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nydus/The Canterbury Puzzles, and Other Curious ProblemsPublic

Henry Ernest Dudeney collects a wide variety of original mathematical and mental puzzles into this volume. The book features an introductory essay on the nature of puzzles and provides solutions for all problems at the end.

Page 247 of 307
Table of Contents

70 .— Romeo and Juliet.

This is rather a difficult puzzle, though, as the Professor remarked when Hawkhurst hit on the solution, it is "just one of those puzzles that a person might solve at a glance" by pure luck. Yet when the solution, with its pretty, symmetrical arrangement, is seen, it looks ridiculously simple.

It will be found that Romeo reaches Juliet's balcony after visiting every house once and only once, and making fourteen turnings, not counting the turn he makes at starting. These are the fewest turnings possible, and the problem can only be solved by the route shown or its reversal.

A puzzle diagram of an 8x8 checkerboard showing a continuous, winding path connecting a snail labeled Romeo to one labeled Juliet.
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