PART III.

Fourteen letters here we fix,Vowels only two are spoken;All together these we mixInto what can not be broken—

is solved byindivisibility, which has many ani, like a peacock’s tail.

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The English word of thirteen letters in which the same vowel occurs four times, the same consonant six times, another twice, and another once, isSenselessness.

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The condensed proverb “WE IS DO” reads at its full length as “Well begun is half done.”

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This is the completed wordsquare:—

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Dr Whewell’s puzzlelines—

readthus:—

OH SIGH FOR NO CIPHER

You sigh for a cipher, O, I sigh for you,Sigh for no cipher, O sigh for me too.You sigh for a cipher, I decipher so,I sigh for no cipher, I sigh for you too!

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This is the completeddiamond:—

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Themedley—

Tan HE Edsa VEN inIt N Gja SmeTs AsgNaD Az Rett De

is read by taking first the capitals in their order, and then the small type. It comes put out as “The Evening Standard and Saint James’s Gazette.”

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The statement, I can travel first-class on the G.E.R. from 2222222244444500, reads into—from 22 to 2 to 22 to 4 for 44 4d; or, in plain terms, from 1.38 to 3.38 for 14s. 8d. This works out at about 3d. a mile, the usual allowance for first-class, for two hours, at about 29 miles an hour.

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Read the inscription backwards, and it resolves itself into the lines familiar to us in ourchildhood:—

Ride a cock horse to Banbury CrossTo see a fine lady ride on a grey horse.Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,She shall have music wherever she goes!

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The reason why the invitation to Jack to sample the Irish stew at Simpson’s was to be kept in mind by the catchwords—

Join me at andJoin me at aiJoin me at as

is because if you joinmeandat, and note thatandison i, which ison s, you arrive at the suggestive sentence—meat and onions.

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The labourer’s quaint letter, which ran “Cepatomtogoatatrin,” was, in plainer English, “Kept at home to go a tatering.”

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Our double acrostic comes outthus:—

Problem—Puzzles

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The Hidden Proverbis—

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”

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The “deed done” in our Will puzzle is the making in Roman numerals of “Codicil.” The lawyer was to set down, a hundred, to add nothing, to set down five hundred, then one, then another hundred, and then one more, and, finally, fifty, and accordingly he wrote upon the parchment the one word CODICIL.

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The word squareis—

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The notes of music A. G. A. E. A. over the grave of a French musician, who was choked by a fish bone, are in the French notation, “La sol la mi la,” which reads into “La sole l’a mis 1à.”

Similarly the inscription over the porch of Gustave Doré’s house C. E. B. A. C. D. is equivalent to “Do, mi, si, la, do, re,” which may be taken to represent “Domicile à Doré.”

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When his best girl said to Jack Spooner, “We can go to-morrow at 222222222222 LEY STREET,” he understood her to mean, “We can go to-morrow, at two minutes to two, to two twenty-two, to 222 Tooley Street.”

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CT T T T T T T T T Tspellscontents(c on ten ts!).

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We can treat the worddisusedso as to affirm or to disallow the use of its initial or final d, for we can write itd is used, ordisuse d!

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The title of the book shaken up into

E I O O O UB C N N R R S S

is “Robinson Crusoe.”

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If the letter M only is inserted in the proper places in theline—

A DEN I I CAN DOCK

it will read:Madmen mimic and mock.

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The quotation fromShakespeare—

OXXU8MAAULGIHCTE

NOR

is by interpretation:—“Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.”

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The phoneticnightmare—

Ieukngheaurrhphthewempeighghteaps—

is merely the wordunfortunates. It can be justified thus by English spelling of similar sound taken letter byletter:—

u—iew in view; n—kn in know; f—gh in tough; o—eau in beau; r—rrh in myrrh; t—phth in phthisis; u—ewe; n—mp in comptroller; a—eigh in neigh; t—ght in light; e—ea in tea; and s—ps in psalm.

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The word square is completedthus:—

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The millers leave the mill,The wherrymen lower their sail;The maltsters leave the kiln,For a drop of the White Swan’s ale.

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TONDEBNIOTOCHUMFOARYHUROTDIRECTTHAWHOTERSOFKLSYA;TIKATESTUBALIGHTSTILLETRUFLYROTBOWLALLNFESLEAVARFWYAA

is disentangledthus:—

Don’t be in too much of a hurryTo credit what other folks say;It takes but a slight little flurryTo blow fallen leaves far away.

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The five buried places are Deal, London, Esk, Perth, and Baden. The word is Ourangoutang.

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It is no offence to conspire in the evening, because what is treasonable isreasonable after t!

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The bit ofbotany—

Inscribe anmabove a line,And write anebelow,This woodland flower is hung so fineIt bends when zephyrs blow—

is solved by,me,an em on e, the delicately hung wind-flower.

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The pied proverb, is “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”

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The Drop LetterProverb—

E..t. .e.s..s .a.e .h. .o.. ..i.e, is—Empty vessels make the most noise.

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The English word of five syllables, which has eight letters, five of them vowels—namely an a, an e, twice i, and y—isIdeality.

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TORMENT may be turned into RAPTURE, using four links, changing only one letter each time, and varying the order of the letters, thus: TORMENT,portent,protest,pratest,praters, RAPTURE.

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The piedsentence—

a a c e e e f f h h i i i i i m n n o o o p r r s s t t t t t

can be cast into theproverb—

“Procrastination is the thief of time.”

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The English sentence, when the letterois added,reads:—

“Good old port for orthodox Oxford dons.”

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One vowel in an English word is found,Which by eight consonants is hedged around—

is solved byStrengths.

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The letters AAAAABBNNIIRSSTT form the wordAntisabbatarians.

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The quotation from Shakespeare,

KINI

stands for “A little more than kin, and less than kind.”

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The two English words which have the first six letters of the alphabet among their ten letters arefabricatedandbifurcated.

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The letterAstands at the head of the letters of the alphabet. Forbed3 of these are used; forgoal, 4; forprison, 6; forsix, 3; forthree, 5. The letterAis not used in the spelling of the name of any number from 1 to 100, but it makes up, with the other vowels, the number 6.

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The prodigal’s letter to his father, “Dear Dad, keep 1000050,” in reply to a suggestion for safeguarding some of his prospects, was written in playful impudence; and its interpretation is, “Dear Dad, keep cool!” for the figures in Roman numerals are COOL.

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The poets’ names buried in thelines—

The sun is darting rays of goldUpon the moor, enchanting spot;Whose purpled heights, by Ronald loved,Up open to his Shepherd cot.And sundry denizens of airAre flying, aye, each to his nest;And eager make at such an hourAll haste to reach the mansions blest.

The sun is darting rays of goldUpon the moor, enchanting spot;Whose purpled heights, by Ronald loved,Up open to his Shepherd cot.

And sundry denizens of airAre flying, aye, each to his nest;And eager make at such an hourAll haste to reach the mansions blest.

are Gray, Moore, Byron, Pope, Dryden, Gay, Keats, and Hemans.

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WhenA. B.gave up the reins of government, andC.B.took office in his place, the two verbs, similar in all respects, except that the one is longer by one letter than the other, which expressed the change, wereresigns—reigns.

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Underdone mutton and onion make between you and me,A glutton a little seedy after a capital tea.

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First acanda t, lasta cand at,With a couple of letters between,Form a sight that our eyes are delighted to see,Unless in their sight it is seen—

is solved byCataract. The first line reads, First acanda t, lasta cand at, that iscatandact.

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Cuba.

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The Rebus T S is solved by the wordstonesandtans,tbeforeone s, ortbeforean s.

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The phoneticphrase—

INXINXIN—

is,Ink sinks in!

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60. Finis (F IN IS).

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The use of some sort of grille was not uncommon in olden days among the many methods then employed for secret correspondence. Here is an early and interestingspecimen:—

KeyVENITE PAUPERES

VENITE PAUPERES

An important despatch would appear to be a mere confusion of letters, until it fell into the right hands, and this perforated key was laid over it, when the intended instructions were at once revealed, and read in the openings of the tracery.

Here, by seven straight lines and one circle, a manifold monogram is formed.

Monogram

Within its borders we find a circle, a square, a parallelogram, a triangle, the vowels a, e, i, o, u; the consonants, C, D, H, K, L, M, T, W; and other forms and figures.

What tempting ...... beguiled the boy to sampleFruit that hung ...... on the parson’s trees?...... upon ...... shall make him an exampleWhen the stern ...... has brought him to his knees.

The missing words are spelt with the same six letters.

Solution

What well-known book and its author may be representedthus:—

A l l

Solution

No less than eight different words, spelt with the same six letters, are available to fill the gaps in the followinglines:—

Man of the dark room, ...... none I findUpon these ...... of likeness to my features....... then nought, O man of evil mind,Who ...... thus to libel fellow-creatures?Evil thus done ...... upon the doer,The ...... in thy conduct, Sir, are many;...... thy life, and let thy crimes be fewer,Or all thy ...... of good won’t fetch a penny!

Solution

Upon the shutters of a barber’s shop the following legend was painted in boldletters:—

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.

One evening about 8.30, when it was blowing great guns, quite a crowd gathered round the window, and seemed to be enjoying some excellent joke. What was amusing them when one shutter blew open?

Solution

False Kate! ... .... . ...... ’s nest,.. ..... the Upas tree,I will not budge, ... .... to rest,.. .... . coward be.No, not .... ... enough their stingTo drive me back to thee;None swifter meet thy beckoning.... ... the hills I flee.... .... frosts less my love would quell.Rather than seek thy side,Of ... .... horse I love so wellI’ll ... .... hoofs and hide!

False Kate! ... .... . ...... ’s nest,.. ..... the Upas tree,I will not budge, ... .... to rest,.. .... . coward be.

No, not .... ... enough their stingTo drive me back to thee;None swifter meet thy beckoning.... ... the hills I flee.

... .... frosts less my love would quell.Rather than seek thy side,Of ... .... horse I love so wellI’ll ... .... hoofs and hide!

The number of letters in each word of the missing phrases is indicated by dots, and the seven letters in each case are those that spell also “no heart,” which we give as a title and clue.

Solution

How far phonetic spelling may be pushed, is illustrated by the following swarm of variations given in a book published at Enfield in1829:—

Or the word may start with Sis, Siss, Siz, Sys, Syss, Syzz, Syzs, Syz, Cis, Ciss, Ciz, Cisz, Cysz, Cyz, Cyzz. By substituting “z” for the final “s” we may double the number, and reach a total of 1224.

’Neath ...... Indian seas fierce battles spread’Twixt ...... hermit-crabs and other shellfish!With horrid ...... when their foes are dead,These crabs declare their shells ......, so selfish!

Each missing word has the same six letters.

Solution

On this chequered floor, paved with slabs each a foot square, the palindrome word ROTATOR can be traced in various ways.

If a man walks over it, taking one slab at every step, and never lengthening his strides, how many steps will he take in tracing every possible variation of the word, and how many such variations are there?

Solution

A bachelor clergyman, whose initials were I.E.V., had built a fernery with the profits of his tracts on the deceased wife’s sister question. He dated it on a mural tabletthus:—

If the Roman numerals are extracted from this inscription, and added together, they amount to 1884, the desired date.

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