Avoiding a Scandal

Three beautiful women and their jealous husbands want to cross a river, but the boat will hold only two people at a time. How can they arrange the crossing if no woman is to remain with a man unless her husband is present?

	Select Click for Answer
Mrs. A and Mrs. C cross Mrs. A returns Mrs. A and Mrs. B cross Mrs. B returns Mr. A and Mr. C cross Mr. A and Mrs. A return Mr. A and Mr. B cross Mrs. C returns Mrs. A and Mrs. B cross Mrs. A returns Mrs. A and Mrs. C cross Other solutions are possible, but all require at least 11 crossings. (The price of propriety!)

August 23, 2007January 16, 2013 | Puzzles

A Literary Knight’s Tour

The knight’s tour is a recreation familiar to chessplayers: Move a knight about an empty chessboard so as to visit each square exactly once.

On this board, each square contains a syllable. Collect them in the right order and you’ll compose a six-line quotation from Shakespeare. What is it?

(Hint: Start on e4, “to”.)

A Literary Knight's Tour

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The quotation is from King John, Act IV, Scene II, lines 11-16: To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet, To smooth the ice, or add another hue Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. The puzzle is taken from Miscellaneous Notes and Queries, January 1889.

The Mutilated Chessboard

Take an ordinary chessboard and cut off two diagonally opposite corners. Now: Is it possible to tile the remaining 62 squares with 31 dominoes?

This calls for inspiration rather than trial and error. Most people see the solution immediately or not at all.

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No, it can’t be done. Each domino covers two squares, a light one and a dark one. Therefore a board can be tiled perfectly only if it has an equal number of light and dark squares. The original board met this requirement, but we’ve removed two squares of the same color (diagonal corners). So the task is impossible.

July 17, 2007January 16, 2013 | Puzzles

“Ambiguous Lines”

First published in 1671, this anonymous verse came with a simple instruction that would render it into sense. Can you discover it?

I saw a peacock with a fiery tail
I saw a blazing comet drop down hail
I saw a cloud with ivy circled round
I saw a sturdy oak creep on the ground
I saw a pismire swallow up a whale
I saw a raging sea brim full of ale
I saw a venice glass sixteen foot deep
I saw a well full of men’s tears that weep
I saw their eyes all in a flame of fire
I saw a house as big as the moon and higher
I saw the sun even in the midst of night
I saw the man that saw this wondrous sight.
I saw a pack of cards gnawing a bone
I saw a dog seated on Britain’s throne
I saw King George shut up within a box
I saw an orange driving a fat ox
I saw a butcher not a twelvemonth old
I saw a great-coat all of solid gold
I saw two buttons telling of their dreams
I saw my friends who wished I’d quite these themes.

	Select Click for Answer
“Read with a comma after the first noun in each line”: I saw a peacock, with a fiery tail I saw a blazing comet, drop down hail I saw a cloud, with ivy circled round I saw a sturdy oak, creep on the ground I saw a pismire, swallow up a whale I saw a raging sea, brim full of ale I saw a venice glass, sixteen foot deep I saw a well, full of men’s tears that weep I saw their eyes, all in a flame of fire I saw a house, as big as the moon and higher I saw the sun, even in the midst of night I saw the man that saw this wondrous sight. I saw a pack of cards, gnawing a bone I saw a dog, seated on Britain’s throne I saw King George, shut up within a box I saw an orange, driving a fat ox I saw a butcher, not a twelvemonth old I saw a great-coat, all of solid gold I saw two buttons, telling of their dreams I saw my friends, who wished I’d quite these themes.

Click for Answer

July 11, 2007January 16, 2013 | Poems · Puzzles

A Self-Solving Chess Problem

self-solving chess problem

White to move. I won’t give the solution — try it out and you’ll see why.

(Composed by V. Röpke, Skakbladet, 1942.)

June 28, 2007November 10, 2017 | Puzzles

Kangaroo Words

Kangaroo words contain smaller versions of themselves. INDOLENT, for example, contains the letters I-D-L-E, in order. Can you find the hidden synonyms in each of these words?

ABIDE
ALLOCATE
ASSEVERATE
ASTOUND
CALUMNIES
CATACOMB
DEPOSITORY
DESTRUCTION
ENCOURAGE
HONORABLE
ILLUMINATED
INEFFECTIVE
REVOLUTION
SCOUNDREL
TRANSGRESSION
UMPTEENTH
UNSIGHTLY

	Select Click for Answer
ABIDE: BE ALLOCATE: ALLOT ASSEVERATE: AVER (also ASSERT) ASTOUND: STUN CALUMNIES: LIES CATACOMB: TOMB DEPOSITORY: DEPOT DESTRUCTION: RUIN ENCOURAGE: URGE HONORABLE: NOBLE ILLUMINATED: LIT INEFFECTIVE: EFFETE REVOLUTION: REVOLT SCOUNDREL: CUR TRANSGRESSION: SIN UMPTEENTH: NTH UNSIGHTLY: UGLY

June 26, 2007January 16, 2013 | Language · Puzzles

Regicide

A chess problem posed by Sam Loyd, published in Le Sphinx, 1866:

“Construct a game which ends with Black delivering discovered checkmate on move four.”

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1.f3 e5 2.Kf2 h5 3.Kg3 h4+ 4.Kg4 d5#

June 6, 2007January 16, 2013 | Puzzles

Breakfast of Champions

Christopher Columbus's Egg Puzzle

“Christopher Columbus’s Egg Puzzle,” as it appeared in Sam Loyd’s Cyclopedia of Puzzles (1914):

The famous trick-chicken, Americus Vespucius, after whom our great country was named, showed a clever puzzle wherein you are asked to lay nine eggs so as to form the greatest possible number of rows of three-in-line. King Puzzlepate has only succeeded in getting eight rows, as shown in the picture, but Tommy says a smart chicken can do better than that!

Can you?

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Ten rows altogether. Not bad for a chicken.

May 31, 2007January 16, 2013 | Puzzles

The Smith Jones Robinson Riddle

On a train, Smith, Robinson, and Jones are the fireman, the brakeman, and the engineer (not necessarily respectively). Also aboard the train are three passengers with the same names, Mr. Smith, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Jones.

(1) Mr. Robinson is a passenger. He lives in Detroit.

(2) The brakeman lives exactly halfway between Chicago and Detroit.

(3) Mr. Jones is a passenger. He earns exactly $20,000 per year.

(4) The brakeman’s nearest neighbor, one of the passengers, earns exactly three times as much as the brakeman.

(5) Smith is not a passenger. He beats the fireman in billiards.

(6) The passenger whose name is the same as the brakeman’s lives in Chicago.

Who is the engineer?

	Select Click for Answer
We know that the brakeman doesn’t live in Detroit (2) and that his nearest neighbor is a passenger (4). So that passenger can’t be Mr. Robinson, who lives in Detroit (1). From (3) and (4) we know that the brakeman’s nearest neighbor also can’t be Mr. Jones (because Mr. Jones earns $20,000 per year, which is not evenly divisible by 3). Thus, if the brakeman’s nearest neighbor is not Mr. Jones and not Mr. Robinson, it must be Mr. Smith. Now, if Mr. Robinson lives in Detroit (1) and Mr. Smith lives halfway between Chicago and Detroit (as we’ve just deduced), then the third passenger, Mr. Jones, must be the one referred to in (6) and thus lives in Chicago. That means, also from (6), that the brakeman’s name is Jones. And if Smith is not the fireman (5), then by elimination Smith must be the engineer.

Click for Answer

May 15, 2007January 16, 2013 | Puzzles

Syllogism

Nothing is better than eternal happiness.

Eating a hamburger is better than nothing.

Therefore, eating a hamburger is better than eternal happiness.

April 18, 2007April 18, 2007 | Language · Puzzles