A challenge

I've been enjoying the cryptic puzzles in Harper's for decades.  After you figure out the cleverly-constructed clues, entering the answer often involves another step, as in this case.

I've not embedded the entire puzzle, because blogging ethics standards on TYWKIWDBI are to drive readers to the source, not steal from the source.  If any wordsmiths out there would like to tackle this very challenging grid, the full puzzle is available in the August issue of Harper's Magazine, available online or in your local library.

Math puzzle

I found this on Facebook without an answer posted there.  I've put my answer in the comments but am not sure about it.  Would appreciate insight from readers.

An interesting Sudoku variant

I have been away from Sudoku for a year or two, but got lured back when this variant was posted by Kottke this morning.

In this variant the numbers in the dotted "cages" have to add up to the designated total (without duplication within the cage), and the numbers in the "thermometers" have to rise, with the lowest in the "bulb" of the thermometer.  Otherwise normal Sudoku rules apply.

You can play this grid online here, where there are the standard tools for entering "possibles" and for checking the validity of your entries as you go along.  I used the latter feature regularly, and managed to fill in the grid in 64 minutes without blind guessing.

Old Reader's Digest puzzle

Assume the goose (as pictured) is on the bed.  Via Australia Reader's Digest.  Answer below the fold...

Sorting pennies in the dark

I am recurrently amazed at the wonderful logic and math puzzles posted at Futility Closet.   

"You’re in a pitch-dark room. On a table before you are 12 pennies. You know that 5 are heads up and 7 are tails up, but you don’t know which are which. By moving and flipping the coins you must produce two piles with an equal number of heads in each pile. How can you do this without seeing the coins?"

I was not able to solve this on my own and had to peek at the answer.  Even after seeing the answer, it took me a long time to comprehend why it works.

Reposted from 2010 because I found it while looking for something else and still couldn't solve it on my own.

Introducing Euler's number (e)

I saw this math quiz question today on the theydidthemath subreddit.  Pi is obviously slightly bigger than 3.14, but I didn't know whether a higher power is more important than a higher base.  

Turns out the answer is "sometimes" - depending on whether the number in question is larger or smaller than Euler's number.  Explanation at the link is way over my head.  Posted for those who enjoy such things.

Rubik's Cube world champion, 2025

I found some decent commentary at this nextfuckinglevel subreddit thread.

Geometry puzzle

I wasn't able to do it, but this is solvable using only simple geometry without trigonometry.  The answer is in this video.  Via the SmartPuzzles subreddit.

Clever rebus

"The “Hi Neighbor” is just a tagline for the Narragansett beer company, so you can ignore that on the coaster."

Found at the rebus subreddit, where there are many may more.  I've put the solution in the first comment.

Some "15" puzzles are unsolvable

The example shown, posted on the puzzles subreddit, is on a watch.  What I remember are the old "analog" versions with small sliding wooden pieces in a frame.  I used to get great satisfaction as a child by solving scrambled puzzles.  What I learned this morning is that the puzzles date back way before my time:

The puzzle was "invented" by Noyes Palmer Chapman, a postmaster in Canastota, New York, who is said to have shown friends, as early as 1874, a precursor puzzle consisting of 16 numbered blocks that were to be put together in rows of four, each summing to 34 (see magic square)... The game became a craze in the U.S. in 1880...

Some later interest was fueled by [Sam] Loyd's offer of a $1,000 prize (equivalent to $34,996 in 2024) to anyone who could provide a solution for achieving a particular combination specified by Loyd, namely reversing the 14 and 15, which Loyd called the 14-15 puzzle. This is impossible, as had been shown over a decade earlier by Johnson & Story (1879), because it requires a transformation from an even to an odd permutation.

The Reddit thread confirms that the one illustrated is unsolvable, which is confirmed at the Wikipedia entry.  In fact, half of all initial states of the puzzle will be mathematically impossible to resolve.  To guarantee solvability, a puzzle would need to be manufactured with the pieces "solved" and then scrambled before distribution (or by asking the end-user to do so).  I'm glad all my childhood versions were solvable.

Logic puzzle involving gears

The answer is in the discussion thread at the SmartPuzzles subreddit.

Geometry puzzle

The diagram is NOT drawn to scale, so don't put a ruler on line x to measure the distance.  Figure it out in your head using simple logic and math.

A word bracket puzzle

In each bracket, find a word that can logically follow the top word in the pairing, and also precede the bottom word in the pairing (solved example at the bottom).

A diversion for a wintry February day.  Answers at the puzzles subreddit source, or perhaps in some readers' comments.

Rebuses

"It was a favourite form of heraldic expression used in the Middle Ages to denote surnames. For example, in its basic form, three salmon (fish) are used to denote the surname "Salmon". A more sophisticated example was the rebus of Bishop Walter Lyhart (d. 1472) of Norwich, consisting of a stag (or hart) lying down in a conventional representation of water. The composition alludes to the name, profession or personal characteristics of the bearer, and speaks to the beholder Non verbis, sed rebus, which Latin expression signifies "not by words but by things" (res, rei (f), a thing, object, matter; rebus being ablative plural)."

Found at the Rebus subreddit, where there are lots more rebuses to tackle.

What is the missing number?

The circular arrangement is just a design feature, not part of the math.  The puzzle could also have been written out 2,3,4,5,6,8,12...?

Phrazle is a variant of Wordle

I just discovered Phrazle a couple weeks ago.  It is essentially a variant of Wordle that asks you to identify a phrase rather than a six-letter word.  For Wordle I developed a personal strategy that simplified the game to the point of rendering it not very challenging.   I decided to see if the same would apply to this one.

New Phrazles are offered every twelve hours, and each gives you six chances to guess the phrase.  Previously used phrases are compiled here; readers of The Guardian have complained that too many of the phrases are "Americanisms."  Solving a short phrase does require a bit of luck when you enter the first guess (I try to test the vowels first):

- and short phrases with repeating letters can also be difficult:

It is not necessary that your entry be an actual phrase, so in a long mystery phrase one has the opportunity to test a good proportion of the commonly-used letters -

Note that if you solve one of the words on the first try but don't know the whole phrase, you can use that space to test out other letters (see above).  Sometimes solving one word will reveal the answer, as in this case where the second word had to be "thick" -

The hardest one I have encountered was "Butterflies in my stomach" because only 11-letter words could be entered in the first spaces and I don't have a lot of those in my head.

The first time I played I failed because I was confused about the color rules, but after that it has been pretty easy...

I'm going to move on to other online games, but decided to post this for other wordsmith readers who might enjoy giving it a try.  Feel free to offer your own suggestions and data in the comments.

Difficult math puzzle

Discussion at a puzzles subreddit thread, with best explanation here.

King Williams College Christmas quiz, 2024-5

Posted today in The Guardian - several weeks ahead of schedule and catching me completely off guard.  So I will be taking some time off from blogging to work on the quiz with friends.  I'm back.  I was only able to figure out three in the whole quiz without Googling (too tough (and too British)).

Here are questions from Section 13 (of 18 total)

1. What dish is a reticulum?

2. What Irish name describes an absence?

3. Which Australian sports a silver-grey coat?

4. What did the Dutch Lakenvelder create in south-west Scotland?

5. What has a lineback and markedly overdeveloped keratin-based protuberances?

6. Identify four stiff standers, four dilly danders, two hookers, two lookers and a wig-wag.

7. What hybrid was developed from red and dun in adjacent counties?

8. What came from Heck and Hagenbeck, one from each?

9. Who righted the females from Valencia?

10. What was sourced from Teeswater? 

Clever crossword construction

I enjoy doing two crosswords every day (NYT and Los Angeles Times).  Sometimes at the end I stop to admire the skill of the constructor.  I hope this one is old enough now so that this post won't be a spoiler.

Pawn = Queen chess puzzle

This may be an old puzzle, but it's the first time I've seen it.  At the start there is a pawn in the LR corner, which needs to be moved to the far rank to get promoted to a queen; then the queen needs to be moved to the LL corner.  Good luck.  Feel free to post your times in the Comments.  

Discussion thread in the Puzzles subreddit.

Play the puzzle online here.