And met with Farmer A;
Said Farmer A, “How much apiece
For this lot did you pay?”
Said B, “I paid for all I drive
Just six pounds and a crown,
And I am selling all but five
At the next market town.
If fifteen pence a head I charge
Beyond the price I paid,
I shall secure a sum as large
As he who sold all made.”
B bought 25 geese at 5s. each, and proposed to sell 20 of them at 6s. 3d.
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50
The charade—
For best or for worst,
I thought myself happy to win her.
But what could I say
When the very next day
She gave me the whole for my dinner?
is solved by Herring.
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51
In the lines—
Blending so sweetly with the restful air;
The noiseless, deep-laced twilight shadows come,
And well I ken the lass who meets me there—
the familiar adage, “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home” is buried.
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52
The mutilations in—
Becomes a mighty beast instead:
But then the subject of my riddle
Is cut asunder in the middle;
And nothing this division gains,
Though unknown quantity remains.
are Fox, ox, o, x.
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53
Writing tales dramatic.
Did she steal the plots she planned?
Negative emphatic!
Stale to us the tales may be,
But at least they’re new to she!
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54
The old Sanscrit problem, quoted by Longfellow in his “Kavanagh,”
Ten times the square root of a flock of geese, seeing the clouds collect, flew to the Manus lake. One-eighth of the whole flew from the edge of the water among a tangle of water lilies, and three couple were seen playing in the water. Tell me, my young girl with beautiful locks, what was the whole number of geese?
is solved by 144.
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55
The enigma—
That if you divide the whole number by three
You find the result will exactly express
The half of six hundred and sixty, no less—
is solved by turning the sixes of 660 upside down, when it becomes 990, and satisfies the conditions.
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56
The press parody ran thus—
It cost very little to dress her;
Some breadcrumbs and thyme
About Thanksgiving time,
And they ate every bit from the dresser!
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57
He joins them after tea;
But both are swept by ruthless tides
Away on the western sea.
is solved by Hebrides.
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58
If I have 91 bananas on my barrow, and find, when I have sold one quality at four a penny, and the other at three a penny, that in mixed lots at seven for twopence I should have made a penny more, I had 64 of inferior and 27 of better sort.
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59
The words in italics have the same letters—
When rates are high, results are low.
His borders tares and bindweed spoil,
No careful culture tears the soil;
What weeds that stare are all alive
Where aster, pink, or rose should thrive.
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60
Varied, but welcome everywhere;
But met with in the open field
I’m banned if frequent, blest if rare.
To this peculiar difference the clue
Is called with much significance the cue.
is solved by Cheque, check (the letter Q).
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61
The three towns buried in the lines—
On holiday intent;
The best I’ve seen is surely Dover,
That pretty port of Kent.
are Leith, Thebes, St Ives.
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62
With a donkey bearing an obelisk;
But he did not venture to ford the tide,
For he had to good an ass to risk (asterisk).
Secure till the tide had ceased to swell,
For he knew that whenever the donkey died,
No other could be its parallel (‖).
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63
The charade—
While my final you can find in Amsterdam.
Think how a sound whole stays your hunger and your thirst,
Deftly readjusting bread and meat and jam.
is solved by Dietary (Amsterdam is on the River Y).
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64
The schoolboy who calculated that if he had made as many more runs at a cricket match, and half as many more, and two runs and a half, he would have made a score, scored seven runs.
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65
The enigma—
Of two in love made one.
The same six letters tell the fate
Of marriage ties undone.
is solved by United, untied.
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66
The riddle—
These own the rest of all my lay;
Busy my third; fourth like the pole,
Whose opposite my fifth makes goal.
is solved by Shackle, Tons, Ant, Arctic Expedition.
[Lieutenant Ernest H. Shackleton, R.N., leader of his South Polar Expedition.]
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67
Ere we were sent to Lord’s;
Alas! the score our champion made
Was what a nest affords.
The crowd in tens of thousands came,
But took scant notice of the game.
The words in italics have the same letters.
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68
When Edwin and Angelina received these mutual Marconigrams—
“No fickle girl is bonnie to my mind.”
“In love inconstant I no pleasure find,”
he was at Lisbon and she was at Constantinople, as is indicated by the fact that the names of these places are “buried” in the messages.
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69
The Mental Arithmetic—
Then multiply by four;
This, if you use the proper sign,
Makes five, and nothing more.
is solved by 1.25. In 11⁄4 the figures are not in a line.
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70
The doublet by missing words, in which a grilse is turned into a salmon, is solved thus—
The grilse of silver, sailer gay,
Guides on; the sailor morals draws
When salmon follows Nature’s laws.
One letter is changed in each link.
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71
The enigma—
From place to place all day;
Some loving swain, hot foot for fun,
Sees Dora in my way—
is solved by Road, which spells also Dora.
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72
The Letters—
HAATTCEUMSSSS
form the name of the State Massachusetts.
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73
The enigma—
Six English, and one Latin;
No need to twist them, or afresh to mix,
If puzzles you are pat in.
is solved by There: the words are—there, here, her, the, ere, he, re.
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74
The full solution of the answer by anagram to the question, “Why is every angler ipso facto an Ananias?” is—
A liar, he spins gay fancies to a woven yarn.
Question and answer are spelt with the same letters.
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75
The quaint riddle—
Will never go right;
Shall I tell you the reason why?
Wherever he goes,
He follows his nose,
And that stands all awry!
If this appendage had slanted more.
Why would it serve a hole to bore?
is solved thus—It would be Askewer (a skewer!)
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76
“S” is the missing letter which occurs 55 times, and these are the four lines:—
Assist us to assess success or loss.
Spring’s sweetness still possesses mossy grass,
As summer’s tresses mass soft shades across.
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77
The enigma—
Without my tail I’m flat;
I’m round, curtailed again;
Again, you have me pat!
is solved by Patent, paten, pate, pat.
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78
The logogriph—
But take a letter out,
That change of fare is ruling there,
You see, without a doubt.
Behead me twice; it is not nice
To have this in your skin;
Lop head and tail, and find a nail
Or tack to drive it in.
Behead this right, and in your sight
A little word you find;
But you will never make it out,
Though it is in your mind.
is solved by feasting, fasting, sting, tin, in.
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79
In many a burglary tried;
But when he prised open the till
There was only a spider inside.
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.
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80
The enigma—
Three-fourths a bed for man;
Three-fourths have legs that cannot stray,
Three-fourths have legs that can.
I have a back without a spine,
An arm without a bone is mine.
is solved by Coat.
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81
The charade—
My whole a narcotic is reckoned
is solved by Lethe.
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82
The two palindrome words which can be formed from the letters of the sentence “Arrive to vote at it,” are Rotator and Evitative.
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83
The enigma—
Sweet-hearted then I show;
Decapitate again, I spread,
And cannot be below.
Served so once more, I am not dead,
But with fresh beauty glow.
is solved by Clover, lover, over, ver (Latin for Spring).
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84
When Tommy undertook to put a shilling in his money-box if his father would give him as much as he had in his purse, and after repeating the process for three more days found himself penniless, he had elevenpence farthing in his purse at first.
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85
And three from foreign source.
All these together you must take
Where dramas run their course.
is solved by Theatres (tres, Latin for three).
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86
When young Hopeful said, “If it were possible I should choose a life double as long,” and old Sobersides answered, “Yes, and you might turn it to better account if it was also begun old,” and the fact that their actual words “double as long,” and “also begun old,” were spelt with exactly the same letters, gave emphasis to the reply.
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87
The charade—
I have both tail and head.
Or if for spirits you’ve a mind
Set my tail first instead.
With many a darker page,
My whole in picture will disclose,
For “all the world’s a stage!”
is solved by Drama, ram, a dram.
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88
With patterns that true art has traced.
The words in italics have the same letters.
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89
The proof by anagram that the words of commendation “blessed in pain,” are properly applied to anæsthetics, is that exactly the same letters spell indispensable.
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90
The quotation buried in the sentence—
“What sin was it, sonny?” said an American negress to her lover, when she sat on his best hat, which was flattened. Wearily he heard her musical laugh, and arose to go. His hobby was botany, but not hers, for she was then a merry girl. “Bother the flowers! I would prefer this mellow pineapple, Leonidas,” she said; “I guess we Ethiopians just love fruit!”
is “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
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91
That half the garb gives way:
And home return with purses lean
To brag of “bargain-day”!
The words in italics are spelt with the same four letters.
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92
Out into the West as the sun sank low;
Each thought as she sailed of the lad she loved best
For they all had ideals, and each had a beau.
......
And they all were too ill of ideals to think,
So these ladies sailed back moaning!
The words in italics have the same six letters.
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93
The charade—
My second should in ample stores abound,
Or help to make the sweetest songster heard.
Peculiar, and quite proper, is my third.
My whole has found with England’s monarch grace,
The verdant home of many a goodly race,
is solved by Punchestown.
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94
The enigma—
An opening I appear;
In other fashion said
I charm all far and near—
is solved by Entrance.
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95
The two sentences—
A lamp shines out for thee,
Win me best by tears,
are anagrams of The Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
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96
When on the Brighton beach an excited collie in pursuit of stones thrown into the sea, suggested the riddle, “What is the difference between that dog and a hungry man?” The appropriate answer was, “The one stops and shakes himself; the other chops and steaks himself!”
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97
The hidden animal in—
A part in hail must be,
A part belongs to pain,
A part in bones we see,
A part in gleaming gold,
A part in common copper.
A part in peace behold,
A part in any topper,
Two parts are heard in sound,
And in our finals found.
is Rhinoceros.
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98
The smart enigma—
Book-learning I never could boast;
Yet I turn the leaves inside the cover,
And when I am found I am lost.
is solved by A Fox.
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99
Comparative, a toast is like a sot;
For when their substances in liquor sink
Both properly are said to be in drink.
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters, the t being repeated in toast.
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100
The pied proverb is “Fine words butter no parsnips.”
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101
The puzzle verse—
In youth its joys none need descry;
But where our elders take to it
Its name points loss of dignity,
is solved by Badinage (bad in age).
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102
The hero’s name, hidden in—
My next’s in praise, but not in bliss;
My third’s in man, but not in miss;
My fourth’s in we.
My sixth’s in cat, but not in dog;
My next’s in calm, but not in fog;
My eighth’s in we.
My tenth’s in light, but not in shine;
My next’s in four, but not in nine;
My twelfth’s in we.
is General Wolfe.
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103
Here is the sentence given with its appropriate and perfect anagram—
A defeat whose test is very sure.
Sweet are the uses of adversity.
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104
The phonetic missing words are given in italics:—