CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 December 1926, Page 11 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

WHAT AM I? I am a word of letters five. Com plete lam in the kitchen door. Curtail me, and I am in the kitchen window, curtail me again and I am used in the kitchen, curtail me again and 1 am owner of the kitchen. And when I am finally curtailed I am cooked in the kitchen. What am I? Answer: Panel —pane—pan—pa—p. SEE IF YOU CAN FINISH THIS. A boy was standing beside a garden wall, evidently intending to hoist himself over it. A stranger who was passing called out to him: “Never throw a leg, lad ’’ This warning lie finished with four words, using exactly the same letters as those in the five words quoted. What were the remaining four words ? Answer: The complete sentence was "Never throw a leg, lad, over the garden wall.” The first five words and the last four contain exactly the same letters. A HEXAGON PUZZLE. 1, A tall annual herb; 2, Bishop of Jerusalem, 494-513; 3, resembling a mitre; 4,’ displays; 5, harness; 6, a feminine name, from the Latin Laelius; 7, dead. HEMP ELIAS MITRAL PARADES SAD D L E LEL I A SERE RIDDLE. A hundred and one by fifty divide, And if then nought (0) be rightly applied, And your calculation agrees with mine, The answer will be one taken from nine. Answer: Roman character. CI. 101, L. 50, L. put between C. and I. divides, making GLL, and the 0 at the end spells “Clio,” one of the nine muses of history. WHAT VEGETABLE IS THIS? First, three-fourths of a cross; then, a circle seen; Next are two verticals with an angle between; Now is an easel standing on only two feet; Now, three-fourths of a cross; last, a circle complete. Answer: TOMATO. THE RING AND STICK. This trick is very mystifying. You show a ring, and tie it with a piece of string inside a coloured handkerchief. Show also a long, thin cane, and get two members of your audience to step torward and hold this, one at each end. Hold the handkerchief containing the ring over the centre of the stick. Drop another handkerchief over. it. Pronounce any “magical” formula you please, and then with draw both handkerchiefs, whereupon lhe ring will be found to have transferred itself to the stick. The secret of this trick is to have two rings ol precisely the same pattern, one being cut through and having its point sharpened. Exhibit only the sound- ring and wear the other on your finger. Place the sound ring, after it has been examined, with your right hand under the handkerchief dropped over your left, and palm it. At the same time transfer the other ring from your finger, and let someone hold it (through the handkerchief). Ask the other assistant to tie a piece of string round the handkerchief about. 3jn down, making a “prison" for the ring. While, this is being done slip the palmed ring on to your cane, and, keeping your hand over the ring, ask your assistants each to take- one end of the cane. Take the ring in the handkerchief from the one holding it, and place on top of the one on the stick. Have your hands covered with another handkerchief. Under this, bend the second ring, slip the point of it through the silk, draw it through, and slip it on your finger; then rub tlie handkerchief to fill in the little hole the ring has made. Throw away both handkerchiefs, and exhibit the ring on the stick. This, being qaite solid, will cause everyone to ask, “How did it get there?”

THE BURNING GARMENT.

The conjurer should borrow something made of fabric. A child’s garment, such as a pinafore, a little shirt (produced by arrangemenl with the child's mother), or a lace collar• indeed, any personal belonging of one of the audience—will cause most amusement; but, failing any of these, a handkerchief can be used. The conjurer should have a saucerful of brandy standing on the table, and, while occupying his audience with patter, he should drop the garment unostentatiously into this, so that, when drawn out, it is saturated with spirit. A lighted match applied to this will cause the article quickly to burst into flame, but, the spirit consumed, the moist part that remains will put the light out. Thus the garment can be handed back undamaged lo its owner. PASEIHG A GLASS. Some tricks are so good that they should only be shown once In an evening. If repeated, some sharp person in the audience will be almost sure to see how they are done. This is one of them. Take a glass tumbler and a newspaper. Place the tumbler on the table bottom upwards, and put the newspaper over It, telling your audience that, when you strike the glass, it will fall right through the table on to the floor. Gradually, with your hands, mould the stiff paper round the glass, al the same time sliding it towards the edge of the tabla. When the edge Is reached, let the tumbler drop into your lap. The stiffness of the paper will preserve the shape of the tumbler. Now strike a heavy blow on the paper with your fist, flattening It right out, and trtmultaneously spread out your knees so that the glass falls with, a thud to th" ground. The effect Of this is so. r.-.rprising that everyone*will p< s lively bciieve that th? tumbler has bec.i kn.;pxed through the solid table.