The Five Pennies.
Here is a really hard puzzle, and yet its conditions are so absurdly
simple. Every reader knows how to place four pennies so that they are
equidistant from each other. All you have to do is to arrange three of
...
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A Magic Square Of Composites.
As we have just discussed the construction of magic squares with prime
numbers, the following forms an interesting companion problem. Make a
magic square with nine consecutive composite numbers--the smallest
po...
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The Board In Compartments.
We cannot divide the ordinary chessboard into four equal square
compartments, and describe a complete tour, or even path, in each
compartment. But we may divide it into four compartments, as in the
illustration...
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A Problem In Mosaics.
The art of producing pictures or designs by means of joining together
pieces of hard substances, either naturally or artificially coloured, is
of very great antiquity. It was certainly known in the time of the
...
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A War Puzzle Game.
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 Britisher makes the first advance
alo...
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The Glass Balls.
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 fired at. After they had all put
t...
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The Victoria Cross Puzzle.
[Illustration:
+---------------------+
| ... A .../ |
| (I) |.......| (V) |
|_____|_______|_____/|
|......| |------|
|.. R .| |. I ..|
|......| |......|...
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Card Magic Squares.
Take an ordinary pack of cards and throw out the twelve court cards.
Now, with nine of the remainder (different suits are of no consequence)
form the above magic square. It will be seen that the pips add up
fif...
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Linoleum Cutting.
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 the two squares into four piece...
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Reaping The Corn.
A farmer had a square cornfield. The corn was all ripe for reaping, and,
as he was short of men, it was arranged that he and his son should share
the work between them. The farmer first cut one rod wide all rou...
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A Post-office Perplexity.
In every business of life we are occasionally perplexed by some chance
question that for the moment staggers us. I quite pitied a young lady in
a branch post-office when a gentleman entered and deposited a crow...
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Crossing The Moat
I was now face to face with the castle moat, which was, indeed, very wide and very deep. Alas! I could not swim, and my chance of escape seemed of a truth hopeless, as, doubtless, it would have been had I...
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A New Counter Puzzle.
Here is a new puzzle with moving counters, or coins, that at first
glance looks as if it must be absurdly simple. But it will be found
quite a little perplexity. I give it in this place for a reason that I
will...
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The Runaway Motor-car
The little affair of the "Runaway Motor-car" is a good illustration of how a knowledge of some branch of puzzledom may be put to unexpected use. A member of the Club, whose name I have at the mo...
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The Forty-nine Counters.
Can you rearrange the above forty-nine counters in a square so that no
letter, and also no number, shall be in line with a similar one,
vertically, horizontally, or diagonally? Here I, of course, mean in the
li...
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The Compasses Puzzle.
It is curious how an added condition or restriction will sometimes
convert an absurdly easy puzzle into an interesting and perhaps
difficult one. I remember buying in the street many years ago a little
mechanic...
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The Banker's Puzzle.
A banker had a sporting customer who was always anxious to wager on
anything. Hoping to cure him of his bad habit, he proposed as a wager
that the customer would not be able to divide up the contents of a box
c...
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Tasting The Plum Puddings
"Everybody, as I suppose, knows well that the number of different Christmas plum puddings that you taste...
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An Amazing Dilemma.
In a game of chess between Mr. Black and Mr. White, Black was in
difficulties, and as usual was obliged to catch a train. So he proposed
that White should complete the game in his absence on condition that no
m...
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A Legal Difficulty.
"A client of mine," said a lawyer, "was on the point of death when his
wife was about to present him with a child. I drew up his will, in which
he settled two-thirds of his estate upon his son (if it should hap...
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Informational
