This is a new and interesting companion puzzle to the "Fifteen Schoolgirls" (see solution of No. 269), and even in the simplest possible form in which I present it there are unques...
In a certain mixed school, where a special feature was made of the inculcation of good manners, they had a curious rule on assembling every morning. There were twice as many girls...
Here are the nine digits so arranged that they form four square numbers: 9, 81, 324, 576. Now, can you put them all together so as to form a single square number--(I) the smallest...
[Illustration: (1)(5)(8) (7)(9) (2)(3) (4)(6) ] I have nine counters, each bearing one of the nine digits, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. I arranged them on the table in two groups,...
Here is a little game of solitaire that is quite easy, but not so easy as to be uninteresting. You can either rule out the squares on a sheet of cardboard or paper, or you can use...
A stonemason once had a large number of cubic blocks of stone in his yard, all of exactly the same size. He had some very fanciful little ways, and one of his queer notions was to...
Though the following little puzzle deals with the purchase of chestnuts, it is not itself of the "chestnut" type. It is quite new. At first sight it has certainly the appearance of...
The Dobsons secured apartments at Slocomb-on-Sea. There were six rooms on the same floor, all communicating, as shown in the diagram. The rooms they took were numbers 4, 5, and 6,...
The following is a prize puzzle propounded by me some years ago. Produce a game of chess which, after sixteen moves, shall leave White with all his sixteen men on their original sq...
While reading a French mathematical work I happened to come across, the following statement: "A very remarkable magic square of 8, in two degrees, has been constructed by M. Pfeffe...
Three boys were given a bag of nuts as a Christmas present, and it was agreed that they should be divided in proportion to their ages, which together amounted to 171/2 years. Now t...
A friend pulled out his watch and said, "This watch of mine does not keep perfect time; I must have it seen to. I have noticed that the minute hand and the hour hand are exactly to...
In this puzzle the twenty kennels do not communicate with one another by doors, but are divided off by a low wall. The solitary occupant is the greyhound which lives in the kennel...
In how many different ways may the word DEIFIED be read in this arrangement under the same conditions as in the last puzzle, with the addition that you can use any letters twice in...
The young Squire, twenty years of age, was the son of the Knight that accompanied him on the historic pilgrimage. He was undoubtedly what in later times we should call a dandy, for...
The illustration shows the plan of a prison of nine cells all communicating with one another by doorways. The eight prisoners have their numbers on their backs, and any one of them...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = 100. It is required to place arithmetical signs between the nine figures so that they shall equal 100. Of course, you must not alter the present numerical arran...
A man left a hundred acres of land to be divided among his three sons--Alfred, Benjamin, and Charles--in the proportion of one-third, one-fourth, and one-fifth respectively. But Ch...
"Play fair!" said the mice. "You know the rules of the game." "Yes, I know the rules," said the cat. "I've got to go round and round the circle, in the direction that you are looki...
In introducing a little Commonwealth problem, I must first explain that the diagram represents the sixty-four fields, all properly fenced off from one another, of an Australian set...
+---+----+----+----+ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | +---+----+----+----+ | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | +---+----+----+----+ | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | +---+----+----+----+ "It is as easy as counting," is an expr...
Eight motorists drove to church one morning. Their respective houses and churches, together with the only roads available (the dotted lines), are shown. One went from his house A t...
Now, how many bishops are necessary in order that every square shall be either occupied or attacked, and every bishop guarded by another bishop? And how may they be placed?
Here is an extension of the last game of solitaire. All you need is a chessboard and the thirty-two pieces, or the same number of draughts or counters. In the illustration numbered...
A man had three coins--a sovereign, a shilling, and a penny--and he found that exactly the same fraction of each coin had been broken away. Now, assuming that the original intrinsi...
At first sight you would hardly think there was matter for dispute in the question involved in the following little incident, yet it took the two persons concerned some little time...
The plan represents a portion of the line of the London, Clodville, and Mudford Railway Company. It is a single line with a loop. There is only room for eight wagons, or seven wago...
The illustration shows eighteen dominoes arranged in the form of a square so that the pips in every one of the six columns, six rows, and two long diagonals add up 13. This is the...
Here is a curious little problem. A man had a ten-gallon keg full of wine and a jug. One day he drew off a jugful of wine and filled up the keg with water. Later on, when the wine...
I happened to be paying a call at the house of a lady, when I took up from a table two lovely squares of brocade. They were beautiful specimens of Eastern workmanship--both of the...