Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5,000 Puzzles Tricks & Conundrums with
Answers has been reprinted today !!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Cyclopedia-Puz...dp/0923891781/

Originally published in 1914, many of the individual puzzles in this
book have been reprinted and republished many times, but this is the
first time the complete 384 page book with ALL of the diagrams and
drawings has been reprinted.

Sanitized versions of some of these puzzles have been published
especially by Martin Gardner, the mathematical games columnist for
Scientific American, but he removed the off-color remarks and
drawings.

Sam Sloan


On Mar 5, 8:57 pm, "samsloan" wrote:
SamLoyd(1841-1911) was the all time greatest inventor and developer
of puzzles. He is described by Martin Gardner, the author of the
"Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American, as "America's
greatest puzzlist and an authentic American genius". His fame is world
wide and books of his puzzles have been published in Russian and other
languages.

SamLoyd'sCyclopedia of 5,000 Puzzles Tricks & Conundrums with
Answers was compiled by the son ofSamLoydand published in 1914
after his death. Although many books have been written about some ofLoyd'spuzzles, this remains the most complete volume of all of his
puzzles.

This is considered to be the most fabulous and exciting collection of
puzzles ever assembled in one volume. The puzzles come with wonderful
illustrations.

SamLoydis even more famous among chess masters,. His chess problems
and compositions contain ideas that are studied by chess masters to
this day. According to Grandmaster Pal Benko, the great endgame
composer Troitzky used themes created bySamLoydfor his
compositions. In 1987,SamLoydwas inducted into the US Chess Hall of
Fame, the only chess player ever so honored because of his chess
compositions.

Bobby Fischer is a big fan ofSamLoydPuzzles. I personally timed
Fischer with a stop watch at his request where he demonstrated that he
could solve theSamLoyd15-Puzzle every time in 25 seconds or less.
Fischer and I used to hang out together late nights in Midtown
Manhattan, where he would practice solving this puzzle. This was years
before Fischer won the World Chess Championship. Fischer later
demonstrated the ability to solve the 15-Puzzle on the Johnny Carson
Show.

The most famous chess composition bySamLoydis his demonstration
that it is possible to achieve stalemate in chess in only ten moves.
The moves are 1.e3 a5 2.Qh5 Ra6 3.Qxa5 h5 4.Qxc7 Rah6 5.h4 f6 6.Qxd7+
Kf7 7.Qxb7 Qd3 8.Qxb8 Qh7 9.Qxc8 Kg6 10.Qe6

Every now and then some wise guys who are conspiring to draw a game by
agreement play these moves in a serious tournament game. International
Master Bernard Zuckerman played this game against Larry Gilden in the
Eastern Open Chess Championship in Washington DC in 1962, then the
biggest money tournament in America. Gilden was fortunate that
Zuckerman kept his promise to draw the game. The tournament was won by
Grandmaster Pal Benko.

SamLoydalso demonstrated that stalemate in 12 moves can occur with
all the pieces still on the board. The moves are 1.d4 d6 2.Qd2 e5 3.a4
e4 4.Qf4 f5 5.h3 Be7 6.Qh2 Be6 7.Ra3 c5 8.Rg3 Qa5+ 9.Nd2 Bh4 10.f3 Bb3
11.d5 e3 12.c4 f4

TheSamLoyd15-Puzzle has a caused a minor controversy recently. A
2006 book by Jerry Slocum claims thatSamLoyddid not really invent
the 15-Puzzle, which isSamLoyds most famous puzzle. In that book,
The 15 Puzzle Book by Jerry Slocum and Dic Sonneveld,, ISBN
1890980153, the authors state: "The great puzzle masterSamLoyd
claimed to have invented the Fifteen Puzzle and that claim has stood
largely unchallenged for 115 years." They claim that the puzzle was
actually invented by Noyes Palmer Chapman, a postmaster in Canastota,
New York, possibly as early as 1874. However, the Chapman puzzle was
not really the same as theLoydpuzzle. This issue can be debated
forever, much like debating whether Newton really invented calculus.
In any event, it is clear thatLoydis the one who popularized the
puzzle by offering a prize of $1000 in a New York newspaper to any one
who could figure out a way to reverse the position of two adjacent
blocks in the puzzle.Loydhad already worked out mathematically that
the solution is impossible. The 15-puzzle problem caused a world-wide
frenzy in 1880; and made it The Greatest Puzzle of All Time.

SamuelLoydwas born in Philadelphia on January 31, 1841 and raised in
Brooklyn, New York. His first puzzle was published in a New York
newspaper at the age of 14. From shortly thereafter until his death in
1911, he was America's undisputed puzzle king. His father, a real
estate operator, moved the family from Philadelphia to New York in
1844, whereLoydattended public school until he was 17. He became
obsessed with the game of chess at age 10 and as a youth frequented a
chess club where his interest in making puzzles started. His first
problem was published by a New York paper when he was 14, and during
the next five years his output of chess puzzles was so prolific that
he was known throughout the chess world. By 1858, he was hailed as the
leading American writer of chess problems. In 1877 and 1878,Loyd
wrote a weekly chess page for Scientific American Supplement and these
columns comprised most of the book Chess Strategy, printed in 1978,
and containing 500 chess problems.

WhenLoydwas only 17, he invented his Trick Mules or Donkey Puzzle
which is deceptively difficult. The object is to cut apart the three
pieces and then reassemble them so that the two jockeys are riding the
mules. The puzzle was sold byLoydto the American showman Phineas T.
Barnum (of Barnum & Bailey Circus fame).Loydearned some $10,000 from
the puzzle.

On April 10, 1911,SamLoydhe died in his home on 153 Halsey Street
near the corner of Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. His obituary in
the New York Times reported that he had been educated as a civil
engineer and held a steam and mechanical engineers license in New York
City, that he was a one time editor of The Sanitary Engineer, and that
he was also a successful stock market operator, but that he never
bought stocks on margin.

After his death, his son took over the puzzle business. The original
name of his son was Walter but he started calling himselfSamLoydand
named his own sonSamLoydJunior. His son operated a puzzle shop on
Fulton Avenue in Brooklyn until his death in 1934.

This explains a paradox in this book, because it says that a prize can
be won by sending solutions to puzzles in this book toSamLoydbefore
January 31, 1915. SinceSamLoydhad died in 1911 and this book was
published in 1914, one wonders how it was possible to send him the
solution. The answer is that the son was now calling himselfSamLoyd.

A further conundrum is that in order to claim the prize one needs to
solve a number of puzzles, including the 14-15 puzzle which is found
on page 235 of this book. However, as we now know, this puzzle has no
solution.

Another problem is that in addition to sending in the solutions prior
to January 31, 1915 one must also send them in after December 1, 1915.
This one is a real head scratcher. The answer seems to be that this is
a typo, but one can never be sure.

According to the New York Times, The Donkey Puzzle sold more than one
million copies. Other successful puzzles were the Fifteen-Block, page
235, Pigs in Clover, Parchesi, and Get off the Earth, page 323. Other
popular problems were Back from the Klondike, page 106, and How Old is
Mary, page 53.

SamLoyddid not claim to have invented all the puzzles in this book.
Some he simply improved. Others he credited to others. An example is
the Towers of Hanoi puzzle on page 223. This puzzle is still sold in
every childrens store. The inventor originally named it the Tower of
Brahma or Bramah, said to be in India.Loydchanged the name and moved
it to Hanoi, making it more popular.

SamSloan

ISBN 0-923891-78-1