Penny Wise

A currency curiosity discovered by Lewis Carroll:

Write down any number of pounds not more than 12, any number of shillings under 20, and any number of pence under 12. Under the pounds figure write the number of pence, under the shillings the number of shillings, and under the pence the number of pounds, thus reversing the line.

Subtract. [If you need to make exchanges, 1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence.]

Reverse the line again.

Add.

“Answer, 12 pounds 18 shillings 11 pence, whatever numbers may have been selected.”

| Science & Math

True Enough

We have heard of the fall of Lucifer, and the fall of Cromwell, and the fall of Wolsey, but one of the pleasantest tumbles upon record was that of a Mr. John Fell, who, when he removed from one part of the metropolis to another, wrote over his door—I Fell from Holborn Hill.

— A Collection of Newspaper Extracts, 1842

| Language

Oops

At Honolulu on Dec. 12, 1794, the American merchant sloop Lady Washington fired a 13-gun salute to greet the English schooner Jackal.

The Jackal returned the salute — instantly killing the other ship’s captain and several crewmen.

One of its cannon had been loaded with real grapeshot.

| Death

Up to You

A puzzle by Isaac Asimov:

“Name a common English word that contains somewhere in it, at the beginning, end, or middle, the three letters U-F-A in that order.”

I’ll withhold the answer. There’s no trick — it’s an ordinary English word.

| Puzzles

Lost and Found

Hiram de Witt, of this town, who has recently returned from California, brought with him a piece of the auriferous quartz rock, of about the size of a man’s fist. On thanksgiving day it was brought out for exhibition to a friend, when it accidentally dropped on the floor, and split open. Near the centre of the mass was discovered, firmly embedded in the quartz, and slightly corroded, a cut-iron nail of the size of a sixpenny nail. It was entirely straight, and had a perfect head. By whom was that nail made? At what period was it planted in the yet uncrystallized quartz? How came it in California? If the head of that nail could talk, we should know something more of American history than we are ever likely to know.

— “Springfield (U.S.) Republican,” quoted in The Latter-Day Saints’ Millennial Star, March 1, 1852

| Oddities

Mouth Fun

Say aloud:

Whittle it a little, it’ll fit.

A noisy noise annoys a noisy Noyes.

The Icelandic sentence Barbara Ara bar Ara araba bara rabbabara, besides being fun to say, is spelled with only three letters. It means “Barbara, daughter of Ari, brought only rhubarb to Ari the Arab.” (Thanks, Sigurður.)

| Language