Chapter III: Front Matter (3)

My father is my son,
And I’m my mother’s mother;
My daughter and sister are one,
I’m grandam to my brother!

How was this?

124. A CHARADE

Catch my first with nimble wit,
Add a simple word;
Then my whole may help a bit
Opportunely heard.

125. A PARADOX

My mate and I from home did start,
Some little space we were apart.
When we had run a mile or more
We kept our distance, as before;
Shade of Colenso! could this be,
When twice as fast as I ran he?

126. AN ENIGMA

(_From Lewis Carroll’s Papers_.)

A monument all men agree
Am I in all sincerity,
Half cat, half hindrance made.
If head and tail removed should be,
Then most of all you strengthen me.
Replace my head, the stand you see
On which my tail is laid.

127. A CHARADE

I’m known to the poorest and worst,
And my worth by a child may be reckoned;
The least thing in nature is double my first,
And my whole is just half of my second.

128. WHAT IS IT?

My first without its head and tail
Is one and undivided;
My second shows its teeth, is frail,
And as a rule one-sided.
The two to hold my first avail,
My busy toil provided.

129. BURIED TOWNS

In each of these sentences a town is buried:--

His sister played the piano while we sang.

I saw Nell out here last evening.

The general rode a large black mare.

I have ordered a cab at half-past one.

Meet me in the lane at half-past nine.

Can you dig them out?

130. A GOOD ANAGRAM

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

131. MISSING WORDS

When they found that catacomb
Near the ....... at Rome
’Twas the ....... discussion of the season;
But the ....... effect
Of the skeletons select
Deprived the poor Professor of his reason!

132. A CHARADE

My first is pretence,
My second a dandy;
When fogs are most dense
My whole will be handy.

133. A DECISIVE ANAGRAM

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

134. RATHER OBSCURE

Use all your wits to guess my all,
Can any guess it right?
Transposed, and never seen at all,
It still is felt in sight.
Behead, transpose, then let it be,
And you at last a clue may see.

135. SHUFFLE THE LETTERS

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

136. A CHARADE

Let my second cut my first
When I come to table;
Though I cannot quench your thirst
Eat me--you are able.

137. MISSING LETTERS

whtmrslndsosdlyswr?
whtdyssdrksdysthtwrslrm?
lssknyskthndfr,
llshllcllwrhrssndhrm.
whycllsblldstlkthtghstlyrt
llgllntctsgrndndmntyprt?

Can you supply the missing letters?

138. A CHARADE

To me when whole, for I am sweet,
The moon fresh brightness brings;
Cut off my tail, I’m blunt, but meet
To sharpen other things.

Behead me twice, and I have led
Soldiers to face the foe;
Headless and tailless, one remains
Though all the rest may go.

139. IS IT BANTING?

We start when the ninth hour is past,
Then there’s an end of you.
A vengeful goddess shows at last
What Antifat will do.

140. A CHARADE

When on charades intent I take my pen,
To seek some hidden goal,
Over my first my second comes, and then
Quite overcomes my whole.

141. A PRIZE CRYPTOGRAM

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

“Tell me, Ben, who tore it
Seek a plant for it, see Bob.”

Can you discover their hidden meaning?

142. AN ENIGMA

I have no form, I have no friend,
From me all come, in me all end.
And it is strange but very true
That I am here and nowhere too.

143. FACING BOTH WAYS

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

A sed end ought eat ease ain.

using 16, and then 17, extra letters.

144. A CHARADE

My first is a cover,
My second a city;
The whole you discover
With this if you’re witty.

145. BURIED RIVERS

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

Four rivers are buried here.

146. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

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

147. A SIMPLE RECIPE

She is as deaf as any post,
Incurable I fear;
She is my guest, I am her host,
How can I make her hear?

148. THE PLAINT OF THE REJECTED

_A May-Day Dirge_

Refused, rejected as before!
Yes,[A] ... .. I know of yore.
..... of youth, and deadly foe
To genius. Eastward then I go
With ..... undaunted, and my name
Through ..... shall yet resound with fame;
And subjects shall be mine by scores
From far ..... to Ganges’ shores.

[A] More than one word.

149. “BETA IN GREEK MEANS LETTER B.”

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

150. A REBUS

storm? an umbrella with all
a th me who alls mud.

151. BONES OF A PALINDROME

NRNRMMHDLVLDHMMRNRN.

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

152. A NICE POINT

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

153. A BURIED PROVERB

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

154. IN THE OPEN

Kate gathers me where children three,
Tom, Jane, and Mary, chatter;
He leads the way, and then we see
The other two come at her!

155. A BURIED QUOTATION

(_From Shakespeare_)

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

156. PALINDROME ON A BEETROOT

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

~RDRTPTPTRDR~

It must read alike from either end.

157. A CHARADE

My _first_ we all do when we fail;
My _next_ is heard in rain or hail;
My _fourth_ a sheep of gender male;
My _third_ is one without its tail;
My _whole_ for foreign countries sail.

158. AMBIGUOUS

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

159. AN ENIGMA

I’m but a little letter, still
I have my duties to fulfil;
If off you take
My tail, and make
An alteration in my lot,
Though I seem shorter I am not.

160. DIABOLUS!

Says Tom to Bill, “Pray tell me, sir,
Why is it that the devil,
In spite of all his naughty ways,
Can never be uncivil?”

Says Bill to Tom, “The answer’s plain
To any mind that’s bright;
Because the ... .’ ........, sir,
Cannot be ... .’ .....!”

Can you supply the missing words?

161. MISSING WORDS

Beneath the ..... which shade the lawn
Her bicycle she mounted,
And with a ....., ere she had gone
An hour, ten ..... she counted.
It rained, it snowed, but nought could stop her,
Till in the ..... she came a cropper!

162. AN INSCRIPTION WITH A POINT

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

QVI CHRISTI LAVDES CANTANT
SANCTÆ PASSIONIS SVÆ VIRTVTE
IN IPSO ET PATRE VNVM SINT

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

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

163. BY ANAGRAM

A woman’s name
Of foreign fame,
Hers was a noble mind.
Now, sir, transpose,
And I suppose
No smaller thing you’ll find.

164. A FRENCH CHARADE

Pour avoir mon _premier_
Femme qui cache mon _dernier_
Manque souvent mon _entier_.

165. A CHARADE

Let go! let go! you naughty first,
Or you will make my second;
A stream of words will then outburst,
Swift as my whole is reckoned.

166. OUT OF DATE

My first is first when cruisers charge in line,
And oft in frosty skies is seen to shine.

Don’t spare my second if you would suggest
To an impulsive child the way that’s best.

My sporting whole, though now neglected grown,
Travelled by tube before the tube was known.

167. AN ENIGMA

First of men we lead a measure,
Last we end the same.
Starting merrily, our pleasure
Is to finish lame.

168. TESTED BY DICTATION

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

169. ASCRIBED TO VOLTAIRE

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

Mon premier est un tyran, mon second un horreur,
Mon tout est le diable lui-même.
Mais si mon premier est bon, mon second ne fait rien,
Et mon tout est le bonheur suprême.

170. AT THE GUILDHALL

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

171.

In youth exalted high in air,
Or bathing in the streamlet fair,
Nature to form me took delight
And clothed my body all in white;
My person tall and slender waist
On either side with fringes graced;
Till me that tyrant Man espied,
And dragg’d me from my mother’s side.
No wonder that I look so thin,
The monster stripp’d me to the skin;
My body flay’d, my hair he cropp’d,
And head and foot both off he lopp’d;
And then, with heart more hard than stone,
Pick’d all the marrow from my bone.
To vex me more, he took a freak
To slit my tongue, and make me speak.
But that which wonderful appears,
I speak to eyes and not to ears.
All languages I now command
Yet not a word I understand.

172. A YOUNG SHAVER

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

173. DECAPITATIONS

The ship rode in an ....... bay,
Asleep ...... the master lay.
A ..... and rugged man was he
And, like a .... at home at sea.
Like swooping ... he caught his prey
Whene’er an .. came his way.
But while due . the needle kept
He in his cabin lay and slept.

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

174. A CHARADE

When the tempest roars the loudest
Oft my first a shelter proves.
Say what fair one, though the proudest,
Spurns my next from one she loves?
When the storms of life are past
Earth provides my whole at last.

175. SHUFFLE THE LETTERS

One syllable, I help to turn the scale
Of party strife or faction;
Recast me, and two syllables avail
To stop all further action.

176. FILL IN THE VOWELS

Lines to an owl:--

~HNLDTWRSTHGLMWL~
~THLVSTTHTTHLVSTTHWL~
~RNLDKSRHLLWTN~
~SLSTSSLMNSNDSLN~
~SMRNFLNNLVSTG~
~RFRHTNGHWLSTKNW~

As a hint, the last line is:--

Or of your hooting howls to know.

177. ARMY ANAGRAMS

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

I’m free to-day, the _old sire_ said,
_O no cell_ now have I to dread;
For this one happy day to me
_Are glen_ and hill and forest free.
I, if I will, can ride, or fish,
_A pit can_ enter, if I wish,
In search of chalk or sand.
In peace alone I now can dine,
And sing to Anna’s _lute at nine_,
Nor fear a reprimand.

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

178. A CHARADE

My first transposed becomes a name
Which may quite mean be reckoned,
Two syllables combine the same,
With one or two for second.

My whole when fields are fresh and green,
And softly blows the wind,
Where the first signs of spring are seen
Within the woods we find.

179. AN ANAGRAM ENIGMA

Silent long is the wood-bird’s song,
Bare is the woodland bough;
For waving trees in wintry breeze
Have “no buds now.”

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

180. A QUESTION OF TIME

A farmer with children sixteen
Killed the fattest young lamb of his flock.
To divide it these children between,
What must be the time by the clock?

181. A DONKEY DRIVE

To the far end of any train
Hitch on a pair of neddies;
Then you will hear, like steps of Cain,
The threat that in their tread is.

182. EATING BY ALPHABET

Take all the alphabet and cast
Its final letter out;
Then set the first where was the last,
And this you bring about:
Without a cook, without a fire,
A dainty dish which men desire.

183. A CHARADE

My second with my first we greet;
My whole in earlier days
Gave understanding to the feet
That moved in tragic plays.

184. PROVERB ANAGRAM

Here is another proverb in anagram:--

Behest on thy lips, Society!

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

185. WHAT’S IN A NAME?

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

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

Can you decipher them?

186. AN ENIGMA

In any coward’s company you find
That I have place.
Cut off my head, and from your mind
All wrong erase.

187. A DOUBLE ACROSTIC

(From _Punch_, 1875)

My first elect among the few,
Chooses my second to expose his view.

1. Of various colours, changed at will,
I sit or stand for good or ill.

2. I rule alone from noon till night,
And when I am not am is right.

188. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

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

189. QUITE A BEATITUDE

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

190. CLEARING IT UP

“We,” cried my first and second,
“Are not quite satisfied.”
“The story may be reckoned
Imperfect,” fourth replied.
Said third, “The fact indeed I tell,”
And so at last all ended well.

191. PROVERB IN ANAGRAM

“I dare not admit faint women.”

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

192. A CHARADE

My first and second are as best they should be,
My third in Latin mouth is what it would be.
My whole would soon be ashes if it could be.

193. MISSING WORDS

Since Spooks, a ...... man is he,
...... this haunted house to me,
In ...... funk I ...... round,
And fear a ghost in every sound!

The missing words are spelt with the same letters.

194. WHAT IS IT?

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

195. GRANDFATHER’S TURN

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

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

196. A CHARADE

My _first_ is never far away,
My _next_ in Latin found;
My _third_ may rage by night or day;
_All_ make melodious sound.

197. MISSING WORDS

Through the ...... trees
Softly coo the doves;
Let a ...... breeze
...... youthful loves!

198. AN ENIGMA

At starting, half your income take,
Then for my second write;
And let your table help to make
The total cosy quite.

199. A CHARADE

My whole is a circle complete,
Beheaded I fall to your feet.
Behead me again and I fry,
Or am baked in a savoury pie.

200. ANAGRAM WORDS

Can you recast these short sentences into six single words?

See a pug dog. Red paper.
Fat reward.
Stay, O morn. Set on a dish.

201. AN ENIGMA

If my whole by my second and first you divide,
One more than ten thousand it gives.
In the land of my birth I have dwindled and died,
In museums my memory lives.

202. A PARADOX

Though never present, I appear,
Of perfect form a token;
And all that centres round my ear
Is heard, though never spoken.

203. BEST WHEN BEHEADED

Behead me twice, and it shall be
That I my perfect self regain;
Restore both heads and you shall see
That most perfect I remain.

204. MISSING WORDS

Grant, lady, grant your ..... his whim,
And give the coming ..... to him,
For this will ..... his jealous heart,
Stricken so sore by Cupid’s dart.
If not he ..... his hands of you,
To seek fresh ..... and pastures new.

205. A SEASONABLE PUZZLE

(_Quite an ice one_)

“Yes, yes, I know,” said Jack to Jill,
“That thirty-two is freezing-point;
And I can tell you, if you will,
Exactly what is squeezing-point!”

206. ILLUMINATING FIGURES

To fifty add a third of one,
A third to five attach;
You have the means, when this is done,
To kindle any match.

207. MISSING WORDS

The untrained .......... in the City
Is robbed by .......... without pity.

The missing words are spelt with the same ten letters.

208. A CHRISTMAS CRACKER

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

How can we amend this gloomy forecast?

209. ANAGRAM FLOWERS

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

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

210. AN ENIGMA

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

211. A PARADOX

Cut off my head, it is unshaken,
Cut off my tail, you turn it round;
But if both head and tail are taken,
Unconquered still I hold my ground.

212. WHAT ARE THEY?

Why should we quarrel, First and Third,
With nought between us but a word?

Let Third leave Second unessayed
To heal the breach these letters made.

If your solution be but fair
You find my whole disjointed there.

213. A CRYPTIC ADDRESS

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

214. AMONG THE GHOSTS

In haunted house to sleep I tried
My dread _first_ was my chum.
“With _second_ of my _first_,” I cried,
“My _whole_ I should become.”

215. AN ENIGMA

My first is possessive and second;
My second possessive and first.
Such banks most attractive are reckoned
By those for rich treasure athirst.

216. BONES OF A PALINDROME

~RPLVLSLVLPR~

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

217. A WORD AND A BLOW

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

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

218. A GOOD RIDDLE

When are acorns as strong as oaken posts?

219. THE BONES OF A PALINDROME

PTTPBTNTNTBPTTPBTNTNTBPTTP.

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

220. MISSING WORDS

The ..... of Shakespeare and of song
Have fair and dainty features;
But she I ..... my hopes upon
Excels those lovely creatures.
From ..... she ..... her name so dear,
She lives on ..... and honey;
She cannot ..... but she can steer,
And Madeline has money.

221. A NOVEL ANAGRAM

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

Axiomatic intelligence, or dust.

222. A CHARADE

My first your bosom friend, or man or maid,
Whom you can trust, secure and unafraid.

My second, sounded double, tells of fate,
Or sounded single puts an end to hate.

My whole a hall’s arched roof, or soft or hard,
That lies beyond the gate with ivory barr’d.

223. IS THIS TRUE?

Woman without her man would be helpless.

224. SOME ANAGRAMS

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

A moment’s cure. The old rocks.
Cod is nice. It lures a cat.

225. AN ENIGMA

Without my head I circulate
With speed and inclination;
Without my tail, at any rate,
I still have circulation.

Transpose three letters, in unbroken state,
I then receive the ashes of the great.

226. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

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

227. MISSING WORDS

Consuming lust for ....., now so rife,
Like ..... ..... mars both love and life.

228. FROM BEDLAM

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

~MNCLVDDVLCNM.~

229. FRUITS AND FLOWERS.

And as trim bees rise or go,
A long aim I’d say, a libel O!

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

230. ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM

NOW ONE OLD FORT.

What place is this?

RABID OWL.

Change this bird into a beast.

231. CHARADE

By W. M. Praed

Alas, for that forgotten day
When chivalry was nourish’d,
When none but friars learn’d to pray,
And beef and beauty flourish’d;
And fraud in kings was held accursed,
And falsehood sin was reckon’d,
And mighty chargers bore my _first_,
And fat monks wore my _second_!

Ah, then I carried sword and shield
And casque with flaunting feather,
And earn’d my spurs in battle-field,
In winter and rough weather;
And polish’d many a sonnet up
To ladies’ eyes and tresses;
And learn’d to drain my father’s cup,
And loose my falcon’s jesses!

But dim is now my grandeur’s gleam,
The mongrel mob grows prouder;
And everything is done by steam,
And men are kill’d by powder;
And now I feel my swift decay,
And give unheeded orders;
And rot in paltry state away
With sheriffs and recorders.

232

My _first_ you oft savagely pierce through and through;
My _next_ harbours nonsense, and wisdom, and dust;
But, oh! what disaster might chance to accrue,
Should my _whole_, from my _second_, step into my _first_!

233. DECAPITATION

My whole describes the action of a gale,
Decapitation makes an organ play.
Behead again, it sounds o’er hill and vale;
Again, it tells of what we do not pay.
Take nothing off, it is an eagle’s sail.
Again behead, and half a string denote;
Again, and lo! a horse’s head and tail;
And last of all on music’s notes I float.

234. A BURIED PROVERB

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

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

235. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

What should we put on a bird’s tail to catch it without a _steel trap_?

236. AN ENIGMA

By Praed

Across my _first_, with flash and roar,
The stately vessel glides alone.
And mournful on the crowded shore
There stands an aged crone,
Watching my _second’s_ parting smile,
As he bids farewell to his native isle.

My _whole_ comes back to other eyes,
With beauteous change of fruit and flowers,
But dim to her are those bright skies,
And sad those joyous hours;
For, alas! my _first_ is dark and deep,
And my _second_ cannot hear her weep.

237. THE ARAB AND HIS ASS

THE SEQUEL

When morning dawned, and the tide was out,
The pair crossed over ’neath Allah’s ..........,
And the Arab was happy beyond a doubt,
For he had the best donkey in all that §.

You are wrong! They were drowned in crossing over,
Though the donkey was bravest of all his ....;
He luxuriates now in perpetual clover,
And his master has gone to the prophet’s em⏞.

238. MISSING WORDS

A ..... ..... on ....’. strands
Caught Pat’s heart in her meshes;
He left the ..... in Cupid’s hands,
And watched her ..... her tresses;
Tresses of ..... coloured gold,
Veiling, like any frock,
A tail which, as it did unfold,
Gave to poor Pat a shock.

239. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

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

240. MISSING WORDS

No ..... sympathy was ever shown,
Than when ..... news from Kingston ..... was known.

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

241. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM

What bodily discomfort follows an _ague-fit_?

242. A TANGLED SQUARE

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