ANAGRAMS
Anagrams, as a method of divining and illustrating personal destiny and character, were quite a craze in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. No specimens of this word juggling have ever been more apt than the perfect pair of political anagrams evolved from the names of two of our greatest statesmen.
When the reins of power changed hands, it was found that the letters which form Gladstone also spell out exactly, “G. leads not,” while the name of his great rival and successor Disraeli itself announces, when recast, “I lead, sir!”
No. XLIX.—A CARD PROBLEM
Here is a pretty card problem, akin in its character and arrangement to a Magic Square.
Take from a pack of cards the four aces, kings, queens, and knaves, and arrange them so that in each horizontal, vertical, and diagonal row, each of the four suits and each of the four denominations shall be represented once, and only once.
IDEAL ANAGRAMS
|
Ave Maria, gratiâ plena, Dominus tecum! Virgo serena, pia, munda et immaculata. Regia nata, evadens luctum amari pomi. Eva secunda, Agni immolati pura mater. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! A virgin calm, holy, pure and spotless. Of royal kin, free from the penalty of the bitter apple. A second Eve, pure mother of the slain Lamb. | ||
These wonderful anagrams need no word of praise. Constructed each of them with the same letters, the lines express with startling emphasis the character and special attributes of her whom they describe.
No. L.—TURF-CUTTING
I cut eight narrow strips of turf from my lawn, to form a double rose-border, with sides of the relative lengths shown in the diagram:—
How can I relay these eight pieces, without turning or breaking them, on a piece of level soil, so that they enclose three flower-beds of similar size?
AN ANAGRAM EPITAPH
This was engraved on a slate monument in memory of Marya Arundell, in Duloe, Cornwall, June 8, 1629:—
| MARYA ARUNDELL—MAN A DRY LAUREL | ||
Man to the marigold compared may be, | ||
No. LI.—A READY RECKONER
Two schoolboys, looking into a small water-butt after a heavy rain, could not agree as to whether it was quite half full.
They appealed to the gardener, as there were no means of measurement at hand, and he, being a shrewd, practical man, was able to decide the point. How did he do this?
TWIN ANAGRAMS
Paradise lost.
Reap sad toils.
Paradise regained.
Dead respire again!
No. LII.—A TRANSFORMATION
Can you turn this flat-headed 3 into a 5 by one continuous line, without scratching out any portion of the 3?
ADVANCE AUSTRALIA
What were “The Australian Cricketers?”
ANSWERED BY ANAGRAM
Clinkers! Each a true artist.
BUNYAN’S ANAGRAM
John Bunyan, in the conclusion of the advertisement of his “Holy War,” has these quaint lines (using i for j):—
“Witness my hand, if Anagrammed to thee
The letters make ‘Nu hony in a B.’”
OLD POLITICAL ANAGRAMS
“The Earl of Beaconsfield.”
Chief one of all debaters.
“William Ewart Gladstone.”
Wit so great will lead man.
No. LIII.—A CLEAR COURSE
These diagrams show two of the many ways in which eight pieces of chessmen or draughtsmen can be so placed upon the board that each of them has a clear course in every direction, along straight or diagonal lines.
We will give a table in the [solutions] which shows a large number of similar possible positions. Meantime our solvers may like to trace some for themselves.
APPOSITE AND OPPOSITE
Three most excellent anagrams are formed with the letters of the great name Thomas Carlyle. Two of them seem to point to the rugged sage of Chelsea in life, and one to his repose in death. They are:—
Mercy! lash a lot.
Cry shame to all!
A calm holy rest.
A ROYAL ANAGRAM
(Adsit omen!)
“Albert Edward and Alexandra.”
All dear bread and war tax end!
No. LIV.—QUARRELSOME NEIGHBOURS
Three families, who were not on speaking terms, lived in three houses within the same enclosing fence. Determined to avoid each other, they built covered ways from the doors of their houses to their gates, so that they might never cross each other’s paths. The family in A had their gate at A, those in B at B, and those in C at C. How were these covered ways arranged so as to secure their complete separation?
HIS HOBBY
William Ewart Gladstone.
A man will go wild at trees.
A SOLDIER’S ANAGRAM
Lord Kitchener of Khartoum.
Oh firm rod! the knack to rule!
No. LV.—A PRETTY TRICK
Ask some one to place five cards (not court cards) in a row, to add up their pips, and to place two cards representing that number below, for subtraction, as is shown in the diagram.
Let him then place cards to represent the result of subtraction, remove which one he pleases of these, and tell you the sum of the remaining pips.
You can at once tell him the value of the card removed by deducting the number of pips in that remainder from the next highest multiple of 9. Thus, in the instance shown above, if one of the sixes is removed, the sum of the remaining pips is 12, and 18 - 12 = 6. A space must be left for any 0.
BOAT-RACE ANAGRAMS
Here is a batch of anagrams, all letters perfect, which show how, by a little ingenuity, words may be twisted into opposite and appropriate meanings.
“The Oxford and Cambridge annual boat-race.”
ANAGRAMS
Hard race, but Cantab gained lead from Oxon.
Ah! bad rudder line for Cantab cox to manage.
Cantab blue had raced in an extra good form.
No. LVI.—THE CROSS-KEYS
This pretty puzzle can be made at home by anyone who is handy with a fret-saw.
Cut three pieces of hard wood according to the patterns given in this diagram, and try to fit the three sections together so that they form a firm symmetrical figure with six projecting ends.
ANGLO-JAPANESE ANAGRAMS
“The Anglo-Japanese treaty of Alliance.”
Yea, Fate enjoins to help a gallant race
or
Hail, gallant East! Fear not, enjoy peace
or
A peace angel, then joy to all in far East.
A WONDERFUL ANAGRAM
If the letters which spell the names of the twelve months are shaken up and recast, these appropriate lines and their title are formed—
POEM
Just a jury by number, each a scrap of year,
A number recording every jumble, tumble, tear!
No. LVII.—THE NABOB’S DIAMONDS
An Indian Nabob left a casket of valuable diamonds to his children under the following conditions:—The first was to take a diamond and one-seventh of the remainder; the second was to take two and a seventh of the then remainder; the third three and a seventh of the rest, and so on, on similar lines, till all the diamonds were taken. Each of the children had then exactly an equal share. How many diamonds were there, and how many children?
A PRIZE ANAGRAM
It would be difficult to find a more ingenious and appropriate anagram than this, which took a prize in Truth in 1902, and connects the King’s recovery with the Coronation.
The sentence was—
“God save our newly crowned King and Queen!
Long life to Edward and Alexandra!”
The letters of this were recast thus—
Can we wonder an anxious devoted England followed drear danger quakingly?
A GOOD ANAGRAM
Sir Francis Bacon, the Lord Keeper.
Is born and elect for rich speaker.
THE DREAMER’S ANAGRAM
“Imagination”—I’m on it again!
A SEASONABLE ANAGRAM
“Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.”
We murmur—“Time’s running past!”
No. LVIII.—A CARD CHAIN
The cardboard chain in this diagram is formed of unbroken links cut from one card.
There are no joinings in these links, no paste or gum is used, and the chain is fairly cut from a single card.
APPROPRIATE
Very apt indeed, in these days of books and papers without end, is the descriptive anagram which we find involved in
“The Alphabet,” That be a help.
A TOUR DE FORCE
Made with the letters which form the names of the twelve months, each being used once, and only once:—
Merry durable just grace
My every future month embrace,
No jars remain, joy bubble up apace!
No. LIX.—STRAY DOTS
These represent the four quarters of a torn design, on which large black dots had been so drawn that no two of them stood on the same row, column, or diagonal.
Can you copy out these four pieces, and place them in close contact, so that the proper edges come together to reproduce the original effect?
AN OLD POLITICAL ANAGRAM
The initials of Brougham, Russell, Allthorp, and Grey,
If rightly disposed the word “brag” will display;
Transpose them and “grab” will appear to the view,
Which hints at what many assert to be true,
That they, like some others, still follow the plan
To brag what they’ll do, and then grab what they can!
No. LX.—THE OPEN DOOR
A prisoner placed in the cell marked A is promised his release on the condition that he finds his way out of the door at X by passing through all the cells, entering each of them once only.
How can he do this?
A ROYAL ANAGRAM
The following remarkable anagram is recast from the name and title of the daughter of George IV., who was direct heir to the throne:—
“Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales.”
ANAGRAM
P. C. her august race is lost, O fatal news!
No. LXI.—THE SHEPHERD’S PUZZLE
When a farmer told his shepherd to put 21 sheep into 4 pens at the fair, and added, “I wish you could put an odd number into each pen, as there is luck in odd numbers, but that is impossible,” he did not take into account the shrewdness of the shepherd, who very cleverly folded them thus:—
Each fold or pen has by this arrangement an odd number of sheep within the hurdles that form its outer boundaries, and in this sense the farmer’s wish was satisfied.
We are familiar, most of us, with what is called Macaronic verse or prose, in which the letters and syllables of Latin words can be read so as to form English sentences.
It would seem to be too much to expect that there could be any connection in meaning between these Latin and English words, but there is one striking exception to this general rule. “Non est” means exactly “it is not,” and “No nest” conveys precisely the same idea, when a bird finds that its home has been destroyed.
No. LXII.—LEAP-FROG
Here is an interesting puzzle which can be worked out with coins or counters on a corner of a chess or a draughtboard.
At starting only the central point is vacant. A piece that is moved to a vacant spot must leap over two other pieces if it goes along the solid black lines, and can only move over one of the dotted diagonals at a time to an adjoining point. Try, on these lines, to enable the frog, now in the second hole of the lowest row, to reach the centre in the fewest possible moves, leaving its own original point vacant, and at the last surrounded by the words “leap-frog” as they now stand.
Moves can only be made to vacant places.
LXIII.—MUSIC HATH CHARMS
Transpose two letters, and the lad
Who grinds his organ in the Strand,
Can sing “my music is not bad,
I wake it with a master hand!”
How did he justify this ambitious claim?
No. LXIV.—GRIST FOR THE MILL
If the letters P E A R S O N S are printed on small wafers or buttons, and set at hap-hazard and out of order on the points which they now occupy, a very pretty game of patience will result from the attempt to restore them to their places.
Any letter can be pushed along one of the lines to a vacant place, and those on the mill sails can be moved to or from the central spot. There is no fixed limit to the number of moves, but the puzzle is to restore, in as few moves as possible, the broken and disordered word to its proper reading round the mill.
No. LXV.—YOUR WATCH A COMPASS
We are indebted to Sam Loyd, the famous American problem composer and puzzle king, for the following very practical curiosity, which is so closely akin to a puzzle that it is well worth giving for the benefit of our readers when they are out on holiday. If you are uncertain as to your bearings, lay your watch flat on the palm of your hand so that the hour-hand points in the direction of the sun. The point exactly midway between the hour-hand and the figure 12 will be due south at any time between 6 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. During any other hours our rule will give the north point, and in the southern hemisphere the rules will be reversed.
In the days of Pope Pio Nono someone extracted from the Papal title “Supremus Pontifex Romanus” an anagram, which cut at the very foundation of the faith. It ran thus: “O non sum super petram fixus”—“O I am not founded on the rock.”
This held its place as a clever topical anagram, until in a moment of happy inspiration a son of the Church discovered that if the first words are recast and rearranged, a splendidly appropriate motto for the then reigning pontiff leaps to sight, “Sum Nono, super petram fixus,” “I am Nono, founded on the rock!”
No. LXVI.—A MYSTIC SQUARE
This is an arrangement of numbers in 9 cells, so that no cell contains the same figure as appear in any other, and the two upper rows, the two side columns, the two long diagonals, and the four short diagonals all add up to 18:—
| 1 + 1 + 1 | 5 + 5 + 5 + 55 | 2 + 22 |
| 3 + 3 | 6 | 4 + 4 + 44 |
| 7 + 7 + 77 | 9 + 9 + 9 + 99 | 8 + 88 |
Though not, strictly speaking, a Magic Square, this is a most ingenious fulfilment of the conditions of the puzzle.
UP-TO-DATE ANAGRAMS
Good up-to-date anagrams are:—Chamberlain, “Rich able man,” and Pierpont Morgan, “Man prone to grip.”
No. LXVII.—A SWARM OF WORDS
In each of the five crosses of this mystic figure the same letters are to be inserted where there are asterisks, so that seven different English words are formed, which can be read altogether in 64 different ways and directions.
There will then be in all the five crosses 320 readings of these seven words, three of them having 80 variations and four of them having 20, and only three different letters are used.
SEASONABLE ANAGRAMS
| “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” | ||
| My prayer and wishes reach many a part. | ||
| or | ||
| Many a sad heart can whisper my prayer. | ||
No. LXVIII.—AFTER SOME SAD REVERSE
We admit this most miserable picture of a discontented outcast into our bright pages, to “point a moral,” if it does not “adorn a tale.”
Can our readers gather from it the lesson, that when things seem to be at the worst, a turn of fortune’s wheel may set them on their legs again, and change the merest melancholy to the merriest mirth? A reverse of another sort will set things right. Turn the page round!
A lady, to whom the momentous question had been put with some diffidence, handed to her lover a slip of paper, telling him that it embodied her reply. Nothing was written but the word “stripes,” which seemed at first to be of sinister omen; but to his relief and joy the fateful letters presently resolved themselves into a message of direct encouragement, and never was an anagram more welcome than this which bade him “persist.”
No. LXIX.—THE EXPLOSIVE RAFT
With eight large wooden matches form a miniature raft, as is shown in the diagram:—
Place the little raft on a wine-glass, and apply a lighted match to one of its corners. The tension on its parts will cause the whole construction to fly asunder as soon as the pressure on any point is removed.
A NOTABLE HISTORIC ANAGRAM
It is very remarkable that the letters which form the sentence—
“The Jubilee Day of Victoria, Queen and Empress,” also exactly spell—
Joys are never quite complete if a husband die.
No. LXX.—A PICTURE PUZZLE
Much is bad, and much is sad,
And life has many woes.
May we keep clear from year to year
Of what this picture shows!
Can you interpret it?
CONTRADICTION BY ANAGRAM
Logica, Latin for logic, can be resolved into the strangely contradictory anagram, caligo, darkness; and, in seeming support of this perversion, our word logic can be turned into I clog!
Here are two good anagrams connected with the land of the Pharaohs:—
David Livingstone,
“Go and visit Nile, D.V.”
Cleopatra’s Needle on the Thames Embankment,
“An Eastern emblem; then take me to Cheops’ land.”
Danes should be dark men, according to the anagram of “Denmark.”
No. LXXI.—PATCHWORK PICTURES
This is good fun for old and young as a round game. Each player draws on the upper part of a slip of paper some fancy head and folds it back, leaving just enough in sight to guide his left-hand neighbour, who takes it and adds a body. Again the slips are handed on for the final addition of legs of any sort, some continuation being always indicated.
Then these completed patchwork pictures are thrown into a central bowl, shaken up, drawn out, and passed round for inspection and merry comment. The folds are the dotted lines.
A HOUSEHOLD WORD
The wounded and sick soldiers whom Florence Nightingale nursed so tenderly in the Crimea would have acclaimed her beautiful anagram—“Flit on, cheering angel!”
No. LXXII.—A WINTER NIGHT’S DREAM
Mr Jolliboy, chubby and active, had been dancing until the small hours at a house in the suburbs, which was the home of sweet Lucy, the lady of his love.
The full moon shone down upon him as he walked happily to his own modest quarters, and the “man in the moon” seemed to smile and wink at him most knowingly.
Letting himself in presently with his latch-key, Mr Jolliboy was soon in bed and fast asleep, when in his dreams the full moon shone again, showing at one moment a likeness of his own round face, at another two smiling profile views of his Lucy, and at times all the three mixed.
Here, changed by a few touches, are the three moon-faces to be seen in one moon!
When the great Tichborne trial was still dragging its slow length along, a barrister with a turn for anagrams amused himself and his learned friends by constructing the following really remarkable specimen:—Sir Roger Charles Doughty Tichborne, Baronet, “Yon horrid butcher Orton, biggest rascal here.”
No. LXXIII.—POINTS AND PICTURES
Among the many openings for pleasant fun in the home circle, there is none which appeals more easily to young and old than the good old puzzle of drawing off-hand some fanciful figure, based on five dots placed at random, which must fall on the face, hands, and feet of the subject chosen.
This spirited specimen shows how well it may be done, and similar efforts, more or less successful, will provoke much amusement. Try it with pencil or pen and ink.
ANOTHER BOAT-RACE ANAGRAM
Among the many points which have to be taken into account by those who in successive years are responsible for the selection of the Oxford eight, there is one which is thus neatly expressed by an anagram:—
“The Oxford and Cambridge annual boat-race.”
Much extra load on board can bring a defeat.
No. LXXIV.—A NERVOUS SHOCK
This is the astounding portrait of himself, which presented itself to our scientific professor in his dreams. What very poor justice it does to the real lines of his benevolent and shrewd old countenance will be seen in a moment if this weird picture is reversed.
HOLIDAY HAUNTS
Divination by Name
Whenever we are making our plans, some of us for a holiday abroad, some for a few weeks at the seaside, there is a special interest in these descriptive anagrams:—
Davos Platz, Engadine.
“Stop, gaze, and live!”
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
“A sweet open summer’s resort.”
A very appropriate anagram that exactly describes its subject is this:—Cleopatra’s Needle, London—“An old lone stone replaced.” Very suggestive, too, are these short ones, which assure us that skeletons are “not sleek,” and that editors are “so tired!”
No. LXXV.—HOGARTH’S PUZZLE
A soldier, a dog, and a door can be thus drawn by only three strokes of a pen:—
It is said that this originated with Hogarth, who made a bet with his boon companions that he would draw a soldier, a dog, and a door in three strokes. For the bayonet he drew a pike.
No. LXXVI.—A REBUS
Why is this “Joker” like a poor joke?
Because he is in an E (inane).
Here are three ingenious instances of what may be called answers by anagram:—
What is the protector of “wealth?”
The law.
Where would a “cart-horse” be unhandy?
In an orchestra.
What is the “Daily Express?”
Pressa die lux.
Concise daily light.
(u is used for y.)
It is curious that Mary, a name so sweet and simple, has as its anagram “army.” The conflicting thoughts suggested by these two words are very happily harmonised by George Herbert in his quaint style:—
“How well her name an army doth present,
In whom the Lord of Hosts doth pitch His tent!”
No. LXXVII.—THREE SQUARES
Here is quite a simple method of arranging nine matches so that they represent three squares.
The figure also includes at its sides two equilateral triangles.
A ROYAL ANAGRAM
Victoria the First, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India. These letters also spell exactly:—
Fit for a bard I claim inspiréd strain:—
The sad and even tenor of a quiet reign.
POLITICAL ANAGRAMS
Here are two very perfect specimens:—
Earl Beaconsfield.
An able force is led,
or,
A free lance is bold.
No. LXXVIII.—A TRANSPARENCY
When the plebiscite was taken in France to decide whether Napoleon III. should be Emperor, the number of votes cast in his favour was 7,119,791. Against him there were 1,119,000 votes.
If these numbers are written down quite plainly, as is shown above, with a dividing line, and without the three cyphers, and the paper or card on which they are strongly marked is reversed and held up against the light, the very word with which they were concerned, “empereur,” stands out with startling distinctness.
It can be drawn on thin cardboard with good effect.
AN IMPERIAL ANAGRAM
A sa Majesté impériale le Tsar Nicolas, souverain et autocrat de toutes les Russies.
The same letters exactly spell—
O, ta vanité sera ta perte. O, elle isole la Russie; tes successeurs te maudiront à jamais!
This most remarkable anagram was published in the early days of the Crimean war.
This curiously apposite anagram was formed letter by letter from the surnames of the Oxford and Cambridge crews:—
April first nineteen hundred and five. How all warm, as arms, strong as light or dark blue crew’s, all ply oars on very smooth Thames! Oh! shall Cam’s boat lose?
No. LXXIX.—FOR THE CHILDREN
Here is an excellent and amusing pastime for the winter evenings. Cover a square of stout cardboard with glazed black paper, and divide it as is shown in this diagram:—
With a little ingenuity and some sense of fun, any number of grotesque figures can be constructed with the pieces, such as those which we give here as samples. Try it.
The truth that there is often much in common between puzzles and politics is borne out by the following up-to-date anagram:—This Eastern question—“Is quite a hornet’s nest.”
Quite a good anagram, appropriate to the name of a great author, and one of his works runs thus:—
Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist.
“Now C. D. strikes till vice hears.”
Confessions of an Opium-Eater
The same letters recast spell—
If so man, refuse poison at once!
No. LXXX.—JUDGING DISTANCE
(For the Children)
Can you, without measuring, say which two of these posts are farthest apart?
A JAPANESE ANAGRAM
“Oyama is Field-Marshal.”
Fame aid his loyal arms!
A TOPICAL ANAGRAM
“North Sea outrage.”
A ghost near route!
APPROPRIATE ANAGRAMS
Madame Rachel.
Deal me a charm.
A. Tennyson.
Any sonnet.
A FOURFOLD ANAGRAM
“Notes and Queries”
A question sender.
Enquires on dates.
Reasoned inquest.
I send on a request.
No. LXXXI.—HIT IT HARD
Place the two parts of a common wooden match-box, empty, and in good condition, in the position shown below.
Now challenge any one to break them with a smart downward blow of the edge of the hand. What will happen? Try it.
It is well to take care that no people are sitting, or children standing, near the box, as it might fly into their faces.
An amusing sequence and a note of warning run through these three anagrams:—Sweetheart, “There we sat;” Matrimony, “Into my arm;” One hug, “Enough.”
No. LXXXII.—A RE-“BUS”
The driver of a London ’bus the other day broke out into florid language as he nearly collided with a brand new motor omnibus.
One of the travesties of “motor-’bus” which he hurled at his rival is depicted in this diagram. What was it?
A PRIZE ANAGRAM
This letter-perfect anagram could not be more apposite if the words had been chosen from a dictionary:—“Abdul Hamid Khan, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.”—“Inhuman despot, that maketh Armenia bloodful.”
The words in italics in—
One lovely May morn it chanced that I set
My all on a new speculation;
But the venturesome step I can never regret,
For my prize has surpassed expectation,
find in Matrimony their anagram, which is also the solution of the lines.
No. LXXXIII.—ROUSING DEAD DOGS
A GOOD OLD PUZZLE
These dogs are dead, we all should say;
Give them four strokes, they run away!
A MEAL OF ANAGRAMS
| Mute hen. | |
| Your posset. | Try our steak. |
| One solid lamb. | Steamed or tossed. |
| Mince sole. | |
This is solved thus:—
| The Menu. | |
| Oyster soup. | Roast turkey. |
| Boiled salmon. | Dressed tomatoes. |
| Lemon ices. | |
Each corresponding sentence is a perfect anagram.
Earl of Beaconsfield is spelt with the same letters as the sentence “O able dealer in scoff!”
If a lion with an ear for music were to hear the sound of an “oratorio,” he might say, as an answer by anagram, I roar too!
No. LXXXIV.—LIKE A BLACK SWAN
(Nigroque simillima cygno.)
Here is quite a good “shadowgraph.”
With a strong light and a little practice, any one may easily produce this effect with the shadow thrown by arms and hands.
ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM
What is Russia?—Russia is ursa (a bear).
What did a Prime Minister say of the Saturday Review?
That it was a very rude periodical.
BEANS AND BACON
What appropriate advice might be given by anagram to those who support the “Shakespeare-Bacon” controversy?
Soak cheaper beans.
No. LXXXV.—CHEQUERS AND STRIPES
Here is a particularly charming domino puzzle:—
Place any twenty stones, as is shown in the diagram, so that in every row their fronts and backs alternate. How can you change the picture by only two movements, so that, retaining its present form, you alter its chequers into stripes?
The answer by anagram to—What helps to make “bakers fat?” is Breakfast.
No. LXXXVI.—HANG THE MATCHES!
Here is an amusing method of turning wax matches to quaint account:—
If the wax is slightly melted, and perhaps shredded for some effects, all sorts of fanciful figures can be thus contrived.
ANSWER BY ANAGRAM
What does an editor say to each “ream of paper?” Appear for me.
LEWIS CARROLL’S WILL PUZZLE
Here is a most ingenious will puzzle, by Lewis Carroll, which will be new to most of our readers. Each of the following five questions has to be answered by a different sentence, nine letters long, and each sentence is spelt with the same letters used in varied order:—
When are you going to make your will?
Shall I write it for you in pencil?
When may a man leave all his money to charities?
What did the uncle say when he heard this?
What did the nephew say when the uncle made him his heir?
The anagram answers to the five questions in Lewis Carroll’s will puzzle are as follows:—
When are you going to make your will?
Now I think.
Shall I write it for you in pencil?
No, with ink.
When may a man leave all his money to charities?
With no kin.
What did the uncle say when he heard this?
Hint, I know.
What did the nephew say when the uncle made him his heir?
Think I won!
No. LXXXVII.—A PARROT CRY
The good old Rebus—
may stand for the proverb—
“Honesty is the best policy.” (On ST is the best poll I see!)
No. LXXXVIII.—A PICTURE PUZZLE
Can you find eight animals that are concealed in this wood?
If we may go by its anagram the gardenia needs careful “drainage.”
DEFINITIONS BY ANAGRAM
What is the “soldiers’” anagram?
Lo I dress.
What motto befits “Christianity?”
I cry that I sin.
No. LXXXIX.—A SHADOWGRAPH
Here is a good old sample of an effect produced by supple fingers in a strong light on the wall:—
Adjust the fingers as is shown, so as to secure the bright spot for the eye, and then life-like movements can easily be made with legs and ears.
The characteristic for the moment of the gaol-bird who began to tear his clothing, crying out, “I mean to rend it!” was determination, which contains exactly the same letters.
Those who, according to their anagram, are best equipped for a “sea trip” are Pirates.
AN ANSWER BY ANAGRAM
What is most unlike a festival?—Evil fast.
The three words in italics in the verse below form also a long single word, of which the lines themselves give a vivid description:—
While many greet the friends they meet,
I know no face, I press no hand.
Though busy feet may throng the street,
I sit alone, sirs, in the land.
“Solitariness.”
No. XC.—A REBUS
Can you interpret this word-picture?
It represents the name of a famous man.
ANSWER BY ANAGRAM
Should you wish to go by rail,
Hasten to the station;
“Train on time” can never fail
To reach its destination.
If you need a further clue
Keep your journey’s end in view.
Termination.
We may expect to find “Anarchists” involved in rash acts according to their anagram.
When his patient has recovered, a “surgeon,” can say by anagram go nurse!
ANSWER BY ANAGRAM
What momentous event of the last century forms in two words an anagram of the three words appropriate to it, “violence run forth?”
French Revolution.
No. XCI.—ON THE WALL
Here is a picturesque head, which in a strong light can be thrown upon the wall by anyone who is handy with his fingers.
The peaked cap seems to suggest a French soldier.
ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM
What manner of men has “Eton” produced?
Men of tone and note.
What worries the “postman?”
No stamp.
What are to be seen at “Epsom Races?”
Some pacers.
No. XCII.—ILLUSTRATED EGGS
As an excellent illustration of how much expression can be given by quite a few simple lines, if the pen or pencil is in artistic hands, we give the outlines of half a dozen eggs, on which by a few deft touches varied emotions of the human face are cleverly depicted.
Here is a hint for fun in the home circle, with a basket of eggs, a sheaf of pencils, and a prize for the best rapid design. There is room for two contrasting faces on each egg.
ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM
What did “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow” do for America?
He Won half the New World’s glory.
What was the happy result of patriotic “sentiment” in our colonies during the Boer war?
It sent men.
No. XCIII.—THE FIVE STRAWS
Take five straws, each about four inches long, and a shilling, and arrange them so that by holding an end of one of the straws you can lift them all.
The diagram given above shows how, by properly interlacing the five straws, the shilling may be so inserted as to form a wedge which locks them all together.
ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM
What can you say when using a “fire-escape?”
I creep safe.
What is the extreme of “slow reading?”
A single word.
How might a “Poorhouse” in olden days have been described by its own letters?—O sour hope!
What is “Old England” to her sons and daughters?—Golden land.
The battle of “Inkermann” tells by its anagram of men in rank.
No. XCIV.—EQUIVALENT REDISTRIBUTION
In the problem known as “The Flighty Nuns,” the Abbess in the central cell was satisfied so long as she could count nine of her charges in the cells on each of the four sides. Here are diagrams which show how the thirty-six inmates could on these terms absent themselves without discovery, 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, 16, and even 18 at a time by re-arrangement of their numbers in the cells.
| 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | ||
| 9 | A | 9 | 8 | A | 8 | 5 | A | 5 | ||
| 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 5 | A | 5 | 4 | A | 4 | 3 | A | 3 | ||
| 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 2 | A | 2 | 1 | A | 1 | 0 | A | 0 | ||
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 | ||
The clue by anagram to those in search of “hidden treasure” who sought to discover a dish-cover is dish under a tree.
No. XCV.—THE PUZZLED CARPENTER
To stop a serious leak a carpenter sought for a board a foot square. The only piece he could find was two feet square, but it was pierced with sixteen holes, as in the diagram below:—
How did he contrive to cut a square from this of the necessary size?
The answer by anagram to “What should we all welcome, if the Chancellor of the Exchequer could ‘introduce’ it into his Budget?” is reduction.
Things that we know to be “transient” must be looked at, according to their anagram, instanter.
A MUSICAL ANAGRAM
Sweet Mary, the Maid of the Mill, arranged an ingenious signal by song, by which, in olden days, she could assure her father that all was well when mischief was abroad. If he heard her singing, “Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si,” he was sure that nothing was amiss. When these syllables are shaken up, and recast as an anagram, what reassuring sentence do they form?
The musical syllables, sung as a reassuring signal to her father, by Mary, the Maid of the Mill, “Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si,” when shaken up and recast as an anagram form the sentence “A mill door is safe.”
No. XCVI.—NOT EASY WHEN YOU KNOW
Of the many “match puzzles” the following seems to be the most confusing to the ordinary solver, and any variation of its original position is enough to create fresh confusion.
Re-arrange three of these matches and form four squares.
The enigma anagram—
They were orthodox as beadles,
But in business tricks and wheedles
They were “sharp I see” as needles—
is solved by Pharisees.
The question—Where did we buy “our fancy mat?”—is answered by anagram at the manufactory.
No. XCVII.—SIMPLICITY
Construct this figure with five matches:—
Remove three of the matches, and then replace two of them so as to form a similar figure.
A common and much-appreciated “dose at meat shop” is, according to its anagram, mashed potatoes.
Tiglath-Pileser was the name of the king which can be resolved into the anagram, “I till the grapes.”
“Art? I begin art!” is an anagram for Great Britain.
If heartily administered, nine thumps, the anagram of “punishment,” would fall deservedly upon the shoulders of a wife-beater.
ANSWER BY ANAGRAM
Our strongest “armaments” are men-at-arms.
No. XCVIII.—OVER THE WINE AND WALNUTS
Can you build a bridge with three wooden matches, which shall connect three wine-glasses, and be solid enough to support a fourth set upon it?
This picture shows how it is to be done.
The elephant, according to its anagram, is the animal to which the command “Leap then!” would be the least appropriate.
The answer by anagram to “Whom should we employ to make ‘alterations’ in our overcoats?” is Neat tailors.
Where do we go to remedy “disease?”
To the seaside.
Who should make a good “manager?”
A German.
No. XCIX.—FROM THE MATCHBOX
Here is quite a simple match problem:—
Can you remove eight of these matches, that now form nine squares, so as to leave only two squares upon the table?
When Cato and Chloe, at the Popular Café, decided to order for their afternoon tea a pot of what is formed by the mixture of the letters of their names, they called for Chocolate.
The answer by anagram to “Why may the scenery round Bournemouth be said to be ‘quite spruce’?” is—because it is picturesque.
Lord Roberts’ motto, “Virtute et Valore,” is by its anagram True to avert evil, a happy indication of his character.
No. C.—LIFT NINE WITH ONE
To arrange ten matches on a table, so that with one hand you can lift nine of them with the tenth, lay them, as is shown in Fig. 1, with the heads of eight pillowed on one, and pointing in opposite directions, and the tenth placed across the ridge at the top.
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
Then lift all, as shown in Fig. 2.
A MAN HIS OWN ANAGRAM
The enigma—
Behold in me a man forlorn,
Who, though with sound limbs he was born,
His anagram alas is!
For he has found out to his cost,
While all his nimbleness is lost,
How slippery wet grass is!
is solved by Male, lame.
The answer by anagram to the question, “Whom do ‘our big hens’ frequently annoy?” is neighbours.
No. CI.—FREEHAND DRAWING
This is the way to draw in three strokes an old woman looking out of a window:—
Here is a puzzle anagram:—
Tell how to spell my name,
As on the stall you spy me,
For the letters are the same
Which bid you how to buy me.
Peach—cheap.
The eglantine is the flower which quite contradicts its anagram, inelegant.
The touching epitaph in memory of little Alice formed from the letters of her name was à ciel!
No. CII.—A NOTABLE ANAGRAM
Treated as an anagram the words “Cats on truck” can be recast into Nuts to crack, and the surrounding motto, “Yes! we sparkle on” into Pearsons Weekly; so that the whole design resolves itself into—Nuts to crack, in Pearson’s Weekly.
The old saying that a man who is his own doctor has a fool for his patient, seems to be borne out by the curious fact that the words, “Dangers of amateur physicking,” resolve themselves into the perfect anagram—“The sick men pay for drugs again.”
A ’VARSITY ANAGRAM
What every “undergraduate” hates—
A great rude dun.
The food for a crocodile which seems to be indicated by its name is cool’d rice!
No. CIII.—WITH DRAWN SWORD
Here is a very simple and ingenious method of representing roughly an officer with drawn sword.
Six wax vestas, shredded to form the hair and sword-belt, are fastened together by the application of a little heat.
Anyone with handy fingers and an ingenious turn of mind can easily construct other quaint figures in this style.
“Time and tide wait for no man.”
ITS ANAGRAMS
A fine mandate to mind, I trow.
and
A firm intent made, a “do it now.”
No. CIV.—SHADOWGRAPHS
Here are three excellent shadowgraphs, which can be produced with good effect by flexible fingers in a strong light on the wall.
“Norway’s Olaf is in old England.”
ITS ANAGRAMS
Elf-lad, so loyal and so winning.
A darling son and noisy fellow.
Of winning lads, lead, royal son!
On London’s air wing safely lad.
ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM
Why should city life be happy?
Because the same letters spell felicity.
What is the best proof that “real stickphast paste sticks?”
The same letters spell—Keep this, stick scraps at last!
ANSWERS BY ANAGRAM
What place have our puzzles “in magic tale?”
They are enigmatical.
What great assembly would seem from its name to consist of “partial men?”
Parliament.
CHARACTER BY ANAGRAM
What did Douglas Jerrold, by his name anagram, declare himself to be?
Sure, a droll dog I!(i for j)
What in the old-fashioned days caused “the wig” to be discarded?
Weight.
The following curious peace anagrams are appropriate in these days of disturbance. Each set of words between inverted commas contain exactly the same letters:—
“To escape fray” I ever “stay for peace,”
In “quiet times,” too, “I’m quite set” at ease:
Let no “vile words” provoke the “evil sword,”
Lest “red war” come, and bring its own “reward.”
Why does the old proverb “Birds of a feather flock together” form a mystic link between us and our cousins in America?
Because the same letters recast spell out the patriotic sentence, It rocks the broad flag of the free!
What, by their anagram, are “platitudes?”
Stupid tales.
Why is there a measure to “disappointment?”
Because it is made in pint pots.
What is the purpose of a “catalogue?”
It is got as a clue.
If “porcus” is Latin for pig, what is Latin for its body?
Corpus.
What may “laudation” easily become?
Adulation.
What is “revolution?”
To love ruin.
Define “The Griffin” (Temple Bar).
Fine fright.
Why is there room for variety in “twelve sentences?”
Because we can select new events.
How do we know that “potatoes” in the singular should not have an “e” at the end?
Because they spell O stop at e!
What should be done to a “misanthrope?”
Spare him not.
What was the owl of “Minerva?”
A vermin!
These, wherever they are found,
Cluster lightly overhead.
Should you chance to turn them round
Blows may tell of weight instead.
Twisted in a foreign tongue,
You will see them as they are.
Changed again they need a bung
When you move them full and far.
This is solved by the anagram words nuts, stun, sunt, tuns. (Sunt is Latin for “they are.”)
IPSISSIMA VERBA
A discussion arose one day, in the winter season, between several members of a West-end Club, as to the value of flannel underwear. A London physician, who was appealed to, upheld the need for this, and it was afterwards found that his name, Alfred James Andrew Lennane, treated as an anagram, becomes “Man needs aired flannel wear.” This was singular, but a much more curious coincidence of similar sort was discovered by an expert in anagrams.
Another member took quite an opposite view, and declared that all should wear linen. By a wonderful chance his name, Edward Bernard Kinsila, resolves itself into the actual words that came from his lips—“A d—— bad risk Dr., wear linen!”
A CHRISTMAS CARD
| AN ANAGRAM | ||
| “Christmas comes but once a year.” So by Christ came a rescue to man. | ||
PALINDROMES
OR
SENTENCES THAT READ BOTH WAYS
NAPOLEON’S PALINDROME
Able was I ere I saw Elba.
ADAM AND EVE’S PALINDROME
Madam, I’m Adam!
When Charles Grant, Colonial Secretary, was made Lord Glenelg, in 1835, he was called Mr Facing-both-ways, because his title Glenelg was a perfect palindrome, that could be read with the same result from either end.
It was a member of the same family who sought to prove the antiquity of his race by altering an “i” into an “r” in his family Bible, so that the text ran, “there were Grants on the earth in those days.”
A GOOD PALINDROME
“Roma, ibi tibi sedes, ibi tibi amor,” which may be rendered, “At Rome you live, at Rome you love;” is a sentence which reads alike from either end.
A QUAINT PALINDROME
Eve damned Eden, mad Eve!
This sentence reads alike from either end.
A good specimen of a palindrome is this German saying that can be read from either end:—
Bei Leid lieh stets Heil die Lieb
(In trouble comfort is lent by love.)
Here are some ingenious palindromes, which can be read from either end:—
Repel evil as a live leper.
Dog, as a devil deified, lived as a god.
Do Good’s deeds live never even? Evil’s deeds do O God!
A SCHOOLBOY’S PALINDROME
“Subi dura a rudibus”
“I have, endured roughness from the rod” which can be read alike from either end.
Very notable as a long palindrome, even if it is not true record of the great surgeon’s experience, is this quaint sentence:—“Paget saw an Irish tooth, sir, in a waste gap.”
A PEACE PALINDROME
Snug & raw was I ere I saw war & guns.
This sentence reads alike from either end.
A PALINDROME PUZZLE
A turning point in every day,
Reversed I do not alter.
One half of me says haste away!
The other bids me falter.—Noon.
Very remarkable for its length and good sense combined is the following palindrome, which can be read from either end with the same result:—“No, it is opposed, art sees trades opposition.”
A PERFECT PALINDROME
Perhaps the most perfect of English palindromes is the excellent adage—
“Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age.”
Here is the most remarkable Latin palindrome on record:—
SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS
Its distinguishing peculiarity is that the first letters of each successive word unite to form the first word, the second letters spell the second word, and so on throughout the five words; and as the whole sentence is a perfect palindrome, this is also true on reversal.
