SOLUTIONS
way he will be equally successful ; in fact, the two routes unite and
cover every part of the walls of the maze except those two detached
parts on the left-hand side—one piece like a U, and the other like a
distorted E. This rule will apply to the majority of mazes and
puzzle gardens, but if the centre'were enclosed by an isolated wall in
the form of a split ring the jester would simply have gone round and
round this ring.
51.—
The Secret Lock*
This puzzle entailed the finding of an English word of three
letters, each letter being found on a different dial. Now, there
is no English
1
word composed of consonants alone, and the only
vowel appearing anywhere on the dials is Y. No English word
begins with Y and has the two other letters consonants, and all the
words of three letters ending in Y (with two consonants) either begin
with an S or have H, L, or R as their second letter. But these
four consonants do not appear. Therefore Y must occur in the
middle, and the only word that I can find is " PYX," and there
can be little doubt that this was the word. At any rate, it solves
our puzzle.
52.—
Crossing the Moat.
No doubt some of my readers will smile at the statement that
a man in a boat on smooth water can pull himself across with
the tiller rope ! But it is a fact. If the jester had fastened the
end of his rope to the stern of the boat and then, while standing
in the bows, had given a series of violent jerks, the boat would have
been propelled forward. This has often been put to a practical test,
and it is said that a speed of two or three miles an hour may be
attained. (See W. W. Rouse Ball's " Mathematical Recreations.")
53.—
The Royal Gardens.
This puzzle must have struck many readers as being absolutely
impossible. The jester said : " I had, of a truth, entered every one
161
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