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Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles tricks and Conundrums with Answers
Sam Loyd (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 many other languages. This book, Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5,000 Puzzles Tricks & Conundrums with Answers, was compiled by his son and published in 1914 after his death. Although many books have been written about some of Loyd's puzzles, 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.
- GenresPuzzles
388 pages, Paperback
First published March 27, 2007
67 people want to read
About the author
Sam Loyd
37 books6 followersSamuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911), born in Philadelphia and raised in New York, was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician.
As a chess composer, he authored a number of chess problems, often with interesting themes. At his peak, Loyd was one of the best chess players in the US, and was ranked 15th in the world, according to chessmetrics.com.
He played in the strong Paris 1867 chess tournament (won by Ignatz von Kolisch) with little success, placing near the bottom of the field.
Following his death, his book Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles was published (1914) by his son. His son, named after his father, dropped the "Jr" from his name and started publishing reprints of his father's puzzles. Loyd (senior) was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame.
Loyd is widely acknowledged as one of America's great puzzle-writers and popularizers, often mentioned as the greatest—Martin Gardner called him "America's greatest puzzler", and The Strand in 1898 dubbed him "the prince of puzzlers". As a chess problemist, his composing style is distinguished by wit and humour.
As a chess composer, he authored a number of chess problems, often with interesting themes. At his peak, Loyd was one of the best chess players in the US, and was ranked 15th in the world, according to chessmetrics.com.
He played in the strong Paris 1867 chess tournament (won by Ignatz von Kolisch) with little success, placing near the bottom of the field.
Following his death, his book Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles was published (1914) by his son. His son, named after his father, dropped the "Jr" from his name and started publishing reprints of his father's puzzles. Loyd (senior) was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame.
Loyd is widely acknowledged as one of America's great puzzle-writers and popularizers, often mentioned as the greatest—Martin Gardner called him "America's greatest puzzler", and The Strand in 1898 dubbed him "the prince of puzzlers". As a chess problemist, his composing style is distinguished by wit and humour.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 8, 2023
From Wikipedia: "Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911[1]) was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician."
Over the past year, my son and I went through this collection at the supper table. Overall, I truly enjoyed the puzzles and jokes and looked forward to it as part of the evening. I generally appreciated how Sam Loyd adds a narrative to each puzzle to make it a story. And for many there's wonderful woodcut illustration. There's a great variety of genres and difficulty; I'd say anybody that likes solving puzzles would find something, especially if they like mathematical puzzles.
If I stopped here, this would be a 4 star review.. but alas, I give it 2 stars.
Why?
Well, the collection, compiled and published by his son Sam Loyd (who dropped the Junior) is rife with problems that I'm not sure if they are original to this collection or if they were preserved from the puzzle's first printing. Many puzzles have typographical errors or do not match the illustrations, frequently in ways that make the puzzle unsolvable. Sometimes the answer section has answers to different puzzles or to the same puzzle with different numbers. Some puzzles have no answer in the back and some of the answers in the back are for puzzles not even included.
There's racism and sexism through out. I can accept that these were written by an old white guy in the New York City in the late 1800s; Depiction of other ethnicities in illustration or prose are based on general American understandings at the time. Worth noting that while there's some good jokes and puzzles here, it's somebody's racist great-uncle that's telling them.
And finally.. before doing this book, we also went through puzzle collections by Loyd's contemporary Henry Dudeney and Martin Gardner (of the later 20th century). Not only does Loyd's collection frequently repeats itself, it also contains many puzzles we're certain were plagiarized from Dudeney while Loyd proclaims himself the great puzzle master to have invented it.
Did I have fun, yes? Are there good puzles in it, yes. Is this a good book, no.
Over the past year, my son and I went through this collection at the supper table. Overall, I truly enjoyed the puzzles and jokes and looked forward to it as part of the evening. I generally appreciated how Sam Loyd adds a narrative to each puzzle to make it a story. And for many there's wonderful woodcut illustration. There's a great variety of genres and difficulty; I'd say anybody that likes solving puzzles would find something, especially if they like mathematical puzzles.
If I stopped here, this would be a 4 star review.. but alas, I give it 2 stars.
Why?
Well, the collection, compiled and published by his son Sam Loyd (who dropped the Junior) is rife with problems that I'm not sure if they are original to this collection or if they were preserved from the puzzle's first printing. Many puzzles have typographical errors or do not match the illustrations, frequently in ways that make the puzzle unsolvable. Sometimes the answer section has answers to different puzzles or to the same puzzle with different numbers. Some puzzles have no answer in the back and some of the answers in the back are for puzzles not even included.
There's racism and sexism through out. I can accept that these were written by an old white guy in the New York City in the late 1800s; Depiction of other ethnicities in illustration or prose are based on general American understandings at the time. Worth noting that while there's some good jokes and puzzles here, it's somebody's racist great-uncle that's telling them.
And finally.. before doing this book, we also went through puzzle collections by Loyd's contemporary Henry Dudeney and Martin Gardner (of the later 20th century). Not only does Loyd's collection frequently repeats itself, it also contains many puzzles we're certain were plagiarized from Dudeney while Loyd proclaims himself the great puzzle master to have invented it.
Did I have fun, yes? Are there good puzles in it, yes. Is this a good book, no.
Displaying 1 of 1 review