep pace,
Yet always go on foot.

Solution

No. Xxvi.—A Magic Oblong

On similar lines to Magic Squares, but as a distinct variety, we give below a specimen of a Magic Oblong.

1	10	11	29	28	19	18	16
9	2	30	12	20	27	7	25
24	31	3	21	13	6	26	8
32	23	22	4	5	14	15	17

The four rows of this Oblong add up in each case to 132, and its eight columns to 66. Two of its diagonals, from 10 to 5 and from 28 to 23, also total 66, as do the four squares at the right-hand ends of the top and bottom double rows.

16

My name declares my date to be
The morning of a Christian year;
And motherless, as all agree,
And yet a mother, too, ’tis clear.
A father, too, which none dispute,
And when my son comes I’m a fruit.
And, not to puzzle overmuch,
’Twas I took Holland for the Dutch.

Solution

17

My head is ten times ten,
My body is but one.
Add just five hundred more, and then
My history is done.
Although I own no royal throne,
Throughout the sunny South in fame I stand alone.

Solution

No. Xxvii.—A Magic Cube

Much more complicated than the Magic Square is the Magic Cube.

First Layer from Top.

121	27	83	14	70
10	61	117	48	79
44	100	1	57	113
53	109	40	91	22
87	18	74	105	31

Second Layer from Top.

2	58	114	45	96
36	92	23	54	110
75	101	32	88	19
84	15	66	122	28
118	49	80	6	62

Third Layer from Top.

33	89	20	71	102
67	123	29	85	11
76	7	63	119	50
115	41	97	3	59
24	55	106	37	93

Fourth Layer from Top.

64	120	46	77	8
98	4	60	111	42
107	38	94	25	51
16	72	103	34	90
30	81	12	68	124

Lowest Layer.

95	21	52	108	39
104	35	86	17	73
13	69	125	26	82
47	78	9	65	116
56	112	43	99	5

Those who enjoy such feats with figures will find it interesting to work out the many ways in which, when the layers are placed one upon another, and form a cube, the number 315 is obtained by adding together the cell-numbers that lie in lines in the length, breadth, and thickness of the cube.

18

Sad offspring of a blighted race,
Pale Sorrow was my mother;
I’ve never seen the smiling face
Of sister or of brother.

Of all the saddest things on earth,
There’s none more sad than I,
No heart rejoices at my birth.
And with a breath I die!

Solution

No. Xxviii.—A Magic Circle

The Magic Circle below has this particular property:—

			32
		61		94
	52				38
191						4
28						193
	26				44
		98		67
			16

The 14 numbers ranged in smaller circles within its circumference are such that the sum of the squares of any adjacent two of them is equal to the sum of the squares of the pair diametrically opposite.

19

Add a hundred and nothing to ten,
And the same to a hundred times more,
Catch a bee, send it after them, then
Make an end of a fop and a bore.

Solution

No. Xxix.—Magic Circle of Circles

We have had some good specimens of Magic Squares. Here is a very curious and most interesting Magic Circle, in which particular numbers, from 12 to 75 inclusive, are arranged in 8 concentric circular spaces and in 8 radiating lines, with the central 12 common to them all.

								62	73
								24	15
								71	64
								17	22
								69	66
								19	20
								60	75
								26	13
57	31	48	38	50	36	59	29	12		74	12	67	21	65	23	72	14
46	40	55	33	53	35	44	42			16	27	68	18	70	16	63	25
								45	58
								43	28
								52	51
								34	37
								54	49
								32	39
								47	56
								41	30

The sum of all the numbers in any of the concentric circular spaces, with the 12, is 360, which is the number of degrees in a circle.

The sum of the numbers in each radiating line with the 12, is also 360.

The sum of the numbers in the upper or lower half of any of the circular spaces, with half of 12, is 180, the degrees of a semi-circle.

The sum of any outer or inner four of the numbers on the radiating lines, with the half of 12, is also 180.

No. Xxx.—The Unique Triangle

In the following triangle, if two couples of the figures on opposite sides are transposed, the sums of the sides become equal, and also the sums of the squares of the numbers that lie along the sides. Which are the figures that must be transposed?

			5
		4		6
	3				7
2		1		9		0

Solution

20

They did not climb in hope of gain,
But at stern duty’s call;
They were united in their aim,
Divided in their fall.

Solution

21

Forsaken in some desert vast,
Where never human being dwelt,
Or on some lonely island cast,
Unseen, unheard, I still am felt.

Brimful of talent, sense, and wit,
I cannot speak or understand;
I’m out of sight in Church, and yet
Grace many temples in the land.

Solution

No. Xxxi.—Magic Triangles

Here is a nest of concentric triangles. Can you arrange the first 18 numbers at their angles, and at the centres of their sides, so that they count 19, 38, or 57 in many ways, down, across, or along some angles?

This curiosity is found in an old document of the Mathematical Society of Spitalfields, dated 1717.

Solution

22

Allow me, pray, to go as first,
And then as number two;
Then after these, why, there you are,
To follow as is due.

But lest you never guess this queer
And hyperbolic fable,
Pray let there follow after that
Whatever may be able.

Solution

No. Xxxii.—Twin Triangles

The numbers outside these twin triangles give the sum of the squares of the four figures of the adjacent sides:—

			7
		2		3
135						99
	9				5
1		8		6		4
			117
			*
			137
6		4		2		9
	5				1
119						155
		7		8
			3

The twins are also closely allied on these points:—

18 is the common difference of 99, 117, 135, and of 119, 137, 155.

19 is the sum of each side of the upper triangle.

20 is the common difference of any two sums of squares symmetrically placed, both being on a line through the central spot.

21 is the sum of each side of the lower triangle.

10 is the sum of any two figures in the two triangles that correspond.

254 is the sum of 135, 119, of 117, 137, and of 90, 155.

By transposing in each triangle the figures joined by dotted lines, the nine digits run in natural sequence.

No. Xxxiii.—A Magic Hexagon

We have dealt with Magic Squares, Circles, and Triangles. Here is a Magic Hexagon, or a nest of Hexagons, in which the numbers from 1 to 73 are arranged about the common centre 37.

						1		5		6		70		60		59		58
					63														8
				62				19		53		46		22		45				9
			61				20										24				64
		2				48				31		42		38				49				57
	3				47				39						40				44				56
67				51				41				37				33				23				7
	66				50				34						35				54				11
		65				25				36		32		43				26				12
			10				30										27				13
				17				29		21		28		52		55				72
					18														71
						16		69		68		4		14		15		73

Each of these Hexagons always gives the same sum, when counted along the six sides, or along the six diameters which join its corners, or along the six which are at right angles to its sides. These sums are 259, 185, and 111.

23

When I am in, its four legs have no motion;
When I am out, as fish it swims the ocean.
Then, if transposed, it strides across a stream,
Or adds its quality to eyes that gleam.

Solution

No. Xxxiv.—Magic Hexagon in a Circle

Inscribe six equilateral triangles in a circle, as shown in this diagram, so as to form a regular hexagon.

Now place the nine digits round the sides of each of the triangles, so that their sum on each side may be 20, and so that, while there are no two triangles exactly alike in arrangement, the squares of the sums on the other sides may be alternately equal.

Solution

24 A Personal Enigma

We can but see his sad reverse,
And while we say alas!
We hail his work so keen and terse,
With just a touch of gas.

Solution

No. Xxxv.—A Magic Cross

There are 33 different combinations of four of the numbers in the cells of this magic cross which total up in each case to 26.

	1	12
9	8	5	4
2	7	6	11
	10	3

Those who care to work them out on separate crosses will find that there is a very regular correspondence in the positions which the numbers occupy.

25

What boy can live on with a prospect of age,
If you cut off his head at an early stage?

Solution

26 By Lord Macaulay

Here’s plenty of water, you’ll all of you say;
And minus the h a thing used every day;
And here is nice beverage; put them together—
What is it with claws, but with never a feather?

Solution

No. Xxxvi.—A Charming Puzzle

Here is quite a charming little puzzle, which is by no means easy of accomplishment:—

✦	✦	✦
✦	✦	✦
✦	✦	✦

Start from one of these nine dots, and without taking the pen from the paper draw four straight lines which pass through them all. Each line, after the first, must start where the preceding one ends.

Solution

27 A Broken Tale

The deil jumped
the clouds so high
That he bounded almost
right
the sky.
the trees
gates and fields and
He dodged with his tail
dragging
all these,
But, alas! made a terrible
bl,
For a twist in his tail
a rail,
hooked
And broke that appendage
as.

Solution

No. Xxxvii.—Leap-Frog

Place on a chess or draught-board three white men on the squares marked a, and three black men on the squares marked b.

a a a b b b

The pieces marked a can only move one square at a time, from left to right, and those marked b one square at a time, from right to left, on to unoccupied squares; and any piece can leap over one of the other colour, on to an unoccupied square. What is the least number of moves in which the positions of the white and the black men can be reversed, so that each square now occupied by a white is occupied by a black, and each now occupied by a black holds a white piece?

Solution

28

To a word of assent join the first half of fright,
Then add what will never be seen in the night.
By such a conjunction we quickly attain
What most men have seen, but can’t see again.

Solution

29

My first is stately, proud, and grave,
My next will guard your treasure;
My whole, a slow but sturdy slave,
Will wait upon your pleasure.

Solution

No. Xxxviii.—Sorting the Counters

In the upper row of this diagram four white and four black counters are placed alternately.

It is possible, by moving these counters two at a time, to arrange them in four moves as they stand on the lower row. Can you do this? Draughtsmen are handy for solving this puzzle, on a paper ruled as above.

Solution

30

I am a word of letters six,
First link me with your mind;
Then shuffle me, and lo! I mix
With grief of noisy kind.
Shake me again, and you may fix
A cloak that hangs behind.

Solution

31

We are of use to every man
In walking, riding, rambling;
We join the gambols of the knave,
And play the knave in gambling!

Solution

No. Xxxix.—A Transformation

Take five wooden matches, and bend each of them into a V. Place them together, as is shown in the diagram, so that they take the form of an asterisk, or a ten-pointed star.

Lay them on some smooth surface, and without touching them transform them into a star with five points.

Solution

32

Strange that a straggling tiresome weed
Will change its meaning quite,
And turn into a sign of grief
If we transpose it right;
And, stranger still, transposed again
Will tell of ease from grief or pain.

Solution

33

Find me two English verbs that ever
In a united state will blend,
Let one say “join,” the other “sever,”
While I divide them to the end.

Solution

No. Xl.—Domino Building

It is possible, with plenty of patience, to build up a whole set of dominoes, so that they are safely supported on only two stones set up on end.

This, which might well seem impossible, is done by placing, as a foundation, dominoes in the positions indicated by dotted lines. The arch is then carefully constructed, as shown in the diagram, and for the finish the four stones between the two foundation arches are drawn out, and placed in pairs on end above, and finally, with the utmost care, the other four are drawn away, and built in on the top. Thus the stones indicated by the dotted lines at the base take their place within the dotted lines above.

No. Xli.—Fast and Loose

This diagram represents a shallow box, on the bottom of which twelve counters or draughtsmen are lying loose.

How can they be readjusted so that they will wedge themselves together, and against the side of the box, and it can be turned upside down without displacing them?

Solution

34

Taken entire
I’m full of fire.
With head away
A tax I pay.
If tail you bar
I turn from tar.
Headless again,
With tail restored.
Goddess of pain,
I sow discord.

Solution

No. Xlii.—Mazy Progress.

The diagram below is an exact reproduction of an old-fashioned maze, cut in the ground near Nottingham. It is eighteen yards square, and the black line represents the pathway, which is 535 feet in length.

The point of this convoluted path is not so much to puzzle people, as to show how much ground may be covered without diverging far from a centre, or going over the same ground twice. As we advance along the line there are no obstructions, and we find ourselves, after passing over the whole of it, on the spot whence we set out.

35

Thrice three pins in shining line
Mary meant to fix;
Why did Mary turn the nine
Into thirty-six?

Solution

No. Xliii.—For Clever Pencils

Start at A, and trace these figures with one continuous line, finishing at B.

You must not take your pencil from the paper, or go over any line twice.

Solution

36

A ring and a wing and three-fourths of a fog,
Will bring to your view a most obstinate dog.

Solution

37

Add fifty-seven to two-thirds of one,
Then take a fiddle,
And it will help to show you what is done,
To make this riddle.

Solution

38

I am a fish so neat and clever,
In pools and crystal streams I play,
To find me out my name you sever
As near the middle as you may.

Solution

No. Xliv.—Test and Try

Those who have not seen it will find some real fun in the following little experiment. Fix three matches as shown in the diagram, light the cross match in the middle, and watch to see which of the ends will first catch fire, or what will happen.

39

I stand stock still, let who will hurry,
You cannot put me in a flurry,
Nor stir my stumps, for all your worry.

I am in haste, let none delay me
As fleetest couriers convey me.
You must transpose me ere you stay me.

Solution

40

Two to one, in case we hide,
You will find us in our site;
We are harmless side by side,
Parted we prepare to bite.
When united we divide,
When divided we unite.

Solution

No. Xlv.—A Curious Phenomenon

Equal volumes of alcohol and water, when mixed, occupy less space than when separate, to the extent indicated in this picture:

If the sum of the volume of the two separate liquids is 100, the volume of the mixture will be only 94. It is thought that the molecules of the two liquids accommodate themselves to each other, so as to reduce the pores and diminish the volume of the mixture.

41

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 whole will vary as you take your line,
This less than human, that way all divine.

Solution

42

One half of me in solid earth you find,
The other half in ocean’s ample bed:
When in my whole we see these parts combined,
The earth remains, but all the sea is fled.

Solution

No. Xlvi.—A Home-Made Microscope

The simplest and cheapest of all microscopes can easily be made at home. The only materials needed are a thin slip of glass, on to which one or two short paper tubes, coated with black sealing wax, are cemented with the wax, a small stick, and a tumbler half full of water.

Water is dropped gradually by aid of the stick into the cells, until lenses are formed of the desired convexity, and objects held below the glass will be more or less magnified.

43

Not ever changed unless unchanged,
Nor hanged unless beheaded;
Quick eyes may find in me arranged
Almost an angel bedded.

Solution

No. Xlvii.—A Pretty Experiment

For this curious experiment a glass bottle or decanter about half full of water and a sound stalk of straw are needed.

Bend the straw without breaking it, and put it, as is shown, into the bottle, which can then be lifted steadily and safely by the straw, if it is a sound one.

44 “What the Dickens Is His Name?” Merry Wives of Windsor.

A Russian nobleman had three sons. Rab, the eldest, became a lawyer, his brother Mary was a soldier, and the youngest was sent to sea. What was his name?

Solution

No. Xlviii.—A Bottled Button

The button in a clear glass bottle, as is shown below, hangs attached by a thread to the cork, which is securely sealed at the top.

How can you sever the thread so that the button falls to the bottom without uncorking or breaking the bottle?

Solution

45 A New “Light Brigade”

Six before six before
Five times a hundred;
This must be brilliant, or
Solvers have blundered.

Solution

No. Xlix.—Clearing the Way

Here is a pretty trick which requires an empty bottle, a lucifer match, and a small coin.

Break the wooden match almost in half, and place it and the coin in the position shown above. Now consider how you can cause the coin to drop into the bottle, if no one touches it, or the match, or the bottle.

Solution

46

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

47

To fifty for my half append
Two-thirds of one;
The other third my whole will end
When you have done.

Solution

No. L.—Is Water Porous?

Our belief that two portions of matter cannot occupy the same space at the same time is almost shaken by the following experiment:

If we introduce slowly some fine powdered sugar into a tumblerful of warm water a considerable quantity may be dissolved in the water without increasing its bulk.

It is thought that the atoms of the water are so disposed as to receive the sugar between them, as a scuttle filled with coal might accommodate a quantity of sand.

48 A Double Shuffle

See, the letters that I bring
Change their meaning quite;
Spell a hard and heavy thing,
Spell a soft and light.

Solution

No. Li.—A Test of Gravity

Set a stool, as is shown in the diagram below, about nine or ten inches from the wall.

Clasp it firmly by its two side edges, plant your feet well away from it, and rest your head against the wall. Now lift the stool, and then try, without moving your feet, to recover an upright position.

It will be as impossible as it is to stand on one leg while the foot of that leg rests sideways against a wall or door.

No. Lii.—Billiard Magic

Place a set of billiard balls as is shown in the diagram, the spot ball overhanging a corner pocket, and the red and the plain white in a straight line with it, leaving an eighth of an inch between the balls.

How can you pot the spot white with the plain white, using a cue, and without touching, or in any way disturbing, the red ball? There is not room to pass on either side between the red ball and the cushion.

Solution

No. Liii.—The Nimble Coin

Prepare a circular band of stiff paper, as is shown in the diagram, and balance it, with a coin on the top, on the lip of a bottle.

How can you most effectively transfer the coin into the bottle?

Solution

49 An Enigma by Mutation

Search high or low, you’d find me where you list;
For not a place without me can exist.
I lose my head, and, seen with shoulders fair,
Become the very fairest of the fair.
Again I lose it, and, like some staunch hound,
The first and best amongst a pack am found.
And if at first both head and tail I lose
I am a portion such as all would choose.

Solution

No. Liv.—Hit It Hard!

Place a strip of thin board, or a long wide flat ruler, on the edge of a table, so that it just balances itself, and spread over it an ordinary newspaper, as is shown in the illustration.

You may now hit it quite hard with your doubled fist, or with a stick, and the newspaper will hold it down, and remain as firmly in its place as if it were glued to the table over it. You are more likely to break the stick with which you strike than to displace the strip of wood or the paper. Try the experiment.

50 An Enigma by Swift

We are little airy creatures
All of different voice and features.
One of us in glass is set,
One of us is found in jet.
Another you may see in tin,
And the fourth a box within.
If the others you pursue
They can never fly from you.

Solution

No. Lv.—The Bridge of Knives

Here is an after-dinner balancing trick, which it is well to practise with something less brittle than the best glass:—

It will be seen that the blades of the knives are so cunningly interlaced as to form quite a firm support.

51 A Medley

Twice six is six, and so
Six is but three;
Three is just five you know,
What can we be?
Would you count more of us,
Nine are but four of us,
Ten are but three.

Solution

No. Lvi.—Different Densities

Here is a pretty little experiment, which shows the effect of liquids of different densities.

Drop an egg into a glass vessel half full of water, it sinks to the bottom. Drop it into strong brine, it floats. Introduce the brine through a long funnel at the bottom of the pure water, and the water and the egg will be lifted, so that the egg floats between the water and the brine in equilibrium. The egg is denser than the water, and the brine is denser than the egg.

52 The Missing Link

A friend to all the human race
From emperor to peasant,
None is more missed when out of place,
More opportune when present.

Obedient to the general will
I yield to due control;
And yet the public twist me, till
They put me in a hole!

Solution

No. Lvii.—Columbus Outdone

Here is a very simple and effective little trick. Offer to balance an egg on its end on the lip of a glass bottle.

The picture shows how it is done, with the aid of a cork and a couple of silver forks.

(From “La Science Amusante”).

53

Two words of equal length we here indite,
Which hold a famous father and his mate.
Embracing five, with fifty left and right,
The mother, looking both ways, keeps things straight.

Her husband, following a thousand quite,
With them has changed his sex, a funny fate,
And if this lady lose her head, she might,
Being a man, oppose the water-rate.

Solution

No. Lviii.—What Will Happen?

The boy in this picture is blowing hard against the bottle, which is between his mouth and the candle flame.

What will happen?

Solution

54

In marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with a skin as soft as silk,
Within a fountain crystal clear
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors are there to this stronghold,
Yet thieves break in, and steal the gold.

Solution

No. Lix.—The Floating Needle

Here is a simple way to make a needle float on water:—

Fill a wineglass or tumbler with water, and on this lay quite flat a cigarette paper; place a needle gently on this, and presently the paper will sink, and the needle will float on the water.

55

A one-syllable adjective I,
Indeterminate, misty, obscure:
Reduce me by five, and then try
How you like my attacks to endure.

I’m now a two-syllable noun,
My victims are hot and are cold;
In country more rife than in town,
I’m not such a pest as of old.

Solution

No. Lx.—Vis Inertiæ

Here is a pile of ten draughtsmen—one black among nine white.

If I take another draughtsman, and with a strong pull of my finger send it spinning against the column, what will happen?

Solution

56 Dr. Whewell’s Enigma

A headless man had a letter to write,
He who read it had lost his sight.
The dumb repeated it word for word,
And deaf was the man who listened and heard.

Solution

57 An Enigma for Motorists

I am rough, I am smooth,
I am wet, I am dry;
My station is low,
My title is high.
The King my lawful master is,
I’m used by all, though only his.

Solution

No. Lxi.—Cut and Come Again

How long would it take to divide completely a 2 ft. block of ice by means of a piece of wire on which a weight of 5 lb. hangs?

Solution

58

Without a dome, we are within a dome;
Homeless and roofless, we have roof and home.
Though frequent streams may flood our base and roof,
We rest unharmed, and always waterproof.

Solution

59

I’m the most fearful of fates upon earth,
Cut off my head and bright moments have birth,
Lop off my shoulders, and riddle my riddle;
Anything seems to be found in my middle.

Solution

No. Lxii.—Where Will It Break?

When weak cords of equal strength are attached to opposite parts of a wooden or metal ball which is suspended by one of them, a sharp, sudden pull will snap the lower cord before the movement has time to affect the ball; but a gentle, steady pull will cause the upper cord to snap, as it supports the weight below it.

60

I may be safe when honest ways prevail,
With no unworthy tricks or jobbery.
Cut off my head and fix it to my tail,
And I become at once rank robbery.

Solution

No. Lxiii.—Catching the Dice

Hold a pair of dice, and a cup for casting them, in one hand as is shown in the diagram.

Now, holding the cup fast, throw up one of the dice and catch it in the cup. How can you best be sure of catching the other also in the cup?

Solution

61

Here is a metrical Enigma, which appeals with particular force to all married folk, and to our cousins in America:

This is of fellowship the token,
Reverse it, and the bond is broken.

Solution

No. Lxiv.—Will They Fall?

Build up seven dominoes into a double arch, as is shown in the diagram below, and place a single domino in the position indicated.

Now put the fore-finger carefully through the lower archway, and give this domino quite a smart tip up by pressing on its corner. What will happen if this is done cleverly? Try it.

Solution

62

A monk in a moment, by violence heated,
Endangered the peace of his soul.
To atone for my second, my first he repeated
Just ten times a day on my whole.

Solution

No. Lxv.—A Transposition

Place three pennies in contact in a line as is shown below, so that a “head” is between two “tails.”

Can you introduce the coin with a shaded surface between the other two in a straight line, without touching one of these two, and without moving the other?

Solution

63

Two syllables this word contains:
Reverse them and then what remains?

With cap and pipe and goggles too
The comics hold him up to view,
Reverse his parts you would declare
A dog should not be quartered there.

Solution

64

Though I myself shut up may be,
My work is to set prisoners free.
No slave his lord’s commands obeys
With more insinuating ways.
All find me handy, sharp, and bright,
Where men in wit and wine delight;
While many keep me for their ease,
And turn and twist me as they please.

Solution

No. Lxvi.—Coin Counting

Place ten coins in a circle, as is shown in this diagram, so that on all of them the king’s head is uppermost.

Now start from any coin you choose, calling it 1, the next 2, and so on, and turn the fourth, so that the tail is uppermost. Start again on any king’s head, and again turn the fourth, and continue to do this until all but one are turned.

Coins already turned are reckoned in the counting, but the count of “four” must fall on an unturned coin.

Can you find a plan for turning all the coins but one in this way without ever failing to count four upon a fresh spot, and to start on an unturned coin?

Solution

No. Lxvii.—The Balanced Cork

The diagram below shows how, using one hand only, and grasping a bottle of wine by its body, the contents can be poured out without cutting or boring the cork, or altogether removing it from the bottle.

65

Transformed by art, and fond of port,
I blister in the sun;
But when I turn, and face the sport,
Away full tilt I run;
For if I double I am caught,
And that can be no fun.

Solution

66

A man without eyes saw plums on a tree,
He neither took plums nor plums left he.

Solution

No. Lxviii.—Nuts to Crack

A sharply-pointed knife with a heavy handle is stuck very lightly into the lintel of a door, and the nut that is to be cracked is placed under it, so that when the knife is released by a touch the nut is cracked.

What simple and certain plan can you suggest for making sure that the knife shall hit the nut exactly in the middle without fail?

Solution

67 A Singular Enigma

Strange paradox! though my two halves are gone,
I still remain an undivided whole.
But were I double what I am, though one,
I then should be but half, upon my soul!

Solution

No. Lxix.—The Floating Corks

If we throw an ordinary wine cork into a tub of water it will naturally float on its side. It is, however, possible to arrange a group of seven such corks, without fastening them in any way, so that they will float in upright positions.

Place them together, as is shown in the illustration, and, holding them firmly, dip them under the water till they are well wetted. Then, keeping them exactly upright, leave go quietly, and they will float in a compact bunch if they are brought slowly to the surface.

68 A Paradox

I start with five thousand, and take nothing off,
Yet really in doing so nine-tenths I doff;
And it proves with no strain upon numbers or reason,
That the smaller are larger in size and in season.

Solution

No. Lxx.—A Light, Steady Hand

As an exercise of patience and dexterity, try to balance a set of dominoes upon one that stands upon its narrow end:—

This is no easy matter, but a little patience will enable us to arrange the stones in layers, which can with care be lifted into place and balanced there.

69

With letters three indite my name,
Add one to show what I became,
Or try to tell what brought me fame.

Solution

No. Lxxi.—What Is This?

We expect to puzzle our readers completely by this diagram:—

It is simply the enlargement by photography of part of a familiar picture.

Solution

70

Eight letters respond to the quest
Of all for enjoyment athirst;
Two articles lead to the rest,
And the last of the rest is the first.

Solution

71

When letters five compose my name
I’m seldom seen but in a flame.
Take off one letter, then you see
That winter is the time for me.
Another take, and I appear
What many must be year by year.

Solution

No. Lxxii.—Taking the Ground from under It

Place a strip of smooth paper on a table so that it overhangs the side, as is shown in the diagram. Stand a new penny steadily on edge upon the paper.

Take hold of the paper firmly, and give it a smart, steady pull. If this is properly done it will leave the penny standing unmoved in its place.

72

A shining wit pronounced of late
That water in a freezing state
Is like an acting magistrate.
What was the quibble in his pate?

Solution

73

By something formed I nothing am,
Yet anything that you can name.
In all things false, yet ever true,
And still the same but never new;
Like thought I’m in a moment gone,
Nor can I ever be alone.

Solution

No. Lxxiii.—A Ready Reckoner

Two men, standing on the bank of a broad stream, across which they could not cast their fishing lines, could not agree as to its width. A bet on the point was offered and accepted, and the question was presently decided for them by an ingenious friend who came along, without any particular appliances for measurement.

He stood on the edge of the bank, steadied his chin with one hand, and with the other tilted his cap till its peak just cut the top of the opposite bank.

Then, turning round, he stood exactly where the peak cut the level ground behind him, and, by stepping to that spot, was able to measure a distance equal to the width of the stream.

74

When you and I together meet,
Then there are six to see and greet.
If I and you should meet once more,
Our company would be but four.
And when you leave me all alone
I am a solitary one.

Solution

No. Lxxiv.—The Climbing Hoop

Paste or pin together the ends of a long strip of stiff paper so as to form a hoop, and place on the table a board resting at one end upon a book. Challenge those in your company to make the hoop run up the board without any impulse.

They must of course fail, but you can succeed by secretly fastening with beeswax a small stone or piece of metal inside the hoop, as is indicated in the diagram.

75

Invisible yet never out of sight,
I am indeed a centre of delight.
In quiet times I help to make things right,
Yet act as second in the fiercest fight.

Solution

No. Lxxv.—The Seal of Mahomet

This double crescent, called the Seal of Mahomet, from a legend that the prophet was wont to describe it on the ground with one stroke of his scimitar, is to be made by one continuous stroke of pen or pencil, without going twice over any part of it.

Solution

76

Though I mingle with thieves,
And with all that deceives,
And never keep clear of depravity
Though possessed by a devil,
Or seen in a revel,
I do keep my centre of gravity.

Solution

77

There’s not a bird that cleaves the sky
With crest or plume more gay than I,
Yet guess me by this token:
That I am never seen to fly
Unless my wings are broken.

Solution

No. Lxxvi.—Move the Matches

Arrange 15 matches thus—

Remove 6 and what number will be left?

Solution

78

Split into three and mixed,
With Dives I am found.
Split into two and fixed
On four legs, flat or round.
In my most kindly sense unbroken,
Warm hearts and helpers I betoken.

Solution

79

I am high, I am low,
I am thick, I am thin,
I can keep out the snow,
But may let the rain in.

Solution

80 Hidden Fruit

Go range through every clime, where’er
The patriot muse appears
He deeds of valour antedates,
His ban an army fears.

By midnight lamp each poet soul
Is plumed for flight sublime;
Pale monarch moon and shining stars
Witness his glowing rhyme!

Incited by the muse man goes
To grapple with his wrongs;
The poet cares not who makes laws,
If he may make the songs.

Can you discover ten fruits in these lines?

Solution

No. Lxxvii.—Lines on an Old Sampler

When I can plant with seventeen trees
Twice fourteen rows, in each row three;
A friend of mine I then shall please,
Who says he’ll give them all to me.

Solution

81

The last of you before the end
Close to an inn we first must find,
If nothing follows all will tend
To hints that rankle in the mind.

Solution

No. Lxxviii.—Domino Duplicity

By the following ingenious arrangement of the stones a set of dominoes appears to be unduly rich in doublets:—

It will be noticed that the charm of this arrangement is that the whole figure contains a double set of quartettes, on which the pips are similar.

82

Many men of many minds,
Many birds of many kinds,
Some are dun, and some are gray—
Which is this one? tell me, pray!
See him where the water shines,
But not perching on the pines.

Solution

No. Lxxix.—More Domino Duplicity

This again shows how the stones can be placed so that an ordinary set of dominoes seems to be unduly rich in doublets.

83

We know how, by the addition of a single letter, our cares can be softened into a caress; but in the following Enigma a still more contradictory result follows, without the addition or alteration of a letter, by a mere separation of syllables:—

None can locate the subject of my riddle.
For all the world would seek its place in vain;
Cut it asunder almost in the middle,
And in our very midst its place is plain.

An aching void, an absolute negation,
Into the opposite extreme it breaks;
With just a gap to mark their new relation
Each letter still the same position takes.

Solution

No. Lxxx.—Two More Patterns

Here are two more perfect arrangements of a set of dominoes in quartettes, so that the pips and blanks are similarly grouped and repeated:—

Charades

1 Sir Walter Scott’s Charade

Sir Hilary fought at Agincourt,
Sooth! ’twas an awful day
And though in olden days of sport
The rufflers of the camp and court
Had little time to pray,
’Tis said Sir Hilary muttered there
Two syllables by way of prayer.

“My first to all the brave and proud
Who see to-morrow’s sun;
My next with her cold and quiet cloud
To those who find a dewy shroud
Before the day is won.
And both together to all bright eyes
That weep when a warrior nobly dies!”

Solution

No. Lxxxi.—Counting Them Out

Arrange twelve dominoes as is shown in this diagram, and start counting in French from the double five, thus u, n, un; remove the stone you thus reach, which has one pip upon it, and start afresh with the next stone, d, e, u, x, deux; this brings you to the stone with two pips; then t, r, o, i, s, trois, brings you to that with three, and so on until douze brings you to twelve.

Always remove the stone as you hit upon each consecutive number.

Now who can re-arrange these same stones so that a similar result works out in English, thus—o, n, e, one (remove the stone), t, w, o, two, and so on throughout?

Solution

2 A Family Charade

A man with fourscore winters white
Sat dozing in his chair;
His frosted brow was quite my first,
Crowned with its silver hair.

My whole, when playing at his feet,
Sly glances upward stole;
My second, standing at his side,
Was father of my whole.

Solution

No. Lxxxii.—Tricks with Dominoes

In this diagram the word EACH is formed by the use of a complete set of stones, placing every letter in proper domino sequence.

There are also the same number of pips in each letter. Can you construct another English word under the same conditions? As a hint, the word that we have in mind is plural.

Solution

3

Upon my face is not a single hair,
Although my beard uncut is growing there.
Men call me Shelley, though I can’t converse,
To me all tongues alike would be a curse.
I in my house must night and day abide,
And though quite well must keep my bed, outside.
For me no bell shall toll a funeral knell,
I’m doomed, like Shelley, dead to have no shell.

Solution

4

This amusing Charade is from the pen of a wise and witty Irish Bishop:—

True to the trumpet call of fame and duty
The soldier arms, and hastens to depart;
Nor casts one look behind, though love and beauty
Whisper my first in tones that thrill his heart.

The war is o’er, with wealth and honour laden
The hero seeks the well-remembered Hall:
He woos and wins the unreluctant maiden,
And bids my second o’er her blushes fall.

He takes her hand—a mist of rapture thickens
Before her eyes. Such bliss succeeding pain
O’ertasks her strength, and fainting nature sickens,
Until my whole is rudely snapt in twain.

Solution

No. Lxxxiii.—The Hour Glass

This very beautiful specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess-board takes its name from the figure formed by the tracery at its centre.

An endless number of symmetrical patterns of varied design can be formed, by a knight’s consecutive moves, with patience and ingenuity.

No. Lxxxiv.—A Star’s Tour

Here is a pretty and very regular specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess board.

It is one of many variations which produce in the tracery a central star.

5 Make It Known

My first she was a serving maid,
Who went to buy some tea;
How much she bought my second tells,
As all may plainly see.

Now when the answer you have found
Tell it to others too;
My whole will then to maids and men
Explain what ’tis you do.

Solution

No. Lxxxv.—The Marble Arch

Here is a remarkably symmetrical specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess board.

It takes its name from the central archway, which this arrangement forms.

6

My fourth is just ten times my first
When that takes on my second;
My third and second when reversed
Double my first are reckoned.
All this is empty, though my pen
So full may seem to show it;
Reverse my first and second, then
My whole becomes a poet.

Solution

7

O’er distant hills the rising moon
The evening mist dispersed:
And beaming radiant in the sky
She plainly showed my first.

A horseman guided by her light,
Approached with headlong speed
And as he rode my second said
To urge his flagging steed.

His lady waited at the gate,
Though trysting hour was past.
She was my whole, because her lord
Was then my third and last.

Solution

No. Lxxxvi.—Another Tour Among Stars

In No. LXXXIV we gave a pretty illustration of a knight’s tour, with a central star.

Here is a good course which shows in its symmetrical tracery a pair of stars.

No. Lxxxvii.—The Windmill

Among the countless fanciful variations of the knight’s tour that are possible, some have been so designed that more than a merely symmetrical pattern is involved.

Here is, for example, an excellent suggestion of the sails of a windmill with their central fittings.

8 A Tropical Charade

My first’s a liquid or a solid snare,
My all is hot, or in a maiden’s hair;
My second just a track.
Transpose my first, and they will both declare
My all is now a black.

Solution

No. Lxxxviii.—Lazy Tongs

Here is a very distinctive specimen of the knight’s tour, in which the design reminds us of the old-fashioned lazy-tongs, which stretched out and then back, by opening or shutting their handles on finger and thumb.

9 A Floral Charade

My first must be below the ground,
To do its proper duty;
Within my second may be found
Chaps that can boast no beauty;
Some simple garden holds the two combined,
Old-fashioned emblem of a candid mind.

Solution

No. Lxxxix.—Chess Arithmetic

This beautiful symmetrical knight’s tour involves in its accomplishment a pretty problem in arithmetic:—

If we follow the course of the knight step by step, and number consecutively the squares on which it rests at each move, we find that there is a constant difference of 32 between the numbers on any two of these squares that correspond in position on opposite sides of the central line.

10

My first can be no joke to crack,
My second I adore;
Reverse her name, and you will see
Just what that maiden is to me.
My whole is grown where boys are black
Upon a sultry shore.

Solution

No. Xc.—A Short Knight’s Tour

This short symmetrical knight’s tour can be tested on a corner of the chessboard:—

The knight can start from any square, and, taking the course indicated, return on the twentieth move to the starting point.

11 By George Canning

Though weak my first is reckoned,
And game made of my second;
Yet both bade hosts defiance
When joined in close alliance.

Solution

12

As Lubin did my first, and, scythe in hand,
Espied his Phyllis by the hedgerow stand,
He called out to my next, in cheery tones and clear,
“Tell me, sweet all, you’ll fetch a pot of beer.”

Solution

No. Xci.—The Stolen Pearls

A dishonest jeweller, who had a cross of pearls to repair for a lady of title, on which nine pearls could be counted from the top, or from either of the side ends to the bottom, kept back two of the pearls, and yet contrived to return the cross re-set so that nine pearls could still be counted in each direction, as at first. How was this done?

Solution

13 A Word of Warning

Says William to his thriftless wife,
“To first unless you try,
Your wasteful ways will spoil our life.”
Her’s is a curt reply.

Second and third her answer give;
Full soon their fortunes fall,
Each of the hapless pair must live
And wander as my all.

Solution

14 A Fine Charade by Praed

Come from my first, ay, come;
The battle dawn is nigh,
And the screaming trump and the thundering drum
Are calling thee to die.
Fight, as thy father fought,
Fall, as thy father fell:
Thy task is taught, thy shroud is wrought,
So forward and farewell!

Toll ye my second, toll;
Fling high the flambeau’s light,
And sing the hymn for a parted soul
Beneath the silent night.
The helm upon his head,
The cross upon his breast,
Let the prayer be said, and the tear be shed
Now take him to his rest!

Call ye my whole, go call
The lord of lute and lay,
And let him greet the sable pall
With a noble song to-day.
Ay, call him by his name,
No fitter hand may crave
To light the flame of a soldier’s fame
On the turf of a soldier’s grave!

Solution

15

My first has cause in dread to hold
The foggy month November.
My next, when given to knights of old
Was held to mean “remember!”

Solution

16

With one line many do my first,
With two it can but meet;
My second, as its breakers burst,
Around my whole may beat.

Solution

17

She was my first; one happy day
She was my second,
And shewed my all. Now can you say
How this is reckoned?

Solution

18

My first it may a seaman save,
Or cause a fighter’s fall;
My next reminds us of the wave,
Or of unseemly brawl.
My whole is rather pert than brave,
And like a rubber ball.

Solution

19

Seen with a stolen spoon, my first was reckoned
Bad as my whole in moral tone.
Whether a number or alone my second
Touched by my third is turned to stone.

Solution

20 Not a Catechism

My first a friend, companion, guide,
Is loving, staunch, and cheery;
My second has a cleansing side,
My third denotes a theory.
My whole, good luck! is held by few
To bore and make us weary.

Solution

21

My first is an insect,
My second a border;
My whole puts the face
Into tuneful disorder.

Solution

22

My first seldom crosses your path,
Though wheels and a body it hath;
My next from a clown
Much applause will bring down,
My whole was Goliath of Gath.

Solution

23

My first he sat upon my whole
And used it as my second.
His halves akin in Latin and
In English may be reckoned.

Solution

24 A Phonetic Floral Charade

My first comes often to our mind
When for a saint we look.
My second sees the greetings kind
Of Bobby and the cook.
My whole in hothouse you may find,
Or pictured in a book.

Solution

25

Man cannot live without my first,
By day and night ’tis used;
My second is by all accursed,
By day and night abused.
My whole is never seen by day,
And never used by night,
’Tis dear to friends when far away,
But hated when in sight.

Solution

26 By an Oxford Oar

I am my first, my second thou mayest be
In classic shades, where gently roll
The crystal waters of my whole
To seek the sea.

Solution

27

My first is worn by night and day,
And very useful reckoned;
London, or Bath, or Bristol may
With truth be styled my second.
Now if you cannot find me out
You lack my whole without a doubt.

Solution

28

My first now marks the soldier’s face,
Who was my next’s defender;
But when my whole attacked the place
It drove him to surrender.

Solution

29

My first is away from Paris, and may
Come round with a rap at your portal;
My second is Spanish, but quickly will vanish
If it turns to a nod from a mortal.

Solution

30

Often my first a B begins,
One always starts my second.
My all, though free from grosser sins,
Of little worth is reckoned.

Solution

31

My first is a kind of butter,
My second is a sort of cutter;
My whole, whether smaller or larger,
Was always a kind of charger.

Solution

32

My first is but lately promoted
To a place in our language, and quoted.
My second it lives in the sea.
On the hill-tops it flourishes free.
My whole I should certainly call
A delectable dainty for all.

Solution

33 An Enigma-Charade

Take in my first, and you will find
It helps you to make up your mind.
Write to my second, and behold
You see into the secret told.

Solution

34 A Quaint Charade By Charles James Fox

My first is expressive of no disrespect,
But I never call you by it when you are by;
If my second you still are resolved to reject,
As dead as my whole I shall presently lie.

Solution

35

My first reversed will plainly show
An apple in its embryo.
Reverse my second, and we see
That which in sight can never be.
Replace them both, and write me down
Six letters that will spell a town.

Solution

36

My first is equal to the rest,
My second not so much;
My whole is better than the best,
Beyond compare nonsuch.

Solution

37 An Italian Poet’s Love Song

Hear me, my all: oh, be my first!
My second is a single;
If you say yes, then in my third
Our happy lives shall mingle.

Solution

38 A Paradox

My first a simple verb, or half a verb, may be;
Almost the same my next, or half the same, we see.
My whole may weigh a ton or more, and yet be light,
Dull, and bereft of motion; swift, exceeding bright.

Solution

39

My first is found in fruit,
You take it for my second;
My whole in church to suit
Attentive ears is reckoned.

Solution

40

My first is frugal, lean, and thin,
My second leads to eve,
My whole is hidden by a skin,
But not of sheep or beeve.

Solution

41 Very Personal

My first to us may point ’tis clear,
And what I say is true, sir!
My next to her your thoughts will steer,
My whole it is in view, sir!

Solution

42

My second in my first can speed
Across United States;
My third from Q’s pen we can read,
My whole has water-rates;
My first and second drive my first along,
My third and second drive a mind all wrong.

Solution

43

To puzzle solvers can I shine,
And so my first is writ.
With this my second did combine
To make a happy hit.
My whole, with both fixed in a line
Firm as I can, did fit.

Solution

44 A Rustic Charade

My first and second are my third,
My third my first and second may be;
My whole, if right you read the word,
May never have a wife or baby.

Solution

45

Let my second cut my first
Into slices thin;
Seek in Shakespeare for my whole,
Injured by his kin.

Solution

46 A Firm Grip

I may give you my first with my second,
Or my second may give with my first;
The one act as friendly is reckoned,
The other will rank with the worst.
If my whole through my second creeps over my first,
It will cling as a bond that no effort can burst.

Solution

47

My first is called a sin in name,
My third its simple cure;
My second puts an end to fame,
My whole in ease is sure.

Solution

48

In my first ’tis sweet to tarry
’Mid my second’s realms of bliss.
In the two, though none can marry,
All are subject to a kiss.

Solution

49

My first, which washes half a nation’s gums,
From foreign climes within my second comes:
And though, my whole, thine is no teacher’s part,
Thou art not science, but thou teachest art!

Solution

50

My first on country hedges grows,
My next is found in garden rows,
My third to make it more transpose,
My whole is one of London’s shows.

Solution

51

My first the best solver can never find out,
My second is looked for in vain;
My third may hide all from our view round about,
My whole must be weak, or in pain.

Solution

52 Sorrow’s Antidote

My first does affliction denote,
Which my second is destined to bear;
My whole is the sweet antidote
That affliction to soothe and to share.

Solution

53

I see a sign of music not reversed, and then
My second and my third both pass beyond my ken.

Solution

54

My first has my second my third his mouth;
My whole was a tribe in the sunny south.

Solution

55 “Quod” Erat Demonstrandum

My second makes my ending,
My first is its reverse;
My whole bad men is sending
From court to quarters worse.

Solution

56

My first, though won and never lost,
Reversed is now before ye:
My second turns as red as blood
Upon a field of glory.
My whole is plain, yet you’ll confess
It is a wonder if you guess.

Solution

57

I get my second when I take my first,
And then my upright character is lost;
My whole gives quarters to a rat reversed,
Or is a refuge for the tempest tost.

Solution

58

My first is almost a cropper;
My second is often a propper;
My whole was entirely a whopper.

Solution

59 A Floral Charade

My first by poet’s eye was seen
Sad watching at the gates of heaven.
My next in tints of tender green
By Dickens with quaint art was given.

Solution

60

My first is nothing but a name
My second is more small;
My whole is of such slender fame
It has no name at all.

Solution

61

When second is of whole a fourth,
And first a fifth of second,
Then first by second multiplied
To make my whole is reckoned.

Solution

62 A Charade with a Moral

My first is black, my second red,
My whole no man should take to bed.

Solution

63

My first upon their prey can dart,
My next can ne’er be down;
My whole performs a saucy part
In country or in town.

Solution

64

My first makes hills unpleasant
To every cyclist’s wheel.
My next is where they take you to
If in the streets you steal.
My whole is what I most dislike
When in the dumps I feel.

Solution

65

My first is the voice of heart-sorrows or joys,
My second, bar one, have been all of them boys,
My whole is made ill by the harsh raven’s noise.

Solution

66 Quite Self-Contained

My first is in my second,
My third contains an ass;
And when my whole is reckoned
You see it is in glass.

Solution

67

Safe on Lucinda’s arm my first may rest,
And raise no tumult in Alonzo’s breast.
My second can the want of legs supply
To those that neither creep, nor walk, nor fly;
My whole is rival to the fairest toast,
And when most warmly welcomed suffers most.

Solution

68

My second, my first can control,
If his understanding is reckoned.
My second may not be my whole,
But my whole must be always my second.

Solution

69 An Old Cockney Charade

My first’s a little thing that hops,
My second comes with summer crops,
My whole is good with mutton chops.

Solution

70 A Striking Charade

My first I gently strike, and lo!
It soon becomes my second.
Indeed if this should not be so
My whole it is not reckoned.

Solution

71 Planting Peas

“I think,” said Ted, “it will be wise
To set the peas this way;
For here they will face friendly skies,
And sun shines all the day.”

“Your first is good,” the gardener said,
“Peas thrive in sun and shower;
So now, good second, dig the bed
Where all can see them flower.”

Can you fit a word of two syllables to this Charade?

Solution

72

My first is found where wit and wine
Combine to grace the festal board;
My second where sad captives pine,
In dungeon of some tyrant lord.
My whole is ready for the doomed,
Twice tried by fire ere once consumed.

Solution

73 A Brain Twister

My first is half my second
And my third is half my first
My second and my third are good
To quench a mighty thirst.

Solution

Riddles and Conundrums

1.

Woman is my end, was my beginning, and you will find her in my midst.

Solution

2

I am an uncle, but it is not nice
To be saluted as an uncle twice.

Why not?

Solution

3.

If a tailor and a goose are on the top of the Monument, which is the quickest way for the tailor to get down?

Solution

4.

My first is almost all, so is my second, and also my whole?

Solution

5

Those who have me do not desire me,
And yet they never wish to lose me,
Those who gain me have me no longer.

Solution

6.

Why may a barrister’s fees be said to be cheap?

Solution

7

Two brothers are we, great burdens we bear,
By which we are heavily prest:
We are full all the day to endure wear and tear,
But empty when able to rest.

Solution

8.

Peter Portman was so proud of his small feet that a wag started the following riddle: “Why are Portman’s feet larger than any others in his club?”

Solution

9

There is a word of letters four,
Take two away, and four remain;
Take three away, and five before
Your eyes you see as plain as plain.

Solution

10

To one syllable adjusted,
Running on the ground,
I have two, no longer trusted,
If you turn me round.

Solution

11.

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Solution

12.

What do they do with peaches in California?

Solution

13.

What is the utmost effort ever made by a piebald horse at a high jump?

Solution

14

“In my first my second sat,
Then my third and fourth I ate.”

Under my first my second stood,
That’s your riddle: mine’s as good!

Solution

15.

What are the differences between a gardener, a billiard-marker, a precise man, and a verger?

Solution

16.

Which can see most, a man with two eyes, or a man with one?

Solution

17.

When you do not know the time, and “ask a policeman” what o’clock it is, why are you like the Viceroy of India?

Solution

18.

What is the question to which “yes” is the only possible reply?

Solution

19.

What is that which will go up a pipe down, but will not go down a pipe up; or will go down a pipe down, but not up a pipe up, and yet when it has gone up a pipe or down a pipe, will go up or down?

Solution

20.

Why was London for many years a wonderful place for carrying sound?

Solution

21.

Why is a motor-car like swimming fish?

Solution

22.

Who can decipher this?

1/6d. me a bloater.

Solution

23.

Why is a moth flying round a candle like a garden-gate?

Solution

24

To half a dozen add half a score,
And you will plainly see
Just twenty, neither less nor more—
Now say, how can this be?

Solution

25.

If I caught a newt why would it be a small one?

Solution

26.

How can a lawyer’s fee be paid with only a threepenny piece?

Solution

27.

When does the cannon ball?

Solution

28.

Why should children go to bed soon after tea?

Solution

29.

Which may weigh the most, Scotsmen or Irishmen?

Solution

30.

Why cannot we have our hair cut?

Solution

31.

Divide a hundred and fifty by half of ten, add two-thirds of ten, and so you will find a town.

Solution

32.

The following riddle is from the pen and fertile brain of Archbishop Whately, who, it is said, offered in vain £50 for its solution:—

When from the Ark’s capacious round
Mankind came forth in pairs,
Who was it that first heard the sound
Of steps upon the stairs?

Solution

33.

If Moses was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, who was the daughter of Pharaoh’s son?

Solution

34.

I am a word of three syllables, and in all my fulness I represent woman. Rob me of five letters and I am a man. Take away but four, I am woman again. Remove only three, and I resume my manhood. What am I?

Solution

35.

A cyclist on a night journey punctures his tyre, and finds that he has forgotten his outfit for repairs. After wheeling the disabled machine uphill for about two miles he registers a vow. What is it?

Solution

36

Some more than the mere whole my whole contains;
Remove that whole, and some of it remains!

Solution

37.

Why were Younghusband’s pack-horses in Thibet like up-to-date motor cars?

Solution

38

The public credit and the public shame
Differ in everything except in name.

Solution

39.

Why is a telescope like a miser?

Solution

40.

If I were in the sun, and you were out of it, what would it be?

Solution

41

I’m a word of four letters akin to the snow,
Just half of my first my third letter will show.
One fifth of my fourth my first you may call,
Of my second ’tis best to say nothing at all.

Solution

42.

What is the chief and most natural thing for politicians to desire to do when for the time they are out in the cold, awaiting a change of Government?

Solution

43.

I am long lasting, beginning at my end, ending with no beginning, and my end and my beginning between them will bring you to an end.

Solution

44

With both feet crossed sit steady on a stool,
Then uncross one, and try to find a fool.

Solution

A Rabbit Run

45. How far can a rabbit run into a square wood, with sides that each measure a mile, if it keeps on a straight course and does not break cover?

Solution

46

Often talked of, never seen,
Ever coming, never been,
Daily looked for, never here,
Still approaching in the rear.
Thousands for my presence wait,
But, by the decree of Fate,
Though expected to appear
They will never see me here.

Solution

47.

I received my first because I was rash enough to say my second to my third, when seeking re-election at my whole.

Solution

48

How is it, in this charming weather,
You and I can’t lunch together?

Solution

49

With a head, and without a head,
With a tail, and without a tail,
With a head without a tail,
With a tail without a head,
With a head and tail,
Without a head and tail.

Solution

50.

“Ask me another,” she said, when he pressed her to name the happy day. “I will,” he replied. “Why is the letter ‘d’ like the answer which I seek from you?”

Solution

51 Swift’s Riddle

Two thirds of an ass, and a hole in the ground,
Will dress you a dinner worth many a pound.

Solution

Tom Hood’s Riddle

52. Here is a riddle for which Tom Hood was responsible. Can you solve it?

Twice to thine,
Once to mine,
With Congou make a gift divine.

Solution

53.

Hold up your hand and you will see what you never have seen, never can see, and never will see. What is this?

Solution

54.

Can you tell the difference between the Emperor of Russia and an ill-shod beggar?

Solution

55.

Why did Eden Philpotts?

Solution

56.

We have heard much of man’s imagined connection with the monkey, through some missing link. What evidence can we gather from early records of, at any rate, some verbal kinship with the patient ass?

Solution

57.

My first is gold, my second is silver, my third is copper, and my whole is tin.

Solution

58.

What is highest when its head is off?

Solution

59.

What word is there of six letters which can be so read that it claims to be spelt with only one?

Solution

60.

If a good oyster is a native, what is a bad one?

Solution

61.

Why is John Bright?

Solution

62.

If I walk into a room full of people, and place a new penny upon the table in full view of the company, what does the coin do?

Solution

63.

Jones, who had made it, and put it into his waistcoat pocket, lost it. Brown picked it up, and lighted his cigar with it. Then they both went to the train in it, and ran all the way.

Solution

64.

Why cannot a deaf and dumb man tickle nine people?

Solution

65.

When did “London” begin with an l and end with an e?

Solution

66.

I sent my second to my first, but many a whole passed before he came back to me.

Solution

67.

Which weighs most, the new moon or the full moon?

Solution

68.

Here is a puzzle which is unique and most remarkable, and which seems to be impossible, though it is absolutely sound:—

There is an English word of more than two letters, of which “la” is the middle, is the beginning, and is the end, though there is but one “a” and one “l” in the word. What is it?

Solution

69.

Why is a bee like a rook?

Solution

70 A Dark Rebus

O
B e D

Solution

71 A Monkey Puzzler

If a monkey is placed before a cross, why does it at once get to the top?

Solution

72 A Riddle by Cowper

I am just two and two, warm and cold,
And the parent of numbers untold;
Lawful, unlawful, duty, fault,
Often costly, worthless bought.
A priceless boon, a matter of course,
Willingly yielded, taken by force.

The answer has been defined as “two heads and an application.”

Solution

How’s That, Umpire?

73. How can the Latin exhortation “Macte!” which may be roughly rendered “Go on and prosper!” be applied at cricket to a batsman at a critical moment?

Solution

By Tape Measurement

74. Are you good at topography? If so, can you discover and locate, from this description of its surroundings, a town within 30 miles of London?

Half an inch before the trees, and half a foot and half a yard after them, lead us to an English town.

Solution

75.

We know how, by the addition of a single letter, our cares can be softened into a caress; but in the following enigma a still more contradictory result follows, without the addition or alteration of a letter, by a mere separation of syllables:—

None can locate the subject of my riddle,
For all the world would seek its place in vain;
Cut it asunder almost in the middle,
And in our very midst its place is plain.

An aching void, an absolute negation,
Into the opposite extreme it breaks;
With just a gap to mark their new relation
Each letter still the same position takes.

Solution

76. Multum in Parvo

What two letters describe in nine letters the position of one who has been left alone in his extremity?

Solution

77. a Change of Sex

“Oh! would I were a man,” cried a schoolmistress, “that I might always teach boys.”

We boys overheard her, and placed her with us. What did we thus turn her into?

Solution

78. a Striking Match Puzzle

How can you make a Maltese cross with less than twelve unbent and unbroken matches?

Solution

79

Have we any reason to suppose that in very early times there were less vowels than we have now?

Solution

80. a French Riddle

As Susette was sitting in the cool shadow of an olive grove at Mentone, Henri came up and said to her, with his best bow, “Je sais que vous n’avez pas mon premier, mais que vous êtes mon second, et je vous donnerai mon tout!” What did he hold out to her?

Solution

81

On a church close to an old ruined priory, near Lewes, there is a weathercock in the shape of a fish, probably an emblem of the faith. What moral lesson does this relic of early days convey to us?

Solution

82

Take five from half of ten,
Set fifty in the middle,
Add twice five hundred then
To finish up the riddle,
And make it with your pen
As fit as any fiddle.

Solution

83. a Paradox

“For the want of water we drank water, and if we had had water we should have drank wine.”

Who can have said this, and what did they mean?

Solution

84. What Is It?

The poor have two, the rich have none,
Millions have many, you have one.

Solution

85

A thousand and one,
And a sixth part of twenty;
Some may have none,
But others have plenty!

Solution

86. Great Scott!

“Charge, Chester, charge! on, Stanley, on!”
Were the last words of Marmion.
Now, had I been in Stanley’s place
When Marmion urged him to the chase,
You would have thought, unless you knew,
That Scottish fray was Irish stew!

Shade of Sir Walter! What does all this mean?

Solution

87

I may be half of ten,
I may be nearly nine;
If eight contains me then
Two-thirds of six are mine.
A third of one, a fourth of four,
I am an eighth of many more.

Solution

88. Quite a Beatitude

Let her be, or beat her,
Give her little ease;
Then in safety seat her
All among the bees.

Solution

89

Sharpen your wits till they are keen,
Then see if you can guess
What word it is that I have seen,
And spell it with an s!

Solution

90. Rather Personal

Take part of a foot,
And with judgment transpose.
You will find that you have it
Just under your nose.

Solution

Nuts to Crack

Crazy Logic

1. Can you prove, by what we may call crazy logic, that madman is equal to madam?

Solution

A Bit of Botany

2. A rat with its teeth in the webbed feet of its prey was what the squirrel saw one summer’s day, when he ran down from the tree-tops for a cool drink in the pond below his nest. Can you find out from this the name of the water-plant that was floating in the shade?

Solution

Six Sunken Islands

3. He set down the answer to that sum at random.

By bold policy Prussia became a leading power.

A great taste for mosaic has arisen lately.

The glad news was swiftly borne over England.

At dusk, year after year, the old man rambled home.

The children cried, hearing such dismal tales.

In each of these lines the name of an island is buried.

Solution

Buried Geographical Names

4. We could hide a light royal boat with a man or two; the skipper, though, came to a bad end.

In this short sentence seven geographical names are buried, formed by consecutive letters, which are parts always of more than one word. Can you dig them out?

Solution

A Transposition

5. What can you make of this? The letters are jumbled, but the words are in due order.

Eltsheothwoedlaniscimtyyesrmh
Tsihptsnrtoniaisoetcra;
Ndaothetdandartssdensitemeb
Ehcatreeltnisitlpace.

Solution

6 All in a Row

Three little articles all in a line
Lead to a thousand, expressing,
If with another all these you combine
What can be never a blessing.

Solution

7 Ask a Policeman

Ask a policeman, possibly he knows,
In uniformed array.
If not, an added letter plainly shows
How little he can say.

Solution

8 Ruling Letters

We rule the world, we letters five,
We rule the world, we do;
And of our number three contrive
To rule the other two.

Solution

Mind Your Stops

9. How would you punctuate the following sentence?

Maud like the pretty girl that she was went for a walk in the meadows.

Solution

10. Answer by Echo

What were they who paid three guineas
To hear a tune of Paganini’s?

Solution

11. Breaking a Record

Only eight different letters are used in the construction of this verse:—

Sad as the saddest end is his,
He hath insensate died.
He sinned, and that his Satan is
That standeth at his side.

Wishing to break this record, we have put together a rhyming verse of similar length, in which only five letters are used. They are these:

(18 times) eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
(20 times) nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
(18 times) tttttttttttttttttt.
(16 times) iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.
(15 times) sssssssssssssss.

Solution

12. a Catch Sentence

If is is not is and is not is is what is it is not is and what is it is is not if is not is is? Can you punctuate this so that it has meaning?

Solution

13. Catching a Hint

Passing one day by train through a station I caught sight of two words upon a large advertisement, which seemed cut out for puzzle purposes; and before long I had framed the following riddle:

Bisect my first, transpose its first half, and between this and its second half insert what remains if you take my second from my first. The result is as good to eat as my first and second are to drink.

Solution

14. Is It Grammar?

It is difficult at first sight to grasp the meaning of this apparently simple sentence:—“Time flies you cannot they pass at such irregular intervals.” How does it read?

Solution

15. Royal Memories

In Queen Victoria’s Jubilee year I went to the South Kensington Museum. As I entered, looking at my watch, I thought of the good Queen. After some hours of quiet enjoyment I came away, again looking at my watch, and was reminded that the Prince Consort was not alive to share the Jubilee joys. At what time, and for how long was I in the Museum?

Solution

16. a Seasonable Motto

CCC SAW

Solution

17. an Old Latin Legend

AMANS TAM ERAT
HI DESINT HERO
AD DIGITO UT MANDO

What is the interpretation?

Solution

18. Things Are Not What They Seem

Does the following statement imply that there is a curative virtue in rose-coloured rays?

“I know that roseate hues preserve.”

Solution

19. Doctor Fell

“Keep the patients warm and quiet;
Solids are not well;
Let all sops be now their diet,”
So said Doctor Fell.

To what objection was this diet open?

Solution

20. Dislocated Words

These thirty-six letters form an English sentence:—

SAR BAB SAR BAB SAR BAB
SAR BAB SAR BAB SAR ARA

What can it be?

Solution

21. Broad Wiltshire

“Igineyvartydreevriswutts.”

Can you interpret this sentence, spoken by a sturdy farmer in the corn market?

Solution

22. Find a Rhyme

Try to find a rhyme to Chrysanthemum.

Solution

23. About the Eggs

Did you hear that pathetic tale of the three eggs?

Solution

24. an Ancient Legend

Doun tooth ers
A sy
Ouw ould bed
One by.

Solution

25. a Family Party

HERE LIE

Two grandmothers, and their two granddaughters;
Two husbands, and their two wives;
Two fathers, and their two daughters;
Two mothers, and their two sons;
Two maidens, and their two mothers;
Two sisters, and their two brothers;
Yet but —— in all lie buried here.

How many does the —— represent?

Solution

26. a Simple Charm

A superstitious couple in the country who heard mysterious noises at night in their house, sought the advice of a “wise woman” in the neighbourhood. She gave them on paper the following charm, which would, she assured them, counteract their evil star, and solve the mystery:—

ground
turn evil star.

What was its significance?

Solution

27. Made in France

We are five varied vowels of foreign sound,
Supported by one consonant between us.
Three letters now in four, where may be found
Another trio, quite a silly genus.

Solution

28. a Paradox

What in his mind no man can find
Four symbols will display;
But only one remains behind
If one we take away.

Solution

29. the Barber’s Joke

A barber placed prominently in his window the following notice:—

What do you think
I will shave you for nothing and give you a drink.

Attracted by this, a man went into the shop, and was shaved, but instead of receiving any liquid refreshment, he was surprised by a demand for the usual payment.

What was the barber’s explanation?

Solution

30. a Flight of Fancy

GENUI NE JAM
A
ICARUM.

This label, said to have been found among the ruins of old Rome, seems to bear a very early reference to the birth of Icarus, the flying man; or perhaps to some flying machine named after him, but not yet perfected. Can this be so?

Solution

31. a Spell

Two c’s, an h, an n, a p,
Three a’s, a u, an i, an e,
Tell us what English word are we?

Solution

32. Johnson’s Cat

Johnson’s cat went up a tree,
Which was sixty feet and three;
Every day she climbed eleven,
Every night she came down seven.
Tell me, if she did not drop,
When her paws would touch the top.

Solution

33. the Expanding Nines

Some of us may perhaps remember Titania’s promise to Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

“I have a venturous fairy, that shall seek
The squirrel’s hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.”

Here is a little puzzle so fresh and curious that it will tempt the fancy of those who find it added to our hoard:

A third of six behind them fix,
A third of six before;
Thus make two nines, when all combines,
Exactly fifty-four.

Solution

34. Across the Moat

Form a square with four matches. Outside this, at an equal distance all round, form another square with twelve matches, just so far away that the space between them cannot be spanned by a match. With two matches only, form a firm bridge from the outer to the inner square.

Solution

35. 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

36. Quite a Family Party

The telephone-bell roused Mrs P.W. from her after-luncheon nap, and her husband’s voice came to her ears, from his office in the city:—“I am bringing home to dinner my father’s brother-in-law, my brother’s father-in-law, my father-in-law’s brother, and my brother-in-law’s father.”

“Right!” she replied, knowing his quaint ways, “I shall be prepared.” For how many guests did she provide?

Solution

37. the Wily Wayfarer

“Give me as much money as I have in my hand,” said Will Slimly to the landlord of a country inn, “and I will spend sixpence with you.” This was done, and repeated twice with the cash that was still in hand, and then the traveller was penniless. How much had he at first, and how much did the landlord contribute to Will’s refreshment?

Solution

38. a Clever Construction

How can four triangles of equal size be formed with six similar matches?

Solution

39. a Knotty Point

When first the marriage knot was tied
Between my wife and me,
My age as oft repeated hers
As three times three does three;

But when ten years and half ten years
We man and wife had been,
Her age came then as near to mine
As eight does to sixteen.
What age was hers, what age was mine,
When we were wed, from this divine.

Solution

40. a Division Sum

“Take this half-crown,” said the vicar at a village festival, “and divide it equally between those two fathers and their two sons, but give nothing of less value than a penny to either of them.”

The schoolboy, who was a sharp lad, changed the half-crown, and divided it equally among them. How was this possible?

Solution

41. a Crooked Answer

Tom (yawning) to Nell—“I wish we could play lawn-tennis!”

Nell (annoyed).—“Odioso ni mus rem. Moto ima os illud nam?”

Can you make head or tail, in Latin or in English, of her reply?

Solution

42. the Peeler’s Smile

Two policemen stood behind a hedge, watching for motor-car scorchers. One looked up the road, the other looked down it, so as to command both directions.

“Bill,” said one, without turning his head, “what are you smiling at?” How could he tell that his mate was smiling?

Solution

43. the Nimble Nines

Twenty-seven with three nines
You and I can score;
Anyone one on other lines
Can extend them more.
Who can write them to be seen
Equal only to sixteen?

Solution

44. a Trying Sentence

That that is is that that is not is not is not that it it is.

Solution

45. Short and Sweet

What is this?

ALLO.

Solution

46. Supply the Consonants

An English Proverb

ieaoaaaeaai

Solution

47. It Looks Black

| | | | | | | | | | | | |

Add thirteen more strokes, and make—what?

Solution

48. the Coroner’s Choice

Can a coroner, after signing his name, write his official position in more ways than one?

Solution

How Many Pips?

Here is a good and simple card trick. Ask anyone to choose three cards from a pack, and to place them face downwards on the table. Then, beginning to count with the number of pips on each card laid down, let him place other cards upon these, one heap at a time, until in every case he counts up to 15, adding mentally 1 as he places down each card.

When he has completed the three heaps, take from him the remaining cards, and count them. Their number, less 4, will always be the number of pips on the three chosen cards. An ace counts 11, and a court card 10.

Thus, if he has chosen a 7, a 10, and an ace (11), he must cap these with 8, 5, and 4 cards respectively. There will then be 32 cards left, and 32 - 4 = 28, which is the sum of 7, 10, and 11.

Round the Monkey

Now for a few words about an old friend, familiar to most of us. If a monkey sits on a post holding one end of a string, and continually moves to face a man who holds the other end, and who walks round the post, does that man walk round the monkey?

R. A. Proctor, the astronomer, treated the question thus, some years ago in Knowledge:—“In what way does going round a thing imply seeing every side of it? Suppose a man shut his eyes, would that make any difference? Or suppose the man stood still, and the monkey turned round, so as to show the man its front and back, would the stationary man have gone round the monkey?”

We commend this ancient and puzzling subject of controversy to our readers. Our own opinion is that the man does walk round the monkey, in the commonly accepted meaning of the words, but “who shall decide when doctors disagree?”

Buried Animals

Here are a few cleverly buried animals:

“Come hither, mine friend,” said the monk, eyeing him kindly, “be a very good boy, step through the furze bravely, and seek the lost riches.”

Ermine; monkey; beaver; zebra; ostrich.

We, as electricians, proclaim the electric motor cab a boon to London.

Weasel; baboon.

Questions Well Answered

What could not the cruet stand?
Seeing an apostle spoon.

Why did the barmaid champagne?
Because the stout porter bitter.

A Table of Affinity

When it was reported that M. de Lesseps and his son were to marry sisters, the Rappel suggested these possible complications. Lesseps the younger will be his father’s brother-in-law, and his wife will be her own sister’s sister-in-law.

If Lesseps the elder has a son, and Lesseps the younger has a daughter, and these marry, then the daughter of Lesseps the younger will be her father’s sister-in-law, and the son of Lesseps the elder will be the son-in-law of his brother. The son of the second marriage will have two grandfathers, Lesseps the elder and the younger, so that old Lesseps will become his own son’s brother.

Mary Quite Contrary

Mary had a little lamb,
With feet as black as soot;
And into Mary’s bread and milk
He put his little foot.
Now Mary was an honest girl,
And scorned a hollow sham;
So the one word that Mary said
Was mother to the lamb!

Macaronic Verse

Latin

“Is acer,” sed jacto his mas ter at te,
“Cantu passus sum jam?” “Notabit,” anser de;
“Mi jam potis empti, solis tento me,
For uva da lotas i vere vel se!”

English

“I say, sir,” said Jack to his master at tea,
“Can’t you pass us some jam?” “Not a bit,” answered he,
“My jam pot is empty, so listen to me,
For you’ve had a lot as I very well see!”

Ham Sandwiches

We most of us know the good old double-barrelled riddle, “Why need we never starve in the desert?” “Because of the sand which is there.” “How did the sandwiches get there?” “Ham settled there, and his descendants bred and mustered.” This clever metrical solution is by Archbishop Whately:—

A traveller o’er the desert wild
Should ne’er let want confound him,
For he at any time can eat
The sand which is around him.
It might seem strange that he should find
Such palatable fare,
Did we not know the sons of Ham
Were bred and mustered there.

A Good Motto

We know that Latin motto, with its clever double meaning, suggested for a retired tobacconist, “Quid rides”—why do you smile?—or quid rides. Here is another, proposed many years ago, for a doctor of indifferent repute:—

Take some device in your own way,
Neither too solemn, nor too gay;
Three ducks suppose, white, grey, and black,
And let your motto be “Quack! Quack!”

On One Nott

There was a man who was Nott born,
His sire was Nott before him;
He did Nott live, he did Nott die,
His tombstone was Nott o’er him.

On John So

So died John So,
So, so, did he so?
So did he live, and So did he die,
So, so, did he so?
So let him lie!

Strange Sights

The importance of proper punctuation is very happily illustrated by the following lines:—

I saw a peacock with a fiery tail
I saw a blazing comet pour down hail
I saw a cloud enwrapped with ivy round
I saw an oak tree swallow up a whale
I saw the boundless sea brimful of ale
I saw a Venice glass fifteen feet deep
I saw a well full of mens’ tears that weep
I saw wet eyes among the things that I saw
Were no sore eyes nor any other eye-sore.

A Quaint Inscription

There is a curiously constructed inscription over the door of the cloister of the Convent of the Carmelites at Caen, which runs thus:—

D		di		Si		scap		ac		ab as
	um		vus		mon		ulare		cepit		tris.
T		sæ		Dæ		ul		in		in an

The lines are in honour of one Simon Stock of that order, and they may be freely rendered:—

W		ho		Si		first beg		pr
	hen		ly		mon		an his		eaching.
T		wi		De		howled to sc		t

Nonsense Verse Impromptu, by an Old Divine

If down his throat a man should choose
In fun to jump or slide,
He’d scrape his shoes against his teeth,
Nor soil his own inside.
Or if his teeth were lost and gone,
And not a stump to scrape upon,
He’d see at once how very pat
His tongue lay there by way of mat,
And he would wipe his feet on that!

Edgar Poe’s Riddle

Edgar A. Poe addressed the following puzzle-valentine to a lady, adding, “You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you can do:”—

For her this rhyme is penned whose luminous eyes,
Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda,
Shall find her own sweet name, that nestling lies
Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader.
Search narrowly the lines—they hold a treasure
Divine—a talisman—an amulet
That must be worn at heart. Search well the measure.

The first letter of the first line, the second of the second, the third of the third, and so on spell the lady’s name—Frances.

An Illusion of Type

A curious optical illusion is illustrated by printing a row of ordinary capital letters and figures which are symmetrical, thus:—

SSSSSXXXXX3333388888

If we glance at them casually it does not strike us that their upper parts are smaller than the lower, but if we turn the paper upside down we are at once surprised to see how marked the difference really is.

An Exchange of Compliments

At a tavern one night
Messrs More, Strange, and Wright
Met, good cheer and good thoughts to exchange.
Says More, “Of us three
The whole town will agree
There is only one knave, and that’s Strange!”

“Yes,” says Strange, rather sore,
“I’m sure there’s one More,
A most terrible knave, and a bite,
Who cheated his mother,
His sister, and brother.”
“Oh yes,” replied More, “that is Wright!”

Ηκιστα Λιψ He Kissed Her Lips

(According to the daily Press, a good old-fashioned kiss lately lost favour in some quarters.)

Though a billiard player’s miss
Cannot meet or make a kiss;
Though a modern school of misses
Be not in the cue for kisses;
Chloe’s lips are not amiss,
Kismet! I have met a kiss.

Questions Well Answered

We must not fail to register these two Questions Well Answered, which it is hard to match for excellence:—

Q.—Why did the fly fly?

A.—Because the spider spied her!

And

Q.—Why did the lobster blush?

A.—Because it saw the salad dressing!

The following puzzling lines were the outburst of the wanton wit of a lover, in his effort to play off one lady against another, and so retain two strings to his bow:—

I don’t want the one that I don’t want to know
That I want the one that I want;
But the one that I do want wants me to go
And give up the one I don’t want.

Why I don’t want the one that I don’t want to know
That I want the one that I want,
Is because, if the one that I want can’t be so,
I shall want the one I don’t want.

Charles Lamb was responsible for the following ingenious perversion of words, when the Whig associates of the Prince Regent were sore at not obtaining office:—

Ye politicians tell me pray
Why thus with woe and care rent?
This is the worst that you can say,
Some wind has blown the wig away,
And left the hair apparent!

We may assume that this was the germ of the riddle “What is the difference between the Prince of Wales, a bald-headed man, and a monkey?” One is the heir-apparent, the second has no hair apparent, and the third is a hairy parent.

Grammar of a Sort

When is whiskey an adverb?
When it qualifies water.
When does a cow become a pronoun?
When it stands for Mary.

Can the conjunction “and” be used otherwise than as a connecting link?

Yes, as in the puzzle sentence, “It was and I said not or,” which, if no comma is placed after “said,” no one can read easily at sight.

A Tongue Twister

The tragedy “William Tell” was to be played many years ago at the old Drury Lane Theatre, and an actor, familiarly known as Will, asked the exponent of the part of Tell, on the eve of its production, whether he thought the play would tell with the critics and the public.

The following question and answer passed between them, in which only two different words were used, in an intelligible sequence of twenty-five words:—

Will.—“The question has arisen Tell, ‘will Will Tell tell?’ Will Tell tell Will ‘will Will Tell tell?’”

Tell.—“Tell will tell Will ‘will Will Tell tell?’ ‘Will Tell will tell!’”

The Lady and the Tiger

Many of our readers will enjoy this very clever rendering of a well-known Limerick:—

There was a young lady of Riga,
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger!

Puella Rigensis ridebat,
Quam tigris in tergo vehebat;
Externa profecta,
Interna revecta,
Sed risus cum tigre manebat!

Another Tongue Twister

Six sieves of sifted thistles,
Six sieves of unsifted thistles,
And six thistle sifters.

To be repeated six times rapidly and articulately.

Novel Definition of a Man’s Hat

Darkness that may be felt.

Is It Latin?

The following cryptic notice was posted recently on the green baize notice-board of a West-End Club:—

O nec ango in ab illi
Ardor pyram id contestata
Potor ac an non.
Si deis puto nat times
Ora res tu sed.

For some time its message was a mystery, until the sharp eyes of a member deciphered in what seemed to be real Latin, and was made up of Latin words, this English sentence, appropriate to the place:—“One can go in a billiard or pyramid contest at a pot or a cannon. Side is put on at times, or a rest used.”

For the Children

A QUESTION

How much wood would a wood-chuck chuck,
If a wood-chuck could chuck wood?

THE REPLY

The wood that a wood-chuck would chuck
Is the wood that a wood chuck could chuck,
If the wood-chuck that could chuck would chuck,
Or a wood-chuck could chuck wood!

A Quaint Conceit

The Capitol was saved of old
By geese with noisy bill;
More sage than silly, birds so bold
Should have a mission still.

Time was when roving on the loose,
A goose would raise my dander;
But now I feel each proper goose
Should have her propaganda!

A Lack of Hops!

A man fond of his joke, and speaking of Lenten fare to a friend in a letter, wrote:—

I had a fish
In a dish
From an Archbish——

leaving it to his ingenuity to complete the broken line. The reply was a clever solution to the puzzle:—

I had a fish
In a dish
From an Archbish——
’Op is not here
For he gave me no beer!

For the Children

The following simple calculation will be amusing to children:—If an even number of coins or sweets are held in one hand, and an odd number in the other, let the holder multiply those in the right hand by 2, and those in the left hand by 3, and add together the two results. If this is an even quantity the coins or sweets in the right hand are even, and in the left odd; if it is odd the contrary is the case.

Peter Piper’s Wife

(To be read or said rapidly.)

Betty bit a bit o’ butter,
Bitter bit!
But a better bit o’ butter
Betty bit!

Phonetic Verse “ A haunt each mermaid knows ”

Eh horn teach myrrh made nose,
Buy seize wear awl groat ales;
Hear chilled wrens port inn rose,
Seek your gain steals oar wails.

Sum son there yell oh hare,
Sums whim threw sigh leant baize;
Sow form sand fay says fare
Shy never knight sand daze.

Porson’s Epigram

Porson wrote a Latin epigram on a Fellow of one of the Colleges who always pronounced the a of Euphrates short. This was wittily translated thus:—

With fear on the Euphrates shore
The wild waves made him shiver.
But he thought to pass more quickly o’er,
So he abridged—the river!

All the Alphabet

All the letters of the alphabet are used in these lines, which have such an easy flow:—

“God gives the grazing ox his meat,
And quickly hears the sheep’s, low cry.
But man, who tastes his finest wheat,
Should joy to lift His praises high.”

A French Tongue Twister

A French mother, as she gives to her child a cup of tea to allay its cough, says:—

“Ton thé t’a-t-il oté ta toux?”
(Thy tea, has it removed thy cough?)

This sentence, repeated rapidly, is warranted to tire the nimblest tongue.

Queer Questions and Quaint Replies

Why does the cannon ball?
Because the Vickers Maxim
(the vicar smacks him!)
Why is the river Itchen?
Because there is a current in its bed.

Was It Scandal?

Dick and Harry meet in a dim hotel passage:—

Dick.—Did you hear that story about No. 288?

Harry (all ears).—No; what was it?

Dick.—Oh, it’s too gross, too gross entirely!

Harry.—Tell away. I’ll try to stand it.

Dick.—Well; 288 is two gross, isn’t it?

An Inconsequent Echo

Byron in his “Bride of Abydos” is responsible for the following strangely inconsequent echo:—

Hark to the hurried question of Despair,
“Where is my child?” and Echo answers,
“Where?”

A well-conducted echo would assuredly have seconded the cry of Despair by repeating the final syllables “my child!”

An Appropriate Answer

Why did the Razorbill raise her bill?
To let the sea urchin see her chin!

Cricket Latin

Bene audax.
Well bowled!

Macaronic Verse

Here is a modern specimen of Macaronic verse:—

Luce metat ipse sutor
(Cantas Orci madentes!)
“Qua forum an empti putor
Potor tria quarto pes!”

Which reads into English thus:—

Lucy met a tipsy suitor
(Can’t a saucy maiden tease!)
“Quaff o’ rum an empty pewter
Pot, or try a quart o’ peas!”

Macaronic Prose

LATIN

Puris agem, suetis a sylva bella vi olet indue mos is pura sueta far, amar vel verre ex que sit.

ENGLISH READING

Pure is a gem, sweet is a silver bell, a violet in dewy moss is purer, sweeter far, a marvel very exquisite.

The Long and the Short of It

These quaint lines were once addressed to a very tall barrister, named Long, when he was briefless:—

“Longè longorum longissime, Longe, virorum,
Dic mihi, te quæso, num Breve quicquid habes?”

Moore’s Riddle

Thomas Moore, the poet, is responsible for the following rude riddle, and its reply:—

Why is a pump like Viscount Castlereagh?

Because it is a slender thing of wood,
That up and down its awkward arms doth sway,
And coolly spout, and spout, and spout away,
In one weak, washy, everlasting flood!

Biggar and Bigger

Mrs Biggar had a baby. Which was the bigger? The baby was a little Biggar!

Which was the bigger, Mr Biggar or the baby? Mr Biggar was father Biggar!

Mr Biggar died; was the baby then bigger than Mrs Biggar? No, for the baby was fatherless!

Magic Card Square

Place the sixteen court cards from an ordinary pack in the form of a square, so arranged that no row, no column, and neither of the diagonals shall contain more than one card of each suit, and one of each rank.

As the solution presents no difficulty, but merely calls for patience and attention, we will leave it to the ingenuity of our readers.

The Anno Domini Puzzle

A Scottish tradesman had made, as he supposed, about £4,000, but his old clerk produced a balance-sheet which plainly showed £6,000 to his credit. It came upon the old gentleman as quite a disappointing shock when presently the puzzle was solved by the discovery that in the addition the year of Our Lord had been taken into account!

A Public Sink

The following ingenious play upon words dates from the days when a promise was made that the Thames pollution should cease in five years:—

In shorter time, kind sir, contrive
To purify our drink;
For while your figure is a Five
Our river is a Cinq!

English as She Is Spoke

“Mr Smith presents his compliments to Mr Brown, and I have got a hat that is not his, and he has got a hat that is not yours, so no doubt they are the expectant ones!”

Picking from Punch

This play upon words appeared many years ago in the pages of Punch, and is worth preserving:—

To win the maid the poet tries,
And sonnets writes to Julia’s eyes.
She likes a verse, but, cruel whim,
She still remains averse to him.

French Alliteration

“Si six scies scient six cigares, six cent six scies scient six cent six cigares.”

To be said trippingly without a trip.

If 6 saws cut 6 cigars, 606 saws cut 606 cigars.

Mind Your Stops!

Here is a good illustration of the nonsense that may easily result from the misuse of punctuation:—

Every lady in the land
Has twenty nails on each hand;
Five and twenty on hands and feet,
This is true without deceit.

A Novel Derivation

“Yes,” said an Eton captain of the boats to his uncle, the admiral, “I can quite believe that the British Jack Tar takes his name from that Latin verb, which is so suggestive of a life on the ocean wave, jactari, to be tossed about.”

An Aerated Bishop

A bishop of Sodor and Man found himself entered in the visitor’s book of a French hotel as “L’évêque du siphon et de l’homme!”

A Happy Thought

They cannot be complete in aught
Who are not humourously prone;
A man without a merry thought
Can hardly have a funny bone.

Ough!

Though the tough cough and hiccough
Make me hoarse,
Through life’s dark lough I plough
My patient course.

Cum Grano Salis

I know Eno, you know too,
Fact is we all three know.
We know Eno, he knows you.
You know I know Eno!

Old and Sound Advice

Nicholas, 1828.

He who a watch would wear
This must he do;
Pocket his watch, and watch
His pocket too!

Cold-Drawn Conclusions

Why is a lame dog like a blotting-pad?

A lame dog is a slow pup.

A slope up is an inclined plane.

An ink-lined plane is a blotting-pad!

The Last of Mary

Mary had a little lamp,
Filled with benzoline;
Tried to light it at the fire,
Has not since benzine!

A Buried Word

It is difficult to imagine that the very incarnation of what is wild and forbidding is buried in those words of peace and promise, “On Christmas Eve you rang out Angel peals,” until we find in them the consecutive letters “ourangoutang!”

Eve’s Apple

How many apples were eaten by Adam and Eve? We know that Eve 81, and that Adam 812, total 893. But Adam 8142 please his wife, and Eve 81242 please Adam, total 89,384. Then again Eve 814240 fy herself, and Adam 8124240 fy himself, total 8,938,480!

U C I D K ( You see I decay! )

“Surely, good sir, you follow me?
It is as plain as A B C.”
“Repeat it in a treble clef,
For I am rather D E F!”

Buried by Accident

Quite unconscious that he was burying a cat in his melodious lines Moore wrote:—

“How sweet the answer Echo makes
To music at night...!”

A Lawyer’s Proposal

Fee simple and the simple fee,
And all the fees in tail,
Are nothing when compared with thee,
Thou best of fees, fe-male!

A Broad Grin

“Sesquipedalia verba,” words a foot and a half long, were condemned by Horace in his “Ars Poetica.” Had he known English, what would he have said of “smiles,” a word so long that there is a mile between its first and last letters?

Swiss Humour

A Swiss lad asked me, as I stopped quite breathless on an Alpine height, “Do you prefer ‘monter’ to ‘descendre?’” I declared a preference for downhill, but he most convincingly replied, “I prefer ‘mon thé’ to ‘des cendres!’” (my tea to cinders).

Questions Well Answered

Why did the penny stamp?
Because the threepenny bit.
Why did the sausage roll?
Because it saw the apple turn-over.

Men of Letters

A budding author something new
Submitting, signed himself X Q.
The editor the essay read,
And begged he might be X Q Z!

Puzzles on the Pavement

An angry street arab, who seems to have caught the infection of our letter puzzles, was heard recently to call out to a gutter-snipe, “You are a fifty-one ar!” (LIAR.)

Phonetic Answers

Why may you pick an artist’s pocket?—Because he has pictures.

What is the solace for a mind deprest?—Deep rest.

A Flight of Fancy

There was a man from Yankeeland
Who round a walnut tree
Did run so fast—that lissome man—
His own back he could see!

Burns in Sabots

“Guigne a beau de qui sabot de
Nid a beau de t’elle?”

Dog Latin

Here are all the elements of a rat hunt, expressed in Latin words:—“Sit stillabit,” sed amanto hiscat, “sta redde, sum misi feror arat trito unda minus, solet me terna ferret in micat.” They read into English, if differently pointed, thus:—Sit still a bit, said a man to his cat, stay ready, some mice I fear, or a rat try to undermine us, so let me turn a ferret in, my cat.

Early Ritual

It is said that at first Adam thought Eve angelical, but there came a time when they both took to vestments.

Lest We Forget

If a man says that he forgets what he does not wish to remember, does he mean to say that he does not remember what it is that he wishes to forget; or that he is able to forget that which he does not wish to remember?

Quaint Anglo-French Question and Reply

Pas qu’il ma, ou qu’il pas?

Marwood!

Some Popular Definitions

Cricket.	Lawn Tennis.	Football.
Lords	Ladies	Legs
Stumps	Jumps	Bumps.

Real Dog Latin

Pax in bello.
The dogs of war.

A Quaint Epitaph

Here in S X I lies.
Killed by X S I dies.

A Phonetic Reply

What is the French for teetotaler?—Thé tout à l’heure!

A Free Rendering

Varietas pro Rege.
Change for a sovereign!

A Free Translation

“Splendide mendax.”
Lying in State.

A Word and a Blow

When Dunlop, in playful mood, said that no one could make a good pun on his name, a smart bystander at once exclaimed, “Lop off the end, and the thing is done!”

Dog Latin (for Schoolboys)

Mitte meos super omnes ad candam aut esse homines mortui.

The Dog Latin may be rendered thus: “Send my overalls to the tailor to be mended.”

His L. E. G.

Some printer’s devil must have been at work when the proof-reader found “The Legend of the Cid,” set up in type as “The leg end of the Kid!”

Solutions

No. V.—The Making of a Magic Square

The perfect Magic Square, for which we have given the construction of two preparatory squares, is formed by placing one of these over the other, so that the numbers in their corresponding cells combine, as is shown below.

Preparatory Square No. 1.

		*
1	3	5	2	4
5	2	4	1	3
4	1	3	5	2
3	5	2	4	1
2	4	1	3	5

Preparatory Square No. 2.

			*
5	15	0	10	20
10	20	5	15	0
15	0	10	20	5
20	5	15	0	10
0	10	20	5	15

The Perfect Magic Square.

6	18	5	12	24
15	22	9	16	3
19	1	13	25	7
23	10	17	4	11
2	14	21	8	20

No less than 57,600 Magic Squares can be formed with twenty-five cells by varying the arrangement of these same figures, but not many are so perfect as our specimen, in which sixty-five can be counted in forty-two ways. These comprise each horizontal row; each perpendicular row; main diagonals; blended diagonals from every corner (such as 6, with 14, 17, 25, 3; or 15, 18, with 21, 4, 7); centre with any four equidistant in outer cells; any perfect St George’s cross (such as 18, 22, 1, 15, 9); and any perfect St Andrew’s cross (such as 6, 22, 13, 5, 19).

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No. Xii.—A Century of Cells

Here is the solution of the ingenious Magic Square of 100 cells with 36 cells unfilled. The rows, columns, and diagonals all add up to 505.

91	2	3	97	6	95	94	8	9	100
20	82	83	17	16	15	14	88	89	81
21	72	73	74	25	26	27	78	79	30
60	39	38	64	66	65	67	33	32	41
50	49	48	57	55	56	54	43	42	51
61	59	58	47	45	46	44	53	52	40
31	69	68	34	35	36	37	63	62	70
80	22	23	24	75	76	77	28	29	71
90	12	13	87	86	85	84	18	19	11
1	99	98	4	96	5	7	93	92	10

Notice that the top and bottom rows contain all the numbers from 1 to 10 and from 91 to 100; the two rows next to these range from 11 to 20 and from 81 to 90; the two next from 21 to 30 and from 71 to 80; the two next from 31 to 39 and 60 to 70, excluding 61, but including 41; and the two central rows the numbers run from 42 to 59, with 40 and 61.

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No. Xxiii.—Twin Puzzle Squares

The following diagram shows how the twin Magic Squares are evolved from our diagram:—

1	5	6		2	3	7
			2				6	7		3	4	8
									3				7	8		4	5	9

The sums of the corresponding rows in each square are now equal, and the sums of the squares of the corresponding cells of these rows are equal. The sums of the four diagonals are also equal, and the sum of the squares of the cells in corresponding diagonals are equal. The sum of any two numbers symmetrically placed with respect to the connecting link between the 7 and the 3 is always 10.

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No. Xxx.—The Unique Triangle

The figures to be transposed in triangle A are 9 and 3 and 7 and 1.

A

			5
		4		6
	3				7
2		1		9		8

B

			5
		4		6
	9				1
2		7		3		8

Then in triangle B, the sum of the side is in each case 20, and the sums of the squares of the numbers along the sides is in each case 126.

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No. Xxxi.—Magic Triangles

The subjoined diagram shows the order in which the first 18 numbers can be arranged so that they count 19, 38, or 57 in many ways, down, across, or along some angles, 19 in 6 ways, 38 in 12, and 57 in 14 ways.

Thus, for examples—

7	+	12	=	14	+	5	=	4	+	15	=	19
7	+	11	+	14	+	6		———			=	38
7	+	14	+	4	+	5	+	12	+	15	=	57

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No. Xxxiv.—Magic Hexagon in a Circle

The figures in the Magic Hexagon must be arranged as is shown in this diagram:—

									126
				5		2		7		3		8		5
			8		2		4				6		3		7
114																		114
		4				6		9		1		8				2
	3		1		9		7		5		4		1		9		6
	1		3		7		9		8		6		7		3		4
		8				2		3		9		1				9
126																		126
			6		4		4				1		8		2
				5		5		6		7		2		5
									114

It will be seen that the sum of the four digits on each side of each triangle is twenty, and that, while their arrangements vary, the total of the added squares of the numbers on the alternate sides of the hexagon are equal.

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No. Xxxvi.—A Charming Puzzle

✦	✦	✦
✦	✦	✦
✦	✦	✦

To pass through these nine dots with four continuous straight lines, start at the top right-hand corner, and draw a line along the top of the square and beyond its limits, until its end is in line with the central dots of the side and base. Draw the second line through these, continuing it until its end is below and in line with the right-hand side of the square; draw the third line up to the starting-point, and the fourth as a diagonal, which completes the course.

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No. Xxxvii.—Leap-Frog

On a chess or draught-board three white men are placed on squares marked a and three black men on squares marked b in the diagram—

a	a	a		b	b	b
1	2	3	4	5	6	7

Every a can move from left to right one square at a time, and every b from right to left, and any piece can leap over one of another colour on to an unoccupied square. They can reverse their positions thus:—

If we number the cells or squares consecutively, and notice that at starting the vacant cell is No. 4, then in the successive moves the vacant cells will be 3, 5, 6, 4, 2, 1, 3, 5, 7, 6, 4, 2, 3, 5, 4. Of the moves thus indicated six are simple, and nine are leaps.

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No. Xxxviii.—Sorting the Counters

The counters are changed in four moves only, moving two at a time as follows:—

Move	2 and 3	to	9 and 10.
„	5 and 6	to	2 and 3.
„	8 and 9	to	5 and 6.
„	1 and 2	to	8 and 9.

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No. Xxxix.—A Transformation

To change the ten-pointed star of wooden matches into one of five points without touching it, let a little water fall into the very centre, as it lies on quite a smooth surface, and in a few moments, under the action of the water, it will gradually assume the shape shown in the second diagram, of a five-pointed star.

This is a very simple and effective after-dinner trick. Small matches move best.

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No. Xli.—Fast and Loose

The twelve counters or draughtsmen lying loosely at the bottom of a shallow box can be arranged so that they wedge themselves together and against the side thus:—

Temporary centre

Place one for the moment in the centre, and six round it. Hold these firmly in their places with the left hand, and fix the other five round them, as is shown in the diagram. Then remove the temporary centre, and fill in with it the vacant place. All will then be in firm contact, and the box may be turned upside down without displacing them.

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No. Xliii.—For Clever Pencils

This diagram, shows how a continuous course is possible without taking pencil from paper, or going twice over any line.

We have purposely left spaces wide enough to make the solution perfectly clear.

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No. Xlviii.—A Bottled Button

The diagram below shows how the thread within the bottle is severed so that the button falls, without uncorking the bottle or breaking it.

Nothing is needed but a lens to focus the rays of the sun, which pass through the glass without heating it, and burn the thread.

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No. Xlix.—Clearing the Way

In order to cause the coin to fall into the bottle without touching coin, match, or bottle, let a drop or two of water fall upon the bent middle of the match.

Very soon, under the action of the water, the two ends of the match will open out so that the coin which was resting on them falls between them into the bottle.

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No. Lii.—Billiard Magic

The diagram we give below shows the ingenious trick by which the plain white, if struck gently with a cue, will, aided by the tumbler, pot the spot white ball without in any way disturbing the red.

The balls to start with are an eighth of an inch apart, and there is not room for a ball to pass between the cushions and the red. Place the tumbler close to spot white.

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No. Liii.—The Nimble Coin

The most effective way to transfer the coin from the top of the circular band of paper into the bottle is to strike a smart blow with a cane, or any small stick, on the inside of the paper band. There is not time for the coin to be influenced in the same direction, and it falls plumb into the neck of the bottle.

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No. Lviii.—What Will Happen?

When the boy shown in this picture blows hard at the bottle which is between his mouth and the candle flame, the divided air current flows round the bottle, reunites, and extinguishes the flame.

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No. Lx.—Vis Inertiæ

If, by a strong pull of my finger, I launch the draughtsman that is on the edge of the table against the column of ten in front of it, the black man, which is just at the height to receive the full force of the blow, will be knocked clean out of its place, while the others will not fall. This is another illustration of the vis inertiæ.

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No. Lxi.—Cut and Come Again

A block of ice would never be divided completely by a loop of wire on which hangs a 5 ℔ weight. For as the wire works its way through, the slit closes up by refreezing, and the weight falls to the ground with the wire, leaving the ice still in a single block.

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No. Lxiii.—Catching the Dice

It is quite easy to throw the upper of this pair of dice into the air and catch it in the cup, but the other is more elusive. As you throw it upward with sufficient force you will also throw the die that has been already caught out of the cup.

The secret of success lies in dropping the hand and cup rapidly downwards, quitting hold at the same moment of the die, which then falls quietly into the cup held to receive it.

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No. Lxiv.—Will They Fall?

When the single domino shown in the diagram in front of the double archway, is quite smartly tipped up by the forefinger carefully inserted through the lower arch, the stone which lies flat below another is knocked clean out, while none of the other stones fall, another practical illustration of vis inertiæ.

For this very curious trick, club dominoes, thick and large, should be used. Some patience and experience is needed, but success at last is certain.

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No. Lxv.—A Transposition

You will be able to place the shaded coin between the other two in a straight line without touching one of these, and without moving the other, if you place a finger firmly on the king’s head and then move the shaded coin an inch or two to the right, and flick it back against the coin you hold. The other “tail” coin will then spring away far enough to allow the space that is required.

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No. Lxvi.—Coin Counting

After reaching and turning the coin which you first call “four,” miss three coins, and begin then a fresh set of four; repeat this process to the end.

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No. Lxviii.—Nuts to Crack

Hold a cup of water so that it will wet the handle of the knife, then remove it, and place the nut exactly on the spot where the drop of water falls from the handle.

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No. Lxxi.—What Is This?

The photographic enlargement is simply a much magnified reproduction of Mr Chamberlain’s eye and eyeglass, exactly as they appear in the picture which we give below, taken from its negative. A strong condensing lens will reproduce the original effect, which can also be obtained by holding the enlargement at a distance.

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No. Lxxv.—The Seal of Mahomet

This double crescent may be drawn by one continuous line, without passing twice over any part, by starting at A, passing along the curve AGD, from D along DEB, from B along BFC, and from C along CEA.

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No. Lxxvi.—Move the Matches

If fifteen matches are arranged thus—

and six are removed, ten is the number that remains, thus—

or one hundred may remain, thus:—

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No. Lxxvii.—Lines on an Old Sampler

This diagram shows the arrangement in which seventeen trees can be planted in twenty-eight rows, three trees in each row:—

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No. Lxxxi.—Counting Them Out

Here is an arrangement of dominoes which enables us to count out the first twelve numbers, one after the other, by their spelling:—

Start with the double five, and, touching each stone in turn, say o, n, e, one; remove the stone with one pip, and go on, t, w, o, two; remove the two, and say t, h, r, e, e, three, and so on till you reach at last the twelve.

Playing cards can be used, counting knave, queen, as eleven, twelve. It makes quite a good trick if you place the cards face downwards in the proper order, and then, saying that you will call up each number in turn, move the cards one at a time to the other end, spelling out each number as before, either aloud or not, and turning up and throwing out each as you hit upon it. If you do not call the letters aloud it adds to the mystery if you are blindfolded.

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No. Lxxxii.—Tricks with Dominoes

This is the other combination of stones and their pips which fulfils the conditions, and forms the word AGES.

In both cases a complete set of stones is used, which are arranged in proper domino sequence, and everyone of the eight letters carries exactly forty-two pips.

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No. Xci—The Stolen Pearls

The dishonest jeweller reset the pearls in a cross so that its arms were a stage higher up. It will be seen that by this arrangement nine pearls can still be counted in each direction.

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Enigmas

1. Self-assassin, a neddy. Saw an ass in an eddy!

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2. To get her: Together.

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3. A candle.

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4. Liquorice.

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5. A book.

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6. One solver proposes raven, croaking before a storm; once an object of worship; seldom seen; forbidden in Leviticus as food; alone with Noah when its mate was sent forth; weighing about 3 lbs; the name of a small South Carolina island, having as its first and last letters R and N; the Royal Navy.

Another finds in K the key, as that letter with no ar is alone in ark. With much ingenuity he shows that the last line calls for a second letter, and that the letters K and G can be traced throughout almost all Hallam’s “lights;” Kilogram being nearly 3 lbs., and Knot a mile; while either K.G. (Knight of the Garter) or King would fit the final line.

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7. The lines become “rank treason” if the corresponding lines of the two stanzas are read together, thus:—

The pomps of Courts and pride of Kings
I fain would banish far from hence,

and so on throughout.

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8. A pair of skates.

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9. A shadow.

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10. A chair.

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11. The changes that are rung are one, eno, Noe, neo, eon, on, none.

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12. Cares, caress.

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13. Echo.

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14. Strike.

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15. A pair of spurs.

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16. A.D.A.M.; Adam; a dam; Adam; a damson; a dam.

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17. The CID, the Castilian hero whose fame was at its height in the middle of the eleventh century.

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18. A sigh.

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19. Coxcomb.

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20. Jack and Jill.

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21. A man’s felt hat.

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22. Measurable.

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23. Chair, char, arch.

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24. Sala (G.A.S.), which reversed is alas.

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25. Page, (p)age.

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26. C (sea), A (hay), T (tea).

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27. A BROKEN TALE

The deil jumped over the clouds so high
That he bounded almost right over the sky.
Over gates and fields, and under the trees
He dodged, with his tail dragging over all these,
But, alas! made a terrible blunder,
For a twist in his tail hooked under a rail,
And broke that appendage asunder.

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28. Yesterday. Most excludes Adam, and ter is half of terror.

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29. Donkey.

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30. Mental, lament, mantle.

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31. His heels.

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32. Tares, tears, a rest.

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33. Connecticut.

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34. Grate, rate, rat, ate.

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35. Mary, in fanciful mood, on her thirty-sixth birthday, decorated her pincushion thus—XXXVI.

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36. Opinionist.

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37. Violin (LVII + on).

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38. Trout (tr—out).

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39. Post—stop.

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40. A pair of scissors in a case.

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41. Dog.

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42. Mainland.

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43. Changed.

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44. The name of the Russian nobleman’s third son, the boy who went to sea, was Yvan. As the name of the eldest, Rab, who became a lawyer, was Bar reversed, and that of the soldier son Mary was Army as an anagram, so Yvan’s name resolves itself into Navy, his profession.

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45. VIVID.

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46. Nothing.

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47. London.

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48. Rock, cork.

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49. Place, lace, ace, lac.

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50. a, e, i, o, u, y.

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51. The solution of the enigma which begins:—

“Twice six is six, and so
Six is but three;
Three is just five you know,
What can we be?”

is the number of letters of the alphabet used in spelling a number. Thus twice six, or twelve, is composed of six letters, and so on.

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52. A button.

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53. LEVEL—MADAM.

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54. An egg.

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55. Vague.

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56.

A headless man had a letter to write,
(The letter O, i.e. nothing.)
He who read it had lost his sight,
(He read nothing.)
The dumb repeated it word for word,
(He said nothing.)
And deaf was he who listened and heard.
(He heard nothing.)

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57. Highway.

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58. A set of false teeth.

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59. The “fearful fate” enigma is slaughter; cut off its head and we have laughter; lop off its shoulders and we find aught.

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60. Speculation—peculations.

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61. The word “united” is “of fellowship the token,” and the requirement “reverse it, and the bond is broken” refers only to the two central letters. When this is reversed the word “untied” is formed.

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62. Average.

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63. German—manger.

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64. Corkscrew.

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65. Tar is transformed by Art, and as a sailor is fond of port, and blisters in the sun. When it turns to run it becomes Rat, and when it doubles it is Tartar, and is caught.

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66.

A man with one eye two plums must have seen,
One perfectly ripe, the other quite green.
The former he took, and ate it with pleasure,
The other he left to ripen at leisure.

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67. A widower who has lost two wives.

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68. The grape-vine on the Marquis of Breadalbane’s estate, Killin, N.B., which bears more than 5000 bunches of grapes, of which only 500, properly thinned out, are allowed to mature, so that the fewer and smaller bunches bear finer fruit.

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69. Poe, poet, poetry.

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70. Theatres. The articles the and a lead on to the other four letters tres, and these form the word rest, if the t is transferred to the end.

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71. Scold, cold, old.

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72. Justice, (just—ice).

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73. A shadow.

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74. VI., IV., I.

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75. The letter I.

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76. The letter V.

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77. An army.

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78. A rich table; chair, table; charitable.

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79. High-low.

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80. Orange, pear, date, banana, peach, plum, lime, lemon, mango, apple.

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81. Innuendo.

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82. Snipe, of which pines is an exact anagram.

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83.

None can locate the subject of my riddle,
For all the world would seek its place in vain,
Cut it asunder almost in the middle,
And in our very midst its place is plain

is solved by nowhere, now here.

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Charades

1. Good-night (knight).

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2. Grandson.

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3. Oyster.

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4. Stay-lace.

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5. Ann—ounce.

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6. VOID, OVID.

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7. Disconsolate (disc—on—so—late).

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8. Ginger—Nigger. (G.E.R. Great Eastern Railway).

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9. Honesty (hone, below the razor).

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10. Nutmeg.

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11. Waterloo.

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12. Whether (whet—her).

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13. Mendicant (mend I can’t).

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14. Campbell.

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15. Foxglove.

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16. Anglesea.

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17. Shewed.

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18. Sparrow, often a gutter percher!

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19. Dishonest (dish—one—st).

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20. Dogmatism.

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21. Anthem.

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22. Gigantic (gig—antic).

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23. Toad (ad is Latin for to).

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24. Cineraria (sinner—area).

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25. Ignis—fatuus, or Will-o’-the-wisp (ignis, fire—fatuus, a fool).

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26. Isis (sis in Latin, thou mayest be).

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27. Capacity.

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28. Scarcity.

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29. Pardon.

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30. Humbug.

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31. Ramrod.

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32. Dumpling.

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33. Into.

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34. Herring.

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35. Dublin (bud—nil).

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36. Peerless.

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37. Beatrice.

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38. Beam—be is half of the word verb, am is half of same, and be and am are similar in sense.

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39. Pulpit.

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40. Spare—rib.

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41. Usher.

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42. The ship Carmania.

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43. Candid.

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44. Husbandman.

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45. Hamlet.

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46. Handcuff.

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47. Sinecure.

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48. Infancy.

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49. Teachest.

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50. Hippodrome.

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51. Invalid.

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52. Woman.

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53. Kensington.

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54. Benjamin.

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55. Stipendiary.

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56. Wonder.

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57. Cabin.

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58. Falstaff.

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59. Periwinkle.

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60. Nameless.

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61. Fourscore.

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62. Hatred.

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63. Catsup.

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64. Molestation.

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65. Omen.

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66. Isinglass.

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67. Muffin.

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68. Footman.

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69. Sparrow-grass.

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70. Matchless.

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71. Planted.

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72. Toast-rack.

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73. Half-and-half, if properly punctuated.

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Riddles and Conundrums

1. Washerwoman.

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2.

“Call me an uncle, then you speak me fair,
Call me an uncle-an uncle if you dare!”

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3. Pluck the goose.

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4. Also.

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5. A lawsuit.

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6. Because they are bargains.

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7. A pair of shoes.

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8. Because whenever he goes out he can put his portmanteaux (Portman toes) into his boots.

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9. FIVE.

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10. Rail—liar.

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11. Because it slopes with a flap!

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12. In California they eat all the peaches they can, and can all they can’t!

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13. The utmost effort ever made by a piebald (or by any) horse at a high jump is four feet from the ground!

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14. Insatiate (in—sat—I—ate).

The clever couplet—

Under my first my second stood.
That’s your riddle: mine’s as good!

was intended to point out that the enigma

In my first my second sat,
Then my third and fourth I ate

was understood, and to frame at the same time a fresh one of similar sort.

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15. A gardener minds his peas, a billiard-marker his cues, a precise man his p’s and q’s, and a verger his keys and pews.

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16. A man with one eye can see more than a man with two, for in addition to all else he can see the other man’s two eyes, which can only see his one.

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17. When you ask a policeman what o’clock it is, you are like the Viceroy of India, because you are as king for the time.

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18. “What does Y E S spell?” is the question to which “yes” is the only possible reply.

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19. An umbrella.

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20. London for many years was a wonderful place for sound, for you could laugh at 5 p.m. at Waterloo Junction, and by walking briskly across the river be in time for the late Echo at Charing Cross.

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21. Because it may be smelt!

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22. The full reading of “1s. 6d. me a bloater” is “Bob Tanner sent me a bloater.”

Note.—If any solver should ask, “But where is the ‘sent’?” we reply, “The scent was in the bloater!”

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23. The solution of the prime conundrum “Why is a moth flying round a candle like a garden gate?” is—Because if it keeps on it singes its wings (its hinges it swings).

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24. (Twe)lve—twe(nty) = twenty.

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25. Because it would be my newt (minute).

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26. The steps by which, in paying my debt to a lawyer, a threepenny piece swells to the needed six and eightpence are these:—

Three pence is one and two pence;
One and two pence is fourteen pence;
Fourteen pence is six and eight pence!

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27. When the Vickers Maxim (vicar smacks him).

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28. Children should go to bed soon after tea because when “t” is taken away night is nigh.

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29. Scottish may be lighter than Irish men, for while Irishmen may be men of Cork, Scotsmen may be men of Ayr.

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30. Because barbers do not cut hair any longer!

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31. Colenso.

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32. This is Archbishop Whately’s riddle, and a solution, suggested long after his offer of £50 had expired:—

When from the Ark’s capacious round
Mankind came forth in pairs,
Who was it that first heard the sound
Of boots upon the stairs?

To him who cons the matter o’er,
A little thought reveals,
He heard it first who went before
Two pairs of soles and eels!

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33. If Moses was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he was the daughter of Pharaoh’s son.

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34. The word of three syllables which represents woman or man alternately by three contractions is heroine—hero—her—he.

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35. Solution to-morrow!

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36. Wholesome.

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37. They were jolly well tired!

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38. The stocks.

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39. Because it makes a far—thing present.

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40. If I were in the sun, and you were out of it, it would be a sin.

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41. COLD.

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42. Take off—ice.

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43. Enduring.

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44. Uncross the “t” of “a foot,” and it becomes “a fool.”

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45. A rabbit can run into a square wood with sides that each measures a mile, keeping always in a straight line, until it reaches the middle of the wood, when it must begin to run out of it!

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46. To-morrow.

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47. Scar—bo—rough.

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48.

Though I in time for lunch may be,
U cannot come till after T.

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49. A wig.

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50. Because we cannot be wed without it.

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51. A spit.

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52. Wit (double you—I—tea).

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53. Holding up your hand you will see what you never have seen, never can see, and never will see—namely, the little finger as long as the finger next to it!

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54. The Emperor of Russia issues manifestoes. An ill-shod beggar manifests toes without his shoes!

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55. To show Walsham How a good bishop is made.

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56. There was certainly a tribe of Man—asses.

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57. L. s. d.

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58. A pillow.

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59. Abused (a—b—used).

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60. A settler.

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61. Because John Burns.

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62. It looks round!

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63. A minute.

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64. A deaf and dumb man cannot tickle nine persons, because he can only gesticulate (just tickle eight!).

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65. London always began with an l, and end always began with an e!

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66. Season.

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67. The new moon, for the full moon is much lighter.

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68. Island (la is the middle, is is the beginning, and is the end!).

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69. Because! (bee caws).

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70. The reading of the Dark Rebus

O
B e D

is—a little blackie in bed with nothing over him.

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71. If a monkey is placed before a cross it at once gets to the top, for APE is then APEX.

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72. The answer to this riddle, defined as “two heads and an application,” is a kiss.

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73. The Latin expression of encouragement “macte” may be applied in its English equivalent in-crease to a batsman when an umpire says of him “not out” after a risky run.

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74. The place which answers to the description “Half an inch (ch) before the trees (elms), half a foot (fo), and half a yard (rd) after them leads us to an English town,” is Chelmsford.

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75. The subject of the riddle, which none can locate, is nowhere. Cut asunder almost in the middle, it breaks into the opposite extreme, and becomes now here!

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76. The two letters which in nine letters describe the position of one who has been left alone in his extremity are a b and one d. Abandoned.

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77. Usher (us—her).

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78. You can make a Maltese cross with less than twelve unbent and unbroken matches, by striking only one match and dropping it down his back. If the first fails, try another!

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79. We may suppose that there were less vowels than we have now in the early days of Noe, when u and i were not there.

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80. An orange (or—ange).

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81. The moral taught to us by the old emblem of a weathercock in the shape of a fish on a church near Lewes is, “It is vain to aspire!”

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82. FIDDLE.

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83. The words “for the want of water we drank water, and if we had had water we should have drank wine,” were spoken by the crew of a vessel that could not cross the harbour bar for want of water, and who had no wine on board.

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84.

The poor have two, the rich have none,
Millions have many, you have one,

is solved by O.

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85. Money.

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86. Had I been in Stanley’s place when Marmion cried “On, Stanley, on!” the resulting word on-i-on would have made the Scottish fray seem more like Irish stew.

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87. The figure O.

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88.

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, in Greek called beta, and two little es.

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89. Its.

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90. Inch—chin.

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Nuts to Crack

1. CRAZY LOGIC

Can you prove that madman = madam is solved thus:—

A madman is a man beside himself. Therefore a madman = two men.

Madam is a woman. Woman is double you O man (w-o-man). Therefore madam = two men.

And as things which are equal to the same are equal to one another, therefore madman = madam.

Q. E. D.
(Quite easily Done.)

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2. A BIT OF BOTANY

The water-plant is the Frogbit, which floats and spreads on the surface of ponds and pools.

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3. The six islands buried in the lines—

He set down the answer to that sum at random.

By bold policy Prussia became a leading power.

A great taste for mosaic has arisen lately.

The glad news was swiftly borne over England.

At dusk, year after year, the old man rambled home.

The children cried, hearing such dismal tales.

are Sumatra, Cyprus, Formosa, Borneo, Skye, Malta.

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4. The seven geographical names “buried” in the sentence, “We could hide a light royal boat with a man or two; the skipper, though, came to a bad end,” are Deal, Troy, Witham, Esk, Perth, Baden, Aden.

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5. The jumbled letter lines read thus:—

Let those who deal in mystic rhymes
This transposition trace;
And to The Standard send betimes
Each letter in its place.

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6.

Three little articles all in a line
Lead to a thousand, expressing,
If with another all these you combine,
What can be never a blessing—

is solved by ANATHEMA (an-a-the-M-a).

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7.

Ask a policeman, possibly he knows
In uniformed array
If not, an added letter plainly shows
How little he can say—

is solved by adding n to uniformed—uninformed.

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8. The Ruling letters in:—

We rule the world, we letters five,
We rule the world, we do!
And of our number three contrive
To rule the other two—

are B. U. T. (beauty), and Y. Z. (wise head).

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9. Many might punctuate the sentence, “Maud like the pretty girl that she was went for a walk in the meadows” by merely putting a full stop at the end of it. But why not make a dash after Maud?

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10. The answer by Echo to

What were they who paid three guineas
To hear a tune of Paganini’s

is Pack o’ ninnies!

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11. The verse in which only five different letters are used is—

It is nineteen tennis nets,
Nine in tents in tints intense.
Ten sent in inset in sets,
See it, test it, it is sense!

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12. The catch sentence: “If is is not is and is not is is what is it is not is and what is it is is not if is not is is?” becomes intelligible if it is punctuated thus: If “is” is not “is,” and “is not” is “is,” what is it “is not” is, and what is it “is” is not, if “is not” is “is?”

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13. The words on the placard were PALE ALE, and these through the steps described become PA-LE AP-LE, APPLE.

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14. The reading of “Time flies you cannot they pass at such irregular intervals,” is as though it ran “You cannot time flies, they pass at such irregular intervals.”

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ROYAL MEMORIES

15. I was reminded of Queen Victoria as I entered the South Kensington Museum at five minutes to one, because I noticed that the hands of my watch were so placed as to represent a very perfect V.

When I left the building it was twenty-five minutes and forty-five seconds to six, and then the hands, with the help of the seconds hand which crossed it, formed a very perfect A, and so reminded me of Prince Albert.

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16. The solution of

CCC SAW

is “the season was backward.”

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17. THE OLD LATIN LEGEND

AMANS TAM ERAT
HI DESINT HERO
AD DIGITO UT MANDO

reads off into excellent English thus:—

“A man’s tame rat hides in the road; dig it out man, do!”

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18. The statement “I know that roseate hues preserve” does not imply that there is any curative virtue in rose-coloured rays, but asserts “I know that Rose ate Hugh’s preserve!”

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19. The following exception was taken to Dr Fell’s diet for the sick of all sops:—

“Sure the doctor’s wits are failing,”
Cried a saucy wag.
“Allsopp’s ale the sick and ailing
To their bier will drag.”

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20. The English dislocated sentence formed by these thirty-six letters:—

SAR BAB SAR BAB SAR BAB
SAR BAB SAR BAB SAR ARA

is, “A bar as a barb bars Barbara’s Barabbas.”

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21. The Wiltshire farmer’s sentence—

“Igineyvartydreevriswutts”

when interpreted runs, “I gave him forty-three for his oats.”

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22. Here is a tolerable rhyme to Chrysanthemum:—

Through gardens where appear
Beds of chrysanthemum,
We pass at eve to hear
Our choir their anthem hum.

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23. This was, in brief, the pathetic tale of the three eggs—“Two bad!”

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24. THE ANCIENT LEGEND

Doun tooth ers
A sy
Ouw ould bed
One by.

reads thus:—“Do unto others as you would be done by.”

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25. There were but six persons in the vault which contained two grandmothers and their two grand-daughters; two husbands and their two wives; two fathers and their two daughters; two mothers and their two sons; two maidens and their two mothers; two sisters and their two brothers. Two widows had each one son, and each married the son of the other, and had a daughter by the marriage.

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26. The supposed charm—

ground
turn evil star

given by the wise woman to a nervous couple, to counteract their evil star, and account for mysterious noises, is merely “Rats live underground,” turn being a direction to the solver.

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27. The word composed of five varied vowels of foreign sound, with but one consonant between them, is oiseau, the French for bird. The three letters which flow in four are eau, water, which flows in the River Oise, and the other trio spell oie, a goose, which is found therein.

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28. The Paradox—

What in his mind no man can find
Four symbols will display;
But only one remains behind
If one we take away—

is solved by Bone.

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29. The barber who had placed in his window the notice—

“What do you think
I will shave you for nothing and give you a drink”

explained, to the man who expected a free shave and a cool drink, that the interpretation was really this:—“What? Do you think I will shave you for nothing, and give you a drink?”

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30. The curious Latin label—

GENUI NE JAM
A
ICARUM.

has no reference to Icarus, or to flying machines. Its proper place was on a cask of “Genuine Jamaica Rum.”

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31. The puzzle word is ipecacuanha.

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32.

Johnson’s cat went up a tree,
Which was sixty feet and three;
Every day she climbed eleven,
Every night she came down seven.
Tell me, if she did not drop,
When her paws would touch the top—

is solved thus:—As each day and night the cat climbed up eleven feet, and came down seven, the daily upward gain was four feet, and thirteen days would bring her fifty-two feet up the tree. Then on the fourteenth day she mounted the remaining eleven feet, and was at the top, so that no coming down seven feet is to be taken into account, and she attains her place in fourteen days.

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33.

A third of six behind them fix,
A third of six before;
Thus makes two nines, when all combines,
Exactly fifty-four—

is solved:—

IX NINE (the two nines.)

IX NINES = 54.

(S is a third of six) S

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34. To bridge the moat, or space between the two squares which one match cannot span, place one match across one of the corners of the outer square, and the other from this to the inner square.

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35.

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 vengeance).

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36. Mrs P.W. had only one guest to provide for. Her husband had invited his father’s brother-in-law, Jones, who was his brother’s father-in-law, because Mr P.W.’s brother had married Jones’ daughter, and his father-in-law’s brother, because he had himself married Jones’ niece, and also his brother-in-law’s father, as Mr P.W.’s sister married Jones’ son.

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37. This sharp customer started with fivepence farthing, and gradually extracted from the landlord’s pocket a shilling and three farthings towards the eighteenpence which he spent in refreshments.

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38. To form four triangles of equal size with six similar matches, place three of them in a triangle on the table, and hold or balance the other three above these, so as to form the skeleton of a pyramid.

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39. The following couplet solves this question:—

Forty-five-years I had seen
When my bride was but fifteen

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40. The lad gave tenpence each to a grandfather, his son, and his grandson.

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41. Nell’s reply to Tom, when he said, with a yawn, “I wish we could play lawn-tennis!” “Odioso ni mus rem. Moto ima os illud nam,” was not Latin, but good sound English. Read each word in its order backwards, and you have-- “Oh! so do I in summer. Oh, Tom! am I so dull, I man?”

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42. The policeman who was looking up the road for motor-car scorchers was able to see that his mate, who was looking down the road, was smiling, because they stood face to face.

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43.

Twenty-seven with three nines
You and I can score;
Anyone on other lines
Can extend them more.
Who can write them to be seen
Equal only to sixteen?—

is solved thus:—Two of the three nines are reversed, and then

966 = 16.

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44. The trying sentence, “that that is is that that is not is not is not that it it is,” is cleared thus by proper punctuation:—That that is, is; that that is not, is not. Is not that it? It is.

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45. A L L O is “Nothing after all.”

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46. The proverb with missing consonants is—Give a dog a bad name and hang him.

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47. If to the thirteen upright strokes—

| | | | | | | | | | | | |

thirteen more are added, the word HOTTENTOT may be formed.

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48. A coroner could, after signing his name, write down his official position with c or one r.

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