题面摘自 Henry E. Dudeney 公版文本；英文为古腾堡原文整理，中文为本站自译，提示、解答骨架和闲谈保留本站原创结构。
A number of men went out together on a bean-feast. There were four parties invited—namely, 25 cobblers, 20 tailors, 18 hatters, and 12 glovers. They spent altogether £6, 13 s. It was found that five cobblers spent as much as four tailors; that twelve tailors spent as much as nine hatters; and that six hatters spent as much as eight glovers. The puzzle is to find out how much each of the four parties spent.
许多男人一起出去参加豆子盛宴。邀请了四方——即 25 名鞋匠、20 名裁缝、18 名帽子匠和 12 名手套匠。他们一共花了6英镑13先令。结果发现，五个鞋匠的花费相当于四个裁缝的花费；十二个裁缝的花费相当于九个帽匠的花费；六个帽子匠的花费相当于八副手套。谜题是找出四方各自花费了多少钱。
提示 1
先列小例，不要凭直觉猜最大或最小。
提示 2
看奇偶、整除、余数和总量是否已经锁住选择。
提示 3
最后用上下界排除所有漏网情形。
完整解答
设第二人得 x 枚，则第一人得 2x - 4，第三人得 x + 7。三人总和给出 4x + 7 - 4 = 39，所以 x = 9。三份分别是 14、9、16 枚。
Dudeney 的趣题常把难点藏在“看起来可以试”的地方。别急着猜答案；先把图、表或状态画出来，再问哪些限制一直没有变。这也是它和 Carroll 逻辑题互补的地方：一个拆句子，一个拆结构。