New Scientist - USA (2022-02-19)

19 February 2022 | New Scientist | 53

The back pages Puzzles

Quick quiz #139

1 Which type of coal has the fewest

impurities: bituminous, lignite or anthracite?

2 The fossil AL 288-1 is better

known by what name?

3 The idea that the number of transistors in a

dense integrated circuit doubles roughly every

two years is known as what?

4 Which organic compound was first isolated

in 1838 by French chemist Anselme Payen?

5 What is the theoretical maximum size

of a star’s radius for a given mass called?

Answers on page 55

Puzzle

set by Howard Williams

#155 Mother Hubbard

Ada Hubbard loves creating riddles and

takes every opportunity to pose them.

She occasionally includes her daughter

Betty in her brain-teasers.

When someone recently asked for Ada and

Betty’s ages, Ada gleefully supplied a riddle

instead: “I am five times as old as Betty was

when I was as old as Betty is now. When

Betty is as old as I am now, then I will be 77.”

How old are Ada and Betty?

Solution next week

Cryptic crossword #77 Set by Wingding

Scribble

zone

Answers and

the next quick

crossword

next week

ACROSS

1 Gannet is regular subject for 3 Across (4)

3 One owl is sad for late biologist (1,1,6)

9 Little Rod the amphibian (7)

10 Put forward message about India (5)

11 Lacking evidence, nice US fiction gets

rewritten, losing nothing (12)

13 Cleans doctor’s clothes (6)

15 Recording equipment approached deity (6)

17 Emulsifying sauce with gravity, covering

cat with case of emulsion (12)

20 To package blood types is

forbidden practice (5)

21 Inhabitants of rented property

or very small colony? (7)

22 Changed appearance of your

head with light after break (8)

23 Expert overcomes new skin condition (4)

DOWN

1 Obvious statement supporting Pacino,

perhaps, showing selfless behaviour (8)

2 Daily fluctuations of initially terrible

concepts with no answer (5)

4 Canoes designed for large

bodies of water (6)

5 Consequences of demon sitting on

lithium ions with positive charge (12)

6 Possess ileum, to some extent,

like a barnacle (7)

7 Record private school’s rise (4)

8 3 Across’s field of study is cool –

boy, I go wild! (12)

12 Generosity shown by European

leader supporting big ship (8)

14 Shape of Greek character

on mass transportation (7)

16 Insect on table, dropping

a bit for another insect (6)

18 Type of bond from ancient Greece (5)

19 Vermin ascend to heavenly body (4)

Our crosswords are now solvable online

newscientist.com/crosswords