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Mysecondis double myfirst,Myfirstis but half of mysecond;And I’m sure you’ll admit that mywholeIs ten times the latter when reckon’d.

Solution

MyfirstI went the other day,And pretty surely reckon’dA basket of fine fish to catch,With hook and rod andsecond.But I was out in reckoning;A very pretty sheOf her fair face show’d just mywhole—And pretty soon hook’dme.

MyfirstI went the other day,And pretty surely reckon’dA basket of fine fish to catch,With hook and rod andsecond.

But I was out in reckoning;A very pretty sheOf her fair face show’d just mywhole—And pretty soon hook’dme.

Solution

Of mirth the parent, though the child of art,A stranger to myself in every part;Each India has a native in my breast,The West my sweetness, and my fire the East.While milder climes my virtue to complete,Quicken my softness, and correct my heat;My dearest friends upon my vitals prey,And as they see me sinking, grow more gay.

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When my whole takes a flight in the air you will findThat my next is not left a great distance behind;But join them together, and plain to your viewIt all is as firm and as tight as a screw.

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To three-fourths of a cross, add a circle complete;Then, let two semi-circles a perpendicular meet;Next, add a triangle that stands on two feet;Then, two semi-circles, and a circle complete.

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Leader of Vandals and of viceMy head is reckoned;A Turkish captain will sufficeTo be my second.My third is firm if well selected;My whole a wanderer neglected.

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One thousand, two hundred,Nothing, and one,Transposed, give a wordExpressive of fun.

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Myfirstwas creeping on his wayThrough the mists of a dull October day,When a minstrel came to its muddy bed,With a harp on his shoulder, a wreath on his head;“And how shall I reach,” the poor boy cried,“To the courts and the cloisters on t’other side?”Old Euclid came, and he frown’d a frown,And he dash’d the harp and the garland down;Then he led the bard, with a stately march,O’er mysecond’slong and cellar’d arch;—“And see,” said the sage, “how every assOver the sacred stream must pass!”The youth was mournful, the youth was mute,He sigh’d for his laurel, he sobb’d for his lute;—The youth took comfort, the youth took snuff,And follow’d the lead of that teacher gruff;And he sits, ever since, in mywhole’skind lap,In a silken gown and a trencher cap.

Old Euclid came, and he frown’d a frown,And he dash’d the harp and the garland down;Then he led the bard, with a stately march,O’er mysecond’slong and cellar’d arch;—“And see,” said the sage, “how every assOver the sacred stream must pass!”

The youth was mournful, the youth was mute,He sigh’d for his laurel, he sobb’d for his lute;—The youth took comfort, the youth took snuff,And follow’d the lead of that teacher gruff;And he sits, ever since, in mywhole’skind lap,In a silken gown and a trencher cap.

Solution

Upright and honest is myfirst;Mysecondyou may seeUpon the frozen lake or stream;Mywholeis equity.

Solution

Never wearied, see us stand,A glittering and a stately band—Of sturdy stuff, but graceful form,In summer cold, in winter warm;From hottest duty never swerving,Night and day our place preserving;Each serving to a different use,Not to be changed without abuse.And, pray, mark well another fact—In unison we never act,Except, as on occasion dread,We watch the ashes of the dead;When we are ranged, as you may seeAs awful sentries, one, two, three.

Solution

My first, though naught, with others is a fruit,My next is vital to both man and brute.It should be dear to all who hate the devil,For it is ever the reverse of evil.My all, when whole, is eloquent of peace,Divided it invokes to life that will not cease.

Solution

Guess at my first, ’tis easy to discover,Covered with rings, and whiskered like a dandy.Wrapped up in furs, ’tis often on the housetop,Oft in the chimney!See where my second, scorning to be hidden,Stands at the head of quite a band of others,Like a virago, straddling with feet apart,And arms akimbo.Surely my next is happy in its office,Parting the lovelocks on Neæra’s forehead;Setting the golden lines wherewith she anglesFor the unwary.If by my whole at any time you pass, youTread on the dust of holy saints and martyrs,Holy the place, may holy thoughts attend you,Peacefully dreaming!

Guess at my first, ’tis easy to discover,Covered with rings, and whiskered like a dandy.Wrapped up in furs, ’tis often on the housetop,Oft in the chimney!

See where my second, scorning to be hidden,Stands at the head of quite a band of others,Like a virago, straddling with feet apart,And arms akimbo.

Surely my next is happy in its office,Parting the lovelocks on Neæra’s forehead;Setting the golden lines wherewith she anglesFor the unwary.

If by my whole at any time you pass, youTread on the dust of holy saints and martyrs,Holy the place, may holy thoughts attend you,Peacefully dreaming!

Solution

Offspring of nature and of art, I standChief ’midst the monuments of every land;I may not lengthen life, but IFor centuries forbid to die.The greatest truth in me you meetIs but deception most complete.Unchanged I last the changing crowds among,And as I older grow, I grow too young.

Solution

Pronounced as one letter, and written with three,Two letters there are, and two only in me;I’m double, I’m single, I’m black, blue, and gray,I’m read from both ends, and the same either way.

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Myfirstis false as false can be;Mynextold ladies wear;Mywhole’smyfirst, as you will see,As false, I do declare.

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When whole I am indeed a thingTo puzzle you a bit;Though parts of me are hard, at BridgeThe others make a hit;Or you may make a car of some,And fix a head to it.

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A word of nine letters explainsHow to mitigate bodily pains;The five vowels are there,And four consonants shareThis function for medical brains.

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My second guides my first and thirdFor pleasure, trade, and war;My first and second by my thirdAre oft transported far.But when my first my third doth pull,’Tis then his lot is worst;And should my second lack my whole,He’s apt to leave my first.

Solution

It is a......fact that neither......nor......grow.......

Solution

DRWNDRRDNWRD.

Insert the missing letters, and so form a perfect palindrome, which reads alike from either end.

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The schoolboy likes me well,For healthful sport I bring,Yet I can harm create,Though such a little thing:Connubial bliss is form’d by me;My nature is equality.

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What person’s name is doubly evil?The answer may be given in a line that rhymes.

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I’m a district near London;If made wrong, I come undone;O’er sweet strings I swift run,Or appear with the bright sun,And though by me fights were won,I can greet you every one.

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I am my first when seen with you,My next is always bad.A rogue in grain much harm may doAnd make the farmer mad.

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When winter comes with frost and cold,My first is welcome, as of old;And though its grip may make you thinner,It helps to cook your Christmas dinner.Let me but hear my next rejoiceAt early dawn with cheerful voice,I haste to find, with eager pleasure,Some specimen of hidden treasure.A traveller my whole may findFar from his English kith and kind;Though some at home, to England’s shame,Are this in fact, if not in name.

When winter comes with frost and cold,My first is welcome, as of old;And though its grip may make you thinner,It helps to cook your Christmas dinner.

Let me but hear my next rejoiceAt early dawn with cheerful voice,I haste to find, with eager pleasure,Some specimen of hidden treasure.

A traveller my whole may findFar from his English kith and kind;Though some at home, to England’s shame,Are this in fact, if not in name.

Solution

It was to-morrow, andIt will be yesterday;Now it is near at handWhat is it? Who can say?

Solution

My first doth fill with light his father’s eyes,The second shadows all the mother’s brow;My whole all men, all women, girls and boys,Have had, and long to lose, and lost for ever now;But know not, nor can know, when it was lost, and how.

Solution

Complete, though not of human race,A soul in me may dwell;Behead, I held a higher place,Until, like man, I fell.Again behead, and in the songOf Burns I’m all your own;Behead once more, it would be wrongTo find me out when known.

Complete, though not of human race,A soul in me may dwell;Behead, I held a higher place,Until, like man, I fell.

Again behead, and in the songOf Burns I’m all your own;Behead once more, it would be wrongTo find me out when known.

Solution

With head good for naught,And with tail always drunk,You know well what to sayOf the worth of my trunk.First cut off my tail,I am Greek, and I’m not;Then cut off my head,And some Latin you’ve got.Lopping both you know bestWhat remains, as I said,For I really am youIf I lose tail and head!

Solution

One guiding eye I needIn running through the gaps;My tail, as on I speed,Is caught in many traps.

Solution

In the ’seventies no one was more popular at Simpson’s Chess Room in the Strand than the gentle and brilliant subject of these lines, a clever water-colourist. The charade is by his friend, the well-known problem composer. Both have passed away, but they are not forgotten by those who had the happiness to knowthem:—

Of all the birds that ever sought a mate,My first is to but one appropriate,So speak the word! nor silence shyly woo.To find my next, go! wander in the Zoo!My whole is a magician of the squares,But Art, with Chess, his best affections shares,So this, indeed, to him may be a lawWhenwinning’s hopeless, grandly still todraw.

Solution

Though poor and humble was my birthI sit enthroned on high;My footsteps far above the earth,My canopy the sky.O’er toiling subjects thus in stateI bear despotic sway;Yet on them hand and foot I waitAt break and close of day.

Though poor and humble was my birthI sit enthroned on high;My footsteps far above the earth,My canopy the sky.

O’er toiling subjects thus in stateI bear despotic sway;Yet on them hand and foot I waitAt break and close of day.

Solution

I am not of flesh and blood,Yet have I many a bone;No limbs, except one leg,And can’t stand on that alone.My friends are many, and dwellIn all lands of the human race;But they poke my poor nose into the mud,And shamefully spatter my face.Thrust me into each other’s ribs,Stick me in gutter and rut;I have never a window, and never a door,Yet I often open and shut.

I am not of flesh and blood,Yet have I many a bone;No limbs, except one leg,And can’t stand on that alone.

My friends are many, and dwellIn all lands of the human race;But they poke my poor nose into the mud,And shamefully spatter my face.

Thrust me into each other’s ribs,Stick me in gutter and rut;I have never a window, and never a door,Yet I often open and shut.

Solution

Before the crown descended onThe head of England’s Queen,Four Kings upon that royal throneOf the same name had been.Now if the signs which marked their nameBe joined unto a beast,We have a food on which the same(A quadruped) will feast.

Solution

I am pretty, and useful in various ways,Though I tempt some poor mortals to shorten their days;Behead me, and then in my place will appearWhat youngsters admire every day in the year;Behead me once more, and without any doubt,You must be what is left if you don’t find it out.

Solution

My first, when skilfully performed(Its doer by applauses warmed),Bespeaks both skill and vigour.When with my whole, so soft and light,I saw my second gay bedight,She made a splendid figure.

Solution

The man who.....the common.....Above the.....chaste,.....as he may, the world declaresIs not a man of taste.And though my sympathy he shares,No.....on him I waste!

Solution

When a monk in old times, unexpectedly heated,Endangered the peace of his soul,To atone for my second my first he repeatedQuite ten times a day on my whole.

Solution

An insect small and fellMakes a weird sound,If, as its name you spell,You turn it round.One letter cast, and stillShift what remains,Another insect willReward your pains.

An insect small and fellMakes a weird sound,If, as its name you spell,You turn it round.

One letter cast, and stillShift what remains,Another insect willReward your pains.

Solution

Where head and body duly meetI am as slender as a bee;Whether I stand on head or feetMy figure shows its symmetry.But when my head is cut awayThe metamorphosis is strange;Though both of them unaltered stay,Body and head to nothing change.

Where head and body duly meetI am as slender as a bee;Whether I stand on head or feetMy figure shows its symmetry.

But when my head is cut awayThe metamorphosis is strange;Though both of them unaltered stay,Body and head to nothing change.

Solution

First is in coast, second in ghost,Third must be reckoned part of second;Fourth in boat, fifth in float,Sixth you will find within your mind.Seventh in blue, eighth in true,These letters tell a fruit that they spell.

Solution

The hunter and his steed are knownMy first to see.Though men may call my next a stone,Wood it may be.My whole, an exile from his home,Is doomed from place to place to roam.

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My first expresses power to do,My next that it is done.To be my whole belongs to few,And perfectly to none.

Solution

In my first, as in a shell,All the sweetest sounds may dwell;In my second, shells aboundThat can catch no sort of sound;In my whole securely restThose who neither jeer nor jest.

Solution

My first, though of the feathered kindIs never known to fly;My next all who improve their mindSeize as it passes by.My whole may much occasion findTo make the truthful lie.

Solution

Divide a piece of beef or porkWithout the aid of knife and fork;It gives a shelf, rejoined with skill,Where you may set this if you will.Strike off instead the end, its placeIs plain as nose upon your face.Cut this asunder in your mind,And what is first put now behind;Part of our foot you thus discover,And in a measure all is over.

Solution

Seen as a whole, my form is nowAkin to strife and malice;Split, it may grace a princely brow,Or crown the curls of Alice.Recast my letters, and I tellThat nourishment is lacking;Stir them afresh until they spellThe needle’s help in tacking.

Seen as a whole, my form is nowAkin to strife and malice;Split, it may grace a princely brow,Or crown the curls of Alice.

Recast my letters, and I tellThat nourishment is lacking;Stir them afresh until they spellThe needle’s help in tacking.

Solution

If I write with my first in my secondMy whole you can never find out;Add a letter, and all will be reckonedA patron of water devout.

Solution

After officers’ mess, when cigars were well alight, the old conundrum was propounded, “What is most like a cornet of horse?” A sharp sub. was ready with the reply, “A hornet, of course”; it was presently capped by this variant which occurred to a married captain, “a corset of horn”; and yet another reading was suggested by the deaf old colonel, “How much did you say the..............” Can you complete this?

Solution

Loss of love between usNever can be nice;Yet we live where VenusChanges us to ice.

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Tell me, my sweet,Why are your feetLike fairy tales?

Solution

Our parson.......every man who has leisureTo study.......windows, the glory of fanes;And.......of devoting his income to pleasure,Our.......old dean spends his money on panes.

Solution

Though much attached to merriment,Or crime for a variety,To prison I am never sent,But sparkle in society.

Solution

Without my first and second’s aidNo pudding worth its sauce is made.Take on my third, my fourth I am,My fifth includes myself and Sam.My whole describes the royal fiddler Nero,And shows him as an unheroic hero.

Solution

What geographical names are buried in these lines?

He has my R. N. as a monogramI am her stupid sister.The calmest man is sometimes made irate.

Solution

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