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.

COPYRIGHTED BY

RUSSELL BROTHERS,

1876.

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.

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.

PART I.

PUZZLES AND ODDITIES.

1.

My FIRST the heats of July pack

With rows of milk-pans down the back;

September fills them all with starch,

And, though they neither drill nor march,

Each has a warlike name:

October plucks my honors off,

And down I’m thrown to floor or trough:

Perchance the mill to powder turns

Or smouldering fire to ashes burns

My rough and useless frame.

A weaver’s loom my SECOND fills

In dozens of tall cotton mills,

Before the shuttle, o’er and through,

Has thrown the filling straight and true,

And made each ending fast.

My WHOLE a house in corners set,

Has swung as long as time, and yet

A trap for foolish folk shall swing,

And lessons to the wiser bring,

As long as time shall last.

[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]

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.

Mr. Premium took my FIRST, and he wrote to Captain Smith,

And said: “Sir, do my SECOND to my THIRD, forthwith.”

Now, Mr. P., you see, though a millionaire he be,

Could not, without my WHOLE, have sent Captain Smith to sea.

[Answer]

11.

Two pronouns find, but mind they suit,

And then between them “a—t” put:

The combination quickly yields

What may be seen on Scotland’s fields.

Now, for the first word, substitute

Another pronoun that will “suit;”

When this is done, ’twill bring to view

What every day is seen by you.

[Answer]

12.

Me the contented man desires,

The poor man has, the rich requires,

The miser gives, the spendthrift saves,

And all men carry to their graves.

[Answer]

13.

A BUSINESS ORDER.

“J. Gray:
Pack with my box five dozen quills.”

What is its peculiarity?

[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.

There was a thing, ’twas two days old

Ere Adam was, of yore;

Before that thing was five weeks old,

Adam was years four-score.

[Answer]

23.

What’s that which on four limbs doth move

When first it sees the light,

But walks erect on two at noon,

And creeps on three at night?

[Answer]

24.

A sailor launched a ship of force,

A cargo put therein, of course;

No goods had he he wished to sell;

Each wind did serve his turn as well;

To neither port nor harbor bound,

His greatest wish to run aground.

[Answer]

25.

A merry maid, whose pleasant name

Was my sweet FIRST. Under a tree

She sat, and sang my THIRD, as free

As the wild crows, that without dread,

My SECOND called above her head.

Anon she turned, (with a last look

Above, below,) unto her book—

My WHOLE the author. Guess the same.

[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]

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]

41.

Two words in French are often spoken;

Of home and love the fondest token:

But, strange to say it, one of these

Is English, from beyond the seas;

And though the thing seems quite absurd,

It means the same as t’other word.

[Answer]

42.

You fain would win fair Julia’s heart—

“Have I the power?” you’d ask her,

But, from your lips the words won’t part—

“’Tis not an easy task, Sir!”

“I know ’tis not, for one so shy.”

“Well, how shall I begin, Sir?”

“Be what you ask her,” I reply,

“And, ten to one, you’ll win, Sir!”

[Answer]

43.

My FIRST is company; my SECOND shuns company; my THIRD calls together a company; and my WHOLE entertains company.

[Answer]

44.

My FIRST is a sound, of tranquillity telling,—

A cozy and complaisant sound for your dwelling.

A place which for criminals fittest is reckoned,

Yet where saints find ineffable peace, is my SECOND.

Or, where niggardly natures, who hunger and thirst

For the wealth of this world, keep their hearts, is my FIRST;

While my SECOND’S a measure you’ll know at a glance,

For ’tis shortest in Flanders, and longest in France.

Oh! my WHOLE is a name widely known, well beloved,

A name blessed on earth, and in Heaven approved;

Crowned by Faith and Good Works with so holy a light

That angels, themselves, thrill with joy at the sight.

[Answer]

45.

Dr. Whewell being asked by a young lady for his name “in cipher,” handed her the following lines:

You 0 a 0, but I 0 thee,—

Oh, 0 no 0, but oh, 0 me;

And O, let my 0 no 0 go,

But give 0 0 I 0 you so!

[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.