54 | New Scientist | 29 August 2020
Puzzle
set by Chris Maslanka
#74 The twisted wood
On my way through the twisted
wood, I bumped into Tweddle and
Twaddle. These two are logical,
but like to quarrel. When I found
them, they were arguing over
which of the 12 philosophers
living in those parts was the
greatest. Was it:
Spotton, Tuorlo or Twee?
Fluffer, Wimby or Mee?
Twitton, Twottie or Hirst?
Schnitzel, Freddie or Wurst?
Clearly, the correct answer
had to be one of those 12,
so I picked one of the names
at random. I whispered the
first letter of my nominee in
Tweddle’s ear and the final
letter in Twaddle’s ear. They then
made the following remarks:
Tweddle: I don’t know
your choice.
Twaddle: I don’t know it either.
Tweddle: I still don’t know.
Twaddle: Aha, but now I know it!
Which of the 12 did I chose?
Answer next week
#73 Changing guard
Solution
Perkins will end up facing right,
regardless of where the other
left-turners were standing. The
five soldiers who are initially facing
left will “transfer” that leftness to
a soldier to their left until there are
no more right-facers to transfer
this to. The soldiers will end up
arranged like this:
L L L L L R R R R R R R R R R
Perkins is eighth from the left,
so he will end up facing right.
Quick
quiz #66
Answers
1 True, although a
1976 proof of the
“four colour theorem”
has only more
recently become
widely accepted by
mathematicians
2 A quantum
computer
3 On the floor of
the Arctic Ocean
north of Siberia;
they are central to
Russian claims of
how far north its
jurisdiction extends
4 The insurgent
computer HAL 9000
in the film 2001:
A Space Odyssey
5 Ants, especially
social ones
Twisteddoodles
for New Scientist
Tom Gauld
for New Scientist
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