The Postage Stamps Puzzles
(
THE PROFESSOR'S PUZZLES)
"Now, instead of coins we'll substitute postage-stamps. Take ten current English stamps, nine of them being all of different values, and the tenth a duplicate. Stick two of them in one division and one in each of the others, so that the square shall this time add up ninepence in the eight directions as before."
"Here you are!" cried Grigsby, after he had been scribbling for a few minutes on the back of an envelope.
The Professor smiled indulgently.
"Are you sure that there is a current English postage-stamp of the value of threepence-halfpenny?"
"For the life of me, I don't know. Isn't there?"
"That's just like the Professor," put in Hawkhurst. "There never was such a 'tricky' man. You never know when you have got to the bottom of his puzzles. Just when you make sure you have found a solution, he trips you up over some little point you never thought of."
"When you have done that," said the Professor, "here is a much better one for you. Stick English postage stamps so that every three divisions in a line shall add up alike, using as many stamps as you choose, so long as they are all of different values. It is a hard nut."
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The Coinage Puzzle
