Bob Sr. the alchemist had recently died. He invented only one magic potion, the Cingumbulating Stone 2001. It had the power to make any metal into gold (just like the Philosopher’s Stone). It was nowhere to be seen. However, he seemed to have left instructions on how to make it:
Take 12 toenails,
Add 5 nincompoops,
Mix that with 14 salads.
Next add 9 icicles,
2 dead frogs,
And 6 wet rocks.
Finally, put 14 cats in,
Along with 12 ace of spades,
7 diamond bracelets,
And 9 monkeys’ paws.
His son, Bob Jr., will not receive the inheritance of the ultimate stone if he cannot figure out this puzzle. Can you help him?
Solution
The stone was inside Bob’s cane.
The number (n) in each line represents the nth character to take. For example, the “12” in the first line means you must take the 12th character in the line. Commas count as characters. Taking the corresponding character from each line leaves us with “insidecane”. Put a space in to get “inside cane”.
