Sherlock Jones and Watsoff sit together around the Christmas tree pursuing their favourite pastime, which is reminiscing about old cases they encountered this year. "Jonesy", Dr. Watsoff started, "remember that one case when I had that bad cold?"

"Blabla ...... and when we entered the room the man inside had one shoe on with laces tied and one shoe off with untied laces, he said he was in all night and was just putting his shoes on to walk the dog. The fact that he was lying made you look into the matter further and we found evidence that _he_ murdered the lady next door." ..... Blabla.

"But I still can't see how you made out that the culprit was taking his shoes off instead of putting them on, the dog surely couldn't tell you, and his shoes were clean since it hadn't rained for days." "Nevertheless, dear Watsoff, I knew", Sherlock said smiling. "You couldn't have known".

Do you?

The warden of the Tilburg Dome Prison led Sherlock Jones and Dr. Watsoff on a guided tour of the facility. While they were walking around the buildings, Sherlock Jones saw a number of inmates who were digging a ditch. "It keeps them fit," the warden said when he saw the question on Sherlock Jones's face. There were thirty inmates working on the ditch. The warden told him that fifty inmates had dug another ditch, which was exactly as long and deep. They worked 142 days on it.

Can you tell how long thirty inmates would need to finish this ditch?

"That's a strange coincidence," Sherlock Jones said, and he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "What do you mean?" asked Watsoff. "Well, on each of the three tables around us are seven wine bottles." "Very interesting," Watsoff mumbled, and concentrated on his diner again. "You don't understand, Watsoff. I discovered that there are seven full bottles, seven half-full bottles and seven empty ones. Yet there is the same amount of wine on each table." Watsoff looked meticulously at the three tables. "Good heavens, you're right, Jones!"

Do you know how the bottles were placed on the three tables?

While Sherlock Jones was working on a case he received a mysterious note which contained important information. The note said:

"That's just what we need," grumbled Watsoff. "Now we've got to open all of the safe deposit boxes if we want to find the clues." "No we don't," Jones replied. "I know exactly which safe deposit box to open. Come on, let's go."

What was the number of the last safe deposit box?

In the library of Butcher Street 122A, Sherlock Jones was deep in thought about his next case. Watsoff sat opposite him, reading his newspaper.

"Good Lord!" exclaimed Watsoff. "It says here in The Times, that the late Lord Fulthingham left 300,000 pounds to his heirs." "Indeed a formidable amount, Watsoff," Jones replied. "But that's not all," Watsoff said. "It says that each of his four sons will get twice as much as each of his five daughters, and that each of his five daughters will get three times as much as their mother. If you ask me, that won't leave very much for the widow."

Sherlock Jones was immediately able to tell Dr. Watsoff what amount the widow would receive. Can you do the same?

During a murder investigation Dr. Watsoff found a piece of paper in the victim's bedroom. "It's a family tree," he said to Sherlock Jones. "But it is not complete. I wonder how many children Robert has."

Jones just glanced at the family tree and knew right away.

The incomplete family tree:

How many children does Robert have?

Sherlock Jones and Dr. Watsoff had synchronised their pocket watches. What they didn't know was that Watsoff's watch lost exactly two minutes every hour, and that Jones's watch gained exactly one minute every hour. Later, when they compared their watches, Jones's watch was exactly one hour ahead of Watsoff's watch.

How much time had elapsed since they had synchronised their watches?

Dr. Watsoff was hard at work in the garden of Butcher Street 122A, when Sherlock Jones came out to join him. "What are you going to do, Watsoff?" asked Jones. "I want this vine to grow against the garden wall," replied Watsoff. "So I shall have to span some string from the ground to the wall. The point on the ground is 90 cm from the wall and the point on the wall is located at a height of 120 cm."

What is the length of the string that Watsoff needs?

Sherlock Jones and Watsoff were visiting a horticultural show. During the show, an angry gardener came up to them. "You must help me, Mr. Jones," the gardener exclaimed. "Somebody has stolen the cabbage I entered in the contest!" "I shall do my best," Jones replied. "How big is your cabbage?" "It's the biggest one I've ever grown. It weighs 9.5 pounds, plus half of its own weight," the gardener said.

How heavy was the cabbage?

"Have a go at this, Watsoff," said Sherlock Jones, and he gave his old friend a piece of paper. The following was written on the paper: GALWINOREDS. "It looks like complete nonsense to me, Jones," Watsoff said. "You have to put the letters in the correct order and make a single word," replied Jones with a smile.

Can you do it?

In his room in Butcher Street 122A Dr. Watsoff kept a medical encyclopaedia, in six thick volumes, on a shelf over his bed. Watsoff always made sure that the books were in the correct order (from left to right: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3, etc.). One day he was annoyed to see that Mrs. Thames had put the books back in the wrong order after she had dusted (something which she rarely did).

With the help of the following clues, can you work out where Mrs. Thames had put the different volumes?

1. None of the volumes were in the correct place.
2. Volume 5 was immediately to the right of volume 2.
3. Volume 4 and volume 6 were not in volume 3's place.
4. To the left of volume 1 was volume 5, and immediately to the right of volume 1 was volume 3.
5. Volume 6 was to the left of volume 4.
6. There was an even-numbered volume where volume 5 should have been.

Sherlock Jones and his assistant, Mr. Watsoff were asked to investigate a mysterious murder case in the castle of Lord Haddock, which was said to be haunted. There was nothing to hear except for some metallic noise from a rusty gate in the wind.
Watsoff - not at ease at all - tried to break the ice.
"Maybe this place is haunted after all. The troubled ghost ......" Watsoff could not finish his sentence. "Dear Watsoff, you don't know how close you are. This fellow's death is a case of divine intervention, and you, my friend, just said it yourself!"

Who died, who did it and what was the murder weapon?

Sherlock Jones and his trusty companion Watsoff were once again investigating some mysterious case. They had entered an old warehouse and just as they were about to discover some evidence, two shots sounded and made them take cover. When they heard running footsteps Jones immediately took after the shooter with Watsoff on his trail. When they got outside they saw two men in the distance quietly walking away. One was walking north and the other was walking south.

"Which one was it, Jones?", Watsoff asked, still a little out of breath. "I'm almost 100% sure it couldn't be the one walking to the north, because he is harmless", Jones jested as he started walking to the south. "How do you know?", Watsoff hesitated, "For all you know he is a cold-blooded murderer." "You misunderstood Watsoff, but look at his silhouette, it's elementary", Jones replied. "Now make haste, or the other one will get away!"
Why did Jones believe it was the man going to the south, they needed to follow?

"Terrible Jones", Watsoff said, "no child deserves a childhood like that." Watsoff was reading a story in the paper. "It says here that twenty years ago this 19 year old girl, after years of abuse, witnessed her father murder her mother and then kill himself. The girl has never got over it, and it's been said that she has been mourning ever since. It is speculated that this trauma is the reason why the girl never married. She disappeared from town, but now, 20 years later, she has been seen in the town cemetery placing flowers on her poor mother's grave, God rest her soul. She was alone, still wearing black, but she wore a ring on her left hand. When asked to comment, she said nothing, but her eyes showed that she was content."

"It is a sad story, still she found a man she loves", Watsoff said to Jones, "Although the writer of this news piece claims wrongly she never married." "No no, you're wrong", said Jones, "read between the lines. The way I see it, the journalist made no mistake!"

"By George you're right, Jones!" "I admire your insight", Watsoff confessed as he turned the page. "Here's another intriguing story. It says that half a year ago a con-man named Harry Rip, who was set free after a few years' imprisonment, opened a home for street-dogs. It seems he told everybody that he would start a new life and had abandoned the path of crime. He received hundreds of cheques from high society folks who really liked the idea. After an anonymous tip, that he was planning a big con, the police started an investigation, but did not find any evidence that something was amiss. All the money that the people sent was deposited in a bank account. The books were precisely kept and everything was in order. The dogs were in splendid condition and were well-fed. He had even established a three-man committee, whose members were drawn from high society, who had to sign before Harry could withdraw any money from the bank."

"So you see it is not always 'once a thief, always a thief', don't you think so, too, Jonesy?" "Well, it is obvious to me what this Harry's plan could be, and I would not trust him just because everything is above board," Jones mumbled while he fiddled around with his pipe.

"Watsoff, there is a party of boy scouts coming today to stay for the night", Jones said. "We know how many boys are coming and I want to put them up in the annex. The annex has 8 rooms on the ground floor and eight rooms on the first floor". The layout of both floors is like this. [ ] = room.

[][][]
[]  []
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Jones and Watsoff were walking down Butcher Street when they were stopped by two agitated men. The elder of the two said, "Please, Mister Jones, can you help us? I was run down by one of those newfangled horseless carriages. I was riding on my penny-farthing when the blasted cad hit me. He didn't even look back. I managed to read part of the licence plate," he continued. "I am sure the only letters on it were HZ, and the first digit of the number was one. My friend here saw the accident and, he being a numbers buff, saw that the number consisted of five different digits. He also noticed that if he multiplied the first two digits with the other three (ab*cde) the result was composed of the same five digits, but in a different order." "And," interrupted his friend, "I remember that there was no zero." Watsoff shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I can't see how we could help you, now that the perpetrator has left the scene of the crime!" "Not so fast, my dear Doctor. I think we'll know where the driver lives because we have enough information to determine the whole licence plate number."

Can you work out the number?

After the death of Artie Barnes, Sherlock Jones and Watsoff were contacted by his daughter. "I'm Agnes", she said, "Mr. Barnes only heir." "What can we do for you?", asked Jones.

She explained, "My father left me his stamp collection in his will. Most of the stamps have only nominal value, but one stamp with a picture of a leopard on it, commonly called the "Lava Blue", is supposed to be priceless. Few people knew that he had it in his possession. I looked in his stamp collection and found all of the stamps except for that one. In its place was this note, apparently written in code."

She handed Jones and Watsoff a small scrap of paper. On the paper was written:

A Sure Rest

ase)J!e+say+dn'da+s
puo)asey+uo+adJe)
ay+Japunpa+e)o|s!
aJnseaJ++aJ)ashW

After studying the note for a while, Watsoff exclaimed, "Ah-ha! I notice that the title is an anagram for 'Arrest Sue'. Perhaps she stole the stamp!". "Are you sure? My father did like anagrams, but I can't think of any 'Sue' it may refer to.", said Agnes. "It's an anagram, but I think you have things reversed.", Jones stated, "The note clearly tells us the likely location of the stamp!". Where is the stamp?