CHARADES

Hoop

They must of course fail, but you can succeed by secretly fastening with beeswax a small stone or piece of metal inside the hoop, as is indicated in the diagram.

Invisible yet never out of sight,I am indeed a centre of delight.In quiet times I help to make things right,Yet act as second in the fiercest fight.

Solution

Double crescent

This double crescent, called the Seal of Mahomet, from a legend that the prophet was wont to describe it on the ground with one stroke of his scimitar, is to be made by one continuous stroke of pen or pencil, without going twice over any part of it.

Solution

Though I mingle with thieves,And with all that deceives,And never keep clear of depravityThough possessed by a devil,Or seen in a revel,I do keep my centre of gravity.

Solution

There’s not a bird that cleaves the skyWith crest or plume more gay than I,Yet guess me by this token:That I am never seen to flyUnless my wings are broken.

Solution

Arrange 15 matchesthus—

Matches

Remove 6 and what number will be left?

Solution

Split into three and mixed,With Dives I am found.Split into two and fixedOn four legs, flat or round.In my most kindly sense unbroken,Warm hearts and helpers I betoken.

Solution

I am high, I am low,I am thick, I am thin,I can keep out the snow,But may let the rain in.

Solution

Go range through every clime, where’erThe patriot muse appearsHe deeds of valour antedates,His ban an army fears.By midnight lamp each poet soulIs plumed for flight sublime;Pale monarch moon and shining starsWitness his glowing rhyme!Incited by the muse man goesTo grapple with his wrongs;The poet cares not who makes laws,If he may make the songs.

Go range through every clime, where’erThe patriot muse appearsHe deeds of valour antedates,His ban an army fears.

By midnight lamp each poet soulIs plumed for flight sublime;Pale monarch moon and shining starsWitness his glowing rhyme!

Incited by the muse man goesTo grapple with his wrongs;The poet cares not who makes laws,If he may make the songs.

Can you discover ten fruits in these lines?

Solution

SamplerWhen I can plant with seventeen treesTwice fourteen rows, in each row three;A friend of mine I then shall please,Who says he’ll give them all to me.

Sampler

When I can plant with seventeen treesTwice fourteen rows, in each row three;A friend of mine I then shall please,Who says he’ll give them all to me.

Solution

The last of you before the endClose to an inn we first must find,If nothing follows all will tendTo hints that rankle in the mind.

Solution

By the following ingenious arrangement of the stones a set of dominoes appears to be unduly rich indoublets:—

Dominoes

It will be noticed that the charm of this arrangement is that the whole figure contains a double set of quartettes, on which the pips are similar.

Many men of many minds,Many birds of many kinds,Some are dun, and some are gray—Which is this one? tell me, pray!See him where the water shines,But not perching on the pines.

Solution

Dominoes

This again shows how the stones can be placed so that an ordinary set of dominoes seems to be unduly rich in doublets.

We know how, by the addition of a single letter, ourcarescan be softened into acaress; but in the following Enigma a still more contradictory result follows, without the addition or alteration of a letter, by a mere separation ofsyllables:—

None can locate the subject of my riddle.For all the world would seek its place in vain;Cut it asunder almost in the middle,And in our very midst its place is plain.An aching void, an absolute negation,Into the opposite extreme it breaks;With just a gap to mark their new relationEach letter still the same position takes.

None can locate the subject of my riddle.For all the world would seek its place in vain;Cut it asunder almost in the middle,And in our very midst its place is plain.

An aching void, an absolute negation,Into the opposite extreme it breaks;With just a gap to mark their new relationEach letter still the same position takes.

Solution

Here are two more perfect arrangements of a set of dominoes in quartettes, so that the pips and blanks are similarly grouped andrepeated:—

Dominoes

Sir Hilary fought at Agincourt,Sooth! ’twas an awful dayAnd though in olden days of sportThe rufflers of the camp and courtHad little time to pray,’Tis said Sir Hilary muttered thereTwo syllables by way of prayer.“My first to all the brave and proudWho see to-morrow’s sun;My next with her cold and quiet cloudTo those who find a dewy shroudBefore the day is won.And both together to all bright eyesThat weep when a warrior nobly dies!”

“My first to all the brave and proudWho see to-morrow’s sun;My next with her cold and quiet cloudTo those who find a dewy shroudBefore the day is won.And both together to all bright eyesThat weep when a warrior nobly dies!”

Solution

Arrange twelve dominoes as is shown in this diagram, and start countingin Frenchfrom the double five, thus u, n,un; remove the stone you thus reach, which hasonepip upon it, and start afresh with the next stone, d, e, u, x,deux; this brings you to the stone with two pips; then t, r, o, i, s,trois, brings you to that withthree, and so on untildouzebrings you to twelve.

Dominoes

Always remove the stone as you hit upon each consecutive number.

Now who can re-arrange these same stones so that a similar result works out inEnglish, thus—o, n, e,one(remove the stone), t, w, o,two, and so on throughout?

Solution

A man with fourscore winters whiteSat dozing in his chair;His frosted brow was quite my first,Crowned with its silver hair.My whole, when playing at his feet,Sly glances upward stole;My second, standing at his side,Was father of my whole.

A man with fourscore winters whiteSat dozing in his chair;His frosted brow was quite my first,Crowned with its silver hair.

My whole, when playing at his feet,Sly glances upward stole;My second, standing at his side,Was father of my whole.

Solution

In this diagram the word EACH is formed by the use of a complete set of stones, placing every letter in proper domino sequence.

Dominoes

There are also the same number of pips in each letter. Can you construct another English word under the same conditions? As a hint, the word that we have in mind is plural.

Solution

Upon my face is not a single hair,Although my beard uncut is growing there.Men call me Shelley, though I can’t converse,To me all tongues alike would be a curse.I in my house must night and day abide,And though quite well must keep my bed, outside.For me no bell shall toll a funeral knell,I’m doomed, like Shelley, dead to have no shell.

Solution

This amusing Charade is from the pen of a wise and witty IrishBishop:—

True to the trumpet call of fame and dutyThe soldier arms, and hastens to depart;Nor casts one look behind, though love and beautyWhispermy firstin tones that thrill his heart.The war is o’er, with wealth and honour ladenThe hero seeks the well-remembered Hall:He woos and wins the unreluctant maiden,And bidsmy secondo’er her blushes fall.He takes her hand—a mist of rapture thickensBefore her eyes. Such bliss succeeding painO’ertasks her strength, and fainting nature sickens,Untilmy wholeis rudely snapt in twain.

True to the trumpet call of fame and dutyThe soldier arms, and hastens to depart;Nor casts one look behind, though love and beautyWhispermy firstin tones that thrill his heart.

The war is o’er, with wealth and honour ladenThe hero seeks the well-remembered Hall:He woos and wins the unreluctant maiden,And bidsmy secondo’er her blushes fall.

He takes her hand—a mist of rapture thickensBefore her eyes. Such bliss succeeding painO’ertasks her strength, and fainting nature sickens,Untilmy wholeis rudely snapt in twain.

Solution

This very beautiful specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess-board takes its name from the figure formed by the tracery at its centre.

Knight's tour

An endless number of symmetrical patterns of varied design can be formed, by a knight’s consecutive moves, with patience and ingenuity.

Here is a pretty and very regular specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess board.

Knight's tour

It is one of many variations which produce in the tracery a central star.

My first she was a serving maid,Who went to buy some tea;How much she bought my second tells,As all may plainly see.Now when the answer you have foundTell it to others too;My whole will then to maids and menExplain what ’tis you do.

My first she was a serving maid,Who went to buy some tea;How much she bought my second tells,As all may plainly see.

Now when the answer you have foundTell it to others too;My whole will then to maids and menExplain what ’tis you do.

Solution

Here is a remarkably symmetrical specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess board.

Knight's tour

It takes its name from the central archway, which this arrangement forms.

My fourth is just ten times my firstWhen that takes on my second;My third and second when reversedDouble my first are reckoned.All this is empty, though my penSo full may seem to show it;Reverse my first and second, thenMy whole becomes a poet.

Solution

O’er distant hills the rising moonThe evening mist dispersed:And beaming radiant in the skyShe plainly showedmy first.A horseman guided by her light,Approached with headlong speedAnd as he rodemy secondsaidTo urge his flagging steed.His lady waited at the gate,Though trysting hour was past.She wasmy whole, because her lordWas thenmy thirdand last.

O’er distant hills the rising moonThe evening mist dispersed:And beaming radiant in the skyShe plainly showedmy first.

A horseman guided by her light,Approached with headlong speedAnd as he rodemy secondsaidTo urge his flagging steed.

His lady waited at the gate,Though trysting hour was past.She wasmy whole, because her lordWas thenmy thirdand last.

Solution

InNo. LXXXIVwe gave a pretty illustration of a knight’s tour, with a central star.

Knight's tour

Here is a good course which shows in its symmetrical tracery a pair of stars.

Among the countless fanciful variations of the knight’s tour that are possible, some have been so designed that more than a merely symmetrical pattern is involved.

Knight's tour

Here is, for example, an excellent suggestion of the sails of a windmill with their central fittings.

My first’s a liquid or a solid snare,My all is hot, or in a maiden’s hair;My second just a track.Transpose my first, and they will both declareMy all is now a black.

Solution

Here is a very distinctive specimen of the knight’s tour, in which the design reminds us of the old-fashioned lazy-tongs, which stretched out and then back, by opening or shutting their handles on finger and thumb.

Knight's tour

My first must be below the ground,To do its proper duty;Within my second may be foundChaps that can boast no beauty;Some simple garden holds the two combined,Old-fashioned emblem of a candid mind.

Solution

This beautiful symmetrical knight’s tour involves in its accomplishment a pretty problem inarithmetic:—

Knight's tour

If we follow the course of the knight step by step, and number consecutively the squares on which it rests at each move, we find that there is a constant difference of 32 between the numbers on any two of these squares that correspond in position on opposite sides of the central line.

My first can be no joke to crack,My second I adore;Reverse her name, and you will seeJust what that maiden is to me.My whole is grown where boys are blackUpon a sultry shore.

Solution

This short symmetrical knight’s tour can be tested on a corner of thechessboard:—

Knight's tour

The knight can start from any square, and, taking the course indicated, return on the twentieth move to the starting point.

Though weak my first is reckoned,And game made of my second;Yet both bade hosts defianceWhen joined in close alliance.

Solution

As Lubin did my first, and, scythe in hand,Espied his Phyllis by the hedgerow stand,He called out to my next, in cheery tones and clear,“Tell me, sweet all, you’ll fetch a pot of beer.”

Solution

A dishonest jeweller, who had a cross of pearls to repair for a lady of title, on which nine pearls could be counted from the top, or from either of the side ends to the bottom, kept back two of the pearls, and yet contrived to return the cross re-set so that nine pearls could still be counted in each direction, as at first. How was this done?

Cross

Solution

Says William to his thriftless wife,“Tofirstunless you try,Your wasteful ways will spoil our life.”Her’s is a curt reply.Secondandthirdher answer give;Full soon their fortunes fall,Each of the hapless pair must liveAnd wander as myall.

Says William to his thriftless wife,“Tofirstunless you try,Your wasteful ways will spoil our life.”Her’s is a curt reply.

Secondandthirdher answer give;Full soon their fortunes fall,Each of the hapless pair must liveAnd wander as myall.

Solution

Come from my first, ay, come;The battle dawn is nigh,And the screaming trump and the thundering drumAre calling thee to die.Fight, as thy father fought,Fall, as thy father fell:Thy task is taught, thy shroud is wrought,So forward and farewell!Toll ye my second, toll;Fling high the flambeau’s light,And sing the hymn for a parted soulBeneath the silent night.The helm upon his head,The cross upon his breast,Let the prayer be said, and the tear be shedNow take him to his rest!Call ye my whole, go callThe lord of lute and lay,And let him greet the sable pallWith a noble song to-day.Ay, call him by his name,No fitter hand may craveTo light the flame of a soldier’s fameOn the turf of a soldier’s grave!

Toll ye my second, toll;Fling high the flambeau’s light,And sing the hymn for a parted soulBeneath the silent night.The helm upon his head,The cross upon his breast,Let the prayer be said, and the tear be shedNow take him to his rest!

Call ye my whole, go callThe lord of lute and lay,And let him greet the sable pallWith a noble song to-day.Ay, call him by his name,No fitter hand may craveTo light the flame of a soldier’s fameOn the turf of a soldier’s grave!

Solution

My first has cause in dread to holdThe foggy month November.My next, when given to knights of oldWas held to mean “remember!”

Solution

With one line many do my first,With two it can but meet;My second, as its breakers burst,Around my whole may beat.

Solution

She was my first; one happy dayShe was my second,And shewed my all. Now can you sayHow this is reckoned?

Solution

My first it may a seaman save,Or cause a fighter’s fall;My next reminds us of the wave,Or of unseemly brawl.My whole is rather pert than brave,And like a rubber ball.

Solution

Seen with a stolen spoon, my first was reckonedBad as my whole in moral tone.Whether a number or alone my secondTouched by my third is turned to stone.

Solution

My first a friend, companion, guide,Is loving, staunch, and cheery;My second has a cleansing side,My third denotes a theory.My whole, good luck! is held by fewTo bore and make us weary.

Solution

My first is an insect,My second a border;My whole puts the faceInto tuneful disorder.

Solution

My first seldom crosses your path,Though wheels and a body it hath;My next from a clownMuch applause will bring down,My whole was Goliath of Gath.

Solution

My first he sat upon my wholeAnd used it as my second.His halves akin in Latin andIn English may be reckoned.

Solution

My first comes often to our mindWhen for a saint we look.My second sees the greetings kindOf Bobby and the cook.My whole in hothouse you may find,Or pictured in a book.

Solution

Man cannot live without my first,By day and night ’tis used;My second is by all accursed,By day and night abused.My whole is never seen by day,And never used by night,’Tis dear to friends when far away,But hated when in sight.

Solution

I am my first, my second thou mayest beIn classic shades, where gently rollThe crystal waters of my wholeTo seek the sea.

Solution

My first is worn by night and day,And very useful reckoned;London, or Bath, or Bristol mayWith truth be styled my second.Now if you cannot find me outYou lack my whole without a doubt.

Solution

My first now marks the soldier’s face,Who was my next’s defender;But when my whole attacked the placeIt drove him to surrender.

Solution

My first is away from Paris, and mayCome round with a rap at your portal;My second is Spanish, but quickly will vanishIf it turns to a nod from a mortal.

Solution

Often my first a B begins,One always starts my second.My all, though free from grosser sins,Of little worth is reckoned.

Solution

My first is a kind of butter,My second is a sort of cutter;My whole, whether smaller or larger,Was always a kind of charger.

Solution

My first is but lately promotedTo a place in our language, and quoted.My second it lives in the sea.On the hill-tops it flourishes free.My whole I should certainly callA delectable dainty for all.

Solution

Take in my first, and you will findIt helps you to make up your mind.Write to my second, and beholdYou see into the secret told.

Solution

My first is expressive of no disrespect,But I never call you by it when you are by;If my second you still are resolved to reject,As dead as my whole I shall presently lie.

Solution

My first reversed will plainly showAn apple in its embryo.Reverse my second, and we seeThat which in sight can never be.Replace them both, and write me downSix letters that will spell a town.

Solution

My first is equal to the rest,My second not so much;My whole is better than the best,Beyond compare nonsuch.

Solution

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