52 | New Scientist | 7 December 2019
The back pages Puzzles
Cryptic crossword #20 Set by Sparticle Quick quiz #31 Puzzle set by Hugh Hunt
#33 The mountain pass
Aaron has spent the night camped at the
foot of a mountain, while Bonnie camped
at the summit. In the morning, Bonnie sets
off down the path to base camp at exactly
the same time as Aaron begins his ascent.At midday they pass each other and nod
a greeting, both of them maintaining their
constant walking pace. Bonnie gets to the
bottom at 4pm and sets up camp, but it
isn’t until 9pm that Aaron finally reaches
the top.What time did the two hikers set off in
the morning?Answer next week#32 Rearranging books
SolutionAt least seven moves are needed to get the
books in order.You can tell this by noticing that seven
numbers (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9) are to the
right of the next number up (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9,
10) and so have to be moved at some point.This rule works for any size of list. Answers and the next quick crossword next week.Get in touch
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[email protected]Quick quiz #31
Answers1 What was discovered
on the morning of Friday
28 September 1928 in
the basement of St Mary’s
Hospital in Paddington,
London?2 You have around 270
at birth, reducing to 206
in adulthood. What are
we talking about?3 The “eightfold way”, a
phrase used by US physicist
Murray Gell-Mann in 1961
to explain a plethora of new
particles, led to the insight
that they are made of what
smaller constituents?4 What does the Saffir-
Simpson scale measure?5 The chemical compounds
C2H6, C2H4, and C2H2 differ
by a single letter. Which?Answers belowQuick
Crossword #46
AnswersACROSS 1 Rods, 3 Carcinogen,
10 Bigfoot, 11 Richter,
12 Futurama, 16 Alloy,
17 Tungstate, 18 Ileostomy,
21 FOCAL, 23 Jelly, 24 Molecule,
27 Hitachi, 28 Android,
29 Ground zero, 30 UberDOWN 1 Riboflavin, 2 Digital,
4 Automation, 5 CERN,
6 Nucleus, 7 Gattaca, 8 Norm,
9 Torrey, 14 Ankylosaur,
15 Hellbender, 19 Electro,
20 Silicon, 21/13 Fields medal,
22 Coulomb, 25 Shag, 26 Fizzore precisely, Penicillin; m 1the antibiotic properties offungi in a Petri dish of Penicilliumbacteria accidentally left outing overnight by Alexander Flember of bones in the The num 2an body average humQuarks 3Hurricane intensity 4Their fourth: they are 5ethane, ethene and ethyneACROSS
1 Eisenhower’s National Tax
Agency internalised
accepted numbers (7)
5 Pass eternity in possession
of a good thing (5)
8 Mimic Morag’s redesign and
make like a square? (13)
9 Orange man abandons
digression (3)
10 How baleen is shaped
for use in corsetry? (9)
12 Statistics about omnivorous
Western mustelids (6)13 Rotten bunch made
to balance out (6)
15 “Turn lead into gold,”
mutters an engineer (9)
16 Kiss goodbye to the first
artificial satellite (3)
18 Rapper fills froyo glass
regularly with time? That
calls for scepticism! (5,5,3)
20 Claim that entertaining
Nazis is cheeky (5)
21 I reused stew leftovers (7)DOWN
1 Feedback I transmit
principally about
bad pun (5)
2 Rex usually put a sign over
nosy Ran’s bananas (13)
3 Wicker bassinets made by
Reverend Spooner for large
amounts of power (9)
4 Watches a boson undergo
rapid fluctuations (6)
5 Fuss over odd old man (3)
6 Solemn mouse is ridden
roughshod (7-6)7 Storm leads to the entire
monastery meeting
unwelcome visitor (7)
11 Weakens English
identity on both sides
of worker uprising (9)
12 South Africa locks up
regional rulers (7)
14 Unaccompanied minor in
trip to facilitate growth (6)
17 Nasty lecturer
exhibits flair (5)
19 Set down sexual partner
in a vulgar manner (3)10 7 2 6 5 4 1 9 3 810 7 2 6 5 4 1 9 3 8