New Scientist - USA (2020-08-29)

54 | New Scientist | 29 August 2020

Puzzle

set by Chris Maslanka

#74 The twisted wood

On my way through the twisted

wood, I bumped into Tweddle and

Twaddle. These two are logical,

but like to quarrel. When I found

them, they were arguing over

which of the 12 philosophers

living in those parts was the

greatest. Was it:

Spotton, Tuorlo or Twee?

Fluffer, Wimby or Mee?

Twitton, Twottie or Hirst?

Schnitzel, Freddie or Wurst?

Clearly, the correct answer

had to be one of those 12,

so I picked one of the names

at random. I whispered the

first letter of my nominee in

Tweddle’s ear and the final

letter in Twaddle’s ear. They then

made the following remarks:

Tweddle: I don’t know

your choice.

Twaddle: I don’t know it either.

Tweddle: I still don’t know.

Twaddle: Aha, but now I know it!

Which of the 12 did I chose?

Answer next week

#73 Changing guard

Solution

Perkins will end up facing right,

regardless of where the other

left-turners were standing. The

five soldiers who are initially facing

left will “transfer” that leftness to

a soldier to their left until there are

no more right-facers to transfer

this to. The soldiers will end up

arranged like this:

L L L L L R R R R R R R R R R

Perkins is eighth from the left,

so he will end up facing right.

Quick

quiz #66

Answers

1 True, although a

1976 proof of the

“four colour theorem”

has only more

recently become

widely accepted by

mathematicians

2 A quantum

computer

3 On the floor of

the Arctic Ocean

north of Siberia;

they are central to

Russian claims of

how far north its

jurisdiction extends

4 The insurgent

computer HAL 9000

in the film 2001:

A Space Odyssey

5 Ants, especially

social ones

Twisteddoodles

for New Scientist

Tom Gauld

for New Scientist

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