52 | New Scientist | 7 November 2020
Quick crossword #70 Set by Richard Smyth
Scribble
zoneAnswers and
the next cryptic
crossword next week The back pages Puzzles
Our crosswords are now solvable online
newscientist.com/crosswordsQuick quiz #76
1 What name is given to a hypothetical
megastructure that encloses a star
and captures most of its energy?2 How many neck vertebrae
do most mammals have?3 What is the geologic era of the
dinosaurs, encompassing the Triassic,
Jurassic and Cretaceous periods?4 Mikhail Tsvet is best known for
inventing which scientific technique?5 In 1820, which alkaloid used to
treat malaria was first isolated from
the bark of a Cinchona tree?Answers on page 55Puzzle
set by Catriona Shearer
#84 Squarebot”What’s that you are holding,
Squarebot?”
“Square.”
I have met Squarebot before and
am suspicious. “Are you sure,
squarebot? I can see it must be a
rectangle, because you have drawn
it on squared paper. But I can’t count
the squares without breaking social
distancing rules. How wide is it?”
“16.”
“And its height?”
“16.”
“Sounds like a square, then. Just
to check: what is its area?”
“289.”
“Hold on, that doesn’t work: 289
is 17 squared. You are rounding
every numerical answer you say to
the nearest square number, aren’t
you? And if the answer isn’t a
number you just say ‘Square’?”
“Square,” chuckles Squarebot.
“So the width might actually be
17? Or 18? Or 15? Or even 20?”
“Square,” grins Squarebot.
Can you think of a question to
ask Squarebot to find out if the
rectangle really is a square?Answer next weekACROSS
1 Place for esoteric online resources (4,3)
5 System of transport by track (7)
9 Flat side (5)
10 Obstruction (9)
11 Spiny marine echinoderm (3,6)
12 Raised line; stretch of high ground (5)
13 Fever (archaic) (4)
15 Without Pb, like most modern petrol (4-4)
18 Third (8)
19 Ne (4)
22 Body of accepted principles (5)
24 #1 (6,3)
26 Mars (3,6)
27 Part of the hip bone (5)
28 Distance across (7)
29 Peninsula struck by an asteroid
66 million years ago (7)DOWN
1 Render harmless – a bomb, for example (6)
2 Quadrilateral (9)
3 H 2 O (5)
4 1984 work by ecologist E. O. Wilson (9)
5 Toxin produced in castor oil seeds (5)
6 Anti-inflammatory drug (9)
7 ___ fiction, sci-fi subgenre (5)
8 Y (6)
14 Complicatedly interconnected – like knitting
or electrons, say (9)
16 Absence of correspondence (9)
17 Student of living systems (9)
20 Dung beetle (6)
21 Like Heisenberg or Hahn, for example (6)
23 2008 book on “choice architecture” (5)
24 Ordinal of 9 (5)
25 First general-purpose electronic computer (5)