FIVE OLD RIDDLES

In these riddles, "first" and "second" refer to syllables (or their sound). To behead is to drop the first letter, to curtail is to drop the last letter, and to transpose means to re-arrange the letters. "Whole" refers to the whole word.

1)

My first you will be if you're just and upright;

My second you'll see in a sharp, frosty night.

Together combined I'm a virtue that's great,

That should govern each mind and preside in each state.

2)

My first is a sailor,

My second to gain;

My whole, though oft shot at,

Can never be slain.

3)

My first could wear my second,

My third might be

What my first might acquire

If he went to sea;

Put together my one, two, three,

And the belle of New York is the girl for me.

(Credit: Hubert Phillips)

4)

From an odd number cut off the head,

It then will even be;

Its tail, I pray, next take away,

The Mother of us all you'll see.

5)

My whole is a word of five letters,

I am tiny, but capable of causing great calamity;

Behead me and I'm a pleasant place to spend the day,

Behead me again and I'm the place

Where all the world once congregated.

OR (same answer)

If at first you curtail me,

I'm a mineral, a mast, and a sport;

Curtail me once more,

And I'm a fashionable resort.

Yet instead,

If you cut off both my head and tail,

I still measure up,

Though all golfers love to stay below me.

Answers:

1. Justice (just / ice)

2. Target

3. Manhattan

4. Seven (even / Eve)

5. Spark