CHARADES
1
SIR WALTER SCOTT’S CHARADE
Sir Hilary fought at Agincourt,
Sooth! ’twas an awful day
And though in olden days of sport
The rufflers of the camp and court
Had little time to pray,
’Tis said Sir Hilary muttered there
Two syllables by way of prayer.
“My first to all the brave and proud
Who see to-morrow’s sun;
My next with her cold and quiet cloud
To those who find a dewy shroud
Before the day is won.
And both together to all bright eyes
That weep when a warrior nobly dies!”
No. LXXXI.—COUNTING THEM OUT
Arrange twelve dominoes as is shown in this diagram, and start counting in French from the double five, thus u, n, un; remove the stone you thus reach, which has one pip upon it, and start afresh with the next stone, d, e, u, x, deux; this brings you to the stone with two pips; then t, r, o, i, s, trois, brings you to that with three, and so on until douze brings you to twelve.
Always remove the stone as you hit upon each consecutive number.
Now who can re-arrange these same stones so that a similar result works out in English, thus—o, n, e, one (remove the stone), t, w, o, two, and so on throughout?
2
A FAMILY CHARADE
A man with fourscore winters white
Sat dozing in his chair;
His frosted brow was quite my first,
Crowned with its silver hair.
My whole, when playing at his feet,
Sly glances upward stole;
My second, standing at his side,
Was father of my whole.
No. LXXXII.—TRICKS WITH DOMINOES
In this diagram the word EACH is formed by the use of a complete set of stones, placing every letter in proper domino sequence.
There are also the same number of pips in each letter. Can you construct another English word under the same conditions? As a hint, the word that we have in mind is plural.
3
Upon my face is not a single hair,
Although my beard uncut is growing there.
Men call me Shelley, though I can’t converse,
To me all tongues alike would be a curse.
I in my house must night and day abide,
And though quite well must keep my bed, outside.
For me no bell shall toll a funeral knell,
I’m doomed, like Shelley, dead to have no shell.
4
This amusing Charade is from the pen of a wise and witty Irish Bishop:—
True to the trumpet call of fame and duty
The soldier arms, and hastens to depart;
Nor casts one look behind, though love and beauty
Whisper my first in tones that thrill his heart.
The war is o’er, with wealth and honour laden
The hero seeks the well-remembered Hall:
He woos and wins the unreluctant maiden,
And bids my second o’er her blushes fall.
He takes her hand—a mist of rapture thickens
Before her eyes. Such bliss succeeding pain
O’ertasks her strength, and fainting nature sickens,
Until my whole is rudely snapt in twain.
No. LXXXIII.—THE HOUR GLASS
This very beautiful specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess-board takes its name from the figure formed by the tracery at its centre.
An endless number of symmetrical patterns of varied design can be formed, by a knight’s consecutive moves, with patience and ingenuity.
No. LXXXIV.—A STAR’S TOUR
Here is a pretty and very regular specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess board.
It is one of many variations which produce in the tracery a central star.
5
MAKE IT KNOWN
My first she was a serving maid,
Who went to buy some tea;
How much she bought my second tells,
As all may plainly see.
Now when the answer you have found
Tell it to others too;
My whole will then to maids and men
Explain what ’tis you do.
No. LXXXV.—THE MARBLE ARCH
Here is a remarkably symmetrical specimen of a knight’s tour on the chess board.
It takes its name from the central archway, which this arrangement forms.
6
My fourth is just ten times my first
When that takes on my second;
My third and second when reversed
Double my first are reckoned.
All this is empty, though my pen
So full may seem to show it;
Reverse my first and second, then
My whole becomes a poet.
7
O’er distant hills the rising moon
The evening mist dispersed:
And beaming radiant in the sky
She plainly showed my first.
A horseman guided by her light,
Approached with headlong speed
And as he rode my second said
To urge his flagging steed.
His lady waited at the gate,
Though trysting hour was past.
She was my whole, because her lord
Was then my third and last.
No. LXXXVI.—ANOTHER TOUR AMONG STARS
In [No. LXXXIV] we gave a pretty illustration of a knight’s tour, with a central star.
Here is a good course which shows in its symmetrical tracery a pair of stars.
No. LXXXVII.—THE WINDMILL
Among the countless fanciful variations of the knight’s tour that are possible, some have been so designed that more than a merely symmetrical pattern is involved.
Here is, for example, an excellent suggestion of the sails of a windmill with their central fittings.
8
A TROPICAL CHARADE
My first’s a liquid or a solid snare,
My all is hot, or in a maiden’s hair;
My second just a track.
Transpose my first, and they will both declare
My all is now a black.
No. LXXXVIII.—LAZY TONGS
Here is a very distinctive specimen of the knight’s tour, in which the design reminds us of the old-fashioned lazy-tongs, which stretched out and then back, by opening or shutting their handles on finger and thumb.
9
A FLORAL CHARADE
My first must be below the ground,
To do its proper duty;
Within my second may be found
Chaps that can boast no beauty;
Some simple garden holds the two combined,
Old-fashioned emblem of a candid mind.
No. LXXXIX.—CHESS ARITHMETIC
This beautiful symmetrical knight’s tour involves in its accomplishment a pretty problem in arithmetic:—
If we follow the course of the knight step by step, and number consecutively the squares on which it rests at each move, we find that there is a constant difference of 32 between the numbers on any two of these squares that correspond in position on opposite sides of the central line.
10
My first can be no joke to crack,
My second I adore;
Reverse her name, and you will see
Just what that maiden is to me.
My whole is grown where boys are black
Upon a sultry shore.
No. XC.—A SHORT KNIGHT’S TOUR
This short symmetrical knight’s tour can be tested on a corner of the chessboard:—
The knight can start from any square, and, taking the course indicated, return on the twentieth move to the starting point.
11
By George Canning
Though weak my first is reckoned,
And game made of my second;
Yet both bade hosts defiance
When joined in close alliance.
12
As Lubin did my first, and, scythe in hand,
Espied his Phyllis by the hedgerow stand,
He called out to my next, in cheery tones and clear,
“Tell me, sweet all, you’ll fetch a pot of beer.”
No. XCI.—THE STOLEN PEARLS
A dishonest jeweller, who had a cross of pearls to repair for a lady of title, on which nine pearls could be counted from the top, or from either of the side ends to the bottom, kept back two of the pearls, and yet contrived to return the cross re-set so that nine pearls could still be counted in each direction, as at first. How was this done?
13
A WORD OF WARNING
Says William to his thriftless wife,
“To first unless you try,
Your wasteful ways will spoil our life.”
Her’s is a curt reply.
Second and third her answer give;
Full soon their fortunes fall,
Each of the hapless pair must live
And wander as my all.
14
A FINE CHARADE BY PRAED
Come from my first, ay, come;
The battle dawn is nigh,
And the screaming trump and the thundering drum
Are calling thee to die.
Fight, as thy father fought,
Fall, as thy father fell:
Thy task is taught, thy shroud is wrought,
So forward and farewell!
Toll ye my second, toll;
Fling high the flambeau’s light,
And sing the hymn for a parted soul
Beneath the silent night.
The helm upon his head,
The cross upon his breast,
Let the prayer be said, and the tear be shed
Now take him to his rest!
Call ye my whole, go call
The lord of lute and lay,
And let him greet the sable pall
With a noble song to-day.
Ay, call him by his name,
No fitter hand may crave
To light the flame of a soldier’s fame
On the turf of a soldier’s grave!
15
My first has cause in dread to hold
The foggy month November.
My next, when given to knights of old
Was held to mean “remember!”
16
With one line many do my first,
With two it can but meet;
My second, as its breakers burst,
Around my whole may beat.
17
She was my first; one happy day
She was my second,
And shewed my all. Now can you say
How this is reckoned?
18
My first it may a seaman save,
Or cause a fighter’s fall;
My next reminds us of the wave,
Or of unseemly brawl.
My whole is rather pert than brave,
And like a rubber ball.
19
Seen with a stolen spoon, my first was reckoned
Bad as my whole in moral tone.
Whether a number or alone my second
Touched by my third is turned to stone.
20
NOT A CATECHISM
My first a friend, companion, guide,
Is loving, staunch, and cheery;
My second has a cleansing side,
My third denotes a theory.
My whole, good luck! is held by few
To bore and make us weary.
21
My first is an insect,
My second a border;
My whole puts the face
Into tuneful disorder.
22
My first seldom crosses your path,
Though wheels and a body it hath;
My next from a clown
Much applause will bring down,
My whole was Goliath of Gath.
23
My first he sat upon my whole
And used it as my second.
His halves akin in Latin and
In English may be reckoned.
24
A PHONETIC FLORAL CHARADE
My first comes often to our mind
When for a saint we look.
My second sees the greetings kind
Of Bobby and the cook.
My whole in hothouse you may find,
Or pictured in a book.
25
Man cannot live without my first,
By day and night ’tis used;
My second is by all accursed,
By day and night abused.
My whole is never seen by day,
And never used by night,
’Tis dear to friends when far away,
But hated when in sight.
26
BY AN OXFORD OAR
I am my first, my second thou mayest be
In classic shades, where gently roll
The crystal waters of my whole
To seek the sea.
27
My first is worn by night and day,
And very useful reckoned;
London, or Bath, or Bristol may
With truth be styled my second.
Now if you cannot find me out
You lack my whole without a doubt.
28
My first now marks the soldier’s face,
Who was my next’s defender;
But when my whole attacked the place
It drove him to surrender.
29
My first is away from Paris, and may
Come round with a rap at your portal;
My second is Spanish, but quickly will vanish
If it turns to a nod from a mortal.
30
Often my first a B begins,
One always starts my second.
My all, though free from grosser sins,
Of little worth is reckoned.
31
My first is a kind of butter,
My second is a sort of cutter;
My whole, whether smaller or larger,
Was always a kind of charger.
32
My first is but lately promoted
To a place in our language, and quoted.
My second it lives in the sea.
On the hill-tops it flourishes free.
My whole I should certainly call
A delectable dainty for all.
33
AN ENIGMA-CHARADE
Take in my first, and you will find
It helps you to make up your mind.
Write to my second, and behold
You see into the secret told.
34
A QUAINT CHARADE
By Charles James Fox
My first is expressive of no disrespect,
But I never call you by it when you are by;
If my second you still are resolved to reject,
As dead as my whole I shall presently lie.
35
My first reversed will plainly show
An apple in its embryo.
Reverse my second, and we see
That which in sight can never be.
Replace them both, and write me down
Six letters that will spell a town.
36
My first is equal to the rest,
My second not so much;
My whole is better than the best,
Beyond compare nonsuch.
37
AN ITALIAN POET’S LOVE SONG
Hear me, my all: oh, be my first!
My second is a single;
If you say yes, then in my third
Our happy lives shall mingle.
38
A PARADOX
My first a simple verb, or half a verb, may be;
Almost the same my next, or half the same, we see.
My whole may weigh a ton or more, and yet be light,
Dull, and bereft of motion; swift, exceeding bright.
39
My first is found in fruit,
You take it for my second;
My whole in church to suit
Attentive ears is reckoned.
40
My first is frugal, lean, and thin,
My second leads to eve,
My whole is hidden by a skin,
But not of sheep or beeve.
41
VERY PERSONAL
My first to us may point ’tis clear,
And what I say is true, sir!
My next to her your thoughts will steer,
My whole it is in view, sir!
42
My second in my first can speed
Across United States;
My third from Q’s pen we can read,
My whole has water-rates;
My first and second drive my first along,
My third and second drive a mind all wrong.
43
To puzzle solvers can I shine,
And so my first is writ.
With this my second did combine
To make a happy hit.
My whole, with both fixed in a line
Firm as I can, did fit.
44
A RUSTIC CHARADE
My first and second are my third,
My third my first and second may be;
My whole, if right you read the word,
May never have a wife or baby.
45
Let my second cut my first
Into slices thin;
Seek in Shakespeare for my whole,
Injured by his kin.
46
A FIRM GRIP
I may give you my first with my second,
Or my second may give with my first;
The one act as friendly is reckoned,
The other will rank with the worst.
If my whole through my second creeps over my first,
It will cling as a bond that no effort can burst.
47
My first is called a sin in name,
My third its simple cure;
My second puts an end to fame,
My whole in ease is sure.
48
In my first ’tis sweet to tarry
’Mid my second’s realms of bliss.
In the two, though none can marry,
All are subject to a kiss.
49
My first, which washes half a nation’s gums,
From foreign climes within my second comes:
And though, my whole, thine is no teacher’s part,
Thou art not science, but thou teachest art!
50
My first on country hedges grows,
My next is found in garden rows,
My third to make it more transpose,
My whole is one of London’s shows.
51
My first the best solver can never find out,
My second is looked for in vain;
My third may hide all from our view round about,
My whole must be weak, or in pain.
52
SORROW’S ANTIDOTE
My first does affliction denote,
Which my second is destined to bear;
My whole is the sweet antidote
That affliction to soothe and to share.
53
I see a sign of music not reversed, and then
My second and my third both pass beyond my ken.
54
My first has my second my third his mouth;
My whole was a tribe in the sunny south.
55
“QUOD” ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM
My second makes my ending,
My first is its reverse;
My whole bad men is sending
From court to quarters worse.
56
My first, though won and never lost,
Reversed is now before ye:
My second turns as red as blood
Upon a field of glory.
My whole is plain, yet you’ll confess
It is a wonder if you guess.
57
I get my second when I take my first,
And then my upright character is lost;
My whole gives quarters to a rat reversed,
Or is a refuge for the tempest tost.
58
My first is almost a cropper;
My second is often a propper;
My whole was entirely a whopper.
59
A FLORAL CHARADE
My first by poet’s eye was seen
Sad watching at the gates of heaven.
My next in tints of tender green
By Dickens with quaint art was given.
60
My first is nothing but a name
My second is more small;
My whole is of such slender fame
It has no name at all.
61
When second is of whole a fourth,
And first a fifth of second,
Then first by second multiplied
To make my whole is reckoned.
62
A CHARADE WITH A MORAL
My first is black, my second red,
My whole no man should take to bed.
63
My first upon their prey can dart,
My next can ne’er be down;
My whole performs a saucy part
In country or in town.
64
My first makes hills unpleasant
To every cyclist’s wheel.
My next is where they take you to
If in the streets you steal.
My whole is what I most dislike
When in the dumps I feel.
65
My first is the voice of heart-sorrows or joys,
My second, bar one, have been all of them boys,
My whole is made ill by the harsh raven’s noise.
66
QUITE SELF-CONTAINED
My first is in my second,
My third contains an ass;
And when my whole is reckoned
You see it is in glass.
67
Safe on Lucinda’s arm my first may rest,
And raise no tumult in Alonzo’s breast.
My second can the want of legs supply
To those that neither creep, nor walk, nor fly;
My whole is rival to the fairest toast,
And when most warmly welcomed suffers most.
68
My second, my first can control,
If his understanding is reckoned.
My second may not be my whole,
But my whole must be always my second.
69
AN OLD COCKNEY CHARADE
My first’s a little thing that hops,
My second comes with summer crops,
My whole is good with mutton chops.
70
A STRIKING CHARADE
My first I gently strike, and lo!
It soon becomes my second.
Indeed if this should not be so
My whole it is not reckoned.
71
PLANTING PEAS
“I think,” said Ted, “it will be wise
To set the peas this way;
For here they will face friendly skies,
And sun shines all the day.”
“Your first is good,” the gardener said,
“Peas thrive in sun and shower;
So now, good second, dig the bed
Where all can see them flower.”
Can you fit a word of two syllables to this Charade?
72
My first is found where wit and wine
Combine to grace the festal board;
My second where sad captives pine,
In dungeon of some tyrant lord.
My whole is ready for the doomed,
Twice tried by fire ere once consumed.
73
A BRAIN TWISTER
My first is half my second
And my third is half my first
My second and my third are good
To quench a mighty thirst.