52 | New Scientist | 14 September 2019
The back pages Puzzles
Quick crossword #40 Set by Richard Smyh Quick quiz #20 Puzzle set by Ben Sparks
#21 Six weeks of seconds
Which number is bigger:The product of all the whole numbers from
1 to 10 inclusively, sometimes written as
10 factorial or 10!
or
The number of seconds in six weeks?Can you work it out without resorting to
a calculator?Answer next week#20 Caesar cipher
SolutionYou can get from 3 to 47 using the Caesar
cipher – the method that Julius Caesar used
to encrypt messages, by shifting letters a
fixed number of places up the alphabet.If you shift the word THREE by four places,
you get XLVII, which is 47 in Roman
numerals.Coincidentally, if you convert the letters of
the alphabet into numbers, A=1, B=2, and
so on, then C=3, and C+A+E+S+A+R = 47.1 Chytrid fungus has
devastated populations
of what class of animals
around the globe in
recent years?2 What letter refers to
a class of string theory in
11 dimensions that is a
leading contender for a
unifying theory of physics?3 Orographic rainfall
is caused by what?4 Where are Phobos
and Deimos?5 Which German
semiconductor physicist
became a byword for
scientific impropriety in
2002 when it was revealed
he had mainly made up his
spectacular results?Answers belowCryptic
Crossword #14
AnswersACROSS 1 Nous, 3 Utopians,
9 Nictate, 10 Anvil,
11 Terraforming, 13 Baffle,
15 Scream, 17 Turning point,
20 On ice, 21 Acidity,
22 Garottes, 23 EmitDOWN 1 Nanotube, 2 Ulcer,
4 Tremor, 5 Pharmacopeia,
6 Advance, 7 Salt, 8 Van Allen
belt, 12 Amethyst, 14 Fourier,
16 Inhale, 18 Idiom, 19 BongQuick quiz #20
AnswersAmphibians, particularly frogs 1M-theory. The M stands for 2“magic”, “mystery”, “membrane”or possibly something elseWater-laden air rising 3over mountainsOrbiting Mars – they are 4its two moonsJan Hendrik Schön 5
ACROSS
7 Rattus norvegicus (5,3)
9 In geology, an area of
older rock surrounded
by younger rock (6)
10 Uterus (4)
11 Term describing
phenomena that emerge
from the interactions of
objects (10)
12 Home to the world’s
tallest skyscraper from
2004 to 2010 (6)
14 Operating system
for a series of early
microcomputers (5,3)15 Motherboard connection
that allows for additional
functionality (9,4)
17 Flowering plant in the
family Primulaceae (8)
19 AsH 3 (6)
21 Horned pachyderm (10)
22 Burrowing vermivore (4)
23 Catkins (6)
24 Production of structures
within an organism (8)Answers and the next cryptic crossword next week.DOWN
1 Area surrounding
the nipple (6)
2 Wad of cotton used
in medicine (4)
3 Force resisting the
relative motion of
surfaces or layers (8)
4 Kind of internet
access (4-2)
5 Author of maths books
including Here’s Looking
At Euclid (2010) (4,6)
6 Purple root of Beta
vulgaris (8)8 Branch of the
glossopharyngeal
nerve (8,5)
13 In data processing,
operating in series (10)
15 Redness of the skin (8)
16 Not the driver’s side (8)
18 Membrane such
as those inside the
mouth and nose (6)
20 Hosiery made from a
synthetic thermoplastic
polymer (6)
22 Prefix denoting a factor
of 10^6 (4)
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