74 GAMES WORLD^ OF PUZZLES | october 2019
WILD CARDS26 THE ICE QUEEN
A. Anders was the sixth and last item transformed (1). The Cask
was transformed after all the items turned into something of
metal (6), and there were three of them: the Piccolo, the Spoon,
and the Telescope. Therefore the Cask must have been either
the fourth or fifth item transformed.
B. The Nutcracker was transformed before Friska and Dietrich
(5) and Anders (A), so it must have been the first, second, or
third item transformed.
C. The Cask was either the fourth or fifth item transformed (A),
and so it was transformed after the Nutcracker (B), as well
as after the three items that became metal. Therefore at least
four items were transformed before the Cask, so it was the
fifth item transformed.
D The Cask did not become a metal item (A), and since it was
one of the two magic items it had to become either something
metal or something with a face (4). The Cask is not the
Nutcracker (C). Therefore it was transformed into the Mask.
E The other magic item was the Bag, and so the Bag was the
first of the three items transformed into something metal (4).
The items that became metal came before the Cask (C), which
was the fifth item, so they were among the first four
transformations; therefore the Bag must have been first or
second.
F. The Nutcracker was transformed before Dietrich and Friska
(5), and also before the Cask and Anders (C, A). The Bag was
transformed into something of metal (E). Therefore by the
process of elimination, it was Dietrich’s sword Exultator that
was transformed into the Nutcracker.
G. Four transformations followed that of Exultator into the
Nutcracker (F), so that transformation must have been first
or second.
H. Anders was transformed sixth (A), the Cask fifth (C), and the
metal items were all before the Cask. So Anders was not
transformed into the Piccolo, the Spoon, or the Telescope.
Nor was he transformed into the Nutcracker (F) or the Mask
(D). So by elimination, Anders was transformed into the Rose.
I. The Bag and Exultator were transformed first and second,
though we don’t know in which order (E, G). And the Cask and
Anders were fifth and sixth (C, A). So Friska and Dietrich must
have been third and fourth, by elimination; and since we know
Friska was transformed before Dietrich (5), Friska was third
and Dietrich was fourth.
J. Exultator was immediately before Friska (5), who was third
(I), so Exultator was second, which leaves the Bag to be the
first item transformed.
K. Since Exultator’s transformation into the Nutcracker (F) came
second (J), and the transformations into the Mask came fifth
(C, D) and the Rose came sixth (H), and the transformations
into the Telescope and Piccolo were consecutive in that order
(3), they must have been third and fourth. Thus Friska became
the Telescope and Dietrich became the Piccolo (I).
L. By elimination, this leaves the Spoon as the item into which
the Bag was transformed.
In summary:
First, the Bag of Loaves transformed into the Spoon.
Second, Exultator transformed into the Nutcracker.
Third, Friska transformed into the Telescope.
Fourth, Prince Dietrich transformed into the Piccolo.
Fifth, the Cask of Wine transformed into the Mask.
Sixth, Anders transformed into the Rose.26 THE OLD SWITCHEROO- pasty, patsy
- exist, exits
- alter, later
- copse, copes
- trial, trail
- pinot, pinto
- odors, doors
8. crops, Corps
9. Strom, Storm
10. beats, Beast
11. carte, crate
12. sacré, scare
13. today, toady
14. slave, salve
15. garde, grade
16. Yeats, yeast
17. diary, dairy
18. clams, calms
19. crave, carve
20. flier, filer
26 STOPPED SHORT
The last two letters of each word or phrase form an abbreviation for
that word or phrase.26 POWERFUL DISCOVERY
Adding up the digits in any of these numbers and cubing the sum
yields the number itself. For example, 5 + 1 + 2 = 8; 8 × 8 × 8 = 512.26 IT’S ABOUT TIME
It’s 8:24. Since the exact number of time units between the two
hands is a whole number, the second hand must be on the 12. (If
the second hand were on the 6, for example, the minute hand, and
therefore the hour hand, would necessarily be between two marks
and the number of time units would not be exact.) Therefore, the
hour hand is on 42 past the hour; which, in turn, means that the
minute hand is on 24 past the hour because both hands will then
be 2/5 of the distance to their corresponding destinations.27 TV IDENTITIES
1-p Adrian Monk
2-f Maude Findlay
3-y Theo Kojak
4-v Gregory House
5-t Sterling Archer
6-l Phil Fish
7-u John Becker
8-x Blossom Russo
9-b Benson DuBois
10-o Arliss Michaels
11-z Alice Hyatt
12-c Ben Matlock
13-e Ed Stevens14-k Angus MacGyver
15-a Hazel Burke
16-s Tony Baretta
17-h Webster Long
18-j Joe Mannix
19-n Rick Hunter
20-m Rhoda Morgenstern
21-w Sam McCloud
22-d Dexter Morgan
23-i Frank Cannon
24-r Felicity Porter
25-g Julia Baker
26-q Moesha Mitchell27 TRUTH-TELLERS AND LIARS
Suppose Donny were a truth-teller. Elvira would be a liar (1, true).
Thus, she would lie about what Biff would say, so Biff would actually
say Donny isn’t a liar (3, true). By our assumption, this would be true,
so Biff would be a truth-teller. Thus, he would give the straight dope
on Alfonse; Alfonse would be a liar (5, true). Therefore, he would lie
about Clarice, so Clarice would be a liar (2, true). However, in that
case, she would lie about Biff. That is, she would say he isn’t a liar
(4, true); this would mean he is a liar (4, true), contradicting what we
just established. This contradiction implies our supposition was
incorrect; Donny is a liar (see above). Elvira is a truth-teller (1, false).
If you were to ask truth-telling Elvira what Biff would say if he were
asked if Donny were a liar, she would actually say no (3, false); thus,
Biff would say that lying Donny isn’t a liar, so Biff would himself be
a liar. Since he would say Alfonse isn’t a liar (5, false), Alfonse is, in
fact, a liar. He would lie about Clarice. Since he would say that Clarice
is a liar (2, false), she is actually a truth-teller. Thus, she passes this
part of her background check.Alfonse: liar; Biff: liar; Clarice: truth-teller; Donny: liar; Elvira: truth-teller