loyd's cyclopedia

January 10, 2005 10:33 PM

Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks, and Conundrums (With Answers) I hereby put this version of Sam Loyd's 1914 work into the public domain. (Ed Pegg Jr, 2005) Who is Sam Loyd? Remember the Donkey Puzzle? The 15 Puzzle? These and 4,998 more...
posted by vacapinta (16 comments total)

Awesome! Thanks.
posted by painquale at 10:49 PM on January 10, 2005

Thanks.
posted by Gyan at 11:05 PM on January 10, 2005

You are my hero, vacapinta, and so is Ed Pegg, Jr. — I adore this stuff.

Take a look at the "Prize Offer" info on this page. Maybe it would be fun to set up a blog for people interested in finding and solving the prize puzzles together? Would anyone here like to play?
posted by taz at 11:15 PM on January 10, 2005

God, I suck at this visual stuff. It turns me into a babbling, incoherent moron in much the same way political threads on metafilter do.

*flies into a rage, hulks up*
posted by The God Complex at 12:11 AM on January 11, 2005

*looking at page 28*
Me: What does the bear want?
Friend next to me: Muslin
Me: What? Why the hell would he want muslin?
*checks answer on page 342*
Me: Oh.
posted by whoshotwho at 1:05 AM on January 11, 2005

God Complex: yeah, I'm the same way. Riddles and conundrums like these make me go batty. And I just suck at them.

whoshotwho: I chanced to look at that one first. I still don't get the answer. I still don't understand why the bear wants muslin.

Did I mention I'm an idiot. That may explain things.

Vacapinta, may you rot in hell for subjecting my next couple of days to reading the puzzles and vainly trying to figure them out while finally giving up and looking at the answers in the back! ;)
posted by snwod at 1:33 AM on January 11, 2005

Another vote for "Why the hell would he want muslin?". Is there something significant about a dry goods store that I'm missing?
posted by pikachulolita at 1:35 AM on January 11, 2005

WAG: Teddy bears pre-1914 were made mainly of muslin?
posted by Gyan at 2:04 AM on January 11, 2005

Does that prize offer page say: "the answers...[to be] posted not earlier than December 1, 1915, and not later than January 1, 1915, ..."? Now that's truly a conundrum.
posted by Gyan at 2:09 AM on January 11, 2005

The bear wants muzzlin'.
posted by drdanger at 3:40 AM on January 11, 2005

Funny, Gyan! I wonder how they resolved that? Or was it just a very tricky way to save themselves $100?
posted by taz at 4:25 AM on January 11, 2005

taz: count me in, I love these impuzzleables.

You have to remember, this being written a century ago, 'wanting' also meant 'need'.

So what the bear 'needed' was to be muzzled, or as drdanger stated 'muzzlin'.

What does the bear need? A muzzle.
posted by kamylyon at 5:04 AM on January 11, 2005

My............brain...........hurts. I thought I'd knock out a few puzzles while drinking my coffee this morning, and now I'm just going to go to work not feeling as smart as I did a few hours ago.

I was searching online to see if this was published as an original piece or a collection of preprinted puzzles (the latter - his son published the book after Sam's death) and found this brief biography if you're interested.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 6:02 AM on January 11, 2005

Speaking of puzzles ... Does anyone know whatever became of this? http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/19383
posted by quirked at 11:13 AM on January 11, 2005

I got a reprint of this book for christmas way back when I was a child, like around 30 years ago. I still have it, and I still suck at solving these puzzles. This is fantastic book, nice to see it on the internet for all to enjoy.
posted by Eekacat at 11:54 AM on January 11, 2005

For some strange, unfathomable reason, I, too, first looked at the page with the bear puzzle. Weird. I still think 'Muslin' is a stupid answer today, but the other puzzle on the page is an oldie but goodie.
posted by Sparx at 12:18 PM on January 11, 2005