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^.
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?
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.
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?
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?
16. A SEASONABLE MOTTO
CCC
---
SAW
17. AN OLD LATIN LEGEND
+------------------+
| AMANS TAM ERAT |
| HI DESINT HERO |
|AD DIGITO UT MANDO|
+------------------+
What is the interpretation?
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.”
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?
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?
21. BROAD WILTSHIRE
“Igineyvartydreevriswutts.”
Can you interpret this sentence, spoken by a sturdy farmer in the corn
market?
22. FIND A RHYME
Try to find a rhyme to Chrysanthemum.
23. ABOUT THE EGGS
Did you hear that pathetic tale of the three eggs?
24. AN ANCIENT LEGEND
+--------------+
|Doun tooth ers|
| A sy |
| Ouw ould bed |
| One by. |
+--------------+
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?
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?
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.
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.
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?
30. A FLIGHT OF FANCY
+-------------------------+
| G E N U I N E J A M |
| A |
| I C A R U M. |
+-------------------------+
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
38. A CLEVER CONSTRUCTION
How can four triangles of equal size be formed with six similar matches?
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.
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?
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?
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?
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?
44. A TRYING SENTENCE
That that is is that that is not is not is not that it it is.
45. SHORT AND SWEET
What is this?
A L L O.
46. SUPPLY THE CONSONANTS
AN ENGLISH PROVERB
i e a o a a a e a a i
47. IT LOOKS BLACK
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
Add thirteen more strokes, and make--what?
48. THE CORONER’S CHOICE
Can a coroner, after signing his name, write his official position in
more ways than one?
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:--
[Illustration: 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).
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.
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.
No. XXX.--THE UNIQUE TRIANGLE
The figures to be transposed in triangle A are 9 and 3 and 7 and 1.
/\ /\
/ \ / \
/ 5 \ / 5 \
/ \ / \
/ 4 6 \ / 4 6 \
/ \ / \
/ 3 7 \ / 9 1 \
/ \ / \
/ 2 1 9 8 \ / 2 7 3 8 \
------------------ ------------------
A B
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.
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.
[Illustration]
Thus, for examples--
7 + 12 = 14 + 5 = 4 + 15 = 19
7 + 11 + 14 + 6 ------- = 38
7 + 14 + 4 + 5 + 12 + 15 = 57
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.
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.
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.
No. XXXVIII.--SORTING THE COUNTERS
The counters are changed in four moves only, moving two at a time as
follows:--
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| ○ | ● | ○ | ● | ○ | ● | ○ | ● | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | ● | ● | ● | ● | ○ | ○ | ○ | ○ |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
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.
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.
[Illustration]
This is a very simple and effective after-dinner trick. Small matches
move best.
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:--
[Illustration]
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.
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.
[Illustration]
We have purposely left spaces wide enough to make the solution perfectly
clear.
No. XLVIII.--A BOTTLED BUTTON
[Illustration]
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.
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.
[Illustration]
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.
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.
[Illustration]
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.
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.
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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_.
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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.
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_.
[Illustration]
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.
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.
[Illustration]
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.
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.
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.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
No. LXXV.--THE SEAL OF MAHOMET
[Illustration]
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_.
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:--
-------| -------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| |------- |-------
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:--
[Illustration]
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:--
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
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.
No. LXXXII.--TRICKS WITH DOMINOES
This is the other combination of stones and their pips which fulfils the
conditions, and forms the word AGES.
+---+-------+---+ +-------+-------+ +---+-------+---+ +-------+-------+
| 6 | 6 5 | 5 | | 6 4 | 4 0 | | 1 | 1 1 | 1 | | 0 5 | 5 3 |
| +-------+ | +---+---+-------+ | +-------+ | +---+---+-------+
| 0 | | 4 | | 6 | | 6 | | 4 | | 0 |
+---+---+---+---+ | | +-------+ +---+---+ +---+ | +-------+---+
| 0 0 | 4 4 | | 3 | | 4 2 | | 6 6 | | 2 | 2 2 | 2 |
+---+---+---+---+ +---+ +---+---+ +---+---+ +---+ +---+-------+ |
| 0 | | 4 | | 3 | | 2 | | 6 | | 0 | | 5 |
| | | | | +-------+ | | +-------+ | +-------+---+---+
| 1 | | 3 | | 3 | 3 1 | 1 | | 2 | 2 3 | 3 | | 1 5 | 5 5 |
+---+ +---+ +---+-------+---+ +---+-------+---+ +-------+-------+
+-------+-------+ +---+-------+ +---+-------+---+ +---+ +---+
| 6 5 | 5 3 | | 1 | 1 5 | | 1 | 1 1 | 1 | | 5 | | 0 |
+---+---+-------+ | +---+---+ | +-------+ | | | | |
| 6 | | 0 | | 5 | | 6 | | 2 | | 4 | | 3 |
| | +---+ | | +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+
| 0 +-------+ | 0 | | 2 | | 6 | | 4 +-------+ 3 |
+---+ 0 2 | | +---+---+ | | | | 4 3 | |
| 0 +-------+ | 4 | 4 2 | | 6 | | 4 +-------+ 3 |
| | +---+---+---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+
| 0 | | 4 | | 2 | | 6 | | 2 | | 4 | | 3 |
+---+---+-------+ | | | | | +-------+ | | | | |
| 0 5 | 5 5 | | 6 | | 6 | | 3 | 3 2 | 2 | | 1 | | 1 |
+-------+-------+ +---+ +---+ +---+-------+---+ +---+ +---+
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.
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.
[Illustration]
ENIGMAS
1. Self-assassin, a neddy. Saw an ass in an eddy!
2. To get her: Together.
3. A candle.
4. Liquorice.
5. A book.
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.
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.
8. A pair of skates.
9. A shadow.
10. A chair.
11. The changes that are rung are one, eno, Noe, neo, eon, on, none.
12. Cares, caress.
13. Echo.
14. Strike.
15. A pair of spurs.
16. A.D.A.M.; Adam; a dam; Adam; a damson; a dam.
17. The CID, the Castilian hero whose fame was at its height in the
middle of the eleventh century.
18. A sigh.
19. Coxcomb.
20. Jack and Jill.
21. A man’s felt hat.
22. Measurable.
23. Chair, char, arch.
24. Sala (G.A.S.), which reversed is _alas_.
25. Page, (p)age.
26. C (sea), A (hay), T (tea).
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.
28. Yesterday. _Most_ excludes Adam, and _ter_ is half of _terror_.
29. Donkey.
30. Mental, lament, mantle.
31. His heels.
32. Tares, tears, a rest.
33. Connecticut.
34. Grate, rate, rat, ate.
35. Mary, in fanciful mood, on her thirty-sixth birthday, decorated her
pincushion thus--XXXVI.
36. Opinionist.
37. Violin (LVII + on).
38. Trout (tr--out).
39. Post--stop.
40. A pair of scissors in a case.
41. Dog.
42. Mainland.
43. Changed.
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.
45. VIVID.
46. Nothing.
47. London.
48. Rock, cork.
49. Place, lace, ace, lac.
50. a, e, i, o, u, y.
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.
52. A button.
53. LEVEL--MADAM.
54. An egg.
55. Vague.
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_.)
57. Highway.
58. A set of false teeth.
59. The “fearful fate” enigma is slaughter; cut off its head and we have
laughter; lop off its shoulders and we find aught.
60. Speculation--peculations.
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.
62. Average.
63. German--manger.
64. Corkscrew.
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.
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.
67. A widower who has lost two wives.
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.
69. Poe, poet, poetry.
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.
71. Scold, cold, old.
72. Justice, (_just_--_ice_).
73. A shadow.
74. VI., IV., I.
75. The letter I.
76. The letter V.
77. An army.
78. _A rich table_; _chair_, _table_; _charitable_.
79. High-low.
80. Orange, pear, date, banana, peach, plum, lime, lemon, mango, apple.
81. Innuendo.
82. Snipe, of which _pines_ is an exact anagram.
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_.
CHARADES
1. Good-night (knight).
2. Grandson.
3. Oyster.
4. Stay-lace.
5. Ann--ounce.
6. VOID, OVID.
7. Disconsolate (disc--on--so--late).
8. Ginger--Nigger. (G.E.R. Great Eastern Railway).
9. Honesty (hone, below the razor).
10. Nutmeg.
11. Waterloo.
12. Whether (whet--her).
13. Mendicant (mend I can’t).
14. Campbell.
15. Foxglove.
16. Anglesea.
17. Shewed.
18. Sparrow, often a gutter percher!
19. Dishonest (dish--one--st).
20. Dogmatism.
21. Anthem.
22. Gigantic (gig--antic).
23. Toad (_ad_ is Latin for _to_).
24. Cineraria (sinner--area).
25. Ignis--fatuus, or Will-o’-the-wisp (ignis, fire--fatuus, a fool).
26. Isis (sis in Latin, _thou mayest be_).
27. Capacity.
28. Scarcity.
29. Pardon.
30. Humbug.
31. Ramrod.
32. Dumpling.
33. Into.
34. Herring.
35. Dublin (bud--nil).
36. Peerless.
37. Beatrice.
38. Beam--_be_ is half of the word _verb_, _am_ is half of _same_, and
_be_ and _am_ are similar in sense.
39. Pulpit.
40. Spare--rib.
41. Usher.
42. The ship _Carmania_.
43. Candid.
44. Husbandman.
45. Hamlet.
46. Handcuff.
47. Sinecure.
48. Infancy.
49. Teachest.
50. Hippodrome.
51. Invalid.
52. Woman.
53. Kensington.
54. Benjamin.
55. Stipendiary.
56. Wonder.
57. Cabin.
58. Falstaff.
59. Periwinkle.
60. Nameless.
61. Fourscore.
62. Hatred.
63. Catsup.
64. Molestation.
65. Omen.
66. Isinglass.
67. Muffin.
68. Footman.
69. Sparrow-grass.
70. Matchless.
71. Planted.
72. Toast-rack.
73. Half-and-half, if properly punctuated.
RIDDLES AND CONUNDRUMS
1. Washerwoman.
2.
“Call me an uncle, then you speak me fair,
Call me an _uncle_-_an_ uncle if you dare!”
3. Pluck the goose.
4. Also.
5. A lawsuit.
6. Because they are bargains.
7. A pair of shoes.
8. Because whenever he goes out he can put his portmanteaux (Portman
toes) into his boots.
9. FIVE.
10. Rail--liar.
11. Because it slopes with a flap!
12. In California they eat all the peaches they can, and can all they
can’t!
13. The utmost effort ever made by a piebald (or by any) horse at a high
jump is _four feet from the ground_!
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.
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.
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.
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_.
18. “What does Y E S spell?” is the question to which “yes” is the only
possible reply.
19. An umbrella.
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.
21. Because it may be smelt!
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!”
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).
24. (Twe)lve--twe(nty) = twenty.
25. Because it would be my newt (minute).
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!
27. When the Vickers Maxim (vicar smacks him).
28. Children should go to bed soon after tea because when “t” is taken
away _night_ is _nigh_.
29. Scottish may be lighter than Irish men, for while Irishmen may be
men of Cork, Scotsmen may be men of Ayr.
30. Because barbers do not cut hair any longer!
31. Colenso.
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!
33. If Moses was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, _he_ was the daughter of
Pharaoh’s son.
34. The word of three syllables which represents woman or man
alternately by three contractions is heroine--hero--her--he.
35. Solution to-morrow!
36. Wholesome.
37. They were jolly well tired!
38. The stocks.
39. Because it makes a far--thing present.
40. If I were in the sun, and you were out of it, it would be a _sin_.
41. COLD.
42. Take _off_--_ice_.
43. Enduring.
44. Uncross the “t” of “a foot,” and it becomes “a fool.”
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!
46. To-morrow.
47. Scar--bo--rough.
48.
Though I in time for lunch may be,
U cannot come till after T.
49. A wig.
50. Because _we_ cannot be _wed_ without it.
51. A spit.
52. Wit (double you--I--tea).
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!
54. The Emperor of Russia issues manifestoes. An ill-shod beggar
manifests toes without his shoes!
55. To show Walsham How a good bishop is made.
56. There was certainly a tribe of Man--asses.
57. L. s. d.
58. A pillow.
59. Abused (a--b--used).
60. A settler.
61. Because John Burns.
62. It looks round!
63. A minute.
64. A deaf and dumb man cannot tickle nine persons, because he can only
gesticulate (just tickle eight!).
65. London always began with an _l_, and end always began with an _e_!
66. Season.
67. The new moon, for the full moon is much lighter.
68. Island (_la_ is the middle, _is_ is the beginning, _and_ is the
end!).
69. Because! (_bee caws_).
70. The reading of the Dark Rebus
O
B =e= D
is--a little blackie in bed with nothing over him.
71. If a monkey is placed before a cross it at once gets to the top, for
APE is then APEX.
72. The answer to this riddle, defined as “two heads and an
application,” is _a kiss_.
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.
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_.
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_!
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._
77. Usher (us--her).
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!
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.
80. An orange (or--ange).
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!”
82. FIDDLE.
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.
84.
The poor have two, the rich have none,
Millions have many, you have one,
is solved by O.
85. Money.
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.
87. The figure O.
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 _e_s.
89. Its.
90. Inch--chin.
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._)
2. A BIT OF BOTANY
The water-plant is the _Frogbit_, which floats and spreads on the
surface of ponds and pools.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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_.
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).
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_?
10. The answer by Echo to
What were they who paid three guineas
To hear a tune of Paganini’s
is _Pack o’ ninnies_!
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!
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?”
13. The words on the placard were PALE ALE, and these through the steps
described become PA-LE AP-LE, APPLE.
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.”
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.
16. The solution of
CCC
---
SAW
is “the season was backward.”
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!”
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!”
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.”
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.”
21. The Wiltshire farmer’s sentence--
“Igineyvartydreevriswutts”
when interpreted runs, “I gave him forty-three for his oats.”
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.
23. This was, in brief, the pathetic tale of the three eggs--“_Two
bad!_”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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_.
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?”
30. The curious Latin label--
+-------------------------+
| G E N U I N E J A M |
| A |
| I C A R U M. |
+-------------------------+
has no reference to Icarus, or to flying machines. Its proper place was
on a cask of “Genuine Jamaica Rum.”
31. The puzzle word is ipecacuanha.
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_.
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.)
(S is a third of six) SIX NINES = 54.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
39. The following couplet solves this question:--
Forty-five-years I had seen
When my bride was but fifteen
40. The lad gave tenpence each to a grandfather, his son, and his
grandson.
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?”
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.
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
96
-- = 16.
6
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.
45. A L L O is “Nothing after all.”
46. The proverb with missing consonants is--Give a dog a bad name and
hang him.
47. If to the thirteen upright strokes--
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
thirteen more are added, the word HOTTENTOT may be formed.
48. A coroner could, after signing his name, write down his official
position with _c or one r_.
=PART II.=
CONTENTS
PAGE
OPTICAL ILLUSIONS II-1
FREAKS OF FIGURES II-20
CHESS CAMEOS II-26
SCIENCE AT PLAY II-58
CURIOUS CALCULATIONS II-114
WORD AND LETTER PUZZLES II-147
SOLUTIONS II-167
OPTICAL ILLUSIONS
No. I.--SWALLOWED!
Take a small card and place it on its longer edge upon the dotted line.
Now set the picture in a good light on the table, and let your head drop
gradually towards the card until you almost touch it with your nose. You
will see the bird fly into the jaws of the snake!
[Illustration]
AMUSING PROBLEMS
THE CARPENTER’S PUZZLE
1. A carpenter was called in to mend a hole in a wooden floor. The gap
was two feet wide, and twelve feet long, while the only board at hand
was three feet wide, and eight feet long.
+----------------+
| Fig. 1. |
| |
| |
+----------------+
+------------------------+
| Fig. 2. |
| |
+------------------------+
This had been put aside as useless, but, on catching sight of it, the
carpenter ran his rule over it and said that he could make a perfect
fit, and cover all the hole by cutting the board into two pieces. How
did he do this?
No. II.--AN ILLUSION OF ROTATION
This most interesting optical illusion was devised by Professor Thompson
some years ago:--
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
If the illustration is moved by hand in a small circle on the level,
with such motion as is given in rinsing out a bowl, the circles of the
larger diagram will seem to revolve in the direction in which the paper
is moved, while the cogs of the smaller diagram will apparently turn
slowly in the opposite direction.
No. III.--WHIRLING WHEELS
Here is another combination of the clever illusion of the whirling
wheels.
[Illustration]
If a rapid rotating motion is given to the diagram, each circle will
seem to revolve, and the cog wheel in the centre will appear to move
slowly round in the opposite direction.
GOLDEN PIPPINS
2. A man leaves an orchard of forty choice apple trees to his ten sons.
On the first tree is one apple, on the second there are two, on the
third three, and so on to the fortieth, on which there are forty.
Each son is to have four of the trees, and on them an equal number of
the apples. How can they thus apportion the trees, and how many apples
will each son have? Here is one way:--
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31
-----------------------------
82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82
Can you find another perfect solution?
No. IV.--AN ILLUSION OF MOTION
We call very particular attention to this fascinating illustration of
the fact that the mind and eye may receive and register false
impressions under quite simple conditions:--
[Illustration]
Hold this at rather more than reading distance, upright, and move it
steadily up and down. The dark line will soon seem to slide up and down
upon the perpendicular line. It will be better seen if drawn to pattern
on a card.
No. V.--ARE THEY PARALLEL?
As the eye falls upon the principal lines of this interesting diagram,
an immediate impression is formed that they are not parallel.
[Illustration]
This, however, is a most curious illusion, created in the mind entirely
by the short sloping lines, as is found at once by the simple test of
measurement.
AN AWKWARD FIX
3. With no knowledge of the surrounding district, I was making my way to
a distant town through country roads, guided by the successive
sign-posts that were provided.
Coming presently to four cross-roads I found to my dismay that some one
had in mischief uprooted the sign-post and thrown it into the ditch. In
this perplexing fix how could I find my way? A bright thought struck me.
What was it?
LINKED SWEETNESS LONG DRAWN OUT
4. As I stood on the platform at a quiet country station, an engine,
coming along from my left at thirty miles an hour, began to whistle when
still a mile away from me. The shrill sound continued until the engine
had passed a mile and a half to my right. For how long was I hearing its
whistle?
No. VI.--ILLUSION OF LENGTH
In this curious optical illusion the lines are exactly equal in length.
\ /
\ /
>--------------------<
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
<-------------------->
\ /
\ /
The eye is misled by the effect which the lines drawn outward and inward
at their ends produce upon the mind and sight.
ELASTIC QUARTERS
5.
In room marked A two men were placed,
A third he lodged in B;
The fourth to C was next assigned,
The fifth was sent to D.
In E the sixth was tucked away,
F held the seventh man;
For eighth and ninth were G and H,
Then back to A he ran.
Thence taking one, the tenth and last,
He lodged him safe in I;
Thus in nine rooms ten men found place,
Now can you tell me why?
EXCLUDED DAYS
6. Are there any particular days of the week with which no new century
can begin?
No. VII.--ILLUSION OF HEIGHT
These straight lines, at right angles to each other, are, though they do
not seem to be, exactly equal in length.
[Illustration]
This and similar illusions are probably due to the variation of the
vague mental standard which we unconsciously employ, and to the fact
that the mind cannot form and adhere to a definite scale of measurement.
DRIVING POWER
7. Why has a spliced cricket bat such good driving power? and why is the
“follow through” of the head of a golf club so telling in a driving
stroke?
THE BUSY BOOKWORM
8. On my bookshelf in proper order stand two volumes. Each is two inches
thick over all, and each cover is an eighth of an inch in thickness. How
far would a bookworm have to bore in order to penetrate from the first
page of Vol. I. to the last page of Vol. II.?
No. VIII.--ILLUSION OF DIRECTION
Can you decide at a glance which of the two lines below the thick band
is a continuation of the line above it?
[Illustration]
Make up your mind quickly, and then test your decision with a straight
edge.
A TERRIBLE TUMBLE
9. From what height must a man fall out of an airship--screaming as he
goes overboard--so as to reach the earth before the sound of his cry?
_N.B._--Resistance of the air, and the acoustical fact that sound will
not travel from a rare to a dense atmosphere, are to be disregarded.
IN A PREDICAMENT
10. Imagine a man on a perfectly smooth table surface of considerable
size, in a vacuum, where there is no outside force to move him, and
there is no friction. He may raise himself up and down, slide his feet
about, double himself up, wave his arms, but his centre of gravity will
be always vertically above the same point of the surface.
How could he escape from this predicament, if it was a possible one?
No. IX.--THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM
It is difficult, even after measurement, to believe that these figures
are of the same size.
[Illustration]
But they will stand the test of measurement.
A CLIMBING MONKEY
11. A rope passes over a single fixed pulley. A monkey clings to one end
of the rope, and on the other end hangs a weight exactly as heavy as the
monkey. The monkey presently starts to climb up the rope. Will he
succeed?
GAINING GROUND
12. Seeing that the tension on a pair of traces tends as much to pull
the horse backward as it does to pull the carriage forward, why do the
traces move on at all?
No. X.--THE SHIFTING BRICK
A very curious and interesting form of optical illusion is well
illustrated by what may be called “the shifting brick.”
[Illustration]
The central brick, drawn to show all its edges, as though it were made
of glass, will assume the form indicated by one or other of the smaller
bricks at its right and left, according to the way in which the eyes
accommodate themselves for the moment to one pattern or to the other. If
you do not see this at first, look steadily for awhile at the pattern
you desire.
ASK A CYCLIST
13. Why does a rubber tyre leave a double rut in dust, and a single one
in mud?
TODHUNTER’S UNIQUE PUZZLE PROBLEM
14. If two cats, on opposite sides of a sharply sloping roof, are on the
point of slipping off, which will hold on the longest?
No. XI.--AN ILLUSION WITH COINS
If you place four coins in the positions shown at the top of this
diagram, and attempt, or challenge some one to attempt, without any
measuring, to move the single coin down in a straight line until the
spaces from C to D on either side exactly equal the distance from A to
B--
[Illustration]
It must drop as far as is shown here, which seems to the unaided eye to
be too far.
This excellent illusion can be shown as an after-dinner trick with four
napkin-rings.
No. XII.--THE FICKLE BARREL
Here is another excellent optical illusion. Look attentively at the
diagram below, and notice in which direction you apparently look into
it, as though it were an open cask.
[Illustration]
Now shake the paper, or move it slightly, and you will find, more often
than not, that you seem to see into it in quite the opposite direction.
HEADS I WIN!
15. I hold a penny level between my finger and thumb, and presently let
it fall from the thumb by withdrawing my finger. It makes exactly a
half-turn in falling through the first foot. If it starts “heads,” how
far must it fall to bring it “heads” to the floor?
HE DID IT!
16. “They call these safety matches,” said Funnyboy at his club one day,
“and say that they strike only on the box. Don’t believe it! I can
strike them quite easily on my boot.”
No sooner said than done. He took out a match, struck it on his boot,
and--phiz!--it was instantly alight. The box was handed round, and match
after match was struck by the bystanders on their boots, but not one of
them could succeed.
“You don’t give the magic touch,” said Funnyboy, as he gaily struck
another. How did he do it?
No. XIII.--A STRANGE OPTICAL ILLUSION
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
How many cubes can you see as you look at the large diagram? The two
smaller ones should be looked at first alternately, and they will assist
the eye to see at one time six, and at another time seven, very distinct
cubes.
No. XIV.--A CIRCULAR ILLUSION
This curious optical illusion is not easily followed by eye to the
finish of the several lines.
[Illustration]
Each short line is, in fact, part of the circumference of a circle, and
the circles when completed will be found to be accurately concentric. It
would seem at first sight that the lines are taking courses which would
eventually meet at some point common to them all.
A CYCLE SURPRISE
17. We commend this curious point to the special attention of
cyclists:--
A bicycle is stationary, with one pedal at its lowest point. If this
bicycle is lightly supported, and the bottom pedal is pulled backward,
what will happen?
No. XV.--THE GHOST OF A COIN
[Illustration]
A most remarkable optical illusion is produced by the blending of the
dark and light converging rays of this diagram. Stand with your back to
the light, hold the page, or better still, the diagram copied on a card,
by the lower right-hand corner, give it a continuous revolving movement
in either direction, and the visible ghost of a silver coin, sometimes
as large as sixpence, sometimes as large as a shilling, will appear!
Where can it come from?
ROUGH AND READY
18. A merchant has a large pair of scales, but he has lost his weights,
and cannot at the moment replace them. A neighbour sends him six rough
stones, assuring him that with them he can weigh any number of pounds,
from 1 to 364. What did each stone weigh?
No. XVI.--A TAME GOOSE
Here is a pretty form of our first illusion:--
[Illustration]
Place the edge of a card on the dotted line, look down upon it in a good
light, and, as you drop your face till it almost touches the card, you
will see the goose _move towards the sugar_ in the little maiden’s hand.
REJECTED ADDRESSES
19. A wheel is running along a level road, and a small clot of mud is
thrown from the hindermost part of the rim. What happens to it? Does it
ever renew its acquaintance with the wheel that has thus rejected it?
No. XVII.--ILLUSION OF LENGTH
Here is another method by which an optical illusion of length is very
plainly shown:--
A B
+--------------+
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
+------------------------+
A B
+--------------+
\ /
\ /
\ /
\ /
+----+
Judged by appearances, the line A B in the larger figure is considerably
longer than the line A B below it, but tested by measurement they are
exactly equal.
THE CARELESS CARPENTER
20. A village carpenter undertook to make a cupboard door. When he began
to put it in its place it was too big, so he took it back to his
workshop to alter it. Unfortunately he now cut it too little. What could
he do? He determined to cut it again, and it at once became a good fit.
How was this done?
No. XVIII.--PERPENDICULAR LINES
Here is another excellent illustration that seeing is not always
believing.
[Illustration]
No one could suppose at first sight that these four lines are perfectly
straight and parallel, but they will stand the test of a straight edge.
The divergent rays distract the vision.
BY THE COMPASS
21. If from the North Pole you start sailing in a south-westerly
direction, and keep a straight course for twenty miles, to what point of
the compass must you steer to get back as quickly as possible to the
Pole?
No. XIX.--ILLUSION OF PERSPECTIVE
The optical illusion in the picture which we reproduce is due to the
defective drawing of the two men on the platform. In actual size upon
the paper the further man looks much taller than the other.
[Illustration]
Measurement, however, shows the figures to be exactly of a height. This
illusion is due to the fact that the head of the further man is quite
out of perspective. If he is about as tall as the other, and on level
ground, both heads should be about on the same line. As drawn, he is, in
fact, a monster more than eight feet high.
DICK IN A SWING
22. If Dick, who is five feet in height, stands bolt-upright in a swing,
the ropes of which are twenty feet long, how much further in round
numbers do his feet travel than his head in describing a semi-circle?
No. XX.--OUR BLIND SPOT
Here is an excellent and very simple illustration of a well-known
optical curiosity:--
[Illustration]
Hold this picture at arm’s length in the right hand, hold the left hand
over the left eye, and draw the picture towards you gradually, looking
always at the black cross with the right eye. The black disc will
presently disappear, and then come into sight again as you continue to
advance the paper.
A POSER
23. Can you name nine countries in Europe of which the initial letters
are the same as the finals?
FREAKS OF FIGURES
A HANDY SHORT CUT
Here is a delightfully simple way in which market gardeners, or others
who buy or sell weighty produce, can check their invoices for potatoes
or what not.
Say, for example, that a consignment weighs 6 tons, 10 cwts., 1 qr.
Then, since 20 cwts. are to a ton as 20s. are to a pound, and each
quarter would answer on these lines to 3d., we can at once write down £6
10s. 3d., as the price at £1 the ton. On this sure basis any further
calculation is easily made.
No. XXI.--THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION
[Illustration: HOW TO SEE THE GHOST]
Look steadily, in a good light, for thirty seconds at the cross in the
eye of the pictured skull; then look up at the wall or ceiling, or look
fixedly at a sheet of paper for another thirty seconds, when a
ghost-like image of the skull will be developed.
NOT SO FAST!
A gardener, when he had planted 100 trees on a line at intervals of 10
yards, was able to walk from the first of these to the last in a few
seconds, for they were set _on the circumference of a circle_!
No. XXII.--THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION
Here is another example of what is known as the persistence of vision:--
[Illustration]
Look fixedly for some little time at this grotesque figure, then turn
your eyes to the wall or ceiling, and you will in a few seconds see it
appear in dark form upon a light ground.
A PUZZLE NUMBER
The sum of nine figures a number will make,
Of which just a third will remain
If fifty away from the whole you should take,
Thus turning a loss to a gain.
It needs something more than mere arithmetic to discover that the
solution to this puzzle is XLV, the sum of the nine digits, for if the L
is removed, XV, the third of XLV, remains.
No. XXIII.--ANOTHER PARALLEL FREAK
Here is another curious illusion:--
[Illustration]
The four straight lines are perfectly parallel, but the contradictory
herring-bones disturb the eye.
THE MAGIC OF FIGURES
If our penny had been current coin in the first year of the
Christian era, and had been invested at compound interest at
five per cent., it would have amounted in 1905 to more than
£132,010,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
This gigantic sum would afford an income of £101,890,000,000,000,000,000
every second to every man, woman, and child in the world, if we take its
population to be 1,483,000,000 souls!
Absurdly small in contrast to these startling figures is the modest
eight shillings which the same penny would have yielded in the same time
at simple interest.
No. XXIV.--ILLUSION OF LENGTH
Here in another form is shown the illusion of length.
[Illustration]
At first sight it seems that the two upright lines are distinctly longer
than the line that slopes, but it is not so.
WHAT IS YOUR AGE?
Here is a neat method of discovering the age of a person older than
yourself:--
Subtract your own age from 99. Ask your friend to add this remainder to
his age, and then to remove the first figure and add it to the last,
telling you the result. This will always be the difference of your ages.
Thus, if you are 22, and he is 35, 99 - 22 = 77. Then 35 + 77 = 112. The
next process turns this into 13, which, added to your age, gives his
age, 35.
No. XXV.--THE HONEYCOMB ILLUSION
In this diagram one hundred and twenty-one circular spots are grouped in
a diamond.
[Illustration]
If we half close our eyes, and look at this through our eye-lashes, we
find that it takes on the appearance of a section of honeycomb, with
hexagonal cells.
MULTIPLICATION NO VEXATION
Here is a ready method for multiplying together any two numbers between
12 and 20.
Take one of the two numbers and add it to the unit digit of the other.
Beneath the sum thus obtained, but one place to the right, put the
product of the unit digits of the two original numbers.
The sum of these new numbers is the product of the numbers that were
chosen. Thus:--
19 × 13. (19 + 3) = 22
(9 × 3) = 27
---
247
No. XXVI.--CHESS CAMEO
By Dr GOLD
_A Chess Joke_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.b.| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| p |...| k |...| |.K.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.n.| |.P.| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.P.| |...| p |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| N |...| N |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| B |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
Black has made an illegal move. He must replace this, and move his king
as the penalty. White then mates on the move.
[1]SHOT IN A PYRAMID
Here is a method for determining the total number of balls in a solid
pyramid built up on a square base:--
Multiply the number of shot on one side of the base line by 2, add 3,
multiply by the number on the base line, add 1, multiply again by the
number on the base, and finally divide by 6. Thus, if the base line is
12--
12 × 2 + 3 = 27; 27 × 12 + 1 = 325; 325 × 12 = 3900; and 3900 ÷ 6 = 650,
which is the required number.
[1] _N.B._--This title does not imply a tragedy.
No. XXVII.--CHESS CAMEO
By A. CYRIL PEARSON
_A Chess Puzzle_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |.p.| |...| |.p.| p |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.P.| |.P.| |.k.| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |.p.| K |.N.| P |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| p |...| R |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |.N.| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.q.| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White might have given mate on the last move. White now to retract his
move, and mate at once.
_Show by analysis the mating position._
No. XXVIII.--CHESS CAMEO
By J. G. CAMPBELL
_A very Clever Device_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| p |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.P.| |.p.| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| K |...| p |...| |.B.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| P |...| |.P.| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |.p.| p |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.P.| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| K |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play and draw.
COMIC ARITHMETIC
“Now, boys,” said Dr Bulbous Roots to class, “you shall have a
half-holiday if you prove in a novel way that 10 is an even number.”
Next morning, when the doctor came into school, he found this on the
blackboard:--
SIX = 6
IX = 9
---------
By subtraction S = -3
SEVEN = 7
S = -3
------------
Therefore EVEN = 10
Q. E. D.
(_Quite easily done!_)
The half-holiday was won.
No. XXIX.--CHESS CAMEO
By E. B. COOK
_A Fine Example_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.k.| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.R.| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| K |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| p |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and draw.
No. XXX.--CHESS CAMEO
By A. F. MACKENZIE
_A Prize Problem_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |.r.| |...| |.b.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.p.| |...| |...| |.P.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |.q.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.N.| b |...| |...| |...| K |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| p |.P.| |.k.| P |...| R |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |.p.| P |.p.| |.B.| R |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| n |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |.N.| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in two moves.
There are twelve variations in this beautiful problem.
MAGIC MULTIPLICATION
It will interest all who study short cuts and contrivances to know that
a novice at arithmetic who has mastered simple addition, and can
multiply or divide by 2, but by no higher numbers, can, by using all
these methods, multiply any two numbers together easily and accurately.
This is how it is done:--
Write down the numbers, say 53 and 21, divide one of them by 2 as often
as possible, omitting remainders, and multiply the other by 2 the same
number of times; set these down side by side, as in the instance given
below, and wherever there is an _even_ number on the division side,
strike out the corresponding number on the multiplication side. Add up
what remains on that side, and the sum is done. Thus:--
53 21
26 (42)
13 84
6 (168)
3 336
1 672
------
1113
which is 53 multiplied by 21.
No. XXXI.--CHESS CAMEO
BY A. W. GALITZKY
_A Prize Problem_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.B.| q |.n.| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| p |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| N |...| R |...| P |.P.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| k |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| b |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| n |...| |...| |.K.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in two moves.
No. XXXII.--CHESS CAMEO
BY S. LOYD
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.N.| |.p.| |.p.| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |.p.| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |.k.| N |.q.| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |.n.| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.K.| |...| |.B.| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in two moves.
No. XXXIII.--CHESS CAMEO
BY B. G. LAWS
_A Prize Problem_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |.q.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| n |.p.| |.p.| p |...| k |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| N |...| P |...| k |.b.| |.R.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| n |...| |.B.| |...| R |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |.r.| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in two moves.
PERFECT NUMBERS
The following particulars about a very rare property of numbers will be
new and interesting to many of our readers:--
The number 6 can only be divided without remainder by 1, 2, and 3,
excluding 6 itself. The sum of 1 + 2 + 3 is 6. The only exact divisors
of 28 are 1, 2, 4, 7, and 14, and the sum of these is 28; 6 and 28 are
therefore known as perfect numbers.
The only other known numbers which fulfil these conditions are 496;
8128; 33,550,336; 8,589,869,056; 137,438,691,328; and
2,305,843,008,139,952,128.
This most remarkable rarity of perfect numbers is a symbol of their
perfection.
No. XXXIV.--CHESS CAMEO
BY EMIL HOFFMANN
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| q |...| |.B.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.R.| |...| |...| |.Q.| n |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| k |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.b.| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |.R.| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.p.| |...| B |...| n |...| b |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| K |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in two moves. There are no less than twelve
variations!
No. XXXV.--CHESS CAMEO
BY J. POSPICIL
_A Prize Problem_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |.N.| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| N |...| |...| |...| p |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| n |...| B |.p.| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |.k.| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.K.| |...| |...| P |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| P |.n.| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |.Q.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in two moves.
AMICABLE NUMBERS
Somewhat akin to perfect numbers are what are known as amicable numbers,
of which there is a still smaller quantity in the realm of numbers.
The number 220 can be divided without remainder only by 1, 2, 4, 5, 10,
11, 22, 44, 55, and 110, and the sum of these divisors is 284. The only
divisors of 284 are 1, 2, 4, 71, and 142, and the sum of these is 220.
The only other pairs of numbers which fulfil this curious mutual
condition, that the sum of the divisors of each number exactly equals
the other number, are 17,296 with 18,416, and 9,363,584 with 9,437,056.
No other numbers, at least below ten millions, are in this way
“amicable.”
No. XXXVI.--CHESS CAMEO
BY H. J. C. ANDREWS
_A Prize Problem_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| K |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |.Q.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.B.| |...| |...| |.R.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| k |.N.| |.b.| R |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| P |...| |...| |...| P |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| k |...| p |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| B |...| |.P.| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in two moves.
No. XXXVII.--CHESS CAMEO
BY ALFRED DE MUSSET
_A Gem of the First Water_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| n |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| N |...| |.k.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |.N.| |...| |.K.|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |.R.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in three moves.
A SWARM OF ONES
1 × 9 + 2 = 11
12 × 9 + 3 = 111
123 × 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 × 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 × 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 × 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 × 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 × 9 + 9 = 111111111
No. XXXVIII.--CHESS CAMEO
BY FRANK HEALEY
_A Masterpiece_
BLACK
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |.B.| N |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.P.| |...| |.p.| |.p.| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| K |...| k |.b.| P |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|.Q.| |...| |...| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| |...| |...| |...| |...|
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|...| |...| |.n.| |...| |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
WHITE
White to play, and mate in three moves.