Miss Charity Lockyer clearly must have had a trick up her sleeve, and I think it highly probable that it was conceived on the following lines. She proposed that ten lumps of sugar should be placed in three teacups, so that there should be an odd number of lumps in every cup. The illustration perhaps shows Miss Charity's answer, and the figures on the cups indicate the number of lumps that have been separately placed in them. By placing the cup that holds one lump inside the one that holds two lumps, it can be correctly stated that every cup contains an odd number of lumps. One cup holds seven lumps, another holds one lump, while the third cup holds three lumps. It is evident that if a cup contains another cup it also contains the contents of that second cup.

There are in all fifteen different solutions to this puzzle. Here they are:—

1 0 91 4 59 0 1
3 0 77 0 37 2 1
1 2 75 2 35 4 1
5 0 53 4 33 6 1
3 2 51 6 31 8 1

The first two numbers in a triplet represent respectively the number of lumps to be placed in the inner and outer of the two cups that are placed one inside the other. It will be noted that the outer cup of the pair may itself be empty.

[56].—The Eleven Pennies.

It is rather evident that the trick in this puzzle was as follows:—From the eleven coins take five; then add four (to those already taken away) and you leave nine—in the second heap of those removed!

[57].—The Christmas Geese.

Farmer Rouse sent exactly 101 geese to market. Jabez first sold Mr. Jasper Tyler half of the flock and half a goose over (that is, 50-½ + ½, or 51 geese, leaving 50); he then sold Farmer Avent a third of what remained and a third of a goose over (that is, 16-2/3 + 1/3, or 17 geese, leaving 33); he then sold Widow Foster a quarter of what remained and three-quarters of a goose over (that is, 8-1/4 + 3/4 or 9 geese, leaving 24); he next sold Ned Collier a fifth of what he had left and gave him a fifth of a goose "for the missus" (that is, 4-4/5 + 1/5 or 5 geese, leaving 19). He then took these 19 back to his master.