Question Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of Puzzles Answer
W3N Home Introduction Puzzles by Page Puzzles by Title Puzzles by Type Feedback
Image

There are practical problems in all trades, so it is safe to say that no one is an adept at his business unless he has picked up a few wrinkles which pertain to his calling. Honest John says that what he “don't know about milk is scarcely worth mentioning,” but he was nearly flabbergasted once when he had nothing but two ten gallon cans full of milk, and two customers with a five and a four quart measure wanted two quarts put into each measure.

It is a juggling trick pure and simple, devoid of trick or device, but it calls for much cleverness to get two exact quarts of milk into those measures employing no receptacles of any kind except the two measures and the two full cans. You can try the problem with the fullest assurance that it is a legitimate proposition and not a silly catch.

Let us call one of the ten-gallon cans A and the other B, and proceed as follows to show how the milk-man supplied his two customers with two quarts each:

Fill 5 qt. pail from can A.

Pour 5 qt. pail into 4 qt. pail.

Empty 4 qt. pail into can A.

Pour 5 qt. pail into 4 qt. pail.

Fill 5 qt. pail from can A.

Fill 4 qt. pail from 5 qt. pail.

Empty 4 qt. pail into can A.

Fill 4 qt. pail from can B.

Pour 4 qt. pail into can A.

Which fills can A, leaving 2 quarts in 4 qt. pail. Thus the milkman has supplied each of his customers with exactly two quarts of milk, and solved his perplexing problem.


2. A Charade

My first is one, or many men;

     My second comes apace;

My whole's a pledge to be redeemed

     Within a certain space.

Cipher Answer.” 8, 15, 19, 20, 1, 7, 5.

HOSTAGE


3. A CRYPTOGRAM

U R A 1 0 0 5 0 0 5 5 N.


4. A Rebus

My first is found in the ocean wave,

     As well as in the pit and the mine;

My second below the surface we have

     Where never the sun can shine.

My whole the festal board to grace,

     But seldom fails to find a place.

Cipher Answer. ” 19, 1, 12, 20, 3, 5, 12, 12, 1, 18.

SALTCELLAR


5. A Rebus

Within my first yon gallant crew

     An anchor safe may find;

My next, ye fair, indeed, 'tis true.

     Without an end may bind,

Without my whole we’re surely lost,

     Midst wintry blasts and biting frost.

Cipher Answer.” 3, 15, 22, 5, 18, 9, 14, 7.

COVERING


6. A Charade

When Kate the cook prepared the meal,

     My first was in request;

My next is seen in lamb and veal,

     A quarter or a breast”

Which with my whole the table graced,

     And truly 'twas no wonder,

When at the board each guest was placed,

     To see my third thrown under.

Potatoes


7.

Image

In the exuberance of his joy at the prospect of becoming a happy father in his old age, O’Shaugnessy vowed to settle two-thirds of his estate upon “the boy” and one-third upon the mother, but in case “the boy” should be a girl, then two-thirds of the estate should go to the mother and one-third to the daughter; when it developed, however that the boy was a twin, which made it necessary to provide for both a boy and a girl, as well as the mother, O’Shaugnessy's mind was not in a state to decide upon the proper way to carry out the terms of his promise. What do our friends, especially the members of the legal profession, who have shown so much interest in these problems, say should be the proper division of O'Shaugnessy's estate?

In the matter of dividing the O’Shaugnessy estate, it being clear that it was designed to give the mother twice as much as the daughter, and the son twice as much as the mother, it becomes a simple matter to carry out the terms of the bequest by giving the daughter one-seventh. The mother two-sevenths and the son four-sevenths.


[Page 52]