Chapter 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.

Page 114, ... as nearly as possible of the size and pattern ...: based
on the size of the physical book (around 7″ or 18 cm tall), the
boomerang’s width would be some 3″ or 7.5 cm.

Page 149, ... six single words: the solution provided gives five
single words.

Page 205, Solution IX: the table as printed lacks values for Opposite
pairs of short diagonals (of which there are four) and Such
combinations as 482, 484, 472, 470 (of which there ought to be two in
order to reach the given total).

Changes made

In the source document, jokes, riddles and puzzles may be split over
multiple pages (for example, Word Play 5 may be found on page 7 (first
part) and page 9 (second part)). In this e-text, the second part has
been re-combined with the first, and references to the separate first
and second parts have been deleted.

Some minor obvious typographical errors have been corrected silently.
Similarly, minor discrepancies (such as the number of blanks or
x
periods) have been rectified silently. Fractions (the forms x/y, ---
y
and x-y all occur in the source document) have (bar a single
exception) been standardised to x/y.

Unless they fitted better within the text paragraphs, illustrations,
verses, diagrams, etc. have been moved out of the text paragraphs. The
footnote has been moved to directly underneath the Word Play in which
it is referenced.

In some chessboard based riddles the symbol for knight has been
changed from Kt to N.

In some of the diagrams bold, italics or small capital mark-up of
individual words and letters has been removed due to the limited width
available. Large diagrams have been split to fit the available width.

Page 10: ... cut of my head; changed to ... cut off my head;

Page 62: ... thought myself happy to win her ... changed to ... I
thought myself happy to win her ... (cf. solution).

Page 84 and 260, Pictured Puzzle LXXXIV and solution: the examples
mentioned and the solution given have been transcribed as separate
elements, the 6 × 6 grid being too wide to be included.

Page 89: ... indentations do not effect ... changed to ...
indentations do not affect ....

Page 93: the logogriph has been laid out as in the solution on page
305.

Page 110-111: Word Play 92 in this text (Missing Words) was
erroneously numbered 93 (first part) and 39 (second part) in the
source document.

Page 130: “Tis an absurdity to say ... changed to ’Tis an absurdity to
say ....

Page 139: !” inserted after the dots cf. solution.

Page 144, Nr. 176, last line: space inserted between F and R in R FR
H; H T G changed to H T N G.

Page 152: ... his destination from these words.” changed to ... his
destination from these words?

Page 196: ... sa Majéste impériale ... changed to ...sa Majesté
impériale ...; ... a jamais! changed to ... à jamais!

Page 197-198: Odds and Ends 38 appears twice; the second one has been
renamed 38a.

Page 201: ... a flock of sheep in a fold enclosed by 10 hurdles ...
changed to ... a flock of sheep in a fold enclosed by 100 hurdles ....

Page 294: Number 34 inserted before first solution.

Page 309: _The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey_ changed to
_The Houses of Parliament_ and _Westminster Abbey_.

Page 310: The words italics are spelt ... changed to The words in
italics are spelt ....

Page 379: vis inertiœ changed to vis inertiæ.