Life, 1921-10-27 · page 10 of 34
Life — October 27, 1921 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page presents three separate games/puzzles for readers, not political cartoons: **I. Pictorial Absurdities**: Six cartoon panels showing deliberately illogical domestic scenes—people in impossible situations (bathing with groceries, playing ball indoors, etc.). Readers must identify what's wrong in each image within 4.5 hours. **II. Obeying Orders**: Word puzzles requiring readers to follow written instructions literally (writing alphabet backwards, crossing out letters, etc.). **III. Practical Judgment**: Multiple-choice trivia questions about everyday scenarios (lightning rods, crying babies, freezing water, etc.) with humorous incorrect answers. These are lighthearted recreational puzzles typical of 1920s-30s Life magazine, designed to entertain rather than satirize. The humor comes from absurd situations and trick-answer questions, not political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Winding the Cuckoo Clock Handy Tests to Show Just Where You Get Off Henry William Hanemann NO. 5 I. Pictorial Absurdities OW look carefully at the six pictures. gruous. In each one is something absurd or incon- See if you can tell what the discrepancy, inapplicability, inconcinnity, disproportionateness, unconformity or discordance in each picture is. Think quickly, for you will be allowed only four hours and a half. II. Obeying Orders Do What It Says 1. Write out the alphabet backwards. If “n” comes before “m,” ‘m,” erase what you have written and do it over again. 2. Cross out all the “c’s” in the following sentence: “Jump up, John,” said his wife pleasantly, “and bring me a doughnut and a glass of water.” 3. Here are five squares: O O O O OQ. In the first, do nothing; in the second, don’t do anything at all; in the third and fourth, do what you did in the first, and in the fifth, use your own judgment. 4. Draw a six-pointed star around the third, seventh, fifteenth, twenty-fourth, thirty-ninth, fifty-fifth and ninety- first letters of the Hungarian alphabet. 5. If polygamy is invariably constitutionally unfeasible, circumscribe the word denoting the nature of the SrBertaNn WEAsEL; if not, underscore that word that most accurately describes the process of preparing edible GamMBocE: Diplodocus, peripatetic, pulchritudinous, diapedesis, frit- ter, Columbus Circle. Ill, Practical Judgment Mark the One You Like Best \ K THAT is the main purpose of lightning rods? © To save the ‘house from being struck more than once. O To separate the thunder from the lightning. O To catch in Santa Claus’ trousers. 2. What should one do with a crying baby? O Turn it off. O Join in the chorus. O Run it through the clothes wringer. 3. If the canary doesn’t sing, it is because O It has tonsilitis. O It has been called out on strike. O It needs a new needle. 4. Why does water freeze in winter? O To oblige the ice companies. O Because we all do. CO Because it refuses to wear heavy undegclothing. comicbooks.com