Exemplary

In a dream someone said to me, ‘Any general thesis which is put forward without a concrete example is therein badly presented’. That was all he said, and I was about to point out the irony that in merely putting forward this thesis by means of a general statement the speaker had failed his own requirement of providing an example when it suddenly occurred to me, as I exclaimed to him, ‘Ah, I see. Your putting forward this thesis without an example is itself the concrete example’. But when I awoke I realized there was a problem here. If indeed the speaker is credited with having given me a concrete example of an example-less bad presentation, then that credit must be immediately withdrawn, because what he has given me is not an example of an example-less bad presentation. But if it is not an example, then it must once again be received as an example of example-less presentation, but then it once again is not an example, and so on forever.

— Arnold Zuboff, in Analysis, July 1992

| Oddities

Variant

A “Home Counties version” of the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Farnham which art in Hendon, Harrow be thy Name. Thy Kingston come. Thy Wimbledon in Erith, as it is in Heston. Give us this day our Leatherhead. And forgive us our Westminsters, as we forgive them that Westminster against us. And lead us not into Thames Ditton, but deliver us from Ealing. For thine is the Kingston, the Purley, and the Crawley, for Iver and Iver. Crouch End.

I don’t think anyone knows who wrote it. See The Author’s Tale.

| Humor · Language

Second Thoughts

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lord_Lyndhurst_by_Felix_Roffe.jpg

On the Bench his lips would often be seen to move, but no sound proceeding from them would be heard by the Bar. The associate sitting beneath him could tell another tale. … ‘What a damned fool that man is!’ — then, after an interval, ‘Eh, not such a damned fool as I thought;’ then another interval. ‘Egad, it is I that was the damned fool.’

— J.B. Atlay on Lord Lyndhurst, in The Victorian Chancellors, 1906

| Society

Topsy Turvy

https://archive.org/details/originalacrostic02blac/page/160/mode/2up

An acrostic by Robert Blackwell, 1868:

Turn this book and at us look,
Heed our features, too,
Expressive, fine, our faces shine,
To please such folks as you;
With heads but four, we want no more,
Our eyes give us no light;
Our ears are deaf, but yet no grief
Disturbs us day nor night;
Deprived of feet we can not walk
In houses where we go,
The reason why we do not sigh,
Is left for you to know.
Ever free from care are we,
So turn this book, and at us look.

Reading the first letter in each line produces the phrase “The Two Oddities.” Inverting the book gives the answer to the riddle: The “four heads” are actually one carefully devised figure — each face is the other upside down:

https://archive.org/details/originalacrostic02blac/page/160/mode/2up

| Oddities

The 21-Card Trick

A performer takes 21 cards from a standard deck and shuffles them. A player notes one at random. The performer deals out the cards into three columns of seven cards each. The player indicates the column that contains her card. Twice more the performer deals out the cards into three columns and the player identifies the one containing her card. At this point the performer identifies the card.

How is this done? The trick works automatically so long as, in taking up the cards, the performer always puts the chosen pile between the other two. After the first deal, the chosen card will fall in one of positions 8-14; after the second deal, it will reach position 10-12; and after the last deal, it will be the 11th card in the assembled packet (at which point the performer can reveal it however he pleases).

This illustration, by CMG Lee, demonstrates the same principle using 27 cards. At each step, the pile containing the chosen card is shaded yellow; the numbers correspond to the step numbers. In this case the chosen card always finds its way to the 14th position.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:27_card_trick.svg
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Here’s an animation with 21 cards, in which the chosen card, marked with an X, finds its way to the 11th position:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Animation_Of_21_Card_Trick.gif
Image: Wikimedia Commons
| Science & Math

A Harrowing Puzzle

A gigantic tire, with a radius of 100 miles, is rolling down Broadway at 60 mph. One driver fails to notice the tire’s approach until its descending surface is just touching the roof of her car, 6 feet above the road. If she leaves the car immediately and can shrink to within 2 feet of the road’s surface, how long does she have to crawl out of the tire’s path?

Click for Answer
| Puzzles

One Last Christmas Challenge

The Xmas Puzzles 2025 is now live — 13 fiendish puzzles and a “metapuzzle” that draws on their solutions. The competition will run until 20:00 GMT on January 18.

Quizmaster Tim Paulden has pledged just over £1000 in charitable donations as prizes. The top four entries will win a donation to a charity or good cause nominated by the solver: £200 for first place, £150 for second, £120 for third, and £90 for fourth. Those who solve the metapuzzle or score 50 percent or more will also win a donation.

Entry is free and open to all — participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people. Details are at the link above.

| Puzzles