The Case of the Fifth Word — Class 8 English Poorvi Questions and Answers

Explore The Case of the Fifth Word through its calendar code, story summary and textbook-based comprehension answers. This guide includes checked crossword and rebus solutions, reported speech, the printed listening key and original writing models.

Class: 8 Subject: English Book: Poorvi Unit: 3 – Mystery and Magic Type: Story (Chapter 5) Author: Donald J. Sobol Source copy: Reprint 2026–27

Source: NCERT Poorvi, Grade 8, Unit 3, printed pages 101–121; listening transcript 151–152; supplied reprint 2026–27. Open-ended and personal responses are examples to adapt. These explanations are study support, not an official NCERT answer key.

On this page

About the chapter

This adapted detective story by Donald J. Sobol appears in Unit 3, Mystery and Magic. Leroy, nicknamed Encyclopedia Brown, helps his father Chief Brown reason through a hidden-jewellery puzzle. The story calls him the best detective alive as an admiring description within its fictional world, not a verified real-world ranking.

Leroy thinks about a mystery at the dinner table while Chief Brown and Mrs Brown watch attentively.
Conceptual reconstruction of the fictional family’s dinner discussion; the faces and room are illustrative, not documented identities.

Theme, characters & message

Theme: The power of sharp observation, logical thinking and general knowledge to solve a mystery that even the police cannot.

Main characters: Encyclopedia Brown (Leroy) – a knowledgeable, modest and keenly observant boy detective; Chief Brown – his father, an honest, smart police chief who proudly relies on his son; Mrs. Brown – an alert former teacher who follows the case with interest; and Tim Nolan & Daniel Davenport – the jewellery thieves whose hidden loot drives the plot.

Message: Knowledge and clear, patient reasoning are powerful tools. A simple code can hide in plain sight, and a clever mind that connects small clues – days of the week, a calendar sheet, a single fir tree – can uncover the truth.

About the author

NCERT credits Donald J. Sobol and marks this selection “Adapted”. Leroy, Chief Brown, Mrs Brown, Nolan and Davenport are characters in the story. Read the clues before the solution if you wish to solve the puzzle yourself.

Summary

Encyclopedia Brown is a young boy living in Idaville, USA, whose father is the Chief of Police. Though only in the eighth grade, Encyclopedia (real name Leroy) is so full of facts and so quick at reasoning that the narrator describes him as the best detective alive. His father cannot tell anyone – no one would believe a boy could solve cases the police could not – so the two quietly discuss mysteries at the dinner table, and Encyclopedia usually cracks them before dessert.

One Tuesday, Chief Brown brings home a puzzle. Tim Nolan, a man he had long suspected of a million-dollar jewellery robbery five years earlier (along with a friend, Daniel Davenport), has just died of a stroke. The stolen jewellery was never found, and Davenport had vanished after the hold-up. As he was dying, Nolan left a will giving everything, including his palm-tree nursery, to Davenport. Clipped to the will was a calendar sheet bearing Davenport’s name and address and four strange words: Nom Utes Sweden Hurts.

Mrs. Brown, a former English teacher, explains the literal meanings of the words but cannot crack the message. Encyclopedia closes his eyes, thinks hard, and asks just one question: is there a young fir tree in Nolan’s nursery? There is – one. The four words, he reveals, are a simple code. Written on a calendar sheet, they stand for days of the week with the letters ‘d-a-y’ dropped: Nom = Monday, Utes = Tuesday, Sweden = Wednesday, Hurts = Thursday. The remaining letters are anagrams; for Friday, Fri is rearranged to Fir. The unwritten fifth word is ‘Fir’ – Friday. The jewellery is hidden under the fifth word, that is, beneath the fir tree – inside a twenty-gallon jug of earth from which it grew, exactly as Encyclopedia had foreseen.

Word meanings

Word/PhraseEnglish meaningHindi meaning
nicknamepet nameउपनाम
in a matter-of-fact mannerwithout showing much emotionभावहीन ढंग से
hold-upsrobberies done using threat or violenceहथियारबंद लूट
nurseryplace where young plants are grown for saleपौधशाला, नर्सरी
testifymake a statement in court to prove somethingगवाही देना
huncha strong feeling about somethingअंदेशा, पूर्वाभास
lootstolen goodsलूट का माल
strokea sudden serious illness affecting movementआघात, लकवा
willlegal document stating who gets one’s property after deathवसीयत
leafed throughquickly turned the pagesपन्ने पलटना
confessedadmittedस्वीकार किया
codehidden messageगुप्त संकेत, कूट
foreseenpredictedपहले से जान लेना
suspiciouscausing doubt or distrustसंदेहास्पद
nominativea grammatical term (the subject form)कर्ता-कारक
recognisedidentified as known beforeपहचाना
arrestedtaken into custody by the policeगिरफ़्तार
yielded(here) produced (income)उपज देना, मिलना
fira kind of evergreen cone-bearing treeदेवदार जैसा वृक्ष
matter-of-factplain, unemotionalसीधा-सपाट

Before you read

I. Work in pairs. Solve the crossword puzzle with the clues in the form of anagrams (Across: 3. Declare, 6. Tucks, 7. Heart, 9. Felt, 10. Sown, 12. Sword, 13. Evil; Down: 1. Aces, 2. Read, 4. Tool, 5. Alps, 6. Hooks, 8. Mane, 11. Loves).

ANSWER (anagram solutions) Across: 3. Declare → CLEARED   6. Tucks → STUCK   7. Heart → EARTH   9. Felt → LEFT   10. Sown → OWNS   12. Sword → WORDS   13. Evil → LIVE Down: 1. Aces → CASE   2. Read → DEAR   4. Tool → LOOT   5. Alps → PALS   6. Hooks → SHOOK   8. Mane → NAME   11. Loves → SOLVE (Each answer is a rearrangement of the same letters used in the story.)

II. Match the different meanings of ‘case’ in Column 2 with the correct usage in Column 1.

ANSWER 1. “…that was not the case as he sang melodiously…” → (iii) situation 2. “The lawyer was waiting for the case to be taken up in court.” → (iv) matter 3. “My pencil case is a gift from my grandmother.” → (ii) container 4. “…written in title case.” → (i) writing format The ‘case’ in the title refers to a matter/mystery to be solved – a detective case.

Let us discuss (after Part I)

I. Complete the following statements with suitable reasons.

ANSWER 1. Leroy’s nickname was Encyclopedia and everyone called him by that name because his head, like an encyclopedia, was filled with facts from A to Z – he read more books than anyone in Idaville and never forgot a fact. 2. At the dinner table on Tuesday night, Chief Brown stared at his cream-of-mushroom soup as he had a mystery he could not solve, and his family knew that this silent staring was his way of bringing the case to Encyclopedia. 3. Encyclopedia sat quietly at the dinner table because he knew his mother and father were discussing the case for his benefit, and he was listening carefully to gather all the facts before thinking. 4. Nolan put the will on the kitchen table because he was dying after a stroke and wanted to leave everything – including the secret of the hidden jewellery (through the coded calendar sheet) – to his partner Davenport.

II. Do you think Chief Brown would need Leroy’s help to solve this case? If yes, why? If no, why not?

ANSWERYes, Chief Brown would need Leroy’s help. The case turns on a strange four-word code that neither Chief Brown nor Mrs. Brown (a former English teacher) could decode. Such puzzles need wide general knowledge and sharp, out-of-the-box thinking – exactly Leroy’s strength. As in earlier cases, Encyclopedia is able to link the calendar sheet, the days of the week and the single fir tree to crack a clue the police would otherwise miss.

Let us discuss (after Part II)

I. Identify which statements are facts or opinions. (1 has been done: “Encyclopedia’s father was the Chief of Police” – Fact.)

ANSWER 1. Encyclopedia’s father was the Chief of Police. – Fact (given; a fact within the fictional story) 2. Everyone thought that Chief Brown must be the smartest police chief in the country. – Opinion 3. An encyclopedia is a book or set of books filled with facts from A to Z. – Fact 4. Leroy’s friends said that he was like a library and computer rolled into one, and more user-friendly. – Opinion 5. Two masked men held up the Diamond Mart on Sixth Avenue. – Fact 6. Nolan and Davenport had met while both were in prison in South Carolina. – Fact 7. Chief Brown’s hunch was that Davenport and Nolan decided to hide the loot until things cooled down. – Opinion (it was a hunch/belief) 8. Nolan wrote a four-word code to tell Davenport where he had hidden the stolen jewellery. – Fact

II. Complete the table with the character traits of Leroy from the box (cleverness, knowledgeable, keen listener, gentle, humble). One is done: trait 1 = knowledgeable.

Textual EvidenceTrait
1. He read more books than anyone in Idaville, and he never forgot a fact.knowledgeable
2. Encyclopedia never spoke of the help he gave his father. He didn’t want to seem different from other boys.humble
3. Encyclopedia sat quietly. He knew his mother and father were discussing the case for his benefit.keen listener (attentive)
4. Usually, he needed to ask only one question to solve a case before dessert.cleverness

(‘Gentle’ is the extra word not needed.)

Let us think and reflect

I.1. Extract – “Chief Brown would have liked to tell everyone about his only child. But who would believe him?… He was stuck with it… Only his parents and teachers called him by his real name, Leroy.”

ANSWER (i) Chief Brown’s dilemma can be called unique because his own son is the best detective alive, yet he cannot reveal this to anyone – no one would believe that an eighth-grade boy solves the cases that baffle the police. (ii) C. He desires to blend with the other boys to prevent seeming different. (iii) The false reason is – C. “They want him to be remembered as different from the others around.” (His parents call him Leroy precisely so that he feels like an ordinary, loved child, not different.) (iv) ‘Stuck with’ the name means that the nickname had become permanent and unavoidable – everyone but his parents and teachers called him Encyclopedia, and there was nothing he could do to get rid of it.

I.2. Extract – “Chief Brown studied the four words: Nom Utes Sweden Hurts… ‘Nom is a shortening of nominative, a grammatical term,’ stated Mrs. Brown… ‘I can’t figure it out,’ she confessed. ‘Davenport disappeared right after the hold-up,’ Encyclopedia reminded her.”

ANSWER (i) B. He is confused, unable to make sense of the words. (ii) True. Mrs. Brown explained only the literal/dictionary meanings of the individual words, not the hidden message behind them. (iii) Her inability to decode the words suggests that the message is a deliberate, hidden code – it is not meant to be understood from the obvious meanings of the words, but only by someone (Davenport) who knows what to look for. (iv) The purpose of Encyclopedia’s reminder was to refocus the discussion on the context of the crime / imply that the coded message was likely a clue, meant for Davenport, about the location of the stolen jewellery.

II. Answer the following questions.

ANSWER 1. Nolan and Davenport were very close. Evidence: they met in prison and became friendly because of shared interests; Davenport came to live with Nolan a week before the hold-up; they pulled the robbery together and hid the loot jointly; and as he was dying, Nolan left everything – and the secret of the hidden jewellery – to Davenport in his will. 2. Davenport disappeared right after the hold-up to avoid being caught by the police while the case was ‘hot’. Had Nolan not died, the two had probably planned to stay apart until things cooled down and then quietly recover and share the hidden jewellery once it was safe. 3. Mrs. Brown’s keen interest shows that she is intelligent, alert and curious. A former English and high-school teacher, she remembers details of the old case, reasons along with her husband and son, and tries hard to crack the code – a sharp, involved and supportive mind. 4. Chief Brown was proud of his son because, although Encyclopedia was only an eighth grader, he was the best detective alive – full of facts and able to solve, calmly and quickly, the very mysteries that defeated the trained police force. 5. His suspicions were justified because the circumstantial links were strong: Nolan and Davenport were ex-convicts who shared a house just before the robbery; a clerk thought she recognised Nolan; the stolen jewellery never surfaced; Davenport vanished; and the coded message subsequently led to the hidden jewellery – even though hard proof had been lacking earlier. 6. The four-word coded message is the heart of the story. It is the secret key that links the two criminals, hides the location of the loot in plain sight, and creates the central puzzle. Decoding it (the days of the week with ‘day’ dropped, pointing to the unwritten fifth word ‘Fir’/Friday) is what solves the entire case and reveals the jewellery under the fir tree. 7. Character sketch of Leroy: Encyclopedia was a knowledgeable eighth grader who never forgot a fact that he read. His mind, like an encyclopedia, was stocked with information from A to Z, which earned him his nickname. Yet he was remarkably humble – he never boasted of helping his father and only wished to seem like an ordinary boy. He was a keen, attentive listener, sitting quietly to absorb every fact before reasoning. Above all he was clever: with calm, logical thinking he could crack a case with a single question, making him the best young detective in Idaville.

The story’s clues justify investigating Nolan and Davenport; earlier imprisonment or acquaintance alone does not prove guilt. Davenport’s plan to wait and retrieve the loot is a reasoned inference, not a directly stated confession.

Let us learn

I. Phrasal verbs

Matching: 1–iv, 2–iii, 3–i, 4–vi, 5–ii, 6–v.

Blanks: A turned up; B cooled down; C figure out; D put on; E got away with; F make of.

II. Word pairs

  1. week, weak
  2. four, fore
  3. brake, break
  4. piece, peace
  5. dyeing, dying

These complete the language exercise; the driving sentence is not a technical account of how braking causes a breakdown.

III. All eight rebus puzzles — page 112

Read left to right, top row then bottom row.

  1. Middle-aged — the middle AGED is underlined.
  2. Try to understand — Try + 2 (“to”) under stand.
  3. Up to you — upward arrow + two u’s.
  4. Go for it — GO + four it’s.
  5. Sixth sense — the sixth sense is circled.
  6. One in a million — 1 inside MILLION.
  7. Once upon a time — ONCE above a clock.
  8. Crossroads — two ROADS cross.

The three SECRET words with an arrow pointing to the top one form the supplied example Top secret.

IV. Spoonerisms

  1. Probable intended phrase: sewing kits. The printed “knowing sits” is problematic: knowing begins with /n/, kits with /k/, so this is not an exact exchange of the two initial sounds. “Sewing knits” is not a natural phrase. Check this source item with your teacher rather than learning it as a clear example.
  2. It’s pouring with rain.
  3. Master plan.
  4. Warm blanket.
  5. Cars and trucks.
  6. Take a shower.
  7. Read a book.
  8. Pardon me, madam.

V. Linking words

(i) who, (ii) where, (iii) Though, (iv) why, (v) which, (vi) When, (vii) how, (viii) because. Unused: whose, if.

VI. Combining sentences

  1. We gave him the signal that he was waiting for. (Given example.)
  2. We went to a place where the incident occurred.
  3. The teacher, who is now nearly sixty, said she would retire soon.
  4. It was the day when half the class was absent.

VII. Reporting the story’s questions

  1. Mrs Brown asked what was suspicious about that.
  2. Mrs Brown questioned Leroy about what he made of the four words. With asked, write “asked Leroy what he made …”.
  3. Mrs Brown inquired whether he had not been mixed up in a jewellery robbery a few years before.
  4. Mrs Brown asked Chief Brown whether he had not searched Nolan’s house.
  5. Mrs Brown inquired whether there was a young fir tree in Mr Nolan’s palm-tree nursery. This follows the printed answer stem; in the story, Leroy actually asks the fir-tree question.

“Dear” is an address term, not part of the reported question. These are conventional backshifted reports made later. Pronouns and time words depend on the real speaker, listener and reporting time; plural you does not automatically become us.

VIII. Reported speech — assuming I was addressed in items 1, 2, 3 and 5

  1. Rohan questioned why I had stopped talking to him.
  2. My aunt asked whether I had enjoyed the family gathering the day before.
  3. My grandmother inquired when I would visit them again. Them refers to her and the people included in her us.
  4. Madavi asked Ravi whether he would come with her to meet their old teacher the following day.
  5. My friend inquired what gift I was planning to give my brother.
  6. Veenu asked her teacher whether she should carry those notebooks to the staffroom.

IX. Aditi and Rahul — paragraph completions

  1. whether he had seen anyone leave a package near the lift
  2. what time he had seen that happen
  3. whether he had been able to see the man’s face

The last reference is to the man, not Rahul. A clearer completed report is: Rahul said that the man had worn a hood, so Rahul had not been able to see his face.

Let us listen

Checked against the teacher transcript on pages 151–152.

I. True or false

  1. True as a reasonable inference: awareness and better decisions can support common sense. The phrase common sense itself is not used in the script.
  2. False: rushing causes missed details.
  3. True: notes and sketches reinforce memory.
  4. False / not supported as stated: the script promises better noticing, not general success soon.

II. Exact words, one to three

  1. take your time
  2. information
  3. curious
  4. details
  5. present

The last question compresses the script’s “stay present” and “fully engage” ideas. Present is an exact word; connected is not in this transcript.

Let us speak

I. Pronunciation practice

Use the textbook’s simplified guide: jewellery (jool-ree), clerk (claak in the indicated British pronunciation), dessert (dih-zuht), January (ja-nyoo-uh-ree), sour (sau-uh), Wednesday (wenz-day), bowl (bol), pronunciation (pruh-nuhn-see-ay-shn), pizza (peet-zaa), buffet (buh-fay). Notice dessert has second-syllable stress, unlike the noun desert. These prompts are approximations; natural vowels and final r vary with accent.

II. Group discussion — original sample outline

Choose a moderator, a time limit and five or six participants. Discuss suspense, fair clues, plausible red herrings, logical deduction and a satisfying solution. One speaker might say, “I enjoy mysteries where the clues are available to the reader.” Another could add, “I agree, but the ending must also make sense.” The moderator invites quieter members and concludes by summarising the group’s ideas. Practise respectful turn-taking, not a memorised personal opinion.

Let us write

I. Features of the sample football report

A title and byline identify the event and reporter. The first paragraph answers what, who, when and where; later paragraphs describe events in sequence and the conclusion. Past tense, appropriate passive constructions and clear facts help the reader follow it. A real report should use actual information.

Original fictional model — inter-school art exhibition

Inter-school Art Exhibition
By [Reporter’s name], Class 8

An inter-school art exhibition was organised by our school’s Art and Craft Club from 12 to 14 March 20XX in the auditorium. Eight schools displayed paintings, sketches and crafts prepared by their students.

The invited artist opened the exhibition and encouraged students to explain their work. Entries were grouped under nature, community life and conservation. Visitors discussed the students’ choice of materials and the ideas behind their pictures.

On the final day, certificates were presented to participants and selected works received prizes. The club thanked the schools and volunteers. The exhibition gave young artists an opportunity to share their creativity and learn from one another.

Replace the fictional numbers, dates and events with verified details of your school’s exhibition. No weekday can be fixed for the placeholder year 20XX.

Let us explore

I. Optical illusions — possible readings of page 121

  1. The word design learn / teach, viewed in different orientations.
  2. Hate / love, viewed in different orientations.
  3. Good / evil, viewed in different orientations.
  4. A tree with concealed animal-face shapes in and around its branches. Compare what you can identify, rather than assuming everyone sees the same details.
  5. A penguin / human face in profile, using dark and light areas.
  6. Columns / people in silhouette, switching attention between light and dark shapes.

Turn the word designs or change which shapes you focus on, then explain your observations to a partner.

II. Name the Mystery Object

The book’s clues identify a classroom board — blackboard, green board or whiteboard. A new sample object is an umbrella: (1) I open wider when needed; (2) I have a handle and folding ribs; (3) I protect you from rain. Score 20, 10 or 5 points for a correct answer after the first, second or third clue.

III. Encyclopedia and dictionary

An encyclopedia provides articles and fuller explanations about subjects, people and events. A dictionary mainly explains words, spellings, meanings and pronunciation. Many printed encyclopedias are arranged alphabetically, but organisation varies, especially digitally. Compare an actual entry in each.

IV. Thesaurus — five sample sets

Happy: joyful, glad, cheerful. Big: large, huge, enormous. Quick: fast, swift, rapid. Clever: smart, intelligent, ingenious. Hide: conceal, cover, screen. Check the sentence: synonyms can differ in tone and precise meaning.

Additional ClearStudy questions

This practice is separate from the printed textbook exercises.

Short answer

1. Why was Leroy nicknamed ‘Encyclopedia’?

ANSWERBecause his head, like an encyclopedia, was filled with facts from A to Z; he read more books than anyone in Idaville and never forgot a fact.

2. What were the four words written on the calendar sheet?

ANSWERThe four words were “Nom Utes Sweden Hurts”, written below Davenport’s name and address.

3. Where was the stolen jewellery finally found?

ANSWERIt was found inside a twenty-gallon jug of earth from which the young fir tree grew in Nolan’s palm-tree nursery.

4. What did Chief Brown do when he could not solve a case?

ANSWERHe cleared his desk, put on his hat and went home to dinner, where Encyclopedia would solve the case for him before dinner was over.

5. How did Encyclopedia behave when he did his hardest thinking?

ANSWERHe leaned back and closed his eyes; after a few seconds of quiet thought he would open his eyes and ask the one question needed to crack the case.

Long answer

6. Explain in detail how Nolan’s four-word code worked and what the fifth word was.

ANSWERNolan wrote the code on a sheet torn from a desk calendar – the calendar was itself the clue, hinting at days of the week. To form the four words he took the names of the days and removed the letters d-a-y and rearranged the remaining letters: Nom = Monday, Utes = Tuesday, Sweden = Wednesday, Hurts = Thursday. The remaining letters are anagrams; for Friday, Fri is rearranged to Fir. The series obviously continues to a fifth day – Friday – but Nolan deliberately left it unwritten. The unwritten fifth word was ‘Fir’ (Friday), and ‘under the fifth word’ meant under the fir tree. The jewellery lay buried in the jug of earth beneath that single fir tree, exactly as Encyclopedia worked out.

7. How does the story show that knowledge and observation are more useful than guesswork?

ANSWERBoth Chief Brown and the well-read Mrs. Brown fail to solve the riddle by guessing at the words’ ordinary meanings. Encyclopedia succeeds because he observes and connects the right facts: the message is on a calendar sheet (days of the week), Davenport vanished after the hold-up (so the loot must be hidden), and the words form a pattern with ‘day’ removed. He then confirms his reasoning with a single, precise question about a fir tree before announcing the answer. The story shows that careful observation, wide knowledge and step-by-step logic can crack a problem that random guessing never could – the true mark of a good detective.

ClearStudy MCQs and assertion–reason practice

1. Where does Encyclopedia Brown live?

(a) Idaville   (b) Sixth Avenue   (c) South Carolina   (d) Sweden

ANSWER(a) Idaville.

2. What is Encyclopedia’s real name?

(a) Tim   (b) Daniel   (c) Leroy   (d) Brown

ANSWER(c) Leroy.

3. What was Encyclopedia’s father’s profession?

(a) Lawyer   (b) Chief of Police   (c) Teacher   (d) Jeweller

ANSWER(b) Chief of Police.

4. How many years before the story did the Diamond Mart hold-up take place?

(a) Two years   (b) Three years   (c) Five years   (d) Ten years

ANSWER(c) Five years.

5. What business did Nolan run in Idaville?

(a) A jewellery shop   (b) A palm-tree nursery   (c) A bakery   (d) A bookstore

ANSWER(b) A palm-tree nursery.

6. The four coded words stood for:

(a) names of months   (b) days of the week   (c) colours   (d) countries

ANSWER(b) days of the week.

7. What was the unwritten fifth word?

(a) Friday (Fir)   (b) Saturday   (c) Sunday   (d) Money

ANSWER(a) Friday – written as ‘Fir’.

8. The jewellery was hidden:

(a) under the kitchen table   (b) in a bank   (c) in a jug of earth under the fir tree   (d) in Davenport’s house

ANSWER(c) in a twenty-gallon jug of earth under the fir tree.

9. Why did Mrs. Brown fail to decode the message?

(a) She could not read   (b) She explained only the literal meanings   (c) The words were in Swedish   (d) The sheet was torn

ANSWER(b) She explained only the literal meanings, not the hidden code.

10. Who is the author of the story?

(a) Ruskin Bond   (b) Donald J. Sobol   (c) Roald Dahl   (d) O. Henry

ANSWER(b) Donald J. Sobol.
Answer key: 1-a, 2-c, 3-b, 4-c, 5-b, 6-b, 7-a, 8-c, 9-b, 10-b.

Assertion–Reason – choose: (a) A and R true, R explains A; (b) A and R true, R does not explain A; (c) A true, R false; (d) A false, R true.

1. Assertion (A): Chief Brown did not tell anyone that his son solved his cases.

Reason (R): No one would believe that the best detective alive was an eighth grader.

ANSWER(a) Both true and R correctly explains A.

2. Assertion (A): The coded words were written on a sheet from a desk calendar.

Reason (R): The calendar sheet was the key that hinted the words stood for days of the week.

ANSWER(a) Both true and R correctly explains A.

3. Assertion (A): Mrs. Brown easily decoded the hidden message.

Reason (R): She had taught English and other subjects in high school.

ANSWER(d) A is false (she could not decode it), while R is true.

4. Assertion (A): Encyclopedia asked whether there was a young fir tree in the nursery.

Reason (R): The fifth word in the code was ‘Fir’ (Friday), pointing to the hiding place.

ANSWER(a) Both true and R correctly explains A.

5. Assertion (A): Nolan left the will and the coded sheet for Davenport.

Reason (R): Nolan and Davenport were strangers who had never met before the robbery.

ANSWER(c) A is true, but R is false – they had met in prison and were close partners.

Exam tips & common mistakes

Exam tips

Remember the decoding clearly: the words are on a calendar sheet, so they are days of the week with ‘d-a-y’ removed (Nom-Monday, Utes-Tuesday, Sweden-Wednesday, Hurts-Thursday), and the fifth word is Fir = Friday → under the fir tree. Be ready to explain Leroy’s traits with textual evidence (knowledgeable, humble, keen listener, clever) and to tell facts from opinions (an opinion can’t be proved; a hunch/belief is an opinion).

Common mistakes

Do not write that Mrs. Brown solved the code – she only gave the literal meanings and failed to decode it. Do not say Nolan and Davenport were strangers – they met in prison and were close partners. Spell the boy’s real name Leroy (nickname Encyclopedia), and remember the jewellery was inside a jug of earth under the fir tree, not buried loose in the ground.

FAQs

What was the fifth word?

Fir, an anagram of Fri left after removing day from Friday, points to the young fir tree in Nolan’s nursery.

How does the code work?

Remove day from each weekday name and rearrange the remaining letters: Mon becomes Nom, Tues becomes Utes, Wednes becomes Sweden and Thurs becomes Hurts. The missing fifth day is Friday, giving Fir.

Where was the jewellery found?

In a twenty-gallon jug of earth from which the young fir tree grew. It was not lying loose under an ordinary palm tree.

Why is Leroy called Encyclopedia?

He reads widely and remembers many facts, so his friends compare his head to an encyclopedia. He remains modest about helping his father.

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