A number of market women sold their various products at a certain price per pound (different in every case), and each received the same amount--2s. 21/2d. What is the greatest numb...
During a country ramble Mr. and Mrs. Softleigh found themselves in a pretty little dilemma. They had to cross a stream in a small boat which was capable of carrying only 150 lbs. w...
Here we have, perhaps, the most interesting form of the puzzle. In how many different ways can you read the political injunction, "RISE TO VOTE, SIR," under the same conditions as...
THE three circles represent three buns, and it is simply required to show how these may be equally divided among four boys. The buns must be regarded as of equal thickness througho...
Professor Rackbrain tells me that he was recently smoking a friendly pipe under a tree in the garden of a country acquaintance. The garden was enclosed by four straight walls, and...
The puzzle is to find in how many different ways the four lions may be placed so that there shall never be more than one lion in any row or column. Mere reversals and reflections w...
Seven men, whose names were Adams, Baker, Carter, Dobson, Edwards, Francis, and Gudgeon, were recently engaged in play. The name of the particular game is of no consequence. They h...
"Look here," said the professor to his colleague, "I have been watching that fly on the octahedron, and it confines its walks entirely to the edges. What can be its reason for avoi...
If a fleet of sixteen men-of-war were lying at anchor and surrounded by the enemy, how many ships might be sunk if every torpedo, projected in a straight line, passed under three v...
Young Mrs. Perkins, of Putney, writes to me as follows: "I should be very glad if you could give me the answer to a little sum that has been worrying me a good deal lately. Here it...
How many minutes is it until six o'clock if fifty minutes ago it was four times as many minutes past three o'clock?
The largest sum of money that can be written in pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings, using each of the nine digits once and only once, is L98,765, 4s. 31/2d. Now, try to discov...
Chaucer himself accompanied the pilgrims. Being a mathematician and a man of a thoughtful habit, the Host made fun of him, he tells us, saying, "Thou lookest as thou wouldst find a...
A number of clever marksmen were staying at a country house, and the host, to provide a little amusement, suspended strings of glass balls, as shown in the illustration, to be fire...
Twelve members of a club arranged to play bridge together on eleven evenings, but no player was ever to have the same partner more than once, or the same opponent more than twice....
"It used to be told at St. Edmondsbury," said Father Peter on one occasion, "that many years ago they were so overrun with mice that the good abbot gave orders that all the cats fr...
Now then, ye land-lubbers, hoist your baby-jib-topsails, break out your spinnakers, ease off your balloon sheets, and get your head-sails set! Our race consists in starting from th...
Colonel B---- was a widower of a very taciturn disposition. His treatment of his four daughters was unusually severe, almost cruel, and they not unnaturally felt disposed to resent...
Last leap-year ladies lost no time in exercising the privilege of making proposals of marriage. If the figures that reached me from an occult source are correct, the following repr...
Here is a new poser in measuring liquids that will be found interesting. A man has two ten-quart vessels full of wine, and a five-quart and a four-quart measure. He wants to put ex...
A London policeman one night saw two cabs drive off in opposite directions under suspicious circumstances. This officer was a particularly careful and wide-awake man, and he took o...
In the recent county match between Wessex and Nincomshire the former team were at the wickets all day, the last man being put out a few minutes before the time for drawing stumps....
In this case we use the nought in addition to the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. The puzzle is, as in the last case, so to arrange the ten counters that the products of the two multipl...
The above represents a square of brocade. A lady wishes to cut it in four pieces so that two pieces will form one perfectly square cushion top, and the remaining two pieces another...
Here is a pretty little puzzle that only requires twelve pennies or counters. Arrange them in a circle, as shown in the illustration. Now take up one penny at a time and, passing i...
There were two families living next door to one another at Tooting Bec--the Jupps and the Simkins. The united ages of the four Jupps amounted to one hundred years, and the united a...
There are no morals in puzzles. When we are solving the old puzzle of the captain who, having to throw half his crew overboard in a storm, arranged to draw lots, but so placed the...
The diagram is supposed to represent the passages or galleries in a mine. We will assume that every passage, A to B, B to C, C to H, H to I, and so on, is one furlong in length. It...
Make a diagram, on a large sheet of paper, like the illustration, and have three counters marked A, three marked B, and three marked C. It will be seen that at the intersection of...
"Speaking of Christmas puddings," said the host, as he glanced at the imposing delicacy at the other end of the table. "I am reminded of the fact that a friend gave me a new puzzle...