105

’Tisplainthat no one takes aplaneTopareapairofpears;Arakemay often take arakeTotearaway thetares.

Return todescription

The queerobstacle—

I’m in everyone’s way,Yet no one I stop.My four horns each dayHorizontally play,And my head is nailed on at the top.

isA turnstile.

Return todescription

The oldenigma—

Take five from five, and thenPut fifty in the middle;Twice ten times five times tenWill finish off my riddle,And bring it to your kenAs fit as any fiddle!

is solvedthus—

When Jacky Barrett, learned Don,Composed his famous riddle,His thoughts, perhaps, were resting onThe strings of his old FIDDLE.

Return todescription

The phonetic gaps are filledthus—

Noquailwillquailbefore the wind,Aboughwillbowbefore it;We cannotreintherain, or findThat earthly powersreigno’er it.

Return todescription

We seem to sound a note of lavish bounty;Reverse us, and we indicate a county—

is solved by X S—S X.

Return todescription

Thecryptogram—

FTHNMLKBRNGSLLCTTNLLSKMTMXTTLLTSTHN!

is solved by inserting the letter “I” throughout, when this rhyming couplet isformed—

If thin milk brings illicit tin,I’ll skim it, mix it, till it’s thin!

Return todescription

The buried proverbin—

Yet I see them all! on golden wings that flyOld memories steal anew;With a tear, with a sigh, with an old, old cryThey return in ghostly hue!

is’Tis a long lane that has no turning.

Return todescription

Lewis Carroll’s doublet, which changes ELM into OAK by seven links, introducing the name of another tree as one of them, is solved thus byhim—

ELM, ELL, ALL, AIL, AIR, FIR, FAR, OAR, OAK.

A shorter solution is by these six links—Ely,sly,say,bay,bat,oat; and one of these (bay) is also a tree, as wasfir, so that the conditions given are fulfilled.

Return todescription

My dear Mr Bird,We are giving a ball;First second we third,Pray give us your all.

is solved byattendance.

Second, I did my first and last,Till I became my whole,And told the tale of my repast,A sad and greedy soul.

is solved bysatiate.

Return todescription

Thecharade—

My whole, industrious, wends his wayHis daily task to meet;Behead, transpose a, lo! a soundOf music soft and sweet;Behead again, I make my wayWith swiftness past belief;Again, and where the fields are gayMy bounty brings relief.

is solved byArtisan,strain,train,rain.

Return todescription

The lines by an old Oxbridgedon—

“’Tis an absurdity to sayWomen should try for a B.A.To College honours forward looking;They’d best confine themselves to cooking!”

can be happily met by this retort in the same words, recast by a Girtongirl—

“Women should try for a B.A.,To College honours forward looking;’Tis an absurdity to sayThey’d best confine themselves to cooking!”

Return todescription

Theenigma—

Eight letters (start with b)Three syllables contain;Take one away, and seeFour syllables remain!

is solved byBeautify,Beatify.

Return todescription

The beasts buried in thelines—

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,are—

eland, sloth, camel, goat, bat, lion, stoat, ass, ram, fat, ermine, mouse, yak, roe, hyena, cow, sow, otter and llama.

Return todescription

This is the palindrome verse that reads and rhymes from eitherend—

Dies slowly fading day, winds mournful sigh,Brightly stars are waking;Flies owlet hooting, holding revel high,Nightly silence breaking.

Return todescription

The anagram recast from “The Observatory at Greenwich in England” is completedthus—

On landing here begin to watch every star.

Return todescription

Theenigma—

No man at all am I,And, if you turn me round,To hear my warning cryNot any men are found.

is solved byNemo,omen,o men.

Return todescription

Thequestion—

How can our sailors fare the bestWhen times are harder?How do they greet with merry jestAn empty larder?

is solvedthus—

FOWL IS FARE.Wind that blows foul and chops about,With lighter puffs,And finds the thirsty sailor stout,Brings food enough!

FOWL IS FARE.

Wind that blows foul and chops about,With lighter puffs,And finds the thirsty sailor stout,Brings food enough!

Return todescription

Theenigma—

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—

is solved byThere.

Return todescription

Jack diddeclaimthat he could squareThe circle to adecimal;His friendsclaimedthat a brain so rareRequired attentionmedical.

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

Return todescription

A Mr Harwood had two daughters by his first wife, the elder of these was married to John Coshick. This Coshick had a daughter by his first wife, whom old Harwood married. Thus Harwood’s daughter couldsay—

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

Return todescription

Thecharade—

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

is solved byCatchword.

Return todescription

Theparadox—

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

is solved by the fact that the lines apply to the large and small wheels of a bicycle.

Return todescription

The enigma from Lewis Carroll’sPapers—

A monument all men agreeAm 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 seeOn which my tail is laid.

is solved byTablet.

Return todescription

Thecharade—

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.

is solved byHalfpenny.

Return todescription

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

is solved byHoneycomb.

Return todescription

The towns buried in thesentences—

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.

areLewes,Louth,Deal,BathandNeath.

Return todescription

The anagram on “The leaning tower of Pisa, in Tuscany, Italy,” is completedthus—

A funny spot in a sweet city;I o’erhang it all.

Return todescription

When they found that catacombNear theCapitolat Rome’Twas thetopicaldiscussion of the season;But theopticaleffectOf the skeletons selectDeprived the poor Professor of his reason!

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

Return todescription

Thecharade—

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

is solved byFlambeau.

Return todescription

If we adopt the old spelling of the final word, we can prove by anagram that Bacon had no hand at anyrate in Shakespeare’s play “Much Ado About Nothinge,” for the same letters exactly spell “Bacon? O, naught due to him!”

Return todescription

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.

is solved byLeft,felt,let.

Return todescription

“Insanitary” and “sanitary reform” are very happily recast by anagram thus—In nasty air; Former air nasty.

Return todescription

Thecharade—

Let my second cut my firstWhen I come to table;Though I cannot quench your thirstEat me—you are able.

is solved byCutlet.

Return todescription

These are the completedlines—

What mars a land so sadly as a war?What days as dark as days that wars alarm?Alas! ask any, ask at hand, afar,All shall call war a harass and a harm.Why call, as ballads talk, that ghastly artAll gallant acts—a grand and manly part?

It will be seen that “a” was the only missing letter.

Return todescription

Thecharade—

To me when whole, for I am sweet,The moon fresh brightness brings;Cut off my tail, I’m blunt, but meetTo sharpen other things.Behead me twice, and I have ledSoldiers to face the foe;Headless and tailless, one remainsThough all the rest may go.

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

Behead me twice, and I have ledSoldiers to face the foe;Headless and tailless, one remainsThough all the rest may go.

is solved by Honey (honey-moon; hone; Ney; one).

Return todescription

Theenigma—

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

is solved byAttenuate:—at ten, u, Ate, goddess of Revenge.

Return todescription

Thecharade—

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

is solved byOvercomes.

Return todescription

The cryptogram which was sent as a reliable tip before a race in which Petronel was torun—

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

is decipheredthus—

Take every third letter, and you arrive at Lenortepnoteb. Read this backwards, and you have the tip, “Bet on Petronel!”

Return todescription

Theenigma—

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

is solved byNothing.

Return todescription

The brokensentence—

Asedendoughteateaseain.

is thus filled in to describe a curse and to proclaim itscure—

A cursed fiend brought death, disease and pain;A blessed friend brought breath and ease again.

Return todescription

Thecharade—

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

is solved byCapacity.

Return todescription

The four rivers buried in thesentence—

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

areGanges,Thames,SevernandSeine.

Return todescription

If the “shingle” on the Brighton beach could speak, it might boast by anagram, “I amEnglish!”

Return todescription

Theenigma—

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

is solved by adding an a toher, which becomeshear.

Return todescription

The missing words in the “Plaint of the Rejected” are—The R.A.,hater,heart,earth,Herat.

Return todescription

The man who could attach a phonetic meaning to the words “Beta in Greek means letter B,” could in another fashion invite others to beat his wife by merely calling them and saying, “Hither!” (hit her).

Return todescription

Therebus—

is solved thus—Who follows me under an umbrella, with overalls all over mud, after a thunderstorm?

Return todescription

This is the completedpalindrome:—

Nor I nor Emma had level’d a hammer on iron.

It reads alike from either end.

Return todescription

The tutor came to the conclusion that there is nothing in Ecclesiastical Law to prevent the Pope from burying the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the undergraduate who had proposed the question demurred to this reply; pressed for his reason he said, as his face broke into a smile, “He cannot do so, becausethe Archbishop is not dead!”

Return todescription

The proverb buried in the sentence, “While there are very many as kind as this, they know no task unkind,” is, “Let every man skin his own skunk.”

Return todescription

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

is solved byHeather(he, at her).

Return todescription

The quotation from Shakespeare buriedin—

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.

is “The quality of mercy is not strained.”

Return todescription

The beetroot palindrome, which reads alike from either endis—

RED ROOT PUT UP TO ORDER

Return todescription

Myfirstwe all do when we fail;Mynextis heard in rain or hail;Myfourtha sheep of gender male;Mythirdis one without its tail;Mywholefor foreign countries sail.

is solved byMissionaries.

Return todescription

The words written on the walls of a Western college gained their ambiguous sense from the three final words, printed in italics—“Young women should set a good example, for young menwill follow them!”

Return todescription

Theenigma—

I’m but a little letter, stillI have my duties to fulfil;If off you takeMy tail, and makeAn alteration in my lot,Though I seem shorter I am not.

is solved byNote.

Return todescription

This is the fulltext—

Says Tom to Bill, “Pray tell me, sir,Why is it that the devil,In spite of all his naughty waysCan never be uncivil?”Says Bill to Tom, “The answer’s plainTo any mind that’s bright;Because theimp o’ darkness, sir,Cannot beimp o’ light!”

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

Says Bill to Tom, “The answer’s plainTo any mind that’s bright;Because theimp o’ darkness, sir,Cannot beimp o’ light!”

Return todescription

Back to Index Next