INTELLECT SHARPENERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23690, 23 December 1938, Page 3

INTELLECT SHARPENERS

Written for the Otago Daily Times, By C. J. Wherefore ANAGRAM In the lines given below the first two spaces are to be filled with words composed of the same letters. The third space requires two short words, but they use only the same letters that are found in each of the single words occurring previously. The spirit spoke: “ Now, Mr Scrooge, attend, you must, I mean to have my say. You have yourself the right to spend, , As others do, a happy Christmas day. , . Some men there are who choose their eyes to close Upon all forms of mirth and merriment, , . And in the quite unloved by those, Who never saw them cheerful and | content.” ! SUBSTITUTION PROBLEM Our storekeeper bought a large supply of sugar, a whole ton, in fact, and the price he paid had in the pounds column the numerals which may J 3 writfen MN for the purpose of this problem. He began to sell it at N pence per lb, and at this price he made neither profit nor loss. Then he raised the price to M pence per lb. If he had bought_ the ton at this price, the figures in the pounds column would have been NM instead of MN. What were the prices? A MERE TRIFLE It seemed easy to tell Mr and Mrs Hardup that the repair to their car was a mere trifle and would cost only 10s. But the sad fact is that ten-shilling notes are not plentiful in that household, and Mr and Mrs H. had to pool every penny they had, and also to borrow a small sum from a neighbour, Mr H. had fourpence more than his wife. The three amounts contributed happen to be such that a triangle, haying sides of these three lengths would be right-angled. How was the 10s made up? CHRISTMAS PRESENTS The vicar has five daughters—Ada, Dora, Milly, Gertie, and Frances. Each one of these has received a present from one of the following men: — James, Frederick, Richard, Peter, and William, not necessarily respectively. The problem is to discover which man sent the present which each of the girls received. Ada and Peter have never met one another, with this exception, it may be said, that everybody knows everybody else. Only one man gave a present to a girl who has an initial the same as his own. One man gave his gift to a girl whose name includes some letters grouped in a manner rather like those in his own name. No man sent a present to anyone whose name contained the same number of letters as his own or a larger number. These clues are sufficient to show from whom each of the presents came. TWO SHORT PROBLEMS

Miss Contrary spilled some of the seeds which she was about to sow in her garden, and the three varieties became mixed, so that she could not separate them again. There were 84 of them altogether, and she put half of them in one bed and the other half in another. In both of these the number of blue flowers, when they came up, exceeded that of the red ones bv one-quarter of their number, and the two remainders were white, But the white flowers in the larger bed were actually four times as numerous as those in the smaller bed. How many of each colour were there In each bed?

“I hear that there were more ghls than boys at your picnic, Ethel.” She admitted that my information was correct, and added: “When we drove away there were, in fact. 7 girls for every 6 boys. Later on we were joined by seven persons, of whom 3 were of one sex and 4 of the other. Then the proportion became 6 girls to 5 boys.” How many girls and boys were there on the cars and on the bicycles?

SOLUTIONS OF LAST WEEK’S PROBLEMS

Contributed. —He always travels by the tram at 3d.

Mathematical Class.—-One boy gave 43 yards at 3s sd: the other said 41 yards at 3s 7d. Railway Tickets.—Four full fares at 7s 3d. and eight half fares at 3s Bd, Substitution,—-540 plus 829 equals 1369. The book Is “ Bleak House."

Problem in Ages.—Four years. Obviously the mother is now 37 years old.

Puzzle In Words.—The words are: Mirror, horror, roarer, terror. They are found In the quotations: (1) Hold, as it were, the mirror up to Nature. (2) I have supped full of horrors. (3) What care these roarers for the name of king. (4) I would thou wert the man that could divorce this terror from my heart.