Volume 5 — THE RIDDLE-BOX.
Reading edition
DOUBLE ACROSTIC.
The initials name a noted philosopher, and the finals an eminent astronomer.
1. A narrow arm of the sea. 2. A beautiful flower. 3. A tree, usually growing in moist land. 4. A small marine animal. 5. A river in the United States. 6. A cone-bearing tree. 7. A tract of land, surrounded by water. 8. A metal.
ISOLA.
BROKEN WORDS.
Find a word to fill the single blank, and divide it into smaller words (without transposing any letters) to fill the other blanks. Thus: Such forages have gone on in that forest for ages.
1. You must not think the whole were —— because he —— ——. 2. One of this boy's minor —— is his constant climbing —— ——. 3. When I gave him a pledge, the toper said with a —— look, "You —— —— —— ——." 6. The alder was pictured against the ——, every branch, leaf, and —— —— standing out clearly.
B.
PICTORIAL NUMERICAL, REBUS.
Find the sum expressed in each horizontal row, and add together the four numbers thus found, to form the complete sum expressed by the rebus.
HOUR-GLASS PUZZLE.
1. Unceasing. 2. Of little worth. 3. Habitation. 4. Ancient. 5. A vowel. 6. Devoured. 7. To muse. 8. A maker of arms. 9. Small flat fish. The centrals read downward name the act of unfolding.
GEORGE CHINN.
BEHEADINGS AND CURTAILINGS.
1. Curtail a disgrace, and leave an imposture. Behead, and leave one of Noah's sons. Curtail, and leave an exclamation denoting surprise, joy, or grief. Behead again, and leave a vowel.
2. Curtail a color, and leave a very small part. Behead, and leave a verb signifying "to strike." Behead again, and leave a pronoun. Curtail, and leave a simple, personal pronoun.
3. Curtail a beautiful marine production, and leave a girl's name. Behead, and leave an ancient coin. Curtail, and leave a conjunction. Behead, and leave a consonant.
4. Behead a part of the body, and leave a kind of tree. Curtail, and leave an article used in toilets. Behead, and leave a preposition. Curtail, and leave a pronoun.
5. Curtail a sweet juice collected by bees, and leave a stone for sharpening razors. Behead, and leave a number. Curtail, and leave a preposition. Curtail, and leave an invocation.
N. T. M.
NUMERICAL ENIGMA.
After handing a mug of 9, 2, 3 to the man who was at the 7, 4, 5 of the 1, 6, 8, Frank resumed reading the life of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
ISOLA.
EASY DIAMOND PUZZLE.
1. In dwelling but not in house. 2. A Spanish poem. 3. A girl's name. 4. A precious stone. 5. A term in English law. 6. An insect. 7. In bird but not in beast.
O'B.
CHARADE.
I.
Out on the hill-side, bleak and bare, In winter's chill and summer's glare, Down by the ocean's rugged shore, Where the restless billows toss and roar, Deep in gloomy caves and mines, Where mists are foul and the sun ne'er shines, Man studies my first and second well, To learn what story they have to tell.
II.
Go to the depths of the fathomless sea, Go where the dew-drop shines on the lea, Go where are gathered in lands afar, The treasures of earth for the rich bazaar, Go to the crowded ball-room, where All that is lovely, and young, and fair, Charms the soul with beauty and grace, And my third shall meet you face to face.
III.
When war's red hand was raised to slay, And front to front great armies lay, Then, oft in the silent midnight camp, When naught was heard but the sentry's tramp, As he patiently paced his lonely round, My whole was sought, and yet when found, It sent full many a warrior brave To his last long rest, in a soldier's grave.
E. J. A.
PUZZLE BOUQUET.
1. A cunning animal and a covering for the hand. 2. A voracious bird of prey and a useless plant. 3. A pipe and a flower. 4. A sweetmeat and a bunch of hair. 5. A noun meaning a quick breaking and a winged serpent. 6. A stone fence and the blossom of a plant. 7. Fragrant and a vegetable. 8. An entertainment of dancing and a boy's nickname. 9. Vapor frozen in flakes, and to let fall. 10. To enter into the conjugal state, and a precious metal.
GEORGE CHINN.
TRANSPOSITIONS.
Fill the first blank with a certain word, and then, by transposing the final letter to the place of the initial, form a word to fill the second blank. Example: In the halls of her ancestors she shall tread without fear.
1. There is not on —— a person of larger ——. 2. On the banks of the —— the traveler —— alone. 3. As the thought of her kindness —— up in my heart, it causes it to —— with gratitude. 4. It was with no —— intent that —— destroyed his first will. 5. I noticed on the —— of the pond quantities of ——.
B.
LETTER ANAGRAMS.
Write a line in each case describing the position of the letters toward each other, and transpose the letters used in this description to make a word which will answer the definition given. Thus:
R. } A part of the day. Ans. R. on M. (transposed) Morn. M. }
1. { L. } A kind of bird. { P. } 2. S. R. Parts of a house. 3. S. T. A piece of furniture. 4. { L. } To pillage. { P. } 5. { Et. } Not rhythmical. { Ic. }
H. H. D.
HIDDEN DRESS GOODS.
1. Seizing the rascal I compelled him to give up the money. 2. Aunt Nell is fond of singing Hamburg. 3. Belle Prescott only failed once last year. 4. Eveline never learned to control herself. 5. Where is Towser, Gertie? 6. I met Homer in Oregon. 7. Where did you find such a queer fossil, Kenneth? 8. Tom Thumb is a tiny specimen of humanity. 9. Did Erasmus Lincoln lose all his property by the fire?
[page 72]
PICTORIAL, PROVERB-ACROSTIC.
Arrange the words represented by the numbered pictures in their order. The initials and finals (reading down the former and continuing down the latter) form a familiar proverb, the sentiment of which is suggested by the central picture.
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN OCTOBER NUMBER.
Double Diamond Puzzle.—
M G A S M A P L E S L Y E S N U T S U G A R T A R R
Square-Word.—Midas, Ivory, Donor, Arose, Syten. Charade.—Dilapidated. Numerical Enigma.—Handsome. Double Acrostic—Centennial Exposition.—ClovE, EsseX, NaP, TallyhO, EpiglottiS, NerolI, NahanT, IttaI, ArnO, LemoN.
Riddle.—Linest, Inlets, Enlist, Tinsel, Silent, Listen.
Diagonal Puzzle.—Grand, Prate.
G L A R E C R A T E P L A T E C R A N E P L A I D
Combination Puzzle.—
P—rive—T E—pod—–E A—lid—–A C—ape—–S E—lop—–E
Easy Diamond Puzzle.—I, Asa, Isola, Ale, A.
Puzzle.—Gondola.
Answers to Puzzles in September Number were received previous to September 18, from—Emma Elliott, Brainerd P. Emery, Allie Bertram, Sarah D. Oakley, "Camille and Leonie," "Tip," "Yankee," J.W. Myers, George G. Champlin, Alice M. Mason, Maria Peckham, Florence E. Hyde, Minnie Warner, B. O'Hara, "Green Mountain Boy," John Hinkley, Florence Wilcox, "Bessie and Sue," Julia Kirene Ladd, Grace Austin Smith, Arthur C. Smith, George Herbert White, William A. Crocker, Jr, Georgiana Mead, A.G.D., James Iredell, Lizzie and Anna, Agnes E. Kennedy, Anna E. Mathewson, C.S. Riche, Edith McKeever, Nessie E. Stevens, Carrie Lawson, Charles G. Todd, Ella and Kittie Blanke, W. Creighton Spencer, W. Irving Spencer, Edith Heard, M.W.C., Mary C. Warren, Lena and Annie, Annie Streckewald, Hattie Peck, Jennie Passmore, George J. Fiske.
Transcriber's Note: Some parts of the TOC were illegible, and a few missing page numbers have been replaced with '?'s. p. 27: changed 'rains' to 'trains': ...--; just like the lines by which trains are made to run easily off one track on to another. p. 30: Missing opening quote replaced: "The snows that glittered on the disc of Mars..." p. 31: ' replaced with ": "Don't you think, papa, that that's enough about the sun? Come and play with us on the lawn." p. 59: Missing ) replaced: ...(widening the strip, however, in proportion as the fabric is thinner).