’Tis ..... that no one takes a
.....
To .... a .... of
....s;
A .... may often take a
....
To .... away the
....s.
Solution
No. CXXII.—THE TALKING HEAD
This, though quite an old illusion, may be a
mystery to some of our readers, so we give it a
place among our many curiosities.
Head on dish
The table is placed on the middle of a platform,
well away from the background, and the
head, which is very much alive, is prepared to
answer questions, or to whistle, or to sing, at the
will of the audience. “How it is done” will be
explained.
Solution
105. A QUEER OBSTACLE
I’m in everyone’s way,
Yet no one I stop.
My four horns each day
Horizontally play,
And my head is nailed on at the top.
Solution
No. CXXIII.—A GENERAL OF THE
LIGHT BRIGADE
Matchstick man
With a little ingenuity, and by slightly warming
the wax, and shredding the matches for
some effects, all sorts of comical figures can be
contrived, similar in character to this dignified
general on his high-stepping charger.
106. AN OLD ENIGMA
(By a former Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.)
Take five from five, and then
Put fifty in the middle;
Twice ten times five times ten
Will finish off my riddle,
And bring it to your ken
As fit as any fiddle!
Solution
No. CXXIV.—ANOTHER BOOMERANG
Cut out in cardboard a cross similar to that
shown in this diagram:—
Cross
Place one of its limbs under the thumbnail of
the left hand, and give the next projecting limb
a sharp flick with the middle finger of the right
hand. The little boomerang will fly sharply
forward, and invariably return rapidly on its
tracks. Try it.
107. PHONETIC GAPS
Can you fill these gaps with words of similar
sound?
No ..... will
..... before the wind
A ..... will
... before it;
We cannot .... the
...., or find
That earthly powers ..... o’er it.
The gaps in line 1 take words that sound alike;
so do those in line 2; and so do the other three
in lines 3 and 4.
Solution
No. CXXV.—A PICTURE CHARADE
Can you fill in the missing words so as to
complete this picture charade?
Puffin
My first may .... candle
...,
My second then .....
..;
My whole in ..... moves
.....
....... an oar or
...
Solution
108. SOUND SENSE
We seem to sound a note of lavish bounty;
Reverse us, and we indicate a county.
Solution
109. A CRYPTOGRAM
FTHNMLKBRNGSLLCTTN
LLSKMTMXTTLLTSTHN!
Can you so deal with this as to form a
rhyming couplet?
Solution
No. CXXVI.—WALNUTS AND COBS
A good after dinner trick
Place four walnuts and four cobnuts in a row,
as indicated on the diagram.
Nuts
Now, moving always two that stand together,
transfer them to some other positions along the
line, and in four such moves leave them so that
the large and small nuts range alternately. It
may, of course, be done with large and small
coins, or with other things that are at hand.
Solution
110. A BURIED PROVERB
Yet I see them all! on golden wings that fly
Old memories steal anew;
With a tear, with a sigh, with an old, old cry
They return in ghostly hue!
Solution
111. DOUBLETS
Here is another exercise in Doublets, from
Lewis Carroll’s book on the subject:—
Turn ELM into OAK by seven links, introducing
the name of another tree as one of
them.
Solution
No. CXXVII.—A PICTURE RIDDLE
Can you read in this picture the question of
our riddle?
Riddle
Solution
112. TWO POSERS
1.
My dear Mr Bird,
We are giving a ball;
First second we third,
Pray give us your all.
2.
Second, I did my first and last,
Till I became my whole;
And told the tale of my repast,
A sad and greedy soul.
Solutions
No. CXXVIII.—BUY A BROOM
Here is an excellent example of how a characteristic
figure may be contrived by shredding,
warming, and uniting a few wax matches:—
Matchstick man
Many similar figures can be made by handy
fingers.
113. A CHARADE
My whole, industrious, wends his way
His daily task to meet;
Behead, transpose, and lo! a sound
Of music soft and sweet;
Behead again, I make my way
With swiftness past belief;
Again, and where the fields are gay
My bounty brings relief.
Solution
No. CXXIX.—JEU DE PARQUET
(For the children)
An old book, published more than 100 years
ago, gives the following samples of patterns which
may be formed with very simple materials:—
Tiles
All that is needed for this pastime is a set of
128 coloured triangles, 64 of each colour, with
which an endless variety of patterns can be
arranged by the exercise of taste and ingenuity.
114. LINES BY AN OLD OXBRIDGE DON
’Tis an absurdity to say
Women should try for a B.A.
To College honours forward looking;
They’d best confine themselves to cooking!
How could a Girton girl retort, using the same
words?
Solution
115. LESS AND MORE
Eight letters (start with b)
Three syllables contain;
Take one away, and see
Four syllables remain!
Solution
116. BURIED BEASTS
Can you dig out nineteen beasts that are
buried in these lines?—
Ireland’s lot heals slowly. Troubles came long
ago—at times in battalions—to attack and harass
her. Ambitious democrats now countermine
famous enthusiasts nearly akin to heroes.
Anarchy enables cowards to sow hot terror and
all amazement.
Solution
117. PALINDROMIC VERSE
Can you recast the following sentences so that
their words form a verse of four lines, which
makes good sense, with lines that rhyme alternately,
when read from either end?:—
Fading slowly day dies, mournful winds sigh,
Stars are waking brightly; owlet holding high
revel flies hooting, breaking nightly silence.
Solution
118. AN ANAGRAM IN THE MAKING
“The Observatory at Greenwich, in England,”
has been turned into an excellent anagram, which
starts—On landing here begin—Can you complete
it?
Solution
119. AN ENIGMA
No man at all am I
And, if you turn me round,
To hear my warning cry
Not any men are found.
Solution
120. ASK A SAILOR
How can our sailors fare the best
When times are harder?
How do they greet with merry jest
An empty larder?
Solution
121. AN ENIGMA
I lose my head when I am here,
Transpose me I am three;
Look in a book, you find me there,
And with me her and he.
Solution
122. MISSING WORDS
Jack did ....... that he could square
The circle to a .......;
His friends ....... that a brain so rare
Required attention ........
The missing words are spelt with the same
seven letters.
Solution
123. A HUMAN PRODIGY
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?
Solution
124. A CHARADE
Catch my first with nimble wit,
Add a simple word;
Then my whole may help a bit
Opportunely heard.
Solution
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?
Solution
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.
Solution
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.
Solution
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.
Solution
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?
Solution
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?
Solution
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!
Solution
132. A CHARADE
My first is pretence,
My second a dandy;
When fogs are most dense
My whole will be handy.
Solution
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?
Solution
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.
Solution
135. SHUFFLE THE LETTERS
Can you recast “Insanitary” and “Sanitary
Reform” so as to form two very appropriate
anagrams?
Solution
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.
Solution
137. MISSING LETTERS
whtmrslndsosdlyswr?
whtdyssdrksdysthtwrslrm?
lssknyskthndfr,
llshllcllwrhrssndhrm.
whycllsblldstlkthtghstlyrt
llgllntctsgrndndmntyprt?
Can you supply the missing letters?
Solution
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.
Solution
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.
Solution
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.
Solution
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?
Solution
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.
Solution
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.
Solution
144. A CHARADE
My first is a cover,
My second a city;
The whole you discover
With this if you’re witty.
Solution
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.
Solution
146. ANSWER BY ANAGRAM
If the “shingle” on the beach at Brighton
could speak, what would be its boast?
Solution
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?
Solution
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.
Solution
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?
Solution
150. A REBUS
storm?
a th |
an umbrella
me who |
with
alls |
all
mud. |
Solution
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?
Solution
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?
Solution
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?
Solution
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!
Solution
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.
Solution
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.
Solution
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.
Solution
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?
Solution
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.
Solution
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?
Solution
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!
Solution
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:—