It is needless to say where you can find answers to the foregoing questions. Of course those that demand animals' names have plays upon either the meaning or pronunciation of those names. The nicknames were once generally applied. Where names of persons are wanted there is, as you scarcely need be told, a double meaning to those names, as, General Wool--were the name used--might be referred to as the soldier that everybody wears in winter, etc. The verses are riddles--and very clever ones. In questions 1, 2, 4, 32, 44, etc., explain briefly the meaning or origin of the numbered word or words. All who have not passed their 18th birthday are asked to send an answer. Grown people may help you find solutions. Make a list of the questions by numbers, giving each a line and writing one below the other. Do _not_ write out the story. Fasten your sheets together. Write your name at the top of the first sheet. Mail answers on May 10, to HARPER'S ROUND TABLE, New York--no other address is needed--and put the words Puzzle Answer in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope. Answers, with prize awards, will be announced as early as possible, and the prizes forwarded at once.
The prizes are: To the best, $10 in money, and $15, also in money, divided among a few other best solvers. Excellence consists in correct answers and correct spelling, but does not refer to penmanship.
The "Lost Diamond" puzzle proved an ideal contest. It was a trifle difficult, to be sure, but it had so much information in it that nobody who failed of a prize had his or her labor for naught. One solver, who lives in Pennsylvania, found all the answers save one, and got the first prize of $10 as his reward. His name is James L. Péquignot. A Minnesota solver secured the second prize, which in this case is made $3. His name is Eugene T. Hawkins. The balance of the prize money is divided among the following eight contestants, $1.50 to each: Saida N. and Frank T. Hallett, of Rhode Island; John Morton Espey and Elizabeth R. McIlvaine, of Pennsylvania; Helen E. Allis, Junius Browne, and Russell M. King, of New York, and J. Lawrence Hyde, of the District of Columbia.
A wide range was allowed in the answers. Indeed, any answer was accepted that could be found in the story, and for which authority was furnished or could be found. All were treated alike in this, and the contest rendered slightly easier for all. Here are answers by numbers: