THE NINE ALMONDS

"Here is a little puzzle," said a Parson, "that I have found peculiarly fascinating. It is so simple, and yet it keeps you interested indefinitely."

The reverend gentleman took a sheet of paper and divided it off into twenty-five squares, like a square portion of a chessboard. Then he placed nine almonds on the central squares, as shown in the illustration, where we have represented numbered counters for convenience in giving the solution.

"Now, the puzzle is," continued the Parson, "to remove eight of the almonds and leave the ninth in the central square. You make the removals by jumping one almond over another to the vacant square beyond and taking off the one jumped over—just as in draughts, only here you can jump in any direction, and not diagonally only. The point is to do the thing in the fewest possible moves."

The following specimen attempt will make everything clear. Jump `4` over `1, 5` over `9, 3` over `6, 5` over `3, 7` over `5` and `2, 4` over `7, 8` over `4`. But `8` is not left in the central square, as it should be. Remember to remove those you jump over. Any number of jumps in succession with the same almond count as one move.