undisclosed—desires asked: Have you any idea why a raven is like a writing desk?

Because I can’t figure out how to find it on her Tumblr, I thought I’d reply here:

According to Lewis Carroll after the fact, “enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter’s Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on a fairly appropriate answer, viz: ‘because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!’ This, however, is merely an after thought; the Riddle, as orinially invented, had no answer at all.”

Other notable answers have been produced, most well-known of which is by Sam Loyd the American puzzle genius, in his posthumous Cyclopedia of Puzzles, 1914, page 114. In keeping with Carrol’s alliterative style, Loyd offers as his best solution: because the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes. Other Loyd suggestions: because Poe wrote on both; bills and tales are among their characteristics; because they both stand on their legs, conceal their steels (steals), and ought to be made to shut up.