New Scientist - 14.09.2019

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

Solution

You 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 below

Cryptic

Crossword #14

Answers

ACROSS 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 Emit

DOWN 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 Bong

Quick quiz #20

Answers

Amphibians, particularly frogs 1

M-theory. The M stands for 2

“magic”, “mystery”, “membrane”

or possibly something else

Water-laden air rising 3

over mountains

Orbiting Mars – they are 4

its two moons

Jan 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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