THE SQUIRE'S CHRISTMAS PUZZLE
PARTY
HOW THE VARIOUS TRICKS WERE DONE
The record of one of Squire Davidge's annual " Puzzle Parties,"
made by the old gentleman's young lady relative, who had often
spent a merry Christmas at Stoke Courcy Hall, does not contain the
solutions of the mysteries. So I will give my own answers to
the puzzles and try to make them as clear as possible to those who
may be more or less novices in such matters.
55.—
The Eleven Pennies,
It is rather evident that the trick in this puzzle was as follows :—
From the eleven coins take five ; then add four (to those already
taken away) and you leave nine—in the second heap of those
removed !
56.—
The Three Tea-cups.
Miss Charity Lockyer clearly wanted to "get level" with the
propounder of the last puzzle, for she had a trick up her sleeve quite
as good as his own. She
proposed that ten lumps
of sugar should be placed
in three tea-cups, so that
there should be an odd
number of lumps in
every cup. The illustration shows Miss Charity's answer, and the
figures on the cups indicate the number of lumps that have been
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