New Scientist - USA (2022-06-04)

4 June 2022 | New Scientist | 53

The back pages Puzzles

Quick quiz #154

1 Chiropterophily is the pollination

of plants by which animals?

2 In what year was the US space

station Skylab launched?

3 Name the first human

virus to be discovered.

4 A sphygmomanometer is

used to measure what?

5 In which US state would you find the largest

flat-topped mountain, or mesa, in the world?

Answers on page 55

Puzzle

set by Holly Biming

#170 Presents, but not correct

“Have you written your thank-

you letters, Kayleigh?”

“Not yet mum, just doing it now. Do I thank

Amelia for the nail varnish, Beth for the

book, Clara for the lip balm, Diaz for the

pencils and Elinor for the sunglasses?”

“At least four of those are wrong.”

“Ah, then was it Amelia for the book,

Beth for the lip balm, Clara for the

pencils, Diaz for the nail varnish and

Elinor for the sunglasses?”

“That’s better, but you’ve still

made mistakes.”

“How about Amelia for the lip balm, Beth for

the sunglasses, Clara for the pencils, Diaz for

the book and Elinor for the nail varnish?”

“Even better, but still not full marks.

Clara didn’t give you the pencils or

the sunglasses.”

“I give up.”

Can you help?

Solution next week

Quick crossword #109 Set by Richard Smyth

Scribble

zone

Answers and

the next cryptic

crossword

next week

ACROSS

1 Rat genus (6)

5 Systematise (6)

10 Brown coal (7)

11 3 × 5 (7)

12 Co (6)

15 1985 sci-fi film by Terry Gilliam (6)

16 Cogito ___ , Cartesian axiom (4,3)

17 Pb (4)

18 Fe (4)

19 Synthetic textile (7)

20 Predatory freshwater fish (4)

22 Irritate; tickle (4)

25 Reliant on oxygen (7)

27 Spittle (6)

28 Lacking pigmentation (6)

31 Spacecraft (7)

32 Reptile, bird or mammal (7)

33 Of reproduced sound, multi-directional (6)

34 Organic remnant preserved in stone (6)

DOWN

2 Mathematical symbolism (7)

3 Threefold (6)

4 Stalk (4)

5 Rotator ___ , muscle group

in the shoulder (4)

6 Make misshapen (6)

7 Low-temperature storage unit (7)

8 Aliphatic diol (6)

9 Polysaccharide derived from chicory (6)

13 Windpipe (7)

14 Plane figure (7)

15 Eating disorder (7)

20 Engine component contained

by a cylinder (6)

21 kb (7)

23 Mineral also known as rottenstone (7)

24 Vacuum cleaner brand (6)

25 2009 sci-fi blockbuster (6)

26 Genetically identical organisms (6)

29 Global oceanographic programme (4)

30 ½ (4)

Our crosswords are now solvable online

newscientist.com/crosswords