Thursday, November 8, 2012

A PUZZLE BY LEWIS CARROLL

John gave his brother James a box: 
About it there were many locks. 
James woke and said it gave him pain; 
So gave it back to John again. 
The box was not with lid supplied 
Yet caused two lids to open wide: 
And all these locks had never a key 
What kind of box, then, could it be?

Please do not give the answer in the comments.  Just say whether you solved the puzzle or not.

Puzzle from Mycoted.

Photo from Wikipedia.

17 comments:

  1. I figured out the answer before I read it in the source that I sent you, Mimi, but I didn't expect that it would be in rhyme.

    Anyway, I liked the one with the four men buried to their necks.

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    Replies
    1. Paul (A), I thought the puzzle was fairly easy to solve, and I'm not that good at this sort of thing.

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    2. OMG! I fogot to give you credit, Paul(A.). You must be furious! Cheers?

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  2. I don't know if we solved it properly... but we think we know.... (we being Joel and you know who.... )

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    Replies
    1. For a minute there, I thought it was the royal "we", margaret. ;-)

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  3. Anyone who wishes can find the answer by clicking the link in the post.

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  4. Got it; from an expression I've not heard for a good while, by the way.

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  5. Wow, the solution is a poem also!

    I got it partly (but not in rhyme).

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  6. I did not get the answer in rhyme either, JCF. That Carroll is a clever fella.

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  7. What a clever group of commenters we have here. The puzzle seems not to have stumped any of you.

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  8. I remember one from my childhood that asked;
    I can go up down, but can't go down up. What and where am I?

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    Replies
    1. I'm still puzzling over this one AofS.

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    2. OK,get ready to groan!
      The answer is an umbrella in a chimney. It can go up when it's down (closed) but cannot go down when it's up (open).

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    3. Groan. I would never have got that one...not in a million years.

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    4. Yup, it's a groaner alright. Now that this post is off the 'front page' I don't expect anybody to see this, but in hope more than expectation:
      My English teacher set us this one as a test, oh so many years ago.
      You have to construct a sentence that uses the word 'and' five times in straight succession, ie. the sentence must have '...and and and and and....' within it. The sentence must be grammatically correct, and you cannot cheat by quoting a stammerer!

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