We will now consider the 13 whose working is wrong, though the answer is right: and, not to measure their demerits too exactly, I will take them in alphabetical order. ANITA finds (rightly) that "1 sandwich and 3 biscuits cost 3_d._," and proceeds "therefore 1 sandwich = 1-1/2_d._, 3 biscuits = 1-1/2_d._, 1 lemonade = 6_d._" DINAH MITE begins like ANITA: and thence proves (rightly) that a biscuit costs less than a 1_d._: whence she concludes (wrongly) that it _must_ cost 1/2_d._ F. C. W. is so beautifully resigned to the certainty of a verdict of "guilty," that I have hardly the heart to utter the word, without adding a "recommended to mercy owing to extenuating circumstances." But really, you know, where _are_ the extenuating circumstances? She begins by assuming that lemonade is 4_d._ a glass, and sandwiches 3_d._ each, (making with the 2 given equations, _four_ conditions to be fulfilled by _three_ miserable unknowns!). And, having (naturally) developed this into a contradiction, she then tries 5_d._ and 2_d._ with a similar result. (N.B. _This_ process might have been carried on through the whole of the Tertiary Period, without gratifying one single Megatherium.) She then, by a "happy thought," tries half-penny biscuits, and so obtains a consistent result. This may be a good solution, viewing the problem as a conundrum: but it is _not_ scientific. JANET identifies sandwiches with biscuits! "One sandwich + 3 biscuits" she makes equal to "4." Four _what_? MAYFAIR makes the astounding assertion that the equation, _s_ + 3_b_ = 3, "is evidently only satisfied by _s_ = 3/2, _b_ = 1/2"! OLD CAT believes that the assumption that a sandwich costs 1-1/2_d._ is "the only way to avoid unmanageable fractions." But _why_ avoid them? Is there not a certain glow of triumph in taming such a fraction? "Ladies and gentlemen, the fraction now before you is one that for years defied all efforts of a refining nature: it was, in a word, hopelessly vulgar. Treating it as a circulating decimal (the treadmill of fractions) only made matters worse. As a last resource, I reduced it to its lowest terms, and extracted its square root!" Joking apart, let me thank OLD CAT for some very kind words of sympathy, in reference to a correspondent (whose name I am happy to say I have now forgotten) who had found fault with me as a discourteous critic. O. V. L. is beyond my comprehension. He takes the given equations as (1) and (2): thence, by the process [(2)-(1)] deduces (rightly) equation (3) viz. _s_ + 3_b_ = 3: and thence again, by the process [×33] (a hopeless mystery), deduces 3_s_ + 4_b_ = 4. I have nothing to say about it: I give it up. SEA-BREEZE says "it is immaterial to the answer" (why?) "in what proportion 3_d._ is divided between the sandwich and the 3 biscuits": so she assumes _s_ = l-1/2_d._, _b_ = 1/2_d._ STANZA is one of a very irregular metre. At first she (like JANET) identifies sandwiches with biscuits. She then tries two