[Illustration]
Now, to cover up one of these five crescents was a capital offence, the
death being something very painful and lingering. But on a certain
occasion of festivity it was necessary to lay down on this pavement a
square carpet of the largest dimensions possible, and I have shown in
the illustration by dark shading the largest dimensions that would be
available.
The puzzle is to show how the architect, if he had foreseen this
question of the carpet, might have so arranged his five crescent tiles
in accordance with the required conditions, and yet have allowed for the
largest possible square carpet to be laid down without any one of the
five crescent tiles being covered, or any portion of them.
313.--QUEENS AND BISHOP PUZZLE.
It will be seen that every square of the board is either occupied or
attacked. The puzzle is to substitute a bishop for the rook on the same
square, and then place the four queens on other squares so that every
square shall again be either occupied or attacked.
[Illustration]
314.--THE SOUTHERN CROSS.
[Illustration]
In the above illustration we have five Planets and eighty-one Fixed
Stars, five of the latter being hidden by the Planets. It will be found
that every Star, with the exception of the ten that have a black spot in
their centres, is in a straight line, vertically, horizontally, or
diagonally, with at least one of the Planets. The puzzle is so to
rearrange the Planets that all the Stars shall be in line with one or
more of them.
In rearranging the Planets, each of the five may be moved once in a
straight line, in either of the three directions mentioned. They will,
of course, obscure five other Stars in place of those at present
covered.
315.--THE HAT-PEG PUZZLE.
Here is a five-queen puzzle that I gave in a fanciful dress in 1897. As
the queens were there represented as hats on sixty-four pegs, I will
keep to the title, "The Hat-Peg Puzzle." It will be seen that every
square is occupied or attacked. The puzzle is to remove one queen to a
different square so that still every square is occupied or attacked,
then move a second queen under a similar condition, then a third queen,
and finally a fourth queen. After the fourth move every square must be
attacked or occupied, but no queen must then attack another. Of course,
the moves need not be "queen moves;" you can move a queen to any part of
the board.
[Illustration]
316.--THE AMAZONS.
[Illustration]
This puzzle is based on one by Captain Turton. Remove three of the
queens to other squares so that there shall be eleven squares on the
board that are not attacked. The removal of the three queens need not be
by "queen moves." You may take them up and place them anywhere. There is
only one solution.
317.--A PUZZLE WITH PAWNS.
Place two pawns in the middle of the chessboard, one at Q 4 and the
other at K 5. Now, place the remaining fourteen pawns (sixteen in all)
so that no three shall be in a straight line in any possible direction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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