PALINDROMESORSENTENCES THAT READ BOTH WAYS

Matches

This picture shows how it is to be done.

Theelephant, according to its anagram, is the animal to which the command “Leap then!” would be the least appropriate.

The answer by anagram to “Whom should we employ to make ‘alterations’ in our overcoats?” isNeat tailors.

Where do we go to remedy “disease?”

To theseaside.

Who should make a good “manager?”

A German.

Here is quite a simple matchproblem:—

Matches

Can you remove eight of these matches, that now form nine squares, so as to leave only two squares upon the table?

Solution

When Cato and Chloe, at the Popular Café, decided to order for their afternoon tea a pot of what is formed by the mixture of the letters of their names, they called forChocolate.

The answer by anagram to “Why may the scenery round Bournemouth be said to be ‘quite spruce’?” is—because it ispicturesque.

Lord Roberts’ motto, “Virtute et Valore,” is by its anagramTrue to avert evil, a happy indication of his character.

To arrange ten matches on a table, so that with one hand you can lift nine of them with the tenth, lay them, as is shown in Fig. 1, with the heads of eight pillowed on one, and pointing in opposite directions, and the tenth placed across the ridge at the top.

MatchesFig. 1Fig. 2

Fig. 1Fig. 2

Then lift all, as shown in Fig. 2.

Theenigma—

Behold in me a man forlorn,Who, though with sound limbs he was born,His anagram alas is!For he has found out to his cost,While all his nimbleness is lost,How slippery wet grass is!

is solved byMale, lame.

The answer by anagram to the question, “Whom do ‘our big hens’ frequently annoy?” isneighbours.

This is the way to draw in three strokes an old woman looking out of awindow:—

Old woman

Here is a puzzleanagram:—

Tell how to spell my name,As on the stall you spy me,For the letters are the sameWhich bid you how to buy me.

Peach—cheap.

The eglantine is the flower which quite contradicts its anagram,inelegant.

The touching epitaph in memory of little Alice formed from the letters of her name wasà ciel!

Plate

Treated as an anagram the words “Cats on truck” can be recast intoNuts to crack, and the surrounding motto, “Yes! we sparkle on” intoPearsons Weekly; so that the whole design resolves itself into—Nuts to crack, in Pearson’s Weekly.

The old saying that a man who is his own doctor has a fool for his patient, seems to be borne out by the curious fact that the words, “Dangers of amateur physicking,” resolve themselves into the perfect anagram—“The sick men pay for drugs again.”

What every “undergraduate” hates—

A great rude dun.

The food for a crocodile which seems to be indicated by its name iscool’d rice!

Here is a very simple and ingenious method of representing roughly an officer with drawn sword.

Matches

Six wax vestas, shredded to form the hair and sword-belt, are fastened together by the application of a little heat.

Anyone with handy fingers and an ingenious turn of mind can easily construct other quaint figures in this style.

“Time and tide wait for no man.”

ITS ANAGRAMSA fine mandate to mind, I trow.andA firm intent made, a “do it now.”

Here are three excellent shadowgraphs, which can be produced with good effect by flexible fingers in a strong light on the wall.

Shadows

“Norway’s Olaf is in old England.”ITS ANAGRAMS

Elf-lad, so loyal and so winning.A darling son and noisy fellow.Of winning lads, lead, royal son!On London’s air wing safely lad.

Why shouldcity lifebe happy?Because the same letters spellfelicity.

What is the best proof that “real stickphast paste sticks?”

The same letters spell—Keep this, stick scraps at last!

What place have our puzzles “in magic tale?”

They areenigmatical.

What great assembly would seem from its name to consist of “partial men?”

Parliament.

What did Douglas Jerrold, by his name anagram, declare himself to be?

Sure, a droll dog I!(i for j)

What in the old-fashioned days caused “the wig” to be discarded?

Weight.

The following curious peace anagrams are appropriate in these days of disturbance. Each set of words between inverted commas contain exactly the sameletters:—

“To escape fray” I ever “stay for peace,”In “quiet times,” too, “I’m quite set” at ease:Let no “vile words” provoke the “evil sword,”Lest “red war” come, and bring its own “reward.”

Why does the old proverb “Birds of a feather flock together” form a mystic link between us and our cousins in America?

Because the same letters recast spell out the patriotic sentence,It rocks the broad flag of the free!

What, by their anagram, are “platitudes?”

Stupid tales.

Why is there a measure to “disappointment?”

Because it ismade in pint pots.

What is the purpose of a “catalogue?”

It isgot as a clue.

If “porcus” is Latin for pig, what is Latin for its body?

Corpus.

What may “laudation” easily become?

Adulation.

What is “revolution?”

To love ruin.

Define “The Griffin” (Temple Bar).

Fine fright.

Why is there room for variety in “twelve sentences?”

Because we canselect new events.

How do we know that “potatoes” in the singular should not have an “e” at the end?

Because they spellO stop at e!

What should be done to a “misanthrope?”

Spare him not.

What was the owl of “Minerva?”

A vermin!

These, wherever they are found,Cluster lightly overhead.Should you chance to turn them roundBlows may tell of weight instead.Twisted in a foreign tongue,You will see them as they are.Changed again they need a bungWhen you move them full and far.

This is solved by the anagram wordsnuts,stun,sunt,tuns. (Suntis Latin for “they are.”)

A discussion arose one day, in the winter season, between several members of a West-end Club, as to the value of flannel underwear. A London physician, who was appealed to, upheld the need for this, and it was afterwards found that his name, Alfred James Andrew Lennane, treated as an anagram, becomes “Man needs aired flannel wear.” This was singular, but a much more curious coincidence of similar sort was discovered by an expert in anagrams.

Another member took quite an opposite view, and declared that all should wear linen. By a wonderful chance his name, Edward Bernard Kinsila, resolves itself into theactual wordsthat came from his lips—“A d—— bad risk Dr., wear linen!”

Able was I ere I saw Elba.

Madam, I’m Adam!

When Charles Grant, Colonial Secretary, was made Lord Glenelg, in 1835, he was called Mr Facing-both-ways, because his title Glenelg was a perfect palindrome, that could be read with the same result from either end.

It was a member of the same family who sought to prove the antiquity of his race by altering an “i” into an “r” in his family Bible, so that the text ran, “there were Grants on the earth in those days.”

“Roma, ibi tibi sedes, ibi tibi amor,” which may be rendered, “At Rome you live, at Rome you love;” is a sentence which reads alike from either end.

Eve damned Eden, mad Eve!

This sentence reads alike from either end.

A good specimen of a palindrome is this German saying that can be read from eitherend:—

Bei Leid lieh stets Heil die Lieb(In trouble comfort is lent by love.)

Here are some ingenious palindromes, which can be read from eitherend:—

Repel evil as a live leper.

Dog, as a devil deified, lived as a god.

Do Good’s deeds live never even? Evil’s deeds do O God!

“Subi dura a rudibus”

“I have, endured roughness from the rod” which can be read alike from either end.

Very notable as a long palindrome, even if it is not true record of the great surgeon’s experience, is this quaint sentence:—“Paget saw an Irish tooth, sir, in a waste gap.”

Snug & raw was I ere I saw war & guns.

This sentence reads alike from either end.

A turning point in every day,Reversed I do not alter.One half of me says haste away!The other bids me falter.—Noon.

Very remarkable for its length and good sense combined is the following palindrome, which can be read from either end with the same result:—“No, it is opposed, art sees trades opposition.”

Perhaps the most perfect of English palindromes is the excellentadage—

“Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age.”

Here is the most remarkable Latin palindrome onrecord:—

SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS

Its distinguishing peculiarity is that the first letters of each successive word unite to form the first word, the second letters spell the second word, and so on throughout the five words; and as the whole sentence is a perfect palindrome, this is also true on reversal.

Grapes

The well-known book and its author which are represented by

A 1 1

are “Innocents Abroad,” by Mark Twain. (In no sense A broad, by mark twain.)

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No.John Marin attenfrom 8 a.m.BarberHair CThe bald cry afor hias displayedwhich make hair gClosesIshalldancedailyandutterlouds creamsin this windowlistenafter 8 p.m.

No.John Marin attenfrom 8 a.m.BarberHair CThe bald cry afor hias displayedwhich make hair gCloses

Ishalldancedailyandutterlouds creamsin this windowlistenafter 8 p.m.

The shutter on the left blew open, leaving the other to tell its strange tale.

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A man, tracing step by step the various readings of ROTATOR on this chequered floor, can exhaust all of them, according to the arrangement on our diagram, in 21,648 steps, spelling out the word as he goes in the many directions 3608 separate times!

This large total is due mainly to the fact that ROTATOR is a palindrome, and lends itself to both backward and forward reading. The man, a veritable rotator, will thus have walked more than four miles within a compass of one hundred and forty-four square feet.

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The cross-stitch legend on the old sampler, if its letters are read in regular sequence, runsthus:—

A little woman, though a very little thing,Is sweeter far than sugar, and flowers that bloom in spring.

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This diagram shows how, while the odd and even numbers of the nine digits add up to 25 and 20 respectively, they can be arranged in two groups so that the odd and the even add up to exactly the same sum.

Calculations123547976842⁄69851⁄32520841⁄3841⁄3

Calculations

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The puzzlelines—

HKISTA!MRS LR’S SRMR LR KRS.“BLR MR LR!”MRS LR HRS—

when read according to the usual pronunciation of Mr and Mrs, and taking the title from the Greek, become, by affinity ofsound—

He kissed her!Mrs Lister’s sisterMr Lister kisses.“Blister Mr Lister!”Mrs Lister hisses.

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The puzzleepitaph—

readsthus—

We once were two,We two made one.None find us twoNow life be gone.

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reads into Englishthus:—

“I Tobit Mortimer, a publican of Acton, am at rest. Man, no treble X ale that ever I tasted equal was to mine. A jovial toper, a good one at stout in a pot or a can, I was never a rip!”

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If you start with the firstTin this combination, and then take every thirdletter—

RiddleHOUSE.CANOE.AFTER.HOUR.PRINT.CAVE.CHILDSASH.SLEVE.ACORN.AMPLE.SAD.TATTA.HENAMAT.ACHE.CAKE.TACHES.HELIAC.SACQUE.USUAL.ARBOR.SEE.MULCH.JACUR.USE.STOP.

Riddle

HOUSE.CANOE.AFTER.HOUR.PRINT.CAVE.CHILDSASH.SLEVE.ACORN.AMPLE.SAD.TATTA.HENAMAT.ACHE.CAKE.TACHES.HELIAC.SACQUE.USUAL.ARBOR.SEE.MULCH.JACUR.USE.STOP.

you will form the popular quotation, “Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.”

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The excellent doubleAcrostic—

An old Italian bird we knowWhose heart was ever touched by snow.

1. None can press me without pain,Pressure is against the grain.2. I am a king without my head.3. Here is another king instead.

is solvedthus:—

We may tell those of our readers who have not studied the dead languages thatcornixis the Latin for a crow, and that the word can be broken up intocor, heart, andnix, snow, whilerexis, of course, a king in Latin, asroiis in French. The double meaning of corn is brought out by “against the grain.”

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The five hidden proverbsare:—

“A rolling stone gathers no moss.”

“Too many cooks spoil the broth.”

“A live dog is more to be feared than a dead lion.”

“You cannot eat your cake and have it.”

“Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.”

Start from the central A, and work round and round.

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Read backwards it becomes “Old birds are not caught with chaff.”

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(On an Old Pie Woman)

BENE AT hint HEDU S.T.T.H. emo Uldy OL.D.C. RUSTO F.N.E. L.L.B.AC. hel orl AT ElyW ASS hove N.W. how ASS Kill’dInt heart SOF pi escu StarD. sand Tart Sand K N ewe,Ver yus E oft he ove N.W. Hens he’Dliv’ Dlon genoUG H.S. hem Ade he R la STP uffapUF FBY HE RHUS. B an D. M.Uchp R.A. is ’D no Wheres He dotH L. i.e. TOM a Kead I.R.T.P. Iein hop estHat he R.C. Rust W IL.L.B. ERA IS ’D——!

This puzzle epitaph, written aright, runsthus:—

Beneath in the dust the mouldy old crustOf Nell Bachelor lately was shoven,Who was skilled in the arts of pies, custards, and tarts,And knew every use of the oven.When she’d liv’d long enough she made her last puff,A puff by her husband much prais’d;Now here she doth lie to make a dirt pie,In hopes that her crust may be rais’d.

Beneath in the dust the mouldy old crustOf Nell Bachelor lately was shoven,Who was skilled in the arts of pies, custards, and tarts,And knew every use of the oven.

When she’d liv’d long enough she made her last puff,A puff by her husband much prais’d;Now here she doth lie to make a dirt pie,In hopes that her crust may be rais’d.

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The “Knight’s Tour” verses run asfollows:—

Better to die with harness onIn smoke and heat of battle,Than wander and browse, and fall anonIn quiet of meadow-land cattle.Better to gain, by arm or brain,Chaplet of laurel or myrtle,Than bask in sun, with work undone,And live one’s life like a turtle,

beginning with “Bet,” and ending in the top left-hand corner.

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The Broken Word Square is made perfectthus—

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To solve the “Knight’s Tour” proverb start with M, and by a succession of moves, as of a knight on the chess-board, you can spell out the proverb “More haste less speed.”

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The solution of Guarini’s Problem, to transpose the positions of the white and black knights on the subjoined diagram on which they appear, is made clear by following the moves on the lettereddiagram:—

Chess problem

First move the pieces from a to A, from b to B, from c to C, and from d to D. Then move them from A to d, from B to a, from C to b, and from D to c. The effect so far is as if the original square had been rotated through one right angle. Repeat the same sequence of moves, and the required change of positions is completed.

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This is the solution of the Word Square.

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The letters on the board below, read aright in the order of a Knight’s moves at chess, starting from the most central E form the following popularproverb:—

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