Source : 1001 Puzzles For Mist-Enshrouded Afternoons In A Damp Hut On A Bosky Hillside by Blodgett & Blodgett.
Friday, August the 20th, 2004
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Few puzzles have taxed the minds of generations as maddeningly as Blodgett's famous “Fishpaste Conundrum”. It is a great pleasure to introduce it to readers who may not have come across it before.
A man wearing a metal neck-brace is carrying a tub of fishpaste towards a very tall lighthouse. At each step he takes, one or other of his big black boots thumps the ground heavily. To his left, there is a row of poplars, sixteen in all, in each of which is an owl. No two owls are facing in the same direction. When, earlier in the day, the man carrying the tub of fishpaste was reading his daily newspaper, he noted that one of the clues in the cryptic crossword featured an anagram of Tallulah Bankhead. This is still on his mind as he approaches ever closer to the very tall lighthouse. In fact, he is so preoccupied that when all the owls fly away from the poplars at the same moment, he does not even notice. The tub of fishpaste weighs 14 panes. What is the connection between the fishpaste, the owls, the metal neck-brace and the anagram?
Source : 1001 Puzzles For Mist-Enshrouded Afternoons In A Damp Hut On A Bosky Hillside by Blodgett & Blodgett.