Part 13
My first and second are as best they should be, My third in Latin mouth is what it would be, My whole would soon be ashes if it could be.
is solved by _Asbestos_ (_os_ is Latin for _mouth_).
193
Since Spooks, a _subtle_ man is he, _Sublet_ this haunted house to me, In _bluest_ funk I _bustle_ round, And fear a ghost in every sound.
The four words in italics have the same letters.
194
That which is found in the centre of Australia and of America, and in no other place, is the letter “r” (no othe_r_ place).
195
Grandfather’s riddle, “Do you know why is the fourth of July?” is solved by the fact that the fourth letter of that word is y!
196
My _first_ is never far away, My _next_ in Latin found; My _third_ may rage by night or day; _All_ make melodious sound.
is solved by _Nightingale_.
197
Through the _forest_ trees Softly coo the doves; Let a _softer_ breeze _Foster_ youthful loves!
The words in italics have the same letters.
198
The enigma--
At starting half your income take, Then for my second write; And let your table help to make The total cosy quite.
is solved by _Comfortable_.
199
The charade--
My whole is a circle complete, Beheaded I fall to your feet. Behead me again and I fry, Or am baked in a savoury pie.
is solved by _Wheel_, _heel_, _eel_.
200
The anagram sentences are recast thus into single words--
See a pug dog. _Pedagogues._
Stay, O morn. _Astronomy._
Fat reward. _Afterward._
Red paper. _Prepared._
Set on a dish. _Astonished._
201
The enigma--
If my whole by my second and first you divide, One more than ten thousand it gives. In the land of my birth I have dwindled and died, In museums my memory lives.
is solved by _Do-do_.
202
The paradox--
Though never present, I appear, Of perfect form a token; And all that centres round my ear Is heard, though never spoken.
is solved by the word _heard_.
203
The enigma--
Behead me twice, and it shall be That I my perfect self regain; Restore both heads, and you shall see That most imperfect I remain.
is solved by _Incomplete_.
204
Grant lady, grant your _slave_ his whim, And give the coming _valse_ to him, For this will _salve_ his jealous heart, Stricken so sore by Cupid’s dart. If not, he _laves_ his hands of you, To seek fresh _vales_ and pastures new.
The words in italics have the same letters.
205
“Yes, yes, I know,” said Jack to Jill, “That thirty-two is freezing point: And I can tell you, if you will, Exactly what is squeezing-point!”
is solved by _Two in the shade!_
206
The puzzle--
To fifty add a third of one, A third to five attach; You have the means, when this is done, To kindle any match.
is solved by _Love_.
207
The missing words are in italics--
The untrained _speculator_ in the City Is robbed by _peculators_ without pity.
208
Read backwards it becomes--
Prosperity and peace; no barns empty; bills long paid; not high rents; berries bright; no birds hungry; merry Christmas comes.
209
The anagram plants concealed in the sentence--O rise love it lad never let this lamb chase trains, are: Osier, violet, lavender, thistle, balm, china asters.
210
The enigma--
My first is quite a sin by name, My third its simple cure; My second puts an end to fame, My whole of ease is sure.
is solved by _Sinecure_.
211
The paradox--
Cut off my head, it is unshaken, Cut off my tail, you turn it round, But if both head and tail are taken, Unconquered still I hold my ground.
is solved by TIT.
212
The charade--
Why should we quarrel, first and third, With nought between us but a word? Let third leave second unessayed To heal the breach these letters made. If your solution be writ fair You find my whole disjointed there.
is solved by I.O.U.
213
When Funniboy wrote from Naples to his friend, “Next week I am going ‘to plant onions, etc.,’” it was an intimation by anagram that he was bound for Constantinople.
214
In haunted house to sleep I tried, My dread _first_ was my chum. “With _second_ of my _first_,” I cried, “My _whole_ I should become.”
is solved by _Fearless_.
215
The enigma--
My first is possessive and second: My second possessive and first. Such banks most attractive are reckoned By those for rich treasure athirst.
is solved by _Thymy_ (_thy_, _my_).
216
This is the completed palindrome--
REPEL EVIL AS A LIVE LEPER,
which reads alike from either end.
217
When Tom Pickles’s father tried with a lusty puff to blow the small cork into the bottle, the sudden compression of the air inside, followed by its expansion, drove the cork in an unexpected direction, so that it flew out and struck him sharply on the mouth.
218
Acorns are as strong as oaken posts when they _propagate_ (prop-a-gate).
219
The completed palindrome runs thus--
“Put it up but not on tub, put it up but not on tub, put it up,” which reads alike from either end.
220
The _Kates_ of Shakespeare and of song Have fair and dainty features; But she I _stake_ my hopes upon Excels those lovely creatures. From _Keats_ she _takes_ her name so dear, She lives on _steaks_ and honey: She cannot _skate_, but she can steer, And Madeline has money.
The words in italics have the same letters.
221
The two long words used recently by a politician which can be recast by anagram to form the sentence, “Axiomatic intelligence, or dust” are--
TERMINOLOGICAL INEXACTITUDES.
222
My first your bosom friend, or man or maid, Whom you can trust, secure and unafraid. My second, sounded double, tells of fate, Or sounded single puts an end to hate. My whole a hall’s arched roof, or soft or hard, That lies beyond the gate with ivory barr’d.
is solved by _Palate_ (Até, goddess of fate).
223
The sentence “Woman without her man would be helpless” takes on a distinct meaning if the words “without her” are read together, and a comma is placed after “woman.” Thus--“Woman, _without her_ man would be helpless.”
224
The short sentences are recast into single words thus--
A moment’s cure. _Commensurate._ Cod is nice. _Coincides._ The old rocks. _Stockholder._ It lures a cat. _Articulates._
225
The enigma--
Without my head I circulate With speed and inclination. Without my bait, at anyrate, I still have inclination. Transpose three letters, in unbroken state I then receive the ashes of the great.
is solved by _Hearth_, _earth_, _heart_ (transpose _eat_ to _ate_).
226
Here is a metrical account of the anagram which, with some exaggeration, proclaims that Sims Reeves was often prevented from singing by his delicate throat--
The audience in wrapt impatience sits; Comes an excuse, and disappointment hisses, Strange that _Sims Reeves_, whose singing ever _hits_, By a mere shift of letters _ever misses_!
227
Consuming lust for _lucre_, now so rife, Like _cruel_ _ulcer_ mars both love and life.
The words in italics have the same letters.
228
This is the completed palindrome--
I maniac lived, a devil Cain am I.
229
The lines--
And as trim bees rise or go, A long aim I’d say, a libel O!
contain in anagram and in proper order the fruits _tamarinds_, _gooseberries_, and the flowers _magnolia_, _daisy_, _lobelia_.
230
These are the anagrams--
Now one old fort _Tower of London_. Rabid owl _Wild Boar_.
231
Alas, for that forgotten day When chivalry was nourish’d, When none but friars learn’d to pray, And beef and beauty flourish’d; And fraud in kings was held accursed, And falsehood sin was reckon’d, And mighty chargers bore my _first_, And fat monks wore my _second_!
Ah, then I carried sword and shield And casque with flaunting feather, And earn’d my spurs in battle-field, In winter and rough weather; And polish’d many a sonnet up To ladies’ eyes and tresses; And learn’d to drain my father’s cup, And loose my falcon’s jesses!
But dim is now my grandeur’s gleam, The mongrel mob grows prouder; And everything is done by steam, And men are kill’d by powder; And now I feel my swift decay, And give unheeded orders; And rot in paltry state away With sheriffs and recorders.
is solved by _Knighthood_.
232
My _first_ you oft savagely pierce through and through; My _next_ harbours nonsense, and wisdom, and dust; But, oh! what disaster might chance to accrue, Should my _whole_, from my _second_, step into my _first_!
is solved by _Earwig_.
233
My whole describes the action of a gale, Decapitation makes an organ play. Behead again, it sounds o’er hill and vale; Again, it tells of what we do not pay. Take nothing off, it is an eagle’s sail. Again behead, and half a string denote; Again, and lo! a horse’s head and tail; And last of all on music’s notes I float.
is solved by _A’blowing_ (n-a-g).
234
The proverb buried in the sentence--
Society--how her enthusiasts worship at her Juggernaut car. Cases exist here, proving how illogical are these eagle-sighted, place-hunting beings, scoffing at hereditary position, yet striving to get her smile.
is “Where the carcase is there will the eagles be gathered together.”
235
The answer by anagram to--What should we put on a bird’s tail to catch it without a _steel-trap_? is _Saltpetre_.
236
The charade--
Across my _first_, with flash and roar, The stately vessel glides alone. And mournful on the crowded shore There stands an aged crone, Watching my _second’s_ parting smile, As he bids farewell to his native isle. My _whole_ comes back to other eyes, With beauteous change of fruit and flowers, But dim to her are those bright skies, And sad those joyous hours; For, alas! my _first_ is dark and deep, And my _second_ cannot hear her weep.
is solved by _Season_.
237
The sequel to the Arab and his ass runs thus--
When morning dawned, and the tide was out, The pair crossed over ’neath Allah’s _protection_, And the Arab was happy beyond a doubt, For he had the best donkey in all that _section_.
You are wrong! They were drowned in crossing over, Though the donkey was bravest of all his _race_; He luxuriates now in perpetual clover, And his master has gone to the prophet’s _embrace_.
238
A _siren_, _risen_ on _Erin’s_ strands, Caught Pat’s heart in her meshes; He left the _reins_ in Cupid’s hands, And watched her _rinse_ her tresses; Tresses of _resin_ coloured gold, Veiling, like any frock, A tail which, as it did unfold, Gave to poor Pat a shock.
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.
239
The answer by anagram to “Where can you be ‘in a stone-pine garden’?” is _Pontresina, Engadine_.
240
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters--
No _wider_ sympathy was ever shown Than when _weird_ news, from Kingston _wired_, was known.
241
According to its anagram, the bodily discomfort which follows an _ague-fit_ is _fatigue_.
242
This is the adjustment of the tangled square--
I S I S S I D E I D E A S E A T
243
The European rivers concealed in the eight anagrams: Set in red robe Henri Le Roi O sell me red pine nerves biter, are Dniester, Ebro, Rhine, Loire, Moselle, Dnieper, Severn, Tiber.
244
The palindrome runs thus--
STOP ROSE, I PREFER PIES OR POTS.
245
“Your food will cost you more!”
is the political parrot cry which can be evolved by anagram from--
_O fool! O musty cry! O lurid woe!_
246
Sir Robert Peel was the statesman from whose name a “terrible poser” is formed by anagram.
247
The letters of the sentence, “Yea, a glad sun rose red” can be recast into the well-known proverb _Delays are dangerous_.
248
The question, “Has there been a poet of unusual solemnity?” is answered by “_Yes, Milton_.”
249
The anagram enigma--
No, no, I hardly ever touch The thing which many love so much, It has a place within these lines, But is taboo where Delia dines.
is solved by _Onion_ (no, no, I).
250
When young Biceps, who had been plucked in Euclid declared that he could teach the examiners how to square a circle, this was his tricky method:--A circle may be aptly described as a “copper” or “Brown.” Having at hand your “copper” (P. C. Brown), when he has caught you on his rounds, proceed to square him in the customary way.
251
As Biceps could not tell how to extract a circle from a square, his friend gave him the following solution: “Let the given square be Sloane Square; find the Inner Circle, and take its lines to any point, at any distance from that square, paying the proper fare. That’s the ticket!”
252
Every _Cretan_ is said to lie, And steeds that _canter_ pant. The gods drank _nectar_, old and dry, And all men may _recant_. Finally this key extend Take from _en(trance)d_ the _end_.
253
The charade--
My captive _second_, sulking in my _first_, Might surlily bemoan his fate accurst; Bemoan, or as alternative you find My _whole_ the word that fits his state of mind. For meet enclosure, you can take a score Of captive _seconds_, first deducting four.
is solved by _Denounce_ (16 ozs. = 1 _Pound_).
254
The cipher--
~THGLBDWNWSLLLDSTFTHLT; MNFTNRDRNRGTNNTHSPT.~
becomes by the addition of E and O alternately--
The “Globe” do we now sell, oldest of the lot; Men often order one, or get one on the spot.
255
When his brother put “Tim in a pet,” the explanation by anagram is that he was _impatient_.
256
Who knows the _East_ a land may know Famed for its _teas_, and long age A _seat_ of sage and seer. The native there, so full of tricks, To _sate_ his hunger _eats_ with sticks, Nor knows his ways are queer.
The missing words are in italics.
257
The charade--
If doubled you would see my first Let third and second be reversed. But if my last you would behold Increase my first a hundredfold. Combine them all, and you can trace The four within an empty space.
is solved by _Void_.
258
In the words spoken in the hay-field to a thirsty toiler, “Mower, I will tap the cask!” are concealed by anagram the poet and his poem--_William Cowper, The task._
259
The charade--
My _first_ is small, and seldom reverential; My next not large enough to heed or prize; My _whole_ is altogether consequential; My third though small is counted very wise--
is solved by _Important_.
260
To be a a a a a a a a a a t C r I i O f U l S e s standing is the mark of a mean
is solved by _To be tenacious in the midst of trifles is the mark of a mean understanding_.
261
The letters which spell RED NUTS AND GIN can be recast to form the one word UNDERSTANDING.
262
The novel by Charles Dickens hidden in the pied letters--
~CDEHHIILOOOPRSSTTUY~
is _The Old Curiosity Shop_.
263
In swift _relays_ the beaters add Fresh _layers_ to the heaps of slain; And still, with lust of slaughter mad, The _slayer_ plies his hand amain!
The words in italics have the same six letters.
264
The charade--
My first is nothing but a name, My second still more small, My whole shows such a lack of fame It has no name at all.
is solved by _Nameless_.
265
When one of the children said, “If father gives us a new dog it will wake the lazy ones”--the words pointed to Susan and Ethel, whose names are buried in the sentence.
266
The cipher--
~NGOTRDSREAOHR ETNSVEENUDOEO~
is solved by starting with last letter of the second line, followed by the first letter of the first line, and so on throughout, taking always the last and first unused letters alternately, and forming thus the proverb “_One good turn deserves another!_”
267
The enigma--
Well known by story, not by name, I died a death unknown before, Nor ever to corruption came; My shroud the waves cast on the shore.
is solved by _Lot’s wife_.
268
The question--
How might an oyster, if it could speak and knew that unda is Latin for wave or water, complain in similar phonetic iteration when disturbed by thunder under unda?
is answered thus--
He could exclaim, “a noise annoys an oyster!”
269
The words in italics have the same five letters--
When _Cesar_, our puppy, sets out for a run, Over _acres_ he _races_, all frolic and fun. For no whistle _cares_ he, in his desperate hurry, The slow sheep to _scare_, and the old cow to worry.
270
The girls’ names shown by anagram in the sentence--“Bad hero set by thy door hurt me ma. Army may get ruder daily,” are Deborah, Betsy, Dorothy, Ruth, Emma, Mary, Amy, Gertrude, Lydia.
271
The anagram is completed thus--
“Lord Beaconsfield’s statue.” _True as old Ben’s stolid face!_
272
The Shakespeare anagrams--
The tub sold has old rough shelves. And e’en this fisherman caught best white smelts. A living lord’s black dress, worn high, I vow!
are formed, letter for letter and line for line, from this passage in “Romeo and Juliet”--
“Love’s heralds should be thoughts, Which ten times faster glide than the sun’s beams, Driving black shadows over low’ring hills.”
273
The mystical gnome never flinches from toil Who _buries_ the _rubies_ in Orient soil; Yet _busier_ mortals will ever abound, Who _bruise_ all the soil till the treasure is found.
The words in italics are spelt with the same six letters.
274
The Puzzle acrostic--
My feathered first has wings and sings, Unfledged my second swings its wings; My third on blackest pinions flies, My fourth can float beneath the skies. The letters to my first that fall Are the initials of them all.
is solved thus--
O O O O L A R K O ● ● ● A R M Y O ● ● ● R O O K O ● ● ● K I T E
275
My first was of the _pirate_ breed, Their _irate_ captain, hot and riled, To _rate_ his men found vain indeed, They only _ate_ and smoked, and smiled!
One letter is dropped each time.
276
In the doublets puzzle HARE is made into SOUP by the following six links, changing one letter each time, and preserving their order--
HARE, hark, hack, sack, sock, soak, soap, SOUP.
277
The enigma--
Putting two small beasts that you take To the beginning of an end, A pointed weapon you will make To wound a foe or praise a friend.
is solved by _Epigram_.
278
If a “newspaper” could speak, it might say by anagram of the general work of its staff, _We pen pars_.
279
The positive quantity 1011 is turned into a negative thus:--
NO.
280
The one word formed by anagram from “O, I’m man’s trial” is _Matrimonials_.
281
The rebus--
EEE and xxx URXXI XXX and eee.
is solved by “Great ease and small crosses before you are twenty-one, great crosses and little ease after that.”
282
The answer to the riddle “Why may not the owner of a pine forest fell his timber?” is--Because no one is allowed to _cut_ when it is his own _deal_.
283
He _aspired_ to be _praised_ as a wonderful shot, But he potted the dog, and _despair_ was his lot!
The words in italics are spelt with the same letters.
284
In the doublet, as solved by Lewis Carroll, ARMY is changed into NAVY with seven links, and preserving the sequence while changing a letter every time--thus: ARMY, arms, aims, dims, dams, dame, name, nave, NAVY.
285
The anagram puzzle--
‘I excel not by a pun’ Turn these six words into one!
is solved by _Unexceptionably_, which contains exactly the same letters.
286
The answer to the strange riddle, “When is an onion like music?” is “_When you find it smell odious!_” (it’s melodious).
287
The bitter cry of Christianity is, by its anagram: _I cry that I sin_.
288
That a Conservative is constant to his cause is shown by the anagram: _Not vice versâ_.
289
As a rule Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall upon the same day of the week, but they will not fall upon the same day of the week in 1910 (or indeed in any year), because the New Year’s Day must be _after_ the Christmas Day to fulfil the conditions!
290
“War is a game which, were their subjects wise, Kings would not play at,” wrote the poet’s pen; But in war’s issue will be staked the prize, While kings and subjects are but erring men; So Britain--native empress of the seas-- On ocean cradled, by her storm-king nursed-- Friend of the fallen, guardian of the free, Rests on her well-tried _last_ and trusty _first_. Her _first_ alone can well maintain her right, Unscathed by any threat or mutinous blast; And though, when needed, foremost in the fight, Her _first_ (strange paradox!) is always _last_! But should the tide of war approach the shore And threaten to engulf her island seat, My _whole_, replying with defiant roar, Would crash the audacious foe beneath her feet!
is solved by _Armstrong_.
291
My first is flogged to make it move the faster, And turns at once to satisfy its master. My next will ripen as a pleasant fruit, For those whose simple taste its flavours suit. My whole, when breezes blow and pennons fly, Stands up aloft and points us to the sky.
is solved by _Top-mast_.
292
A noun there is, of plural number, In daily use from here to Humber. Now almost any noun you take By adding “S” you plural make; But if you add an “S” to this, Strange is the metamorphosis! Plural is plural now no more; Useless what useful was before.
is solved by _Needles_, _needless_.
293
First, a semi-circle make, Add to this another Figure of two little lines Meeting with each other; Then a perfect circle form, Truly, neat, compactly, Add another form to these, Like the first exactly; Then, to make it all complete, Form a kind of angle, With a straight line, that should meet In a kind of tangle; When you this have rightly done (’Tis the truth I’m telling), You will get an article Useful in a dwelling: Should you this decapitate, You may have another Article, which, in its place, Is useful as the other.
is solved by _Clock_, _lock_.
294
Veiling the leas, my first may steep Late autumn’s listless air; And with my tainting second creep On idle spade and share.
When happy days link soul to soul, And sunny faces shine, May both combined, a subtle whole, Be far from me and mine!
is solved by _Mistrust_.
295
Mark Lemon’s charade--
Old Charlie Brown, who a big rogue was reckoned, Was brought up at my first for making my second; He was fined, and because he no money would pay Had to work with my whole on the King’s highway.
is solved by _Barrow_.
296
Complete, I grow within a field And pleasant pasture often yield; Behead me once, a suitor then Is quickly brought before your ken; Behead again, I am a word That on the cricket-ground is heard. Restore my heads, cut off my tail, To name a spice you’ll not then fail; Behead me now, and you will find The master passion left behind. Put on my head, my tail restore, Complete me as I was before, My second letter take away, An envelope I am, you’ll say; But now curtail me just once more, I am an inlet on the shore.