52 | New Scientist | 14 November 2020
Cryptic crossword #44 Set by Wingding
Scribble
zoneAnswers and
the next quick
crossword next week The back pages Puzzles
Our crosswords are now solvable online
newscientist.com/crosswordsQuick quiz #77
1 Amenorrhea is the absence of what?2 In forest ecology, what is a snag?3 Barium chloride is used in fireworks
to produce which colour?4 Which is the smallest of the Galilean
moons of Jupiter?5 Neuroscientist Giulio Tononi first
proposed which mathematical theory
of consciousness in 2004?Answers on page 55Puzzle
set by Peter Winkler
#85 Chopping BoardThe Board of Overseers of the
Bottlecap Preservation Society
has grown to an unwieldy
10 members, who have agreed
to the following procedure.The board will take a series of
votes on whether to reduce its size.
A majority of “ayes” results in the
immediate ejection of the newest
board member. Then another vote
is taken, and so on.If at any point, half or more of the
surviving members vote “nay”, the
session ends and the board is fixed
at that level.Of course, each member’s highest
priority is to remain on the board,
but given that, everyone agrees that
the smaller the board, the better.If logic prevails, how big will the
board be when the voting comes
to an end?Answer next weekACROSS
1 Hypochondriac aims to disguise
health food (4)
3 Birds nibbled by snake at first,
having eaten grain of rice (8)
8 Electric car stopped abruptly in front
of journalist and became fitter (7)
10 Home where extreme disease
goes after every blood type (5)
11 Time limits with little potential to kill (10)
14 Clinical study recruits bachelor
with strong in-group bias (6)
15 Dog injected with adenine beginning to
evolve and undergo genetic change (6)
17 Trick our subject to show
sense of morality (10)
20/23 Academic leader in Dominica
developed protein component (5,4)
21 One location heartlessly rejected
catches fire (7)
22 Rabbit and that man, according to
Spooner, are sweet food producer (8)
23 See 20 AcrossDOWN
1 Neat code deciphered, a
weak form of evidence (8)
2 An idealist extracting nitrogen
from benzene derivative? (8)
4 I eat under Jupiter’s moon (6)
5 Type of fat, an energy source,
as medical treatment (11)
6 Cover sample of kangaroo faeces (4)
7 Observe and briefly describe
embryonic plant (4)
9 Goon vocally bashed geophysical
research (11)
12 Attractive short guy with hereditary
lack of energy (8)
13 Late last month, relaxed (8)
16 Have high hopes for snake with passion (6)
18 Key cannabis product (4)
19 Almost destroy new oven (4)