DARWINIAN  MAN,  THOUGH  WELL-BEHAVED,  AT  BEST  IS  ONLY  A  MONKEY  SHAVED  —  William Schwenck GILBERT

Gilbert (1836-1911) was most noted for his teaming up with Arthur Sullivan.  Julia Minturn  pointed out that the words are spoken by Lady Psyche in the G&S opera Princess Ida.  This was the musical version of Gilbert's play, based on Tennyson's poem The Princess.  It was the eighth of 14 opera collaborations with Sullivan.  Neither had much success with other collaborators after they split in 1896.

The answer to the second puzzle, a digit-for-digit substitution, is shown at the right.
 

 
The answer to puzzle #3 is that the traveler did use the Schlipundschleidspitze and the rise of the Doppelpunkt car was 1331 meters.  The six consecutive cubes (and cars) were 343(S), 512(L), 729(U or H), 1000(H or U), 1331(d), and 1728(K).

Z B        K H I        X F K        K H I        G H Y ' J        T Y H C        X Q H T Z Y U        Z X        V F G        K H I ' E W        P K Z Y U        J M E H I U M        K H I E        J E F L M W F.       

Hook, Line, and Sinker were the judges for the Cooker Book prize this year as usual.  They assembled a short list of six and then, as usual, could not agree on the order of merit.  In the end, each did his own ranking, giving 6 points for first place, 5 for second, and so on (no ties).  They then totalled the points, which produced a final order (also without ties).

Hook gave 5 points to the book which in fact came out second and 1 point to the book which finished third.  He ranked Stuff above Nonsense and gave Umph the number of points which Line gave to Impenetrables.  Line ranked Gawk above Elements and placed Impenetrables below Umph.  Sinker ranked Nonsense third and Stuff fifth.