The Canterbury Puzzles, by Henry Ernest Dudeney

1 The Canterbury puzzles , by Henry ErnestDudeneyTitle: The Canterbury PuzzlesAnd Other Curious ProblemsAuthor: Henry Ernest DudeneyLanguage: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1 PRESS OPINIONS ON "THE Canterbury puzzles .""It is a book of remarkable ingenuity and interest." Educational Times."The most ingenious brain in England .. a fascinating new book." Evening News."A capital book of posers." Daily News."The puzzles .. reach the limit of ingenuity and intricacy; and it is well for the sanity of hisreaders that the author gives a list of solutions at the end of the book." Observer."A book that will provide much entertainment for Christmas gatherings .. ingenious puzzles andproblems invented by 'Sphinx,' the Puzzle King." The Captain."Mr. Dudeney , whose reputation is world-wide as the puzzle and problem maker of the age ..sure to find a wide circulation.

2 As attractive in appearance as its contents arefascinating." English Mechanic and World of Science."An exceedingly ingenious constructor and solver of fascinating puzzles , mathematical andotherwise." School Guardian."A book which ought to be highly popular .. it is all mighty ingenious, and very intelligently putbefore the reader." Sheffield Telegraph."It is matter for delight that Mr. Henry E. Dudeney has collected into a volume those mysteriouspuzzles of his which have appeared in many journals .. contains quite a number of ingeniousnew mental problems .. a valuable introduction." The Lady."For the long winter evenings Mr. Dudeney 's book of puzzledom is to be recommended. has made a study of every kind of puzzle there is .. he supplies you with every kind of[Pg 1]brain-twister." The Daily Chronicle."Took up more of the reviewer's time than he could well afford to give it; he wanted to solvesome of the curious problems that it contains, and for ingenious persons who want employmenton a wet day, he promises from it abundant scope.

3 " Yorkshire Post."A well-known master puzzler .. provides an abundance of seasonable occupation for theingenious, with an introduction on the general question of puzzles , which is one of the mostinteresting parts of the book. He is a skilful inventor." Nottingham Guardian."Will enjoy the entertainment provided .. ingenious and witty." The Guardian."Extremely ingenious book, which abounds in problems that will keep the reader busy for hours until in despair he turns to the answers at the end." Manchester Guardian."The setting of these perplexities is novel .. a dramatic background being thus provided whichprevents too great The book should be much in request." The Morning Canterbury PUZZLESBy the same Author"AMUSEMENTS IN mathematics "3s. Edition, 1907 THECANTERBURY PUZZLESAND OTHER CURIOUS PROBLEMS[Pg 3][Pg 4][Pg 5]BYHENRY Ernest DUDENEYAUTHOR OF"AMUSEMENTS IN mathematics ," EDITION(With Some Fuller Solutions and Additional Notes)THOMAS nelson AND SONS, , EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK1919 CONTENTSPREFACE9 INTRODUCTION11 THE Canterbury PUZZLES23 PUZZLING TIMES AT SOLVAMHALL CASTLE58 THE MERRY MONKS OF RIDDLEWELL68 THE STRANGE ESCAPE OF THE KING'S JESTER78 THE SQUIRE'S CHRISTMAS PUZZLE PARTY86 ADVENTURES OF THE PUZZLE CLUB94 THE PROFESSOR'S PUZZLES110 MISCELLANEOUS PUZZLES118 SOLUTIONS163 INDEX251 PREFACE[Pg 7][Pg 9]When preparing this new edition for the press, my first inclination was to withdraw a few puzzlesthat appeared to be of inferior interest, and to substitute others for them.

4 But, on second thoughts,I decided to let the book stand in its original form and add extended solutions and some shortnotes to certain problems that have in the past involved me in correspondence with interestedreaders who desired additional have also provided what was clearly needed for reference an index. The very nature andform of the book prevented any separation of the puzzles into classes, but a certain amount ofclassification will be found in the index. Thus, for example, if the reader has a predilection forproblems with Moving Counters, or for Magic Squares, or for Combination and Group Puzzles, he will find that in the index these are brought together for his the problems are quite different, with the exception of just one or two little variations orextensions, from those in my book Amusements in mathematics , each work being complete initself, I have thought it would help the reader who happens to have both books before him if Imade occasional references that would direct him to solutions and analyses in the later bookcalculated to elucidate matter in these pages.

5 This course has also obviated the necessity of myrepeating myself. For the sake of brevity, Amusements in mathematics is throughout referred toas A. in E. AUTHORS' CLUB,July 2, of The Mill on the Floss will remember that whenever Mr. Tulliver found himselfconfronted by any little difficulty he was accustomed to make the trite remark, "It's a puzzlingworld." There can be no denying the fact that we are surrounded on every hand by posers, someof which the intellect of man has mastered, and many of which may be said to be impossible ofsolution. Solomon himself, who may be supposed to have been as sharp as most men at solving apuzzle, had to admit "there be three things which are too wonderful for me; yea, four which Iknow not: the way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship inthe midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.

6 "Probing into the secrets of Nature is a passion with all men; only we select different lines ofresearch. Men have spent long lives in such attempts as to turn the baser metals into gold, todiscover perpetual motion, to find a cure for certain malignant diseases, and to navigate the morning to night we are being perpetually brought face to face with puzzles . But there arepuzzles and puzzles . Those that are usually devised for recreation and pastime may be roughlydivided into two classes: puzzles that are built up on some interesting or informing little principle;and puzzles that conceal no principle whatever such as a picture cut at random into little bits tobe put together again, or the juvenile imbecility known as the "rebus," or "picture puzzle." Theformer species may be said to be adapted to the amusement of the sane man or woman; the lattercan be confidently recommended to the curious propensity for propounding puzzles is not peculiar to any race or to any period ofhistory.

7 It is simply innate in every intelligent man, woman, and child that has ever lived, thoughit is always showing itself in different forms; whether the individual be a Sphinx of Egypt, aSamson of Hebrew lore, an Indian fakir, a Chinese philosopher, a mahatma of Tibet, or a[Pg 11][Pg 12]European mathematician makes little , scientist, and artisan are perpetually engaged in attempting to solve puzzles , whileevery game, sport, and pastime is built up of problems of greater or less difficulty. Thespontaneous question asked by the child of his parent, by one cyclist of another while taking abrief rest on a stile, by a cricketer during the luncheon hour, or by a yachtsman lazily scanningthe horizon, is frequently a problem of considerable difficulty. In short, we are all propoundingpuzzles to one another every day of our lives without always knowing good puzzle should demand the exercise of our best wit and ingenuity, and although aknowledge of mathematics and a certain familiarity with the methods of logic are often of greatservice in the solution of these things, yet it sometimes happens that a kind of natural cunningand sagacity is of considerable value.

8 For many of the best problems cannot be solved by anyfamiliar scholastic methods, but must be attacked on entirely original lines. This is why, after along and wide experience, one finds that particular puzzles will sometimes be solved morereadily by persons possessing only naturally alert faculties than by the better educated. The bestplayers of such puzzle games as chess and draughts are not mathematicians, though it is justpossible that often they may have undeveloped mathematical is extraordinary what fascination a good puzzle has for a great many people. We know thething to be of trivial importance, yet we are impelled to master it; and when we have succeededthere is a pleasure and a sense of satisfaction that are a quite sufficient reward for our trouble,even when there is no prize to be won.

9 What is this mysterious charm that many find irresistible?Why do we like to be puzzled? The curious thing is that directly the enigma is solved the interestgenerally vanishes. We have done it, and that is enough. But why did we ever attempt to do it?The answer is simply that it gave us pleasure to seek the solution that the pleasure was all in theseeking and finding for their own sakes. A good puzzle, like virtue, is its own reward. Man lovesto be confronted by a mystery, and he is not entirely happy until he has solved it. We never liketo feel our mental inferiority to those around us. The spirit of rivalry is innate in man; itstimulates the smallest child, in play or education, to keep level with his fellows, and in later lifeit turns men into great discoverers, inventors, orators, heroes, artists, and (if they have morematerial aims) perhaps starting on a tour through the wide realm of Puzzledom we do well to remember that we shallmeet with points of interest of a very varied character.

10 I shall take advantage of this often make the mistake of confining themselves to one little corner of the realm, andthereby miss opportunities of new pleasures that lie within their reach around them. One personwill keep to acrostics and other word puzzles , another to mathematical brain-rackers, another tochess problems (which are merely puzzles on the chess-board, and have little practical relation tothe game of chess), and so on. This is a mistake, because it restricts one's pleasures, and neglectsthat variety which is so good for the there is really a practical utility in puzzle-solving. Regular exercise is supposed to be asnecessary for the brain as for the body, and in both cases it is not so much what we do as thedoing of it from which we derive benefit. The daily walk recommended by the doctor for thegood of the body, or the daily exercise for the brain, may in itself appear to be so much waste oftime; but it is the truest economy in the end.