The Royal Gardens
It was now daylight, and still had I to pass through the royal gardens outside of the castle walls. These gardens had once been laid out by an old king's gardener, who had become bereft of his senses, but...
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A Queer Coincidence.
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 had agreed that whenever a
play...
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Buying Presents.
"Whom do you think I met in town last week, Brother William?" said Uncle
Benjamin. "That old skinflint Jorkins. His family had been taking him
around buying Christmas presents. He said to me, 'Why cannot the
go...
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The Southern Cross.
In the above illustration we have five Planets and eighty-one Fixed
Stars, five of the latter being hidden by the Planets. It will be found
that every Star, with the exception of the ten that have a black spot ...
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The Three Villages.
I set out the other day to ride in a motor-car from Acrefield to
Butterford, but by mistake I took the road going _via_ Cheesebury, which
is nearer Acrefield than Butterford, and is twelve miles to the left of
...
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The Bicycle Thief.
Here is a little tangle that is perpetually cropping up in various
guises. A cyclist bought a bicycle for L15 and gave in payment a cheque
for L25. The seller went to a neighbouring shopkeeper and got him to
ch...
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The Tube Inspector's Puzzle.
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 stated period, all the company's
...
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Mrs. Timpkins's Age.
Edwin: "Do you know, when the Timpkinses married eighteen years ago
Timpkins was three times as old as his wife, and to-day he is just twice
as old as she?"
Angelina: "Then how old was Mrs. Timpkins on the wedd...
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The Cardboard Chain.
Can you cut this chain out of a piece of cardboard without any join
whatever? Every link is solid; without its having been split and
afterwards joined at any place. It is an interesting old puzzle that I
learnt...
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The Converted Miser.
Mr. Jasper Bullyon was one of the very few misers who have ever been
converted to a sense of their duty towards their less fortunate
fellow-men. One eventful night he counted out his accumulated wealth,
and res...
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The Spanish Dungeon.
Not fifty miles from Cadiz stood in the middle ages a castle, all traces
of which have for centuries disappeared. Among other interesting
features, this castle contained a particularly unpleasant dungeon
divide...
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The Spider And The Fly
Inside a rectangular room, measuring 30 feet in length and 12 feet in width and height, a spider is at a point ...
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The Chinese Chessboard.
Into how large a number of different pieces may the chessboard be cut
(by cuts along the lines only), no two pieces being exactly alike?
Remember that the arrangement of black and white constitutes a
difference...
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The Domino Frame Puzzle.
It will be seen in the illustration that the full set of twenty-eight
dominoes is arranged in the form of a square frame, with 6 against 6, 2
against 2, blank against blank, and so on, as in the game. It will b...
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The Clerk Of Oxenford's Puzzle
The silent and thoughtful Clerk of Oxenford, of whom it is recorded that "Every farthing that his friend...
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The Six Pawns.
In how many different ways may I place six pawns on the chessboard so
that there shall be an even number of unoccupied squares in every row
and every column? We are not here considering the diagonals at all, an...
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The Voters' Puzzle.
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 before? In this case every
rea...
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The Perplexed Plumber
When I paid a visit to Peckham recently I found everybody asking, "What has happened to Sam Solders, the plumber?" He seemed to be in a bad way, and his wife was seriously anxious about the state of his m...
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The Riddle Of The Cellarer
Then Abbot David looked grave, and said that this incident brought to his mind the painful fact that John the Cellarer had been caught robbing the cask of best Malvoisie that was reserved for special occa...
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Academic Courtesies.
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 as boys. Every girl made a bow...
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