The man in our illustration is in a little dilemma. He has just been appointed inspector of a certain system of tube railways, and it is his duty to inspect regularly, within a sta...
The men in the illustration are disputing over the liquid contents of a barrel. What the particular liquid is it is impossible to say, for we are unable to look into the barrel; so...
Here is another puzzle game. One player, representing the British general, places a counter at B, and the other player, representing the enemy, places his counter at E. The British...
The Chinese are a curious people, and have strange inverted ways of doing things. It is said that they use a saw with an upward pressure instead of a downward one, that they plane...
Our six educated frogs have learnt a new and pretty feat. When placed on glass tumblers, as shown in the illustration, they change sides so that the three black ones are to the lef...
Cut a Greek cross into six pieces that will form an equilateral triangle. This is another hard problem, and I will state here that a solution is practically impossible without a pr...
While accompanying my friend Professor Highflite during a scientific kite-flying competition on the South Downs of Sussex I was led into a little calculation that ought to interest...
A gentleman who recently died left the sum of L8,000 to be divided among his widow, five sons, and four daughters. He directed that every son should receive three times as much as...
This puzzle is not difficult, but it will be found entertaining to discover the simple rule for its solution. I have a rectangular cardboard box. The top has an area of 120 square...
One Christmas Eve three Weary Willies came into possession of what was to them a veritable wassail bowl, in the form of a small barrel, containing exactly six quarts of fine ale. O...
As the purchase of apples in small quantities has always presented considerable difficulties, I think it well to offer a few remarks on this subject. We all know the story of the s...
"My husband's age," remarked a lady the other day, "is represented by the figures of my own age reversed. He is my senior, and the difference between our ages is one-eleventh of th...
This is a simple counting puzzle. In how many different ways can you spell out the word LEVEL by placing the point of your pencil on an L and then passing along the lines from lett...
Some years ago the puzzle was proposed to construct an imaginary game of chess, in which White shall be stalemated in the fewest possible moves with all the thirty-two pieces on th...
A number of men went out together on a bean-feast. There were four parties invited--namely, 25 cobblers, 20 tailors, 18 hatters, and 12 glovers. They spent altogether L6, 13s. It w...
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A good puzzle is that which the gentleman in the illustration is showing to his friends. He has simply cut out of paper an equilateral triangle--that is, a triangle with all its th...
I wonder how many of my readers, amongst those who have not given any close attention to the elements of geometry, could draw a regular pentagon, or five-sided figure, if they sudd...
The icosahedron is another of the five regular, or Platonic, bodies having all their sides, angles, and planes similar and equal. It is bounded by twenty similar equilateral triang...
The diagram herewith represents two separate pieces of linoleum. The chequered pattern is not repeated at the back, so that the pieces cannot be turned over. The puzzle is to cut t...
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Professor Rackbrane, during one of his rambles, chanced to come upon a man digging a deep hole. "Good morning," he said. "How deep is that hole?" "Guess," replied the labourer. "My...
A speculative country builder has a circular field, on which he has erected four cottages, as shown in the illustration. The field is surrounded by a brick wall, and the owner unde...
Why horseshoes should be considered "lucky" is one of those things which no man can understand. It is a very old superstition, and John Aubrey (1626-1700) says, "Most houses at the...
'Twas last Bank Holiday, so I've been told, Some cyclists rode abroad in glorious weather. Resting at noon within a tavern old, They all agreed to have a feast together. "Put it al...
The number 48 has this peculiarity, that if you add 1 to it the result is a square number (49, the square of 7), and if you add 1 to its half, you also get a square number (25, the...
Here is a symbol of tremendous antiquity which is worthy of notice. It is borne on the Korean ensign and merchant flag, and has been adopted as a trade sign by the Northern Pacific...
The first English puzzlist whose name has come down to us was a Yorkshireman--no other than Alcuin, Abbot of Canterbury (A.D. 735-804). Here is a little puzzle from his works, whic...
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Once upon a time there was an aged merchant of Bagdad who was much respected by all who knew him. He had three sons, and it was a rule of his life to treat them all exactly alike....