WORD AND LETTER PUZZLES
A MAGIC COCOON
This Magic Cocoon is so cleverly spun that the word can be traced and read in many ways.
| N | ||||||||||
| N | O | N | ||||||||
| N | O | O | O | N | ||||||
| N | O | O | C | O | O | N | ||||
| N | O | O | C | O | C | O | O | N | ||
| N | O | O | C | O | C | O | C | O | O | N |
| N | O | O | C | O | C | O | O | N | ||
| N | O | O | C | O | O | N | ||||
| N | O | O | O | N | ||||||
| N | O | N | ||||||||
| N | ||||||||||
How many readings can you discover starting from one or other of the Cs, and passing up and down or sideways, but not diagonally, and never over the same letter twice in a reading? There are 756!
THE CHRONOGRAM
The Chronogram, severely classed by Addison as “a species of false wit” is a sentence in which the salient letters represent in Roman numerals some particular year. A good English specimen is this: “My Day Closed Is In Immortality.” The capital letters in these words give MDCIII., or 1603, the year in which Queen Elizabeth died.
A FRENCH CHRONOGRAM
The battle-cry at Montlhéry in 1465 was:—“à CheVaL, à CheVaL, gendarMes, à CheVaL!” Taking the letters printed in capitals—
| M | = | 1000 |
| CCC | = | 300 |
| LLL | = | 150 |
| VVV | = | 15 |
| we have the date of the battle | 1465 | |
A NOTABLE CHRONOGRAM
QVI CHRISTI IAVDES CANTANT
SANCTÆ PASSIONIS SVÆ VIRTVTE
IN IPSO ET PATRE VNVM SINT.
This curious inscription is placed over the organ at Ober Ammergau. Add together its Roman numerals and they give the date at which the organ was dedicated. The English of it is:—
May those who sing the praises of Christ be by virtue of His Sacred Passion one in The Father and in Himself.
A PERFECT CHRONOGRAM
On a damaged inscription to Bishop Berkeley in Winchester Cathedral are the words—VIXI, LVXI—I have lived, I have shone. Added together in their values as Roman numerals the letters of these two words give his age exactly at his death—eighty-three.
A PRIZE MOTTO
On the return of the C.I.V. from the Boer War a prize was offered by Truth for the best motto appropriate to them. This was to consist of three words of which the first must begin with C the second with I and the third with V.
The prize was taken by the following Latin motto which is singularly happy both in construction and in meaning:—
| CIVI | IVI | VICI |
| I roused | I went | I won. |
The sequence of events is perfect; no letters but C.I.V. are used and the motto is a palindrome if read by syllables.
THE MUSICAL SCALE
As in olden days some of the Psalms and other writings were constructed in acrostic form, so in the Middle Ages even serious writers would juggle with letters, as though they felt that such tricky methods were an aid to memory.
It was in this spirit that Guido Aretino, a Benedictine monk of Tuscany in 1204, gave names to the notes used in the musical scale from the first syllables of the lines of a Latin hymn. “Ut” is still used in France, though we and the Italians have substituted “do.”
| UT queant laxis | REsonare fibris, |
| MIra gestorum | FAmuli tuorum, |
| SOLve polutis | LAbii reatis |
| O Pater alme! | |
ALL THE ALPHABET!
Many of us know that there is a long verse in the Book of Ezra in which all the letters of the alphabet are used, taking “j” as “i” (Ezra vii., v. 21).
This very curious coincidence also occurs in a comparatively short sentence in “The Beth Book,” by Sarah Grand:—“It was an exquisitely deep blue just then, with filmy white clouds drawn up over it like gauze;” and here “j” is itself in evidence.
APT ALLITERATION
Schopenhauer, the famous German philosopher, who was a confirmed bachelor and misogynist, was compelled while living at Frankfort to support an old lady who had been crippled by his violence. When her death came as a welcome relief to him, he composed the following clever epitaph:—
Obit anus,
Abit onus.
which by the interchange of two letters pictured the position. It may be freely rendered:—
Old lady dies,
My burden flies.
A DOUBLE SEQUENCE
The following clever composition, which appeared in the pages of Truth, contains a double sequence of words, which increase a letter at a time, the same letters appearing in varied order until at last “o” culminates in thornless, and “a” in restrainest. It is quite a remarkable tour-de-force.
O lack-a-day! at eve we sat,
One star had lit its lamps on high.
We did not note the circling bat,
Start from the stone when flitting nigh.
For the strait gate of honest doubt
Shut off the thrones of Love and Gain;
We dreamed not, as we mourned without,
That Time’s swift transit shortens pain.
O Thou, Who trainest souls to shine,
Though once we craved a thornless lot,
This gracious truth we now divine:
The bruised reed Thou strainest not;
But by restraints, that gently tame;
Restrainest Passion’s kindling flame.
THE REIGN OF TERROR
During the Reign of Terror, France and her people and position were thus alphabetically described:—
| Le peuple Français | A B C. | (abaissé). |
| La gloire nationale | F A C. | (effacée). |
| Les places fortes | O Q P. | (occupées). |
| Quarante trois députés | C D. | (cédés). |
| L’armée | D P C. | (dépaysée). |
| Les ministres | A J. | (agés). |
| La liberté | O T. | (ôtée). |
| La charte | L U D. | (éludée). |
SEE-SAW
This elaborate method of piling up no less than seven consecutive “thats,” so that they make tolerable sense, was told to his boys during school-time by Dr Moberly, then headmaster of Winchester, and afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, just fifty years ago:—
I saw that C saw.
C saw that that I saw.
I saw that that that C saw was so.
C saw that, that that that I saw was so.
I saw that, that that that that C saw was so.
C saw that that, that that that that I saw was so.
I saw that that, that that that that that C saw was so.
FOR A ROMAN HOLIDAY
If the Roman ladies and children, at their equivalent for Christmas, amused themselves by acting verbal charades, an excellent word was at their disposal, “sustineamus”—“let us endure,” which can be broken up exactly into sus, tinea, mus—a sow, a moth, a mouse.
A WORD SQUARE
1. Can you complete this word square, so that its four words read alike from top to bottom and from left to right?
| * | E | * | * |
| E | * | * | * |
| * | * | * | E |
| * | * | E | * |
ANOTHER WORD SQUARE
2. Can you fill in this word square?
| C | * | * | C | * | E |
| * | N | U | * | E | S |
| * | U | * | E | S | * |
| C | * | E | * | S | * |
| * | E | S | * | * | E |
| E | * | T | E | * | * |
DUPLICATE LETTERS
3. In this sentence, when complete,
So * * * * AG * * * * LATI * * * * X * * * * ITH
each group of four missing letters contains two pairs of letters which are alike. Can you on these lines complete the sentence?
Here is a similar sentence by way of illustration:
T * * * * M * * * * TERTAIN * * * * MUND,
which becomes when filled in—
Two women entertained Edmund.
ANOTHER WORD SQUARE
4. Can you complete this word square by substituting letters for the dots?
| W | * | * | * | E |
| * | * | T | * | * |
| * | T | O | N | * |
| * | * | N | * | * |
| E | * | * | * | T |
WORD BUILDING
5. What word can be made with these?
L S D U D O D U D.
6.
A lovelorn youth consulted a married lady on his condition, and was asked by her on a slip of paper:—
“Loruve?”
When he had deciphered this, and had answered in the affirmative, she handed to him another slip, on which this advice was written:—
| L | ||||
| “Prove | A | F | and ensure success.” | |
| D | ||||
What did it all mean?
A DOUBLE ACROSTIC
7.
Saint of Spain, whose daily word
Twenty years hath London heard!
Sweet days, elastic metal, motion sharp.
My halls once echoed to an Irish harp.
The “son of sorrow,” honourable of yore.
Dread goddess, loosing the loud dogs of war.
Time’s atom—total of eternities.
This name an insect bears, a patriot bore.
“So do, yet hear me,” said Themistocles.
ANOTHER WORD SQUARE
8. Can you complete this word square?
| * | M | * | N | * | S |
| M | * | N | * | O | * |
| * | N | * | B | * | E |
| N | * | B | * | L | * |
| * | O | * | L | * | R |
| S | * | E | * | R | * |
A FRENCH ORACLE
9. A spruce young Frenchman at a fête consulted a modern oracle as to how he could best please the ladies. This was the mystic response:—
MEC DO BIC.
Can you interpret it?
A QUAINT EQUATION
10. In our young days we have often wrestled with vulgar fractions, but apart from Algebra we have had no serious concern with any in which letters take the place of figures. A specimen of this sort, not known to science, is the following curiosity:—
m ot y = mo.
11.
The puzzle in Truth was recently founded upon “ourang-outang,” which had been cleverly buried. We will give a few of the best results. This is one:—
Poor wretch! a moisture filled his eye,
“Do not rebuff a lonely boy,”
Said he, “If ere I sink and die
Your smile—O! pardon will be joy!”
Another is:—
Though I jump, and row, and run,
Cap or cup I never won.
What animals are buried in these lines?
LIKE A PEACOCK’S TAIL
12.
Fourteen letters here we fix,
Vowels only two are spoken;
All together these we mix
Into what can not be broken.
A WEIRD WORD
13. There is an English word of thirteen letters in which the same vowel occurs four times, the same consonant six times, another consonant twice, and another once. Can you hit upon it?
A CONDENSED PROVERB
14. Though brevity is said to be the soul of wit, we are too often flooded nowadays with a superabundance of words.
Here is an attempt at modest condensation. A familiar English proverb is quite clearly expressed to the solver’s seeing eyes in this brief phrase:—
WE IS DO
What is the proverb?
ANOTHER WORD SQUARE
15. Can you complete this word square?
| W | * | * | * | * | S |
| * | R | * | * | R | * |
| * | * | O | R | * | * |
| * | * | R | M | * | * |
| * | R | * | * | N | * |
| S | * | * | * | * | M |
CAN YOU DECIPHER IT?
16. The following puzzle lines are attributed to Dr Whewell:—
| O | O | N | O | O. | ||||||
| U | O | A | O | O | I | O | U | |||
| O | N | O | O | O | O | M | E | T | O | O. |
| U | O | A | O | I | D | O | S | O | ||
| I | O | N | O | O | I | O | U | T | O | O! |
A BROKEN DIAMOND
17. Can you fill in the vacancies in this diamond?
| P | ||||||||
| F | O | * | ||||||
| C | * | R | * | * | ||||
| F | * | * | C | * | * | * | ||
| P | O | R | C | E | L | A | I | N |
| R | * | * | L | * | * | * | ||
| S | * | A | * | * | ||||
| S | I | * | ||||||
| N | ||||||||
Its words must read alike from left to right and from top to bottom.
WHAT IS THIS?
18.
Tan HE Edsa VEN in
It N Gja SmeTs AsgN
aD Az Rett De.
A PHONETIC JOURNEY
19. I can travel first-class on the Great Eastern Railway from 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 5 0 0. What is the cost of my journey, and its length in time?
A CURIOUS OLD INSCRIPTION
20.
Seogeh sreve ereh wcisume vahl
Lah sehs se otreh nos llebdnas
Regni freh nos gnires rohyer
Ganoed iryd ale nifae esots sorcy
Rub nabot es rohk co caed ir.
Can you decipher it?
IRISH STEW AT SIMPSON’S
21. I wrote the following note recently:—
Dear Jack,—Meet me at Simpson’s to-morrow at 1.30. We will sample their excellent Irish stew. Here are some catchwords that will remind you of the invitation:—
Join me at and
Join me at ai
Join me at as
Why should they remind him of it?
ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPELT!
22. This was the exact text of a letter sent to the master of an English village school by a labourer as an excuse for his boy’s absence:—
“Cepatomtogoatatrin”
Can you decipher it?
A DOUBLE ACROSTIC
23. This double Acrostic will afford an easy exercise in mental gymnastics for those to whom such pastime appeals:—
Now we are fain
To rack your brain.
1. More fit for babes and sucklings than for you.
2. Robbed of externals this is very true.
3. Diminutive in measure and in weight.
4. Pen-name of one a true pen potentate.
5. A palindrome quite plain is here in sight.
6. Sans head and tail it also yields this light.
7. Here is in short what anyone may write.
FIND THE PROVERB
| 24. | c | e | f | h | i | m | n | o | r | s | t | v | y |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 9 | |
| 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |||||||
| 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||
| 5 | 7 | 9 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||
The letters with ones under them are the first letters of words, those with twos under them are second letters of words, and so on.
A PUZZLE WILL
25. Having occasion to make a few slight additions to my will, I called in my lawyer to arrange the matter. How far forward did the instructions contained in the following lines carry him in his work?
Set down a hundred in my will,
Add nothing to the text;
Five hundred now a space may fill,
And one be added next.
Another hundred write as well,
And yet another one;
Then fifty more, and try to tell
The deed that now is done.
ANOTHER WORD SQUARE
26. Can you complete this word square?
| * | D | * | * | O | * |
| D | * | * | I | * | E |
| * | S | * | A | * | D |
| T | * | A | * | A | * |
| * | R | * | A | * | E |
| R | * | D | * | E | * |
MUSICAL EPITAPHS
27. Over the grave of a French musician, who was choked by a fish bone, the following epitaph was inscribed in notes of music:—A. G. A. E. A.
Over the porch of the house of Gustave Doré these musical notes were placed on a tablet:—C. E. B. A. C. D.
What do these inscriptions signify?
QUITE TOO TOO
28. “Where can we meet to-morrow?” said Jack Spooner to his best girl.
“We will go,” she replied, “at 222222222222 LEY STREET.”
When and where did they meet?
A BROKEN WORD
29. What does this spell?
CT T T T T T T T T T
CONTRADICTORY TERMS
30. What English word is it which may be so treated as to affirm or disallow the use of its own initial or final letter?
PRINTERS’ PIE
31. Can you arrange these letters
E I O O O U
B C N N R R S S
so that they form the title of a book well-known to boys?
FILL IN THE GAPS
32. Keeping these letters in their present order make a sensible sentence by inserting among them as often as is necessary another letter, which must be in every case the same.
A DEN I I CAN DOCK.
DISTORTED SHAKESPEARE
33. Here is a well-known quotation from Shakespeare, which seems to need some straightening out:—
OXXU8 MAAULGIHCTE
NOR
A PHONETIC NIGHTMARE
34. Here, as an awful warning to those who are ready to accept the definition of English spelling given by a former headmaster of Winchester—“Consonants are interchangeable, and vowels do not count”—is a common English word of twelve letters, in “linked sweetness long drawn out.”
Iewkngheaurrhphthewempeighghtips.
Can you decipher it?
ANOTHER WORD SQUARE
35. Can you, by filling in letters, complete this word square so that it shall read alike across and from top to bottom?
| * | A | * | * |
| A | * | * | A |
| * | E | * | * |
| * | A | * | E |
A QUAINT INSCRIPTION
36. The following curious inscription may be seen on a card hanging up in the bar of an old riverside inn in Norfolk:—
THEM * ILL * ERSLEA * VET * HEMI
LLT * HEW * HER * RYMEN * LOW
ERTH * EIRS * AILTH * EMA
LTS * TER * SLE * AVET * HE * KI
LN * FORAD * ROPO * FTH
EWHI * TESW * AN * SALE.
Can you decipher it?
A POET’S PI
37.
TONDEBNIOTOCHUMFOARYHUR
OTDIRECTTHAWHOTERSOFKLSYA;
TIKATESTUBALIGHTSTILLETRUFLYR
OTBOWLALLNEFESLEAVARFWYAA.
In this printer’s pie the words are in their proper sequence, but the letters are tangled.
BURIED PLACES
38. In the following short sentences five names of places are buried—that is to say, the letters which spell them in proper order form parts of more words than one. Thus, for example “Paris” might be buried in the words “go up a rise:”
“The men could ride all on donkeys, the skipper, though, came to a bad end.”
When you have discovered these places, try to find out what very unexpected word of more than four letters is buried in the sentence, “On Christmas Eve you rang out angel peals.”
TREASON CONDONED
39. According to an old poet, Sir John Harrington (1561-1612):—
“Treason doth never flourish; what’s the reason?
For if it prosper none dare call it treason!”
The classic lines may possibly have been the germ of the flippant modern riddle, “Why is it no offence to conspire in the evening?”
A BIT OF BOTANY
40.
Inscribe an m above a line
And write an e below,
This woodland flower is hung so fine
It bends when zephyrs flow.
A PIED PROVERB
41. The following letters, if they are properly rearranged, will fall into the words which form a popular proverb:—
A A E E G G H I L L M N N N O O O O R R S S S S T T
Can you place them in position?
A DROP LETTER PUZZLE
42. Can you fill in the gaps of this proverb?
E**t* *e*s**s *a*e *h* *o** **i*e.
MULTUM IN PARVO
43. There is an English word of five syllables which has only eight letters, five of them vowels—an a, an e, twice i, and y. What are its consonants?
DOUBLETS
44. Can you turn TORMENT to RAPTURE, using four links, changing only one letter each time, and varying the order of the letters?
A PIED PROVERB
45. Can you arrange these letters so that they form a sentence of five words?
a a c e e e f f h h i i i i i m n n o o o p r r s s t t t t t.
The result is a well-known English proverb.
WHAT CAN IT BE?
46. Add one letter, and make this into a sensible English sentence:—
G D L D P R T F R R T H D X X F R D D N S
OUT OF PROPORTION
47.
One vowel in an English word is found,
Which by eight consonants is hedged around.
48.
Can you form an English word with these letters?
A A A A A B B N N I I R S S T T.
49.
What is this? It is found in Shakespeare:—
K I N I.
ALPHA BETA
50. There are two English words which contain each of them ten letters, and six of these are a, b, c, d, e, f, the first six letters of the alphabet. Can you build up either or both of them without looking at the solution?
SHIFTING NUMBERS
51.
Of a band of true kinsmen I stand at the head,
Who, to keep themselves warm, cluster three in a bed.
Put four into gaol and their number has risen,
So that six can be counted together in prison.
Take the six and recount them, they dwindle to three;
Count again, and a change into five you will see.
With no number from one to one hundred I mix,
Yet with five of my mates I am seen to make six.
AN IMPUDENT PRODIGAL
52. The prodigal son of a wealthy colonial farmer received a letter from his father, to suggest that a considerable part of his inheritance should be safeguarded before he squandered it. His reply ran thus:—“Dear dad, keep 1000050.” As such a sum, even in dollars, was out of the question, the father was completely puzzled.
What did the prodigal mean?
BURIED POETS
53. The names of eight famous British poets are buried in these lines, that is to say, the letters that spell the names form in their proper order parts of different words:—
The sun is darting rays of gold
Upon the moor, enchanting spot,
Whose purpled heights, by Ronald loved,
Up open to his Shepherd cot.
And sundry denizens of air
Are flying, aye, each to his nest;
And eager make at such an hour
All haste to reach the mansions-blest.
Can you dig them up?
A FATEFUL LETTER
54. When A. B. gave up the reins of government, and C. B. took office in his place, it was found that their political positions could be exactly described by two quite common English verbs, which differ only in this, that the one is longer by one letter than the other, while the rest of the letters are the same, and in the same order. What are these two verbs?
A PRIZE REBUS
55. The following is a prize Rebus:—
done
mutt
and
i
you make me
a glutt
T. c. d.
A LETTER TANGLE
56.
First a c and a t, last a c and a t,
With a couple of letters between,
Form a sight that our eyes are delighted to see,
Unless in their sight it is seen.
A TRANSPOSITION
57.
Cut off my tail and set it at my head,
What was an island is a little bear instead.
A REBUS
T S.
58. What English word do these two letters indicate? There are two possible solutions of equal merit.
A PHONETIC PHRASE
59. How can we read this?
I N X I N X I N.
A GOOD END
60.
IFS