PUZZLES AND ODDITIES:
Found Floating on the Surface of our Current Literature,
OR
TOSSED TO DRY LAND BY THE WAVES OF MEMORY.
GATHERED AND ARRANGED
BY
M. A. A. D.
New York:
RUSSELL BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
17, 19, 21, 23 ROSE STREET.
1876.
[Pg 4]
COPYRIGHTED BY
RUSSELL BROTHERS,
1876.
[Pg 5]
It is related
of St. Aloysius Gonzaga that while, at the usual time of recreation, he was engaged in playing chess, question arising among his brother novices as to what each would do were the assurance to come to them that they would die within an hour, St. Aloysius said he should go on with his game of chess.
If our recreations as well as our graver employments are undertaken with a pure intention, we need not reproach ourselves though Sorrow, we need not fear though Death surprise us while engaged in them.
Addison, N. Y., January, 1876.
[Pg 7]
INDEX.
PART I.
CHARADES.
Nos. 1, 10, 25, 43, 44, 53, 88, 91, 110, 152, 153, 154, 155, 167, 176, 177, 182, 183, 192, 193, 201, 217, 279, 281, 285, 290, 291, 297, 316, 331, 332, 333, 345, 350, 354, 357, 368, 371, 372, 374.
CONUNDRUMS.
Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 17, 18, 21, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 46, 47, 51, 52, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 106, 108, 109, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 214, 252, 253, 254, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 274, 275, 278, 280, 286, 294, 299, 300, 301, 303, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 325, 326, 327, 329, 330, 359, 360, 361.
FRENCH AND LATIN RIDDLES.
Nos. 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 78.
MATHEMATICAL.
Nos. 48, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 346, 362, 373.
NOTABLE NAMES.
Nos. 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142.
POSITIVES AND COMPARATIVES.
Nos. 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344.
POSITIVES, COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES.
Nos. 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250.
ELLIPSES.
Nos. 307, 308, 309, 312, 313, 352, 355, 365, 366.
NUMERICAL ENIGMA.
No. 306.
SQUARE WORD.
No. 304.
XMAS DINNER.
No. 315.
DINNER PARTY.
No. 360.
UNANSWERED RIDDLES.
Pp. 77, 78.
UNANSWERABLE QUESTIONS.
P. 78.
PARADOXES.
P. 79.
OTHER VARIETIES OF PUZZLES.
Nos. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 49, 50, 54, 55, 64, 65, 75, 76, 79, 80, 81, 89, 90, 96, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 151, 156, 157, 178, 179, 180, 182, 194, 195, 202, 203, 210, 211, 212, 213, 215, 216, 251, 255, 256, 271, 272, 273, 276, 277, 282, 283, 284, 287, 288, 289, 292, 293, 295, 296, 298, 302, 305, 310, 311, 314, 317, 324, 328, 334, 335, 347, 348, 349, 351, 353, 354, 358, 363, 364, 367, 369, 370.
PART II.
[Pg 11]
PART I.
[Pg 13]
PUZZLES AND ODDITIES.
1.
Answer
2.
What is that which we often return, but never borrow?
Answer
3.
Can you tell me of what parentage Napoleon the First was?
Answer
4.
What was Joan of Arc made of?
Answer
5.
Why ought stars to be the best Astronomers?
Answer
[Pg 14]
6.
What colors were the winds and the waves in the last violent storm?
Answer
7.
In what color should a secret be kept?
Answer
8.
How do trees get at their summer dress without opening their trunks?
Answer
9.
Why am I queerer than you?
Answer
10.
Answer
11.
Answer
12.
Answer
13.
A BUSINESS ORDER.
“J. Gray: Pack with my box five dozen quills.”
What is its peculiarity?
[Pg 15]
Answer
14.
Those who have me not, do not wish for me; those who have me, do not wish to lose me; and those who gain me, have me no longer.
Answer
15.
Although Methusaleh was the oldest man that ever lived, yet he died before his father.
Answer
16.
If Moses was by adoption the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, was he not, “by the same token,” the daughter of Pharaoh’s son?
Answer
17.
What is the best time to study the book of Nature?
Answer
18.
What is the religion of Nature in the spring?
Answer
19.
There is an article of common domestic consumption, whose name contains six letters, from which may be formed twenty-two nouns, without using the plurals. What is it?
Answer
20.
What word is that, of two syllables, to which if you prefix one letter, two letters, or two other letters, you form, in each instance, a word of one syllable?
Answer
21.
What was the favorite salad at the South, in the spring of 1861?
Answer
22.
Answer
[Pg 16]
23.
Answer
24.
Answer
25.
Answer
26.
The three most forcible letters in our alphabet?
Answer
27.
The two which contain nothing?
Answer
28.
The four which express great corpulence?
Answer
29.
The four which indicate exalted station?
Answer
30.
The three which excite our tears?
Answer
31.
What foreign letter is an English title?
Answer
[Pg 17]
32.
What foreign letter is a yard and a half long?
Answer
33.
What letter will unfasten an Irish lock?
Answer
34.
When was B the first letter of the alphabet, while E and O were the only vowels?
Answer
35.
What letter is always more or less heavily taxed?
Answer
36.
What letter is entirely out of fashion?
Answer
37.
Why is praising people like a certain powerful opiate?
Answer
38.
Prove that a man has five feet.
Answer
39.
WHAT AM I?
I was once the harbinger of good to prisoners.
I add to the magnitude of a mighty river.
I am a small portion of a large ecclesiastical body.
I represent a certain form of vegetable growth.
A term used by our Lord in speaking to His disciples.
A subordinate part of a famous eulogy.
I am made useful in connection with the Great Western Railway.
Answer
40.
5005E1000E,
5005E1000E.
The name of a modern novel.
Answer
[Pg 18]
41.
Answer
42.
Answer
43.
My FIRST is company; my SECOND shuns company; my THIRD calls together a company; and my WHOLE entertains company.
Answer
44.
Answer
45.
Dr. Whewell being asked by a young lady for his name “in cipher,” handed her the following lines:
[Pg 19]
Answer
46.
Why was the execution of Charles the First voluntary on his part?
Answer
47.
How is Poe’s “Raven” shown to have been a very dissipated bird?
Answer
48.
Set down four 9’s so as to make one hundred.
Answer
49.
The cc 4 put 00000000. si
Answer
50.
This bill was canceled by the payment of $1.50. How?
Answer
51.
When was Cowper in debt?
Answer
52.
What animal comes from the clouds?
Answer
53.
Answer
54.
An incredulous friend actually ventured to doubt the above plain statement of facts, but was soon convinced of its literal truth.
Answer
55.
Charles the First walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off.
Answer
56.
At the time of a frightful accident, what is better than presence of mind?
Answer
57.
Why was the year preceding 1871 the same as the year following it?
Answer
[Pg 21]
58.
Why do “birds in their little nests agree?”
Answer
59.
What did Io die of?
Answer
60.
Why did a certain farmer out West name his favorite rooster ROBINSON?
Answer
61.
How do sailors know there’s a man in the moon?
Answer
62.
How do sailors know Long Island?
Answer
63.
What does a dog wear in warm weather, besides his collar?
Answer
64.
Answer
65.
Answer
66.
Translate:
Je suis capitaine de vingt-cinq soldats; et, sans moi, Paris serait pris.
Answer
67.
Je suis ce que je suis, et je ne suis pas ce que je suis. Si j’étais ce que je suis, je ne serais pas ce que je suis.
Answer
68.
Answer
69.
Mens tuum ego!
Answer
70.
The title of a book: Castra tintinnabula Poëmata.
Answer
71.
Motto on a Chinese box: Tu doces!
Answer
72.
Answer
73.
Translate:
Quis crudus enim lectus, albus, et spiravit!
Answer
74.
Ecrivez: “J’ai grand appétit,” en deux lettres.
Answer
[Pg 23]
75.
Answer
76.
Answer
77.
In my FIRST my SECOND sat; my THIRD and FOURTH I ate; and yet I was my WHOLE.
Answer
78.
Answer
79.
From these five squares take three of the fifteen sides, and leave three squares.
Answer
80.
Divide this figure into four equal and uniform parts.
Answer
81.
Answer
82.
To divide eight gallons of vinegar equally between two persons; using only an eight-gallon, a five-gallon, and a three-gallon measure?
Answer
83.
A certain miller takes “for toll” one tenth of the meal or flour he grinds. What quantity must he grind in order that a customer may have just a bushel of meal after the toll has been taken?
Answer
[Pg 25]
84.
To prove that two are equal to one:
Where is the fallacy?
Answer
85.
As two Arabs, who had for sole provision, the one five, and the other three loaves of bread, were about to take their noonday meal in company, they were joined by a stranger who proposed to purchase a third part of their food. In payment he gave them, when their repast was finished, eight pieces of silver, and they, unable to agree as to the division of the sum referred the matter to the nearest Cadi, who gave seven pieces to the owner of the five loaves, and but one piece to the owner of the three loaves. And the Cadi was right.
Answer
86.
A man went to a store and bought a pair of boots for six dollars. He put down a ten dollar bill, and the merchant having no change, sent for it to a neighboring bank, and gave it to him. Later in the day one of the bank clerks came in to say that the ten dollar bill was a bad one, and insisted that the merchant should make it right, which he did. Now, how much did he lose by the whole transaction?
Answer
87.
A man bought twelve herrings for a shilling; some were two pence apiece, some a halfpenny, and some a farthing. How many did he buy of each kind?
Answer
[Pg 26]
88.
Answer
89.
Answer
90.
Answer
91.
Answer
92.
When may a man reasonably complain of his coffee?
Answer
93.
Why does a duck put her head under water?
Answer
94.
Why does she take it out again?
Answer
95.
In what terms does Shakespeare allude to the muddiness of the river on which Liverpool lies?
Answer
[Pg 27]
96.
If the B mt put: If the B. putting:
So said one, but another replied: How can I put: when there is such a-der?
Answer
97.
Why is a man who never bets, as bad as one who bets habitually?
Answer
98.
When is a bonnet not a bonnet?
Answer
99.
Answer
100.
Answer
101.
Helen, after sitting an hour, dressed for a walk, at length set out alone, leaving the following laconic note for the friend who, she had expected, would accompany her:
2 2 8.
Answer
102.
Answer
[Pg 29]
103.
A blind beggar had a brother. This blind beggar’s brother went to sea and was drowned. But the man that was drowned had no brother. What relation to him, then, was the blind beggar?
Answer
104.
Two brothers were walking together down the street, and one of them, stopping at a certain house, knocked at the door, observing: “I have a niece here, who is ill.” “Thank Heaven,” said the other, “I have no niece!” and he walked away. Now, how could that be?
Answer
105.
“How is that man related to you?” asked one gentleman of another.
Answer
106.
Describe a cat’s clothing botanically.
Answer
107.
What is that which boys and girls have once in a lifetime, men and women never have, and Mt. Parnassus has twice in one place?
Answer
108.
Why is the highest mountain in Wales always white?
Answer
109.
To what two cities of Massachusetts should little boys go with their boats?
Answer
110.
Answer
[Pg 31]
NOTABLE NAMES.
111.
Answer
112.
Answer
113.
Answer
114.
Answer
115.
Answer
116.
Answer
117.
A head-dress.
Answer
118.
Inclining to one of the four parts of the compass.
Answer
119.
A mineral and a chain of hills.
Answer
120.
A metal, and a worker in metals.
Answer
121.
A sound made by an insect; and a fastening.
Answer
122.
A sound made by an animal; and a fastening.
Answer
[Pg 32]
123.
A sound made by an animal, and a measure of length.
Answer
124.
A Latin noun and a measure of quantity.
Answer
125.
A bodily pain.
Answer
126.
The value of a word.
Answer
127.
A manufactured metal.
Answer
128.
To agitate a weapon.
Answer
129.
A domestic animal, and what she cannot do.
Answer
130.
Which is the greater poet, William Shakespeare or John Dryden?
Answer
131.
A barrier before an edible; a barrier built of an edible.
Answer
132.
One-fourth of the earth’s surface, and a preposition.
Answer
133.
One-fourth of the earth’s surface, and a conjunction.
Answer
134.
A song; to follow the chase.
Answer
135.
A solid fence, a native of Poland.
Answer
136.
An incessant pilgrim; fourteen pounds weight.
Answer
[Pg 33]
137.
A quick succession of small sounds.
Answer
138.
Obsolete past participle of a verb meaning to illuminate.
Answer
139.
A carriage, a liquid, a narrow passage.
Answer
140.
To prosecute, and one who is guarded.
Answer
141.
A letter withdraws from a name to make it more brilliant.
Answer
142.
A letter withdraws from a name and tells you to talk more.
Answer
143.
Why is a man who lets houses, likely to have a good many cousins?
Answer
144.
What relation is the door-mat to the door-step?
Answer
145.
What is it that gives a cold, cures a cold, and pays the doctor’s bill?
Answer
146.
What is brought upon the table, and cut but never eaten?
Answer
147.
What cord is that which is full of knots which no one can untie, and in which no one can tie another?
Answer
148.
What requires more philosophy than taking things as they come?
Answer
149.
What goes most against a farmer’s grain?
Answer
[Pg 34]
150.
Which of Shakespeare’s characters killed most poultry?
Answer
151.
THE BISHOP OF OXFORD’S RIDDLE.
I have a large box,1 two lids,2 two caps,3 two musical instruments,4 and a large number of articles which a carpenter cannot dispense with.5 I have always about me a couple of good fish,6 and a great number of small size;7 two lofty trees,8 and four branches of trees;9 some fine flowers,10 and the fruit of an indigenous plant.11 I have two playful animals,12 and a vast number of smaller ones;13 also, a fine stag,14 and a number of whips without handles.15
I have two halls or places of worship,16 some weapons of warfare,17 and innumerable weather-cocks;18 the steps of a hotel;19 the House of Commons on the eve of a division;20 two students or scholars,21 and ten Spanish gentlemen to wait upon their neighbors.22
To these may be added, a rude bed;a the highest part of a building;b a roadway over water;c leaves of grass;d a pair of rainbows;e a boat;f a stately pillar;g a part of a buckle;h several social assemblies;i part of the equipments of a saddle-horse;j a pair of implements matched by another pair of implements much used by blacksmiths;j several means of fastening.k
Answer
152.
Answer
[Pg 35]
153.
Answer
154.
Answer
155.
Answer
156.
I have a little friend who possesses something very precious. It is a piece of workmanship of exquisite skill, and was said by our Blessed Saviour to be an object of His Father’s peculiar care; yet it does not display the attribute of either benevolence or compassion. If its possessor were to lose it, no human ingenuity could replace it; and yet, speaking generally, it is very abundant. It was first given to Adam in Paradise, along with his beautiful Eve, though he previously had it in his possession.
It will last as long as the world lasts, and yet it is destroyed every day. It lives in beauty after the grave has closed over mortality. It is to be found in all parts of the earth, while three distinct portions of it exist in the air. It is seen on the field of carnage, yet it is a bond of affection, a token of amity, a pledge of pure love. It was the cause of death to one famed for beauty and ambition. I have only to add that it has been used as a napkin and a crown, and that it appears like silver after long exposure to the air.
Answer
[Pg 36]
157.
When the king found that his money was nearly all gone, and that he really must live more economically, he decided on sending away most of his wise men. There were some hundreds of them—very fine old men, and magnificently dressed in green velvet gowns with gold buttons. If they had a fault, it was that they always contradicted each other when he asked their advice—and they certainly ate and drank enormously. So, on the whole, he was rather glad to get rid of them. But there was an old lay which he did not dare to disobey, which said there must always be:
Query: How many did he keep?
Answer
158.
Why are not Lowell, Holmes, and Saxe the wittiest poets in America?
Answer
159.
Why did they call William Cullen Bryant, Cullen?
Answer
160.
Why do we retain only three hundred and twenty-five days in our year?
Answer
161.
What seven letters express actual presence in this place; and, without transposition, actual absence from every place?
Answer
162.
Is Florence, (Italy,) on the Tiber? If not, on what river does it lie? Answer both questions in one word.
Answer
[Pg 37]
163.
Is there a word in our language which answers this question, and contains all the vowels?
Answer
164.
What is it that goes up the hill; and down the hill, and never moves?
Answer
165.
What ’bus has found room for the greatest number of people?
Answer
166.
In describing a chance encounter with your doctor, what kind of a philosopher do you name?
Answer
167.
Answer
168.
What physician stands at the top of his profession?
Answer
169.
Would you rather an elephant killed you, or a gorilla?
Answer
170.
Why is an amiable and charming girl like one letter deep in thought, another on its way toward you, another bearing a torch, and another slowly singing psalms?
Answer
171.
Why is Emma, in a sorrowful mood, one of a certain sect of Jews?
Answer
172.
Why is she, always, one of another sect?
Answer
173.
What English writer would have been a successful angler?
Answer
[Pg 39]
174.
What is that which you and every living man have seen, but can never see again?
Answer
175.
Which is the strongest day in the week?
Answer
176.
Answer
177.
Answer
178.
Answer
179.
Answer
180.
Answer
181.
Answer
[Pg 41]
182.
Answer
183.
Answer
184.
What is the smallest room in the world?
Answer
185.
What is often found where it does not exist?
Answer
186.
What is that which is lengthened by being cut at both ends?
Answer
187.
When do your teeth usurp the functions of your tongue?
Answer
188.
What word is that to which if you add one syllable, it will be shorter?
Answer
189.
What is that which is lower with a head than without one?
Answer
190.
What vice is that which people shun if they are ever so bad?
Answer
191.
Which travels at greater speed, heat or cold?
Answer
[Pg 42]
192.
Answer
193.
Answer
194.
Answer
[Pg 43]
195.
Answer
196.
When a blind man drank tea, how did he manage to see?
Answer
197.
Why is a mouse like grass?
Answer
198.
What is the key-note of good breeding?
Answer
199.
What is the typical “Yankee’s” key-note?
Answer
200.
If you were on the second floor of a burning house and the stairs were away, how would you escape?
Answer
201.
Answer
202.
A carpenter made a door and made it too large; he cut it again and cut it too little; he cut it again and made it fit.
Answer
[Pg 44]
203.
A wagoner, being asked of what his load consisted, made the following (rather indirect) reply:
What is it?
Answer
204.
Why need people never suffer from hunger on such a desert as Sahara?
Answer
207.
How do the arks used for freight on the Mississippi River, differ from Noah’s Ark?
Answer
208.
In what order did Noah leave the Ark?
Answer
209.
What is Majesty deprived of its externals?
Answer
210.
Answer
211.
Answer
212.
Answer
[Pg 45]
213.
John went out; his dog went with him; he went not before, behind, or on one side of him; then where did he go?
Answer
214.
If spectacles could speak to their wearers, what ancient writer would they name?
Answer
215.
Answer
216.
Answer
217.
My FIRST implies equality; my SECOND is the title of a foreign nobleman; and my WHOLE is asked and given a hundred times a day with equal indifference; yet is of so much importance that it has saved the lives of thousands.
Answer
POSITIVES AND COMPARATIVES.
218.
Answer
219.
Answer
220.
Answer
221.
Answer
[Pg 46]
222.
Answer
223.
Answer
224.
Answer
225.
Answer
226.
Answer
227.
Answer
228.
Answer
229.
Answer
230.
Answer
231.
Answer
232.
Answer
[Pg 47]
233.
Answer
234.
Answer
235.
Answer
236.
Answer
237.
Answer
238.
Answer
POSITIVES, COMPARATIVES, SUPERLATIVES.
239.
Pos., A pronoun; Com., A period of time; Sup., Fermenting froth.
Answer
240.
Pos., A knot of ribbon; Com., An animal; Sup., Self-praise.
Answer
241.
Pos., A reward; Com., Dread; Sup., A festival.
Answer
242.
Pos., To reward; Com., A fruit; Sup., An adhesive mixture.
Answer
243.
Pos., A meadow; Com., An unfortunate king; Sup., The smallest.
Answer
[Pg 48]
244.
Answer
245.
Answer
246.
Answer
247.
Answer
248.
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