A Medley of Puzzles 



Bv Sam Lovd 



Off His Beat 



"'IT THAT time of the morning is it?" 

 VV asked the roundsman. It was 

 then that Finnegan's mathematical bump 

 stood him in good stead; for, being 

 a few minutes late on his beat, he 

 clouded the situa- 

 tion with the fol- 

 lowing truthful re- 

 ply: 



"Just add yi 

 the time from mid- 

 night until now 

 to yi the time 

 from now until 

 midnight, and it 

 will give you the 

 correct time." 



Can you figure 

 out the exact time 

 Finnegan made his speech? 



At the Auto Races 



AN interesting question arose the 

 other day at the Auto Races when 

 three of the speed experts started on a 

 hundred-mile race. A member of the 

 sporting fraternity offered the odds of 

 20 to I against anyone's guessing the 

 complete result of the contest. While 

 the odds appeared to be surprisingh' 

 generous, an onlooker 

 who prides himself on 

 his aptness at figures 

 claimed the book- 

 maker would have the 

 advantage of such a 



wager. 



Remember that 

 one, two or all three 

 of the cars might 

 fail to finish. Then 

 again, that all three 

 might cross the finish 

 line together, or that 

 two might finish in a 

 dead heat, etc. 



Can you figure out 

 in just how many 

 varied ways the race 

 might have termi- 

 nated? 



CASH PRIZES FOR PUZZLE SOLUTIONS 



Fifteen Dollars in prizes will be 

 awarded for solutions of the puzzles 

 appearing on these two pages. The 

 first prize of Five Dollars will be paid 

 to the reader who makes a perfect 

 score. Ten prizes of One Dollar each 

 will be awarded to the first ten who 

 send in meritorious answers. Should 

 there be more than one perfect set of 

 answers, the first prize will be paid 

 to the reader whose letter was mailed 

 first: the postmark will guide us in 

 determining the mailing date. Answers 

 to the April puzzles will appear in the 

 May number. Names of the winners 

 of the prizes in the June number. 



Send solutions to Sam Loyd, Care 

 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The solution of (he March Puzzles appear 

 on (he opposite page. The names of (he win- 

 ners of the March prizes will appear in May. 



Cheese and Crackers 



CHEF LOUIS is showing the exact 

 ratio in which cheese and crackers 

 should be consumed. Says Louis: 



"The balance board, which weighs 

 ^2 as much as the cheese has 4/5 of 

 its length on one 

 side of the bal- 

 ance point. Now 

 what is the ratio 

 between these 

 quantities of 

 cheese and crack- 

 ers?" 



This problem is 

 literalK' a lesson 

 in "balanced ra- 

 tions," which you 

 can easih" soK'e by 

 a simple algebraic 

 principle. 



At the Stamp Window 



UNCLE SAM'S postal clerks in an 

 ordinary day's turn at the stamp 

 window are confronted with all sorts of 

 perplexing problems which they are ex- 

 pected to solve off-hand without betray- 

 ing the mental g^-mnastics required. 

 One of these bright young men tells 

 how the other day the cashier of a large 

 mail-order house 

 which buys in quanti- 

 ty, tossed a banknote 

 through his window 

 and said : 



"Give me some i- 

 cent stamps; three- 

 fourths as many 2's 

 as I's, three-fourths 

 as many 5's as 2's and 

 five 8-cent stamps for 

 the balance of the 



money. 



Can you tell the 

 denomination of the 

 banknote? 



The postal clerk 

 did not even have to 

 use a pencil and 

 paper, though you 

 may, if necessary. 



