New Scientist - USA (2019-08-31)

52 | New Scientist | 31 August 2019

The back pages Puzzles

Quick crossword #39 Set by Richard Smyth Quick quiz #18 Puzzle set by Zoe Mensch

#19 The vicar’s age

A bishop visited his friend the vicar on

her birthday. Knowing the bishop liked

number puzzles, the vicar told him about

a family that had just joined her church.

“If you multiply their three ages

together, you get 2450, and if you add

their ages together, you get your own age,

your grace.”

The bishop, after some thought, said:

“I can’t be certain how old everyone in the

family is.”

The vicar responded: “I am older than

everyone in that family.”

The bishop could then tell how old

everyone was.

How old was the vicar on that day?

Answer next week

#18 Cable on the moon

Solution

A power cable buried in a 1-metre deep

trench encircling the moon’s equator will

only be about 6 metres shorter than if it was

laid on the surface.

The radius of the moon (R) at the equator is

1,738,100 metres, but you don’t actually

need that figure to answer this question.

The length of cable on the surface is given

E\WKHIRUPXODë5

Burying the cable 1 metre down reduces

the radius to R-1. The new cable length is

WKHUHIRUHJLYHQE\ë5ZKLFKH[SDQGV

WRJLYHë5ë6XEWUDFWLQJWKLVIURPWKH

cable length on the surface gives a difference

RIëPHWUHV

6RWKHEXULHGFDEOHLVDPHUHPHWUHV

shorter than one on the surface.

1 Nihonium, Tennessine,

Oganesson – what fourth

name is missing from

this list?

2 9,192,631,770 what of

what equals what?

3 The ICZN, based in

6LQJDSRUHDQGWKH,$37

EDVHGLQ%UDWLVODYD6ORYDNLD

do what?

4 A golfball-sized lump of

90 per cent platinum and

10 per cent iridium (by

mass) fulfilled what function

until 2019?

5 FlyBase collates genetic

information concerning

which fast-breeding

organism beloved

of biologists?

Answers below

Cryptic

Crossword #13

Answers

ACROSS 1 %XONLHU 5 Umbra,

8 Generation Gap, 9 6KDUG

10 Trailer, 12 Median,

13 6WUHVV 16 Chimera,

18 Needs, 20 Quadrilateral,

22 (SR[\ 23 Cold War

DOWN 1 Bogus, 2 Lanyard,

3 Irradiate, 4 Rotate, 5 UFO,

6 Bagel, 7 Amperes,

11 Antenatal, 12 Macaque,

14 Eyebrow, 15 Garlic,

17 Imago, 19 6RODU 21 Ray

0RVNRYLXP7KH\DUHHOHPHQWV1.

added to the periodic table by the

,QWHUQDWLRQDO8QLRQRI3XUHDQG

istry in 2016.Applied Chem

The International Bureau of 2

:HLJKWVDQG0HDVXUHV%,30VD\V

9,192,631,770 oscillations of

the hyperfine ground states of the

= 1 second.-133 atomcaesium

ission m The International Com 3

enclature and on Zoological Nom

the International Association for

3ODQW7D[RQRP\HQVXUHFRQVLVWHQW

es. al and plant namanim

It was the international 4

W\SHNLORJUDPXQWLOWKH%,30SURWR

replaced it with a standard based

RQWKH3ODQFNFRQVWDQW

Drosophila The fruit fly 5

elanogasterm

 





 



 

   

  



 

 

ACROSS

1 Intelligence assessment,

purportedly (2,4)

4 Antelope; Chevrolet (6)

8 6SOLWVKDUHG

9 ^ (7)

11 Term used to describe

the technological

revolution by Harold

Wilson in 1963 (5,4)

12 Abnormal growth

projecting from a

mucous membrane (5)

14 B (5)

15 3HUKDSVRU

16 Marriage within a social

or ethnic group (8)

18 3LFWXUHSX]]OH

20 6HH'RZQ

21 Harvey ___, rubber

tyre pioneer (9)

24 Condition caused by

YLWDPLQ'GHILFLHQF\

25 Of algebra, functions or

variables, relating to a

19th-century logician (7)

26 3DFLILFFOLPDWH

phenomenon (2,4)

27 $EQRUPDOH[LWRIWLVVXH

$QVZHUVDQGWKHQH[WFU\SWLFFURVVZRUGQH[WZHHN

DOWN

1 BBBHONH[WLQFWGHHU

species (5)

2 6RFLDOPHGLDSODWIRUP

launched in 2006 (7)

3/2086SDODHRQWRORJLVWDQG

essayist (7,3,5)

5 Friedrich ___, inventor

of a scale of mineral

hardness (4)

6 Air sacs in the lungs (7)

7 õ+DFNWLYLVWöJURXS

10 Fastener patented

in 1849 (6,3)

13 2011 science fiction

WKULOOHUVWDUULQJ-DNH

Gyllenhaal (6,4)

14 Cretaceous clay found

in Wyoming (9)

17 Waterproof garment (7)

19 %DFWHULDOQHXURWR[LQ

22 6SLUDOKRUQHGDQWHORSH

23 6WDU7UHNSKDVHUVHWWLQJ

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Quick quiz #18

Answers