Removing the first letter of a word (beheadment) or the last (curtailment) was a device used by writers to add a new element of interest to their work. In the seventeenth century, the poet George Herbert included this form of word play in his poem, 'Paradise':
I bless thee, Lord, because I GROW
Among thy trees, which in a ROW
To thee both fruit and order OW.
What open force, or hidden CHARM
Can blast my fruit, or bring me HARM,
While the enclosure is thy ARM?
Enclose me still for fear I START.
Be to me rather sharp and TART,
Than let me want thy hand and ART.
When thou dost greater judgements SPARE,
And with thy knife but prune and PARE,
Ev'n fruitful trees more fruitful ARE.
In the nineteenth century, beheadments became a popular feature in magazines and activity books. Readers had to deduce a certain word when given a set of clues.
In 'Charades, Enigmas, and Riddles' (1862):
What is pretty and useful in various ways,
Though it tempts some poor mortals to shorten their days;
Take one letter from it, and then will appear
What youngsters admire every day in the year!
Take two letters from it, and then, without doubt,
You are what it is, if you don't find it out.
Answer: GLASS
Another example appeared in 'Frolics of the Sphynx '(1812)
Composed of only five letters am I,
And us'd to express a day that is dry,
Or bright and unclouded, not such as we find,
When the fogs of November enervate mankind;
One letter remove, and you've often read o'er,
This favorite play of a bard we adore,
And sympathiz'd much o'er the scenes of distress,
Which on his old hero so heavily press,
And have lent, with compassion, all that which remains
To the highly wrought grief of his magical strains,
When this little word three letters contain
Answer: CLEAR
Victorians were very fond of hidden word games. The idea was to construct a sentence, phrase, or story and hide as many words as possible within it. For example, there is a city hidden in the following sentence:
If the pan is coated with Teflon, don't use metal utensils.
Answer: LONDON
In 1881, 'Girl's Own Paper' featured these hidden animals:
Impossible! O, pardon me, by no means.
The lamb is one of my pets.
At last a girl moved.
He made errors on purpose.
I must give it up, I grieve to say.
Well, I only got terrified out of my wits.
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(leopard)
(bison)
(stag)
(deer)
(pig)
(lion, otter)
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Altering spaces between words, and even within them, is another way to hide words. The following sign was said to have graced a post in a village street in olden days:
TOTI EMU LESTO
Eventually, people realised the post was there to tie mules to.
Lewis Carroll's story, 'Novelty and Romancement' featured a poet who was excited to see a sign which read, "Simon Lubkin, Dealer in Romancement". His disappointment was absolute when he found out Lubkin actually dealt in Roman cement.
To this day, in East Hereford (UK), there is a sign outside a local pub which reads:
NOTICE
HERESTO PANDS PEN D ASOCI
AL HOU R INHAR M LES SMIRT
HA ND FUNLET FRIENDS
HIPRE IGN BE JUSTAN DK
INDAN DEVIL SPEAKOF NO NE
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Translation:
Here stop and spend a social hour in harmless mirth and fun
Let friendship reign, be just and kind, and evil speak of no one.
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Cryptarithms and Alphametics...
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A cryptarithm is a puzzle in which letters are substituted for numbers in an equation. The term was coined by Maurice Vatriquant in 'Sphinx' magazine in 1931. In 1955, J. A. Hunter suggested the word alphametic to describe a cryptarithm which uses actual words instead of random letters.
The following are fine examples of cryptarithms or alphametics:
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S E N D
M O R E
G O L D
M O N E Y
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5 4 7 8
1 6 2 4
9 6 3 8
1 6 7 4 0
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T W O x T W O = T H R E E
1 3 8 x 1 3 8 = 1 9 0 4 4
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V E N U S
- E A R T H
M A R S
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5 4 7 3 9
4 6 1 2 0
8 6 1 9
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See you next time!
If you enjoyed this article then you'll want to read "The Oxford Guide To Word Games" by Tony Augarde.
