My _first_ is but half of my _second_;
And I’m sure you’ll admit that my _whole_
Is ten times the latter when reckon’d.
is solved by _Ten score_.
298
My _first_ I went the other day,
And pretty surely reckon’d
A basket of fine fish to catch,
With hook and rod and _second_.
But I was out in reckoning;
A very pretty she
Of her fair face show’d just my _whole_--
And pretty soon hook’d _me_.
is solved by _Outline_.
299
Of mirth the parent, though the child of art,
A stranger to myself in every part;
Each India has a native in my breast,
The West my sweetness, and my fire the East.
While milder climes my virtue to complete,
Quicken my softness, and correct my heat;
My dearest friends upon my vitals prey,
And as they see me sinking, grow more gay.
is solved by _Punch_.
300
When my whole takes a flight in the air you will find
That my next is not left a great distance behind;
But join them together, and plain to your view
It all is as firm and as tight as a screw.
is solved by _Dovetail_.
301
To three-fourths of a cross, add a circle complete;
Then, let two semi-circles a perpendicular meet;
Next, add a triangle that stands on two feet;
Then, two semi-circles, and a circle complete.
is solved by _Tobacco_.
302
Leader of Vandals and of vice
My head is reckoned;
A Turkish captain will suffice
To be my second.
My third is firm if well selected;
My whole a wanderer neglected.
is solved by _Vagabond_.
303
One thousand, two hundred,
Nothing, and one,
Transposed, give a word
Expressive of fun.
is solved by COMIC.
304
Praed’s charade--
My _first_ was creeping on his way
Through the mists of a dull October day,
When a minstrel came to its muddy bed,
With a harp on his shoulder, a wreath on his head;
“And how shall I reach,” the poor boy cried,
“To the courts and the cloisters on t’other side?”
Old Euclid came, and he frown’d a frown,
And he dash’d the harp and the garland down;
Then he led the bard, with a stately march,
O’er my _second’s_ long and cellar’d arch;--
“And see,” said the sage, “how every ass
Over the sacred stream must pass!”
The youth was mournful, the youth was mute,
He sigh’d for his laurel, he sobb’d for his lute;--
The youth took comfort, the youth took snuff,
And follow’d the lead of that teacher gruff;
And he sits, ever since, in my _whole’s_ kind lap,
In a silken gown and a trencher cap.
is solved by _Cambridge_.
305
Upright and honest is my _first_;
My _second_ you may see
Upon the frozen lake or stream;
My _whole_ is equity.
is solved by _Justice_.
306
Never wearied, see us stand,
A glittering and a stately band--
Of sturdy stuff, but graceful form,
In summer cold, in winter warm;
From hottest duty never swerving,
Night and day our place preserving;
Each serving to a different use,
Not to be changed without abuse.
And, pray, mark well another fact--
In unison we never act,
Except, as on occasion dread,
We watch the ashes of the dead;
When we are ranged, as you may see
As awful sentries, one, two, three.
is solved by _Fire-irons_.
307
My first, though naught, with others is a fruit,
My next is vital to both man and brute.
It should be dear to all who hate the devil,
For it is ever the reverse of evil.
My all, when whole, is eloquent of peace,
Divided it invokes to life that will not cease.
is solved by _Olive_.
308
Guess at my first, ’tis easy to discover,
Covered with rings, and whiskered like a dandy.
Wrapped up in furs, ’tis often on the housetop,
Oft in the chimney!
See where my second, scorning to be hidden,
Stands at the head of quite a band of others,
Like a virago, straddling with feet apart,
And arms akimbo.
Surely my next is happy in its office,
Parting the lovelocks on Neæra’s forehead;
Setting the golden lines wherewith she angles
For the unwary.
If by my whole at any time you pass, you
Tread on the dust of holy saints and martyrs,
Holy the place, may holy thoughts attend you,
Peacefully dreaming!
is solved by _Catacomb_.
309
Offspring of nature and of art, I stand
Chief ’midst the monuments of every land;
I may not lengthen life, but I
For centuries forbid to die.
The greatest truth in me you meet
Is but deception most complete.
Unchanged I last the changing crowds among,
And as I older grow, I grow too young.
is solved by _A portrait_.
310
Pronounced as one letter, and written with three,
Two letters there are, and two only in me;
I’m double, I’m single, I’m black, blue, and gray,
I’m read from both ends, and the same either way.
is solved by _Eye_.
311
My _first_ is false as false can be;
My _next_ old ladies wear;
My _whole’s_ my _first_, as you will see,
As false, I do declare.
is solved by _Falsehood_.
312
When whole I am indeed a thing
To puzzle you a bit;
Though parts of me are hard, at Bridge
The others make a hit;
Or you may make a car of some,
And fix a head to it.
is solved by _Charade_.
313
A word of nine letters explains
How to mitigate bodily pains;
The five vowels are there,
And four consonants share
This function for medical brains.
is solved by _Inoculate_.
314
My second guides my first and third
For pleasure, trade, and war;
My first and second by my third
Are oft transported far.
But when my first my third doth pull,
’Tis then his lot is worst;
And should my second lack my whole,
He’s apt to leave my first.
is solved by _Horsemanship_.
315
It is a fact that neither _melons_ nor _lemons_ grew _on elms_.
The words in italics have the same letters.
316
The completed palindrome, which reads alike from either end, is--
DRAW NO DRAY A YARD ONWARD.
317
The schoolboy likes me well,
For healthful sport I bring,
Yet I can harm create,
Though such a little thing:
Connubial bliss is form’d by me;
My nature is equality.
is solved by _Match_.
318
What person’s name is doubly evil?
_Sinbad_ reminds us of the devil.
319
I’m a district near London;
If made wrong, I come undone;
O’er sweet strings I swift run,
Or appear with the bright sun,
And though by me fights were won,
I can greet you every one.
is solved by _Bow_.
320
I am my first when seen with you,
My next is always bad.
A rogue in grain much harm may do
And make the farmer mad.
is solved by _Weevil_.
321
When winter comes with frost and cold,
My first is welcome, as of old;
And though its grip may make you thinner,
It helps to cook your Christmas dinner.
Let me but hear my next rejoice
At early dawn with cheerful voice,
I haste to find, with eager pleasure,
Some specimen of hidden treasure.
A traveller my whole may find
Far from his English kith and kind;
Though some at home, to England’s shame,
Are this in fact, if not in name.
is solved by _Heathen_.
322
It was to-morrow, and
It will be yesterday;
Now it is near at hand
What is it? Who can say?
is solved by _To-day_.
323
My first doth fill with light his father’s eyes,
The second shadows all the mother’s brow;
My whole all men, all women, girls and boys,
Have had, and long to lose, and lost for ever now;
But know not, nor can know, when it was lost, and how.
is solved by _Childhood_.
324
Complete, though not of human race,
A soul in me may dwell;
Behead, I held a higher place,
Until, like man, I fell.
Again behead, and in the song
Of Burns I’m all your own;
Behead once more, it would be wrong
To find me out when known.
is solved by _Train_, _rain_, _ain_, _in_.
325
With head good for naught,
And with tail always drunk,
You know well what to say
Of the worth of my trunk.
First cut off my tail,
I am Greek, and I’m not;
Then cut off my head,
And some Latin you’ve got.
Lopping both you know best
What remains, as I said,
For I really am you
If I lose tail and head!
is solved by _Out_.
326
One guiding eye I need
In running through the gaps;
My tail, as on I speed,
Is caught in many traps.
is solved by _A Needle_.
327
The Chess charade--
Of all the birds that ever sought a mate,
My first is to but one appropriate,
So speak the word! nor silence shyly woo.
To find my next, go! wander in the Zoo!
My whole is a magician of the squares,
But Art, with Chess, his best affections shares,
So this, indeed, to him may be a law
When _winning’s_ hopeless, grandly still to _draw_.
is solved by _Boden_.
328
Though poor and humble was my birth
I sit enthroned on high;
My footsteps far above the earth,
My canopy the sky.
O’er toiling subjects thus in state
I bear despotic sway;
Yet on them hand and foot I wait
At break and close of day.
is solved by _A coachman_.
329
I am not of flesh and blood,
Yet have I many a bone;
No limbs, except one leg,
And can’t stand on that alone.
My friends are many, and dwell
In all lands of the human race;
But they poke my poor nose into the mud,
And shamefully spatter my face.
Thrust me into each other’s ribs,
Stick me in gutter and rut;
I have never a window, and never a door,
Yet I often open and shut.
is solved by _An umbrella_.
330
Before the crown descended on
The head of England’s Queen,
Four Kings upon that royal throne
Of the same name had been.
Now if the signs which marked their name
Be joined unto a beast,
We have a food on which the same
(A quadruped) will feast.
is solved by _Grass_.
331
Fox’s enigma--
I am pretty, and useful in various ways,
Though I tempt some poor mortals to shorten their days;
Behead me, and then in my place will appear
What youngsters admire every day in the year;
Behead me once more, and without any doubt,
You must be what is left if you don’t find it out.
is solved by _Glass_, _lass_, _ass_.
332
My first, when skilfully performed
(Its doer by applauses warmed),
Bespeaks both skill and vigour.
When with my whole, so soft and light,
I saw my second gay bedight,
She made a splendid figure.
is solved by _Feather_.
333
The man who _rates_ the common _tares_
Above the _aster_ chaste.
_Stare_ as he may, the world declares
Is not a man of taste.
And, though my sympathy he shares,
No _tears_ on him I’ll waste.
The words in italics have the same letters.
334
When a monk in old times, unexpectedly heated,
Endangered the peace of his soul,
To atone for my second my first he repeated
Quite ten times a day on my whole.
is solved by _Average_.
335
An insect small and fell
Makes a weird sound,
If, as its name you spell,
You turn it round.
One letter cast, and still
Shift what remains,
Another insect will
Reward your pains.
is solved by _Gnat_, _tang_, _ant_.
336
Where head and body duly meet
I am as slender as a bee;
Whether I stand on head or feet
My figure shows its symmetry.
But when my head is cut away
The metamorphosis is strange;
Though both of them unaltered stay,
Body and head to nothing change.
is solved by _The figure_ 8.
337
First is in coast, second in ghost,
Third must be reckoned part of second;
Fourth in boat, fifth in float,
Sixth you will find within your mind.
Seventh in blue, eighth in true,
These letters tell a fruit that they spell.
is solved by _Cocoanut_.
338
The hunter and his steed are known
My first to see.
Though men may call my next a stone,
Wood it may be.
My whole, an exile from his home,
Is doomed from place to place to roam.
is solved by _Runagate_.
339
My first expresses power to do,
My next that it is done.
To be my whole belongs to few,
And perfectly to none.
is solved by _Candid_.
340
In my first, as in a shell,
All the sweetest sounds may dwell;
In my second, shells abound
That can catch no sort of sound;
In my whole securely rest
Those who neither jeer nor jest.
is solved by _Earnest_.
341
My first, though of the feathered kind,
Is never known to fly;
My next all who improve their mind
Seize as it passes by.
My whole may much occasion find
To make the truthful lie.
is solved by _Bed-time_.
342
Divide a piece of beef or pork
Without the aid of knife and fork;
It gives a shelf, rejoined with skill,
Where you may set this if you will.
Strike off instead the end, its place
Is plain as nose upon your face.
Cut this asunder in your mind,
And what is first put now behind;
Part of our foot you thus discover,
And in a measure all is over.
is solved by _Chine_, _niche_, _chin_, _inch_.
343
Seen as a whole, my form is now
Akin to strife and malice;
Split, it may grace a princely brow,
Or crown the curls of Alice.
Recast my letters, and I tell
That nourishment is lacking;
Stir them afresh until they spell
The needle’s help in tacking.
is solved by _Hatred_, _hat red_, _dearth_, _thread_.
344
If I write with my first in my second
My whole you can never find out;
Add a letter, and all will be reckoned
A patron of water devout.
is solved by _Within_, _Swithin_.
345
After officers’ mess, when cigars were well alight, the old conundrum
was propounded, “What is most like a cornet of horse?” A sharp sub. was
ready with the reply, “A hornet, of course”; it was presently capped by
this variant which occurred to a married captain, “a corset of horn”;
and yet another reading was suggested by the deaf old colonel, “How much
did you say the ‘horse ate of corn’?”
346
Loss of love between us
Never can be nice;
Yet we live where Venus
Changes us to ice.
is solved by _Venice_ (Ven_us_ changes to Ven_ice_).
347
The very prosaic reply to the dainty lines--
“Tell me, my sweet,
Why are your feet
Like fairy-tales?”
is: Because they are leg ends (legends)!
348
Our parson _detains_ every man who has leisure
To study _stained_ windows, the glory of fanes;
And _instead_ of devoting his income to pleasure,
Our _sainted_ dean spends his money on panes.
The words in italics have the same letters.
349
Though much attached to merriment,
Or crime for a variety,
To prison I am never sent,
But sparkle in society.
is solved by _The letter E_.
350
Without my first and second’s aid
No pudding worth its sauce is made.
Take on my third, my fourth I am,
My fifth includes myself and Sam.
My whole describes the royal fiddler Nero,
And shows him as an unheroic hero.
is solved by _Suetonius_.
351
The geographical names buried in the sentences--
He has my R.N. as a monogram on all his paper.
I am her stupid sister.
The calmest man is sometimes made irate--
are Smyrna; Amherst; and Madeira.
352
My first’s a fruit of foreign clime,
Sweet to the taste, in price not dear;
My second does my first produce,
And yet my whole my first doth bear.
is solved by _Date-palm_.
353
A thing of beauty, scattered by a breath,
My firm embrace is harbinger of death;
Not made by hands, a work of wondrous art,
Complete and perfected in every part;
Crush me to-day with all-determined care,
Then look to-morrow, and I shall be there!
is solved by _A spider’s web_.
354
Six letters in my name are found.
Though only three we see and sound;
The shepherd by the running river
May hear me where the rushes quiver;
And should a stroke my whole divide,
Leaving but half on either side,
These, backward read, will surely tell
What many a toper loves too well.
is solved by _Murmur_.
355
Upon a battle-field of learned men
Hundred and fifty were by none divided.
“Now,” said the bishop, “add two-thirds of ten
And so you’ll guess the riddle just as I did.”
is solved by _Colenso_.
356
Though the stations of mortals are many
And the _last_ is the head of his race;
Yet he, just as often as any,
Is won by my _first’s_ fell embrace;
Yet we most of us apt are to fall,
When our heads cease our hearts to control,
Let us hope that not one of us all
May be e’er in the state of my _whole_.
is solved by _Sinking_.
357
My whole is no matter,
And light as the air,
Yet it is good on the platter,
And excellent fare.
Curtail and transpose,
And a lady you see,
Who will flatter and pose,
And with many do me.
is solved by _trifle_, _flirt_.
358
My first, for ages out of mind
All men have always worn behind,
And yet alike by sea and land
They carry it upon their hand.
My second, carefully matur’d,
Is never ill but often cured.
My whole, within unchanging lines,
Black men and white alike confines.
is solved by _Backgammon_.
359
The Rebus--“We westand fall,”--is solved by _United we stand, divided we
fall_.
360
My second is pressed tightly round
To guard from any ill;
And when preparing to engage
Men find it useful still.
My first against attraction set
Will neutralise its power;
Aided by it, with bargains, some
May spend a happy hour.
You find my whole by careful search,
Which must not be forsaken;
It stands before what comes beyond,
Which may from it be taken.
is solved by _Counterfoil_.
362
Scorned by the meek and humble mind,
And often by the vain possessed,
Heard by the deaf, seen by the blind,
I give the troubled spirit rest.
is solved by _Nothing_.
ODDS AND ENDS
SOLUTIONS
1
Here is both the sum without figures, and its counterpart in numbers:--
UGI)GEVPPNDO(IDTPO
GVNI
----
DNTP
UGI
----
NETN
NEOT
----
DUDO
DUDO
====
956)58700312(61402
5736
----
1340
956
----
3843
3824
----
1912
1912
====
The key sentence is: DON’T GIVE UP, the letters of which correspond to
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.
2
When I shot only birds and rabbits, and my bag at the end of the day
showed 36 heads and 100 feet, I had killed 22 birds and 14 rabbits.
3
There are no fewer than 40 distinct readings of the four words which
form the square--
D E L F
E V I L
L I V E
F L E D
DELF and FLED have each four straight readings, while EVIL and LIVE can
each be traced in 16 different ways, and the four words run straight
from every side of the square.
4
A S
A T
E A
D N R E G D N E V E N IN G
I D
T A
V R
S D
5
When a man gave a sovereign to his son to be spent on presents of
different values for him and his three sisters, each to cost an aliquot
part of the pound, and each to be as good as possible; and told him to
give the change to the Fresh Air Fund, the presents cost ¹⁄₃, ¹⁄₄, ¹⁄₅,
¹⁄₆ of a pound respectively, or 6s. 8d., 5s., 4s., and 3s. 4d., and
there was a shilling over for the Fresh Air Fund.
6
This is the complete word-square--
M E T A L
E R A S E
T A S T E
A S T E R
L E E R S
7
The key word to the addition sum is REPUBLICAN. It works out thus--
REPUBLICAN
1234567890
A I 9 7
L C 6 8
P R 3 1
U N 4 0
B E 5 2
----- -----
E C C 2 8 8
8
The word square is completed thus--
T O A S T
O T T E R
A T O N E
S E N S E
T R E E S
9
The product of the first twelve prime numbers, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13,
17, 19, 23, 29, 31, can be written down by using no figures but 0, 1, 2,
and 3, and of these 2 and 3 once only, thus--
10 × 1001 × 2001 × 10013:--
or 10 = 1 × 2 × 5
1001 = 7 × 11 × 13
2001 = 3 × 23 × 29
10013 = 17 × 19 × 31
10
The question--
Six collars seven cuffs there be
When pence we charge you thirty-three;
Seven collars and six cuffs to do,
The charge is only thirty-two;
The work is good and up-to-date,
So figure out in pence the rate.
is answered by--Collars, 2d. Cuffs, 3d.
11
The word square is completed thus--
W E E K S
E L L E N
E L U D E
K E D G E
S N E E R
12
To remove the table-napkin on a corner of which a wine-glass full of
water stands near the edge of a polished table, take hold with the left
hand of the part that hangs over the edge and raise it to a horizontal
position. Then strike hard downward with the right hand, at about six
inches from the table, and the cloth will come away, leaving the
wineglass altogether undisturbed--an illustration of what is known as
the _vis inertiæ_.
13
My third and fourth are a quarter of my first and second; my fourth is
half of them, and my third is half. What am I?
is solved by _Twopence-half-penny_.
14
The London firm who had sent a telegram to Paris for 480 sets of
Diabolo, and received to their surprise a huge consignment of 6336 sets,
had worded their order thus: “Send us twenty two-dozen cases of
Diabolo,” knowing that they were put up two dozen in a case. The
wholesale firm read the order as twenty-two dozen cases--_i.e._, 264
cases of 24 in a case!
16
When Mrs Evergreen said: “My husband’s age is represented by the figures
of mine reversed; he is older than I am, and the difference between our
ages is one-eleventh of their sum,” he was 54, and she was 45.
17
This is the completed multiplication sum--
4 * * 4 5 7
3 * 3 8
------ ------
3 6 * * 3 6 5 6
* * 7 * 1 3 7 1
--------- ---------
* * 3 * * 1 7 3 6 6
18
Add 3 to 10, and then divide
Till 8 the sum has satisfied--
is solved by writing 13 in Roman numerals, XIII.; and then drawing a
line across their middle, so that the upper half forms VIII.
19
I bought fifty-eight plants for my new rosery, when I found that if I
set them three in a row there would be one over; if four in a row two
over; if five in a row three over; and if six in a row four over.
20
Three nines arranged thus represent 20--
9 + 9
-----
·9
21
If a house has nine windows on its front, as many as 511 signals can be
given by merely leaving one or more of them open, including the case in
which all are left open.
22
The birthday puzzle by Sir John Evans is solved thus--
“Reader, whether man or woman,
Write my age in figures Roman (LXV.).
My first, divided by my second,
Will make my third, if rightly reckoned,
Ten times the whole, and then you’ll see
My university degree (D.C.L.).”
52
This is the way to arrange a strip of paper 9 in. by 2 in. so that it
has only _one surface_ and _one edge_.
Gum the ends together with _a half twist_ in the slip. If a continuous
line is now drawn along the middle of the band it will traverse the
whole length of the paper and finish at its starting point. Again, if a
mark is made on the edge, and the finger or a pencil starting from this
runs along the edge, it also will return to its starting point.
53
To divide nine into two parts which shall be together equal to ten,
write IX in bold Roman numerals on a sheet of paper, and fold this
across the middle of the figures, thus--
IV
IX -- ----
IɅ
This gives a six on one side of the fold and a four upon the other side.
54
The shepherd who had folded his flock with 100 hurdles, and whose master
bade him the next day use 16 of these to pen some pigs, and to enclose
nine times as many sheep with the remaining 84 as the 100 had contained,
had originally placed the hurdles in two rows of 49 each, with one
hurdle at each end. He made room for nine times as many sheep within 84
hurdles by arranging them in a square, with 21 on every side, thus
increasing the area ninefold.
55
When you have lifted three hats that cover three biscuits in a row,
eaten the biscuits and replaced the hats, you can carry out your
undertaking that the three biscuits shall be under whichever hat is
selected by solemnly placing that hat upon your head!
56
The number of different ways in which 7s. 3d. can be paid away in
current coin of the realm, without ever using exactly the same set of
coins a second time, is 1,062,102!
PRINTED AT THE MERCAT PRESS, EDINBURGH.
Transcriber᾿s Notes
Inconsistent spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, etcetera have been
retained, unless listed under Changes below.
Unless listed below, the riddles, puzzles and tricks and their
solutions are given here as printed in the source document, even
though some of them arguably contain ambiguities, errors and/or
misprints. Inconsistencies in lay-out between the puzzles and their
solutions have not been standardised.
The source document has several pages that contain a Pictured Puzzle
at the top (Roman numerals) and one or more Word Play puzzles or jokes
(Latin numerals). This has been retained in this text; any
auto-generated Tables of Contents may therefore look jumbled up with
intermixed Roman and Latin numerals.
Depending on the hard- and software used to read this text and on
their settings, not all elements may display as intended. The larger
diagrams may be illegible on small screens or in small windows.
Where possible and relevant, illustrations have been “transcribed”,
occasionally discarding some of the ornamentation. In this e-text for
chess boards and the like, # indicates a dark square; dominoes are
represented either by the pattern of the pips or by the number of
pips. The transcribed illustrations usually give but a very simple
impression of the actual illustration. For reference and for the sake
of completeness, images of the transcribed illustrations have been
provided at the end of this e-book, with hyperlinks (“Image”) pointing
to them. Hyperlinks from these images point back to the riddle,
puzzle, etc. (“Return to description”) or to its solution (“Return to
solution”). In addition, hyperlinks are provided from the puzzles etc.
to their solutions (“Solution”) and from the solutions back to the
puzzle etc. (“Return to description”).
Table of Contents, page 130: The Enigmas, Charades, Puzzles, &c., &c.
do not actually start on this page (they start on page 2), but there
are no more Pictured Puzzles and Word Play from this page on.
Page 49, Se Pierot or Lun: possibly an error for See Pierot or L’un or
Le Pierot or L’un.
Page 60, No. LX: the description is confusing, as the puzzle consists
of drawing the four dotted lines, and they are therefore not given.
Page 89 and 263, Pictured puzzle LXXXIX and solution: either the
puzzle or the solution has been printed upside-down in the source
document.