Chapter 12 of 15 · 3975 words · ~20 min read

Part 12

A part of me in rain, A part in hail must be, A part belongs to pain, A part in bones we see, A part in gleaming gold, A part in common copper. A part in peace behold, A part in any topper, Two parts are heard in sound, And in our finals found.

is _Rhinoceros_.

98

The smart enigma--

Men commonly say I am clever, Book-learning I never could boast; Yet I turn the leaves inside the cover, And when I am found I am lost.

is solved by _A Fox_.

99

_A sot_ is like a _toast_, or what is most Comparative, a _toast_ is like _a sot_; For when their substances in liquor sink Both properly are said to be in drink.

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters, the _t_ being repeated in _toast_.

100

The pied proverb is “Fine words butter no parsnips.”

101

The puzzle verse--

A wordy warfare waged with wit, In youth its joys none need descry; But where our elders take to it Its name points loss of dignity,

is solved by _Badinage_ (bad in age).

102

The hero’s name, hidden in--

My first’s in garb, but not in dress; My next’s in praise, but not in bliss; My third’s in man, but not in miss; My fourth’s in we.

My fifth’s in boar, but not in hog; My sixth’s in cat, but not in dog; My next’s in calm, but not in fog; My eighth’s in we.

My ninth’s in rope, but not in twine; My tenth’s in light, but not in shine; My next’s in four, but not in nine; My twelfth’s in we.

is _General Wolfe_.

103

Here is the sentence given with its appropriate and perfect anagram--

A defeat whose test is very sure. _Sweet are the uses of adversity._

104

The phonetic missing words are given in italics:--

’Tis _plain_ that no one takes a _plane_ To _pare_ a _pair_ of _pears_; A _rake_ may often take a _rake_ To _tear_ away the _tares_.

105

The queer obstacle--

I’m in everyone’s way, Yet no one I stop. My four horns each day Horizontally play, And my head is nailed on at the top.

is _A turnstile_.

106

The old enigma--

Take five from five, and then Put fifty in the middle; Twice ten times five times ten Will finish off my riddle, And bring it to your ken As fit as any fiddle!

is solved thus--

When Jacky Barrett, learned Don, Composed his famous riddle, His thoughts, perhaps, were resting on The strings of his old FIDDLE.

107

The phonetic gaps are filled thus--

No _quail_ will _quail_ before the wind, A _bough_ will _bow_ before it; We cannot _rein_ the _rain_, or find That earthly powers _reign_ o’er it.

108

We seem to sound a note of lavish bounty; Reverse us, and we indicate a county--

is solved by X S--S X.

109

The cryptogram--

~FTHNMLKBRNGSLLCTTN LLSKMTMXTTLLTSTHN!~

is solved by inserting the letter “I” throughout, when this rhyming couplet is formed--

If thin milk brings illicit tin, I’ll skim it, mix it, till it’s thin!

110

The buried proverb in--

Yet I see them all! on golden wings that fly Old memories steal anew; With a tear, with a sigh, with an old, old cry They return in ghostly hue!

is _’Tis a long lane that has no turning_.

111

Lewis Carroll’s doublet, which changes ELM into OAK by seven links, introducing the name of another tree as one of them, is solved thus by him--

ELM, ELL, ALL, AIL, AIR, FIR, FAR, OAR, OAK.

A shorter solution is by these six links--_Ely_, _sly_, _say_, _bay_, _bat_, _oat_; and one of these (_bay_) is also a tree, as was _fir_, so that the conditions given are fulfilled.

112

My dear Mr Bird, We are giving a ball; First second we third, Pray give us your all.

is solved by _attendance_.

Second, I did my first and last, Till I became my whole, And told the tale of my repast, A sad and greedy soul.

is solved by _satiate_.

113

The charade--

My whole, industrious, wends his way His daily task to meet; Behead, transpose a, lo! a sound Of music soft and sweet; Behead again, I make my way With swiftness past belief; Again, and where the fields are gay My bounty brings relief.

is solved by _Artisan_, _strain_, _train_, _rain_.

114

The lines by an old Oxbridge don--

“’Tis an absurdity to say Women should try for a B.A. To College honours forward looking; They’d best confine themselves to cooking!”

can be happily met by this retort in the same words, recast by a Girton girl--

“Women should try for a B.A., To College honours forward looking; ’Tis an absurdity to say They’d best confine themselves to cooking!”

115

The enigma--

Eight letters (start with b) Three syllables contain; Take one away, and see Four syllables remain!

is solved by _Beautify_, _Beatify_.

116

The beasts buried in the lines--

Ireland’s lot heals slowly. Troubles came long ago--at times in battalions--to attack and harass her. Ambitious democrats now countermine famous enthusiasts nearly akin to heroes. Anarchy enables cowards to sow hot terror and all amazement, are--

eland, sloth, camel, goat, bat, lion, stoat, ass, ram, fat, ermine, mouse, yak, roe, hyena, cow, sow, otter and llama.

117

This is the palindrome verse that reads and rhymes from either end--

Dies slowly fading day, winds mournful sigh, Brightly stars are waking; Flies owlet hooting, holding revel high, Nightly silence breaking.

118

The anagram recast from “The Observatory at Greenwich in England” is completed thus--

_On landing here begin to watch every star._

119

The enigma--

No man at all am I, And, if you turn me round, To hear my warning cry Not any men are found.

is solved by _Nemo_, _omen_, _o men_.

120

The question--

How can our sailors fare the best When times are harder? How do they greet with merry jest An empty larder?

is solved thus--

FOWL IS FARE.

Wind that blows foul and chops about, With lighter puffs, And finds the thirsty sailor stout, Brings food enough!

121

The enigma--

I lose my head when I am here, Transpose me I am three; Look in a book, you find me there, And with me her and he--

is solved by _There_.

122

Jack did _declaim_ that he could square The circle to a _decimal_; His friends _claimed_ that a brain so rare Required attention _medical_.

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

123

A Mr Harwood had two daughters by his first wife, the elder of these was married to John Coshick. This Coshick had a daughter by his first wife, whom old Harwood married. Thus Harwood’s daughter could say--

My father is my son, And I’m my mother’s mother; My daughter and sister are one, I’m grandam to my brother!

124

The charade--

Catch my first with nimble wit, Add a simple word; Then my whole may help a bit Opportunely heard.

is solved by _Catchword_.

125

The paradox--

My mate and I from home did start, Some little space we were apart. When we had run a mile or more We kept our distance, as before; Shade of Colenso! could this be, When twice as fast as I ran he?

is solved by the fact that the lines apply to the large and small wheels of a bicycle.

126

The enigma from Lewis Carroll’s Papers--

A monument all men agree Am I in all sincerity, Half cat, half hindrance made. If head and tail removed should be, Then most of all you strengthen me. Replace my head, the stand you see On which my tail is laid.

is solved by _Tablet_.

127

The charade--

I’m known to the poorest and worst, And my worth by a child may be reckoned; The least thing in nature is double my first, And my whole is just half of my second.

is solved by _Halfpenny_.

128

My first without its head and tail Is one and undivided; My second shows its teeth, is frail, And as a rule one-sided. The two to hold my first avail, By busy toil provided.

is solved by _Honeycomb_.

129

The towns buried in the sentences--

His sister played the piano while we sang. I saw Nell out here last evening. The general rode a large black mare. I have ordered a cab at half-past one. Meet me in the lane at half-past nine.

are _Lewes_, _Louth_, _Deal_, _Bath_ and _Neath_.

130

The anagram on “The leaning tower of Pisa, in Tuscany, Italy,” is completed thus--

A funny spot in a sweet city; _I o’erhang it all_.

131

When they found that catacomb Near the _Capitol_ at Rome ’Twas the _topical_ discussion of the season; But the _optical_ effect Of the skeletons select Deprived the poor Professor of his reason!

The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.

132

The charade--

My first is pretence, My second a dandy; When fogs are most dense My whole will be handy.

is solved by _Flambeau_.

133

If we adopt the old spelling of the final word, we can prove by anagram that Bacon had no hand at anyrate in Shakespeare’s play “Much Ado About Nothinge,” for the same letters exactly spell “_Bacon? O, naught due to him!_”

134

Use all your wits to guess my all, Can any guess it right? Transposed, and never seen at all, It still is felt in sight. Behead, transpose, then let it be, And you at last a clue may see.

is solved by _Left_, _felt_, _let_.

135

“Insanitary” and “sanitary reform” are very happily recast by anagram thus--_In nasty air; Former air nasty_.

136

The charade--

Let my second cut my first When I come to table; Though I cannot quench your thirst Eat me--you are able.

is solved by _Cutlet_.

137

These are the completed lines--

What mars a land so sadly as a war? What days as dark as days that wars alarm? Alas! ask any, ask at hand, afar, All shall call war a harass and a harm. Why call, as ballads talk, that ghastly art All gallant acts--a grand and manly part?

It will be seen that “a” was the only missing letter.

138

The charade--

To me when whole, for I am sweet, The moon fresh brightness brings; Cut off my tail, I’m blunt, but meet To sharpen other things.

Behead me twice, and I have led Soldiers to face the foe; Headless and tailless, one remains Though all the rest may go.

is solved by Honey (honey-moon; hone; Ney; one).

139

The enigma--

We start when the ninth hour is past, Then there’s an end of you. A vengeful goddess shows at last What Antifat will do.

is solved by _Attenuate_:--at ten, u, Ate, goddess of Revenge.

140

The charade--

When on charades intent I take my pen, To seek some hidden goal, Over my first my second comes, and then Quite overcomes my whole.

is solved by _Overcomes_.

141

The cryptogram which was sent as a reliable tip before a race in which Petronel was to run--

Tell me, Ben, who tore it. Seek a plant for it, see Bob.

is deciphered thus--

Take every third letter, and you arrive at Lenortepnoteb. Read this backwards, and you have the tip, “Bet on Petronel!”

142

The enigma--

I have no form, I have no friend, From me all come, in me all end. And it is strange but very true That I am here and nowhere too--

is solved by _Nothing_.

143

The broken sentence--

A sed end ought eat ease ain.

is thus filled in to describe a curse and to proclaim its cure--

A cursed fiend brought death, disease and pain; A blessed friend brought breath and ease again.

144

The charade--

My first is a cover, My second a city; The whole you discover With this if you’re witty.

is solved by _Capacity_.

145

The four rivers buried in the sentence--

The deaf and dumb girl began gesticulating with a message, and her delivery was ever neat, with graceful pose in every attitude.

are _Ganges_, _Thames_, _Severn_ and _Seine_.

146

If the “shingle” on the Brighton beach could speak, it might boast by anagram, “I am _English_!”

147

The enigma--

She is as deaf as any post, Incurable I fear; She is my guest, I am her host, How can I make her hear?

is solved by adding an a to _her_, which becomes _hear_.

148

The missing words in the “Plaint of the Rejected” are--_The R.A._, _hater_, _heart_, _earth_, _Herat_.

149

The man who could attach a phonetic meaning to the words “Beta in Greek means letter B,” could in another fashion invite others to beat his wife by merely calling them and saying, “_Hither!_” (hit her).

150

The rebus--

storm? an umbrella with all a th me who alls mud

is solved thus--Who follows me under an umbrella, with overalls all over mud, after a thunderstorm?

151

This is the completed palindrome:--

Nor I nor Emma had level’d a hammer on iron.

It reads alike from either end.

152

The tutor came to the conclusion that there is nothing in Ecclesiastical Law to prevent the Pope from burying the Archbishop of Canterbury, but the undergraduate who had proposed the question demurred to this reply; pressed for his reason he said, as his face broke into a smile, “He cannot do so, because _the Archbishop is not dead_!”

153

The proverb buried in the sentence, “While there are very many as kind as this, they know no task unkind,” is, “_Let every man skin his own skunk_.”

154

Kate gathers me where children three, Tom, Jane, and Mary, chatter; He leads the way and then we see The other two come at her!

is solved by _Heather_ (he, at her).

155

The quotation from Shakespeare buried in--

Strange weather! What could equal it? Yesterday sunshine and soft breezes, to-day a summer cyclone raging noisily; then other changes, as floods of fiercest rain eddy beneath the blast.

is “The quality of mercy is not strained.”

156

The beetroot palindrome, which reads alike from either end is--

RED ROOT PUT UP TO ORDER

157

My _first_ we all do when we fail; My _next_ is heard in rain or hail; My _fourth_ a sheep of gender male; My _third_ is one without its tail; My _whole_ for foreign countries sail.

is solved by _Missionaries_.

158

The words written on the walls of a Western college gained their ambiguous sense from the three final words, printed in italics--“Young women should set a good example, for young men _will follow them_!”

159

The enigma--

I’m but a little letter, still I have my duties to fulfil; If off you take My tail, and make An alteration in my lot, Though I seem shorter I am not.

is solved by _Note_.

160

This is the full text--

Says Tom to Bill, “Pray tell me, sir, Why is it that the devil, In spite of all his naughty ways Can never be uncivil?”

Says Bill to Tom, “The answer’s plain To any mind that’s bright; Because the _imp o’ darkness_, sir, Cannot be _imp o’ light_!”

161

Beneath the _limes_ which shade the lawn Her bicycle she mounted; And with a _smile_, ere she had gone An hour, ten _miles_ she counted. It rained, it snowed, but nought could stop her, Till in the _slime_, she came a cropper!

The words in italics have the same letters.

162

The date of the new organ given by the English is concealed in the lines of this inscription above its keyboard at Ober Ammergau--

QVI CHRISTI LAVDES CANTANT SANCTÆ PASSIONIS SVÆ VIRTVTE IN IPSO ET PATRE VNVM SINT.

If the Roman numerals that occur in the words are added together, they amount to 1894, the date of its completion.

163

A woman’s name Of foreign fame, Hers was a noble mind. Now, sir, transpose, And I suppose No smaller thing you’ll find.

is solved by _Stael_, _least_.

164

The French charade--

Pour avoir mon _premier_ Femme qui cache mon _dernier_ Manque souvent mon _entier_.

is solved by _Mari-age_.

165

The charade--

Let go! let go! you naughty first, Or you will make my second; A stream of words will then outburst, Swift as my whole is reckoned.

is solved by _Current_.

166

My first is first when cruisers charge in line, And oft in frosty skies is seen to shine.

Don’t spare my second if you would suggest To an impulsive child the way that’s best.

My sporting whole, though now neglected grown, Travelled by tube before the tube was known.

is solved by _Ramrod_.

167

The enigma--

First of men we lead a measure, Last we end the same. Starting merrily, our pleasure Is to finish lame.

is solved by the letters _me_.

168

When Tom declared that he could give his sister quite a simple sentence of seven common English words of one syllable, which she could not produce on her typewriter, he had in his mind, “We can spell (to, too, two) in three ways,” which cannot, of course, be expressed in seven written words.

169

The French charade--

Mon premier est un tyran, mon second un horreur, Mon tout est le diable lui-même. Mais si mon premier est bon, mon second ne fait rien, Et mon tout est le bonheur suprême.

is solved by _Mariage_.

170

Sydney Smith’s conclusion as to the value and satisfaction of a City dinner was completed thus:--“I cannot wholly value a dinner by the _test you do_!” (Turtle, in Latin, _testudo_).

171

DEAN SWIFT’S ENIGMA--

In youth exalted high in air, Or bathing in the streamlet fair, Nature to form me took delight And clothed my body all in white; My person tall and slender waist On either side with fringes graced; Till me that tyrant Man espied, And dragg’d me from my mother’s side. No wonder that I look so thin, The monster stripp’d me to the skin; My body flay’d, my hair he cropp’d, And head and foot both off he lopp’d; Pick’d all the marrow from my bone. And then, with heart more hard than stone, To vex me more, he took a freak To slit my tongue, and make me speak. But that which wonderful appears, I speak to eyes and not to ears. All languages I now command Yet not a word I understand.

is solved by _A Goose-quill_.

172

The answer to the riddle propounded by the possessor of a new KEEN KUT razor to his friend whose chin was disfigured by scars, “What is the difference between my razor and yours?” is--“Mine cuts thoroughly; yours also cuts, tho’ roughly!”

173

The decapitated words are in italics--

The ship rode in an _eastern_ bay, Asleep _astern_ the master lay, A _stern_ and rugged man was he, And, like a _tern_, at home at sea. Like swooping _ern_ he caught his prey Whene’er an _R.N_. came his way; But while due _N_. the needle kept He in his cabin lay and slept.

The ern, or erne, is the sea-eagle.

174

When the tempest roars the loudest Oft my first a shelter proves. Say what fair one, though the proudest, Spurns my next from one she loves? When the storms of life are past Earth provides my whole at last.

is solved by _Covering_.

175

One syllable, I help to turn the scale Of party strife or faction; Recast me, and two syllables avail To stop all further action.

is solved by _vote_, _veto_.

176

The lines to an owl are filled in thus--

Oh, on old towers, thou gloomy owl, Thou lovest to hoot, thou lovest to howl. Or on old oaks your hollow tone So lost, so solemn, sounds alone, So mournful no one loves to go Or of your hooting howls to know.

The vowel “o” occurs forty-six times in the six lines.

177

In the Army anagram--

I’m free to-day, the _old sire_ said, _O no cell_ now have I to dread; For this one happy day to me _Are glen_ and hill and forest free, I, if I will, can ride, or fish, _A pit can_ enter, if I wish, In search of chalk or sand. In peace alone I now can dine, And sing to Anna’s _lute at nine_, Nor fear a reprimand.

the words in italics spell also _soldier_, _colonel_, _general_, _captain_, and _lieutenant_.

178

My first transposed becomes a name Which may quite mean be reckoned, Two syllables combine the same, With one or two for second.

My whole when fields are fresh and green, And softly blows the wind, Where the first signs of spring are seen Within the woods we find.

is solved by _Anemone_, the _wind_ flower (name, mean, anem, one, o, ne).

179

The anagram enigma--

Silent long is the wood-bird’s song, Bare is the woodland bough; For waving trees in wintry breeze Have “no buds now.”

is solved by _snowbound_, which contains exactly the same letters as “no buds now.”

180

The question of time--

A farmer with children sixteen Killed the fattest young lamb of his flock. To divide it these children between, What must be the time by the clock?

is solved by _a quarter to four_.

181

The Donkey drive--

To the far end of any train Hitch on a pair of neddies; Then you will hear, like steps of Cain, The threat that in their tread is.

is solved by _Ass-ass-in_.

182

The “Eating by Alphabet” enigma--

Take all the alphabet, and cast Its final letter out; Then set the first where was the last, And this you bring about: Without a cook, without a fire, A dainty dish which men desire.

is solved by A past Y (a pasty).

183

The charade--

My second with my first we greet; My whole in earlier days Gave understanding to the feet That moved in tragic plays.

is solved by _Buskin_.

184

The sentence--

Behest on thy lips, Society;

forms an Anagram of the proverb

“Honesty is the best policy.”

185

This sentence, fashioned by eight schoolboys as anagrams on their Christian names, arranged in order--

“I thy Tom am sober and lie or live in dew, but her brain sinned”--

reveals, when deciphered, the names Timothy, Ambrose, Daniel, Oliver, Edwin, Hubert, Brian and Dennis.

186

The enigma--

In any coward’s company you find That I have place. Cut off my head, and from your mind All wrong erase.

is solved by _Fright_.

187

The double acrostic--

From “Punch,” 1875.

My first, elect among the few, Chooses my second to expose his view.

1. Of various colours, changed at will, I sit or stand for good or ill.

2. I rule alone from noon till night, And when I am not am is right.

is solved

M. P. P. M.

188

A man in a rage should go to a “shooting gallery,” because by its Anagram it is _largely soothing_.

189

The beatitude--

Let her be or beat her, Give her little ease; Then in safety seat her All among the bees,

is solved by _A Queen Bee_. The _Bee_ is made up of the _letter b_ (let her be), in Greek called Beta (beat her), and two little _e_’s (ease).

190

The puzzle-lines--

“We,” cried my first and second, “Are not quite satisfied.” “The story may be reckoned Imperfect,” fourth replied. Said third, “The fact indeed I tell,” And so at last all ended well.

are cleared up by _Satisfactory_.

191

The English proverb which is concealed under its anagram--

“I dare not admit faint women,”

is _Time and tide wait for no man_.

192

The charade--