CURTAILMENTS AND RETAILINGS.
Here we find an enlargement and modification of the "Decapitation" series of puzzles, obtained by varying the endings as well as the beginnings of words, or by varying the endings only. From the examples given it will be seen that it is legitimate to make these variations in different ways. The first examples involve the removal of final letters only to make words of different significance.
Complete, I am a privilege exclusive,
By many sought with hope illusive;
Curtail me, and for sacred use I'm claimed;
Once more, and your own head you've named;
Curtail again, in Erin's Isle I then abound,
And if again you venture, a father will be found.
Answer: Patent, paten, pate, Pat, pa.
Curtail a patriarchal dwelling-place, and find the number of that council in ancient Rome of which Appius Claudius was the chief.
Answer: Tent, ten.
Curtail the miser's treasure, and it becomes grey with age or white as the frost on the grass.
Answer: Hoard, hoar.
A monarch curtailed becomes to all a blood relation, said by Hamlet to be less than kind.
Answer: King, kin.
Curtail that organ which is said by some to be the seat of all emotion, and there remains one of the five senses.
Answer: Heart, hear.
In many words the final letters, particularly the last three, when standing alone, do not, unless re-arranged, express a word conveying sense or meaning, but by an easy and simple re-arrangement or transposition can be made to do so. This may be seen in such words as—
Sword, word (ord transposes into rod).
Scent, cent (ent transposes into ten).
Puzzles of this class are usually included among "Retailings," and the above examples of "sword" and "scent" are examples combined of both Decapitation and Retailing.
Again, in other words, the finals can be made to express two or more words of different meanings, as—
Fowl, owl (which also transposes into low).
Scant, cant, ant (which also transposes into tan).
The following is a combined Decapitation and Retailing puzzle, the retailing being effected by a transposition of the letters:—
Strike my whole, and 'twill give you a light.
Behead and retail me, I'm the gossip's delight.
Behead me once more, and your heads I'll adorn;
Once again, and I'm left at last all forlorn.
Answer: Match, chat (atch transposed), hat, at.
Many words of more than one syllable may be treated under this puzzle, by lopping off the original ending and substituting some other which will make a word of an entirely different meaning, thus:—
Retail what is needed to bury the dead,a
With that on which doctors rely for their bread;b
These together combined should be bright and clear,
And be taken for breakfast without any fear.c
Answer: aCoffin, bfee, ccoffee.
We will now give a few puzzles founded on one or more of the previous examples; but our young readers will find that "Retailings" offer a much wider range of words from which to select than do "Decapitations." More fun, however, will be obtained by combining the two. The word transpose is used in some books instead of retail; but transpositions, properly so-called, will be treated later on:—
Complete, I am common,
Beheaded, I am a ceremony,
Retailed, I am a head-dress.
Answer: Trite, rite, tire.
Complete, I am a servant,
Beheaded, I am an apartment,
Retailed, I am an extensive waste.
Answer: Groom, room, moor.
Complete, I grow within a field
And pleasant pasture often yield;
Decapitate, a suitor then
Is quickly brought before your ken.
Behead again, I am a word
Oft on the cricket field is heard.
Restore my head, cut off my tail,
To name a spice you will not fail.
Behead me now, and you will find
The master passion left behind.
Complete me as I was before,
Put on my head, my tail restore,
My second letter take away,
An envelope I am, you'll say.
Now, if you but curtail once more,
I'll show an inlet on the shore.
Answer: Clover, lover, over, clove, love, cover, cove.
A word expressing bitter hate
My total does disclose,
'Tis shared alike by small and great
'Twixt those who still are foes.
Now change the scene, take off my head,
A lady comes to view,
A sweeter name may ne'er be said
Than this, if tales be true.
Decapitate once more, and lo!
Small insects now appear;
Retail at once, in French 'twill show
Whence daylight comes so clear.
Restore, take off my head again,
And now in winter I am chiefly seen,
But in summer, too, I'm cooling when
Your lips are parched, I ween.
My whole restore, yet not my tail,
Transposed, then I will name
What we in justice cannot fail
To designate a claim.
Answer: Malice, Alice, lice, ciel, ice, claim.
Complete, I am shrill;
Beheaded, a musical instrument;
Beheaded and transposed, I denote equality.
Answer: Sharp, harp, par.
Complete, I'm in a difficulty.
Behead me, and I show signs of grief.
Once more, and I am a useful seed;
Again, and I am what philosophers name our ancestors.
Transposed, I am a vegetable.
Answer: Scrape, crape, rape, ape, pea.
Complete, I am a reproof.
Beheaded, I am a portion of land.
Beheaded again and transposed, and I become the lot of all humanity.
Answer: Chide, hide, die.
Complete, I am without rule or method.
Beheaded and transposed, I am a mythological true friend;
Again, and I give expression to sounds of grief.
Answer: Random, Damon, moan.
My whole is a metal.
Beheaded, curtailed, and transposed, I am a noted English poet.
Beheaded and transposed, I then become an American poet.
Curtailed again, and I name one of Italy's chief rivers.
Answer: Copper, Pope, Poe, Po.
Sufficient examples of puzzles of this nature will have been given to show that very many of the words of every-day use may be made to serve for Retailings.
Still another form of the word puzzle known as Retailings consists in choosing some word which, upon the addition of one or more letters at the end, will make one or more different words of distinct meanings, as in the following examples:—
I am often heard in parliamentary debates. Retail me, and I am the seat of all affections and passions; retail me again, and I am your near neighbour when seated round the fireside.
Answer: Hear, heart, hearth.
I am a disagreeable noise. Retail me, and I help to express an agreeable sound; retail me again, and I am sullied and soiled.
Answer: Din, ding (ding, dong, the sound of bells), dingy.
I am an earl famous in Scottish story. Retail me, and I am used for manure; once more, and expect stormy weather.
Answer: Mar, marc (refuse of fruit and seeds from which the oil has been pressed), March.
I am a plant and its fruit. Retail me, and I am a well-known fruit; retail me again, and I am a gem.
Answer: Pea, pear, pearl.
I am of great warmth. Retail me, I am bleak and barren; retail me again, and I am a pagan.
Answer: Heat, heath, heathen.