HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov (Daniel A. Asimov)
Subject: Re: Clever crosswords (not cryptics)
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 18:18:19 GMT

In article <1992Aug19.151022.21183@ncar.ucar.edu> ilana@kiowa.scd.ucar.edu (Ilana Stern) writes:
>
	[...]
>
>Part of the fun of these puzzles, of course, is figuring out exactly 
>what is going on and how to cope with it.  Anyone have any other interesting 
>twists on crossword puzzles that they've encountered or created?

>Ilana Stern 

My favorite gimmicks are the ones that take a long time to figure out.
One of my favorites came sometime in the last year in a NY Times Sunday
puzzle.  Turned out that many of the long answers happened to have the
words for numbers embedded in them, and you were supposed to enter the
numerals in their place.  Example:  across clue was "Butterfly collector's
thought upon chasing a butterfly." and a crossing down clue was
"Poodle and St. Bernard."  The answers were
 
     C
     A
C A 90 O U
     P
     E
     S

One of my favorite *cryptic* gimmicks was in an old puzzle,
Appropriate Moves, by Richard Maltby, in Harper's Magazine sometime
in 1977.  All it said was that around 20 clue answers, indicated as
special, fell in several categories and had to be entered in the
diagram appropriately.  (If you don't want to know what this turned
out to be, strike your "n" key now.)













Turned out that the categories were chess pieces: the clue answers had
to do with castles (like Irene), bishops, knights (like Gladys), etc.
And the answers were entered according to the way the corresponding
pieces move.

--Daz
From: roger@quantime.co.uk (Roger Phillips)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Subject: Re: x'word clues from rec.photo
Summary: possible SPOILER
Date: 14 Aug 92 18:13:03 GMT
Reply-To: roger@quantime.co.uk (Roger Phillips)
Organization: Quantime Ltd, London (software for market research)

In article <1992Aug14.145407.18713@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>,
ksampath@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Krishna S Sampath) writes:
> > From: zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd)
> > Newsgroups: rec.photo
> > 1. Fish, photographer (6) 
> > 7. Divided agricultural area or add-on lens (5-5)
> >   + 
> >  +++I+F+E+D            1. is the down clue
> >   +                    7. is the across clue 
> >   A
> >   +
> >   T
> > All I can think of for 7 is SPLITFIELD but then I can't get anything that 
> > makes sense for 1.

Is there a photographer called Spratt?
(There's a fish called sprat.)
-- 
Roger Phillips                            roger@quantime.co.uk
"The best way to find something you've lost is to buy a replacement."
-- Ann Landers
From: yoo@netcom.com (Young-Kyu Yoo)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Subject: Re: Clever crosswords (not cryptics)
Date: 20 Aug 92 23:14:59 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.77#n5jk.yoo
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

aardvark@locus.com (Warren Usui) writes:
>You are more likely to randomly come up with the string OTT in a crossword
>puzzle than you are to randomly come up with the string YAZESTREMSKI
>(another baseball player).

YAZSTREMSKI...now, there's a good word for somebody's puzzle.  

A decent constructor will assiduously avoid "crosswordese" like OTT, SMEW,
EVOE, and GNU.  Of course, it's easier said than done.  In the first puzzle
I ever constructed, I had a choice between OTT and ORT, two notorious
crossword cliches.  I chose OTT, cluing it with "Mel of crossword fame."

My favorite American constructors are Merl Reagle (of the San Francisco
Examiner) and Mike Shenk (of Games magazine), whose puzzles are 
refreshingly free of crosswordese and usually very clever to boot.

All in all, though, it's tough to beat a well-made cryptic for 
variety and cleverness.  After getting addicted to cryptics, I haven't
felt motivated to work through garden-variety crosswords.
.
From: guy@ulysses.att.com (Guy Jacobson)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Subject: CWC15 announcement
Date: 20 Aug 92 20:37:47 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

Roger Phillips has asked me to set round 15, so ...

     CLUE WRITING COMPETITION NUMBER 15

Welcome to Clue Writing Competition No. 15 (devised by Ian Gent).  The
rules, and this article, are much the same as used in earlier rounds.

The dates for CWC 15 are:

  Tuesday   25 August 23:59 EDT   Deadline for CWC15 entries
  Wednesday 26 August             I'll post the CWC15 winners
  Thursday  26 August             I'll post an annotated list of entries.

The rules:

Later on in this posting you'll find two words.  The first word is
chosen to be fairly easy to write a clue for; the second is intended to
be more awkward.

You may submit clues for either or both words.  I will accept only one
clue per person for each word; If you send more than one for a word, I
will accept the first one I receive.  E-mail the clues, along with your
name and e-mail address, explanations of how your clues work, and
whether or not you could run the next contest, to me at the following
address:

    guy@ulysses.att.com

After the deadline, I'll pick my favourite clue for each word.  Thus
there will be two winning clues.  I'll pick my favourite of these two as
the overall winner, inviting its writer to set the next round of this
competition.  I'll post separately a list of runner-up clues, and all
the remaining clues, with as much commentary as I see fit.

IMPORTANT: Please DO NOT post your own clues, or anything else that
might give away the answer words!  Some readers of this group want to
try solving the winning clues; please don't spoil it for them.

The words for CWC15 follow, "rot13" encoded for extra security,
after a ^L and 35 blank lines




































CVPNERFDHR

PBYBCUBA

As an added twist to this contest, I ask clue writers to imagine that
these words are to be included in a "Shakespeare" theme puzzle.  If
possible, clues should have some kind of connection with Shakespeare,
however vague.  For example, your clues could be related to plays,
acting, sonnets, poetry in general, Elizabethan England, disputed
authorship, second-best beds, or anything else smacking of the Bard.
I will, of course, accept any kind of clue, but I prefer thematic ones.

-- 
_________________________________________________________________
Guy Jacobson   (908) 582-6558              AT&T Bell Laboratories
        uucp:  {att,ucbvax}!ulysses!guy	   600 Mountain Avenue
    internet:  guy@ulysses.att.com         Murray Hill NJ, 07974
From: yoo@netcom.com (Young-Kyu Yoo)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Subject: Re: Clever crosswords (not cryptics)
Date: 20 Aug 92 06:08:24 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

Louis Sabin has written a collection of eccentric crosswords.  Check out
_The World's Craziest Crosswords_ from Dell Trade Paperback (ISBN
0-440-50437-6).
From: jes@downey.dev.macsch.com (John Schiermeier)
Subject: Re: Riddles
Organization: The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 19:36:03 GMT

In article <1992Aug18.150938.3688@Princeton.EDU> shari@room.Princeton.EDU (Shari L. Landes) writes:
>Great... everyone who has posted got them right...  here's the ones that
>are left...
>
>7 	C in a R
>12	N on an A C
>3	C on a T L
>7	D in a L T N (A)
>200	S of P in a R
>88	C in the S
>9	D in a Z C (with the S C)
        digits in a zip code (with the street code)
>
It would be interesting to see a post with all the
answers from the originator.

John
From: ronnie@cisco.com (Ronnie B. Kon)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Cryptarithm
Date: 12 Aug 92 18:20:00 GMT
Organization: cisco Systems, Incorporated
X-Disclaimer: The views expressed in this message are those of an
	      individual at SRI International, and do not necessarily
	      reflect those of the company.

In article <1992Aug12.002210.4019@Armstrong.EDU>, water772@Armstrong.EDU (Kelly Waters) writes:
|> In article <1992Aug11.050500.13303@csl.sri.com> ronnie@cisco.com (Ronnie B. Kon) writes:
|> >|> In article <1992Aug8.053255.10109@Armstrong.EDU>, water772@Armstrong.EDU (Kelly Waters) writes:
|> >|> >>>I didn't do a computer search, but there can't be any solutions if the
|> >|> >>>problem was stated correctly:
|> >|> >>>
|> >|> >>>   RATE * TIME = DISTANCE
|> >|> >>>
|> >|> >>>Can you replace each letter by a different decimal digit so that the
|> >|> >>>above is a true statement??
|> >|> > 
|> >|> > 	Am I lost here or are you asuming that because the 'numbers' contain
|> >|> > only 'decimal digits' that they can only be construed to be base ten values?
|> >|> > The poster never says the equality is a result of decimal multiplication.  Am
|> >|> > I being dense, or do I understand the problem correctly?
|> >|> > 
|> >|> > Kelly Waters
|> 
|> >What is it about this problem that brings out so very many preposterous
|> >statements about simple math?
|> 
|> 	I see nothing preposterous in avoiding making assumptions because a
|> puzzle is stated in a manner which only implies something to be true.  In fact,

Odd that you chose to elide the comment I was directly referring to, that
xxxx * yyyy = zzzzzzzz has no solutions in bases higher than 10.  Being a 
little creative with the editing, aren't we?

					Ronnie

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ronnie B. Kon           | "Boy, they were big on crematoriums, weren't they?"
ronnie@cisco.com        |
(415) 688-4592          |           -- George Bush at Auschwitz, Sept 1989
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: tjgerman@53iss6.Waterloo.NCR.COM (Trevor German)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: UTILITIES
Date: 14 Aug 92 15:21:08 GMT
Organization: Imaging Systems Division, NCR Corp, Waterloo, Ont., CANADA


Hello from Canada, eh.

	This is a puzzle I heard years ago but I like it.


       Take a pencil and draw three houses, then draw three utility
   companies, say water gas and electric. Now the puzzle is to draw 
   a line from each house to each utility without crossing any line.

	Good luck.
From: rmurphy@aludra.usc.edu (Bob Murphy)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Maximum Product (was Re: Another math question ...)
Date: 18 Aug 1992 17:00:52 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

In article <Aug.18.03.55.41.1992.16529@remus.rutgers.edu> clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes:
>In article <1992Aug15.132203.49077@news.th-darmstadt.de>, Ulrich Graef writes:
>
>> Problem:
>> ========
>
>> Given the set of ten digits from 0 to 9: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
>
>> i)   Combine the digits to two numbers x and y and use every
>>      digit only once.
>
>> iii) Which are x and y with the maximum product.
>>      Examples:
>
>More generally, given the set of digits {0,...,n} form two numbers
>such that x*y is maximal.  This is an old chestnut with a nice
>(non-computer) solution.
>-- 
>Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ  08807-2618
>

Here are the solutions for 2 <= n <= 9.

2*10        = 20
30*21       = 630
41*320      = 13120
520*431     = 224120
631*5420    = 3420020
7420*6531   = 48460020
8531*76420  = 651939020
96420*87531 = 8439739020

There are two solutions for each of these but one is easily obtainable
from the other.  Just take the zero off one of the numbers and place it
at the end of its partner.  For example, 41*320 = 410*32.

My method of obtaining these was not very elegant.  It was simply
an exhaustive search.

***************************************************************
Here is a shortcut to remembering these solutions.
--------------------------------------------------
The first number can easily be obtained as follows:
Begin with the largest digit.  Subtact 3 to get the next digit.
Now successively subtract 2 to get the following digits.

The second number can now be obtained by placing the remaining
digits in decreasing order.
***************************************************************

I noticed the pattern emerging before I went all the way up to n=9
but I am really not sure why it works.  Can anyone explain?
Would this method work in something other than base 10?

Bob Murphy (rmurphy@aludra.usc.edu)
From: ct@dde.dk (Claus Tondering)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: How come? puzzles (SPOILER and new one)
Keywords: Does anyone have any?
Date: 12 Aug 92 10:54:12 GMT
Organization: Dansk Data Elektronik A/S

loon@underdog.ee.wits.ac.za (LOON M J) writes:

>I've got one. This guy goes into a bar and orders a glass of water. The 
>barmen takes a gun from under the bar and points it at the guy, and loads 
>it. The guy says thank you and leaves happy. How come ?*?*?*?






---- SPOILER FOLLOWS --------








The man has a hiccup, he wants a glass of water to cure it, but instead
the barman scares him, which cures his hiccup.


---- New one: -----------

A man is pushing his car. He stops in front of a hotel and goes
bankrupt. How come?
-- 
Claus Tondering
Dansk Data Elektronik A/S, Herlev, Denmark
E-mail: ct@dde.dk
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: mmokhtar@attmail.com (Mazen Mokhtar)
Subject: Re: Virtual reality puzzle
Originator: mmdh@cbnewsf.cb.att.com
Organization: AT&T
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 21:40:33 GMT

In article <BtB87M.G6o@nntp-sc.Intel.COM> dmccart@gomez.intel.com (D. J. McCarthy) writes:
>Mazen Mokhtar (mmokhtar@attmail.com) wrote:
>>   It belongs to the set of propositions which we know are true but which we
>> have no device for proving. This is due to imperfection in our system of
>> formal logic, not due to uncertainty.
>
>	It's not due to imperfection in our system of formal logic,
>either.  All consistent logic systems have statements in them which we can
>"know" to be true or untrue but which we can neither prove nor disprove.
>That doesn't make them imperfect.

  That is what I meant. I thought of adding a reference to Godel, but I
thought that it would be unnecessarily technical. By imperfection I meant
that our system (or systems) or logic are not sufficient to prove
things that we know are true.


Puzzle:

  What is the next item in the series:  17, 23, 5, 18, 20, 25, ?
  How about this series: ! " # $ % & '


Regards,

Mazen Mokhtar


Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: mhz7c@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Mark H. Zollinhofer)
Subject: Re: Hofstadter:Riddle Sentence
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 02:33:56 GMT

While I appreciate knowing the content of the sentence:"If you
can read this, do what it says.", I'm equally interested in
figuring how it was deciphered (and I'm a sceptic).  Can you
fill me in on some more details relating to the puzzle, or is
the whole thing a joke?

Thanks again.
--
|   Mark H. Zollinhofer          *****  Quotable quote:                 |
|   619 Highland Ave.              |     "There's no need to take God   |
|   Charlottesville, VA 22903      |      seriously." -Lot's wife       |
|   internet: mhz7c@virginia.edu   |                  (Gen 19:26)       |
From: jw7348@norway.medtronic.com (Jeff Wilkinson)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Homographs
Date: 14 Aug 92 15:19:38 GMT
Organization: Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN

In article <1992Aug13.204913.5639@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> rad2r@uvacs.cs.Virginia.EDU (Robert DeLine) writes:
>
>I friend recently asked me for two homographs (words spelled the same
>but pronounced differently) where one was an adjective and the other a
>noun.  He swears there's only one.  I don't believe him, but I've yet to
>come up with another example.  There are plenty noun/verb pairs but few
>noun/adjective pairs.
>

I can't come up with another noun/adjective, but how about a noun and
its plural?  Note: sheep/sheep, deer/deer doesn't work because the
pronunciation is the same.

I'll post the the only one I know in a few days.

wilk

---------

Hey!!!! My example is a noun/adjective pair!  Deer (the animal) and
dear (what my wife means to me)!

Well........nothing like finding a penny when you fall on your face!

wilk
Xref: sparky rec.puzzles:5800 comp.misc:3273
From: clong@remus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,comp.misc
Subject: Win $20! (was Re: rot13 word pairs)
Date: 20 Aug 92 02:58:32 GMT
Followup-To: rec.puzzles
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <schnitzi.714245207@eola.cs.ucf.edu>, Mark Schnitzius writes:

> This is actually going on in talk.bizarre but
> belongs here.  What is the longest word that
> rot13's to another word?

> The best so far is "nowhere/abjurer".

This is the longest pair I know about.  Another shift pair of length
7 is sulphur/primero (but with shift length 1).

This is related to a contest running in REC (sponsored by me); the
first person to find a legitimate shift-pair of length 8 or more
wins $20.  If you find such a pair, contact me and I'll tell you
how to get in touch with the editor of REC.
-- 
Chris Long, 265 Old York Rd., Bridgewater, NJ  08807-2618

"In a study of schoolboys, an educator discovered a correlation between size
 of feet and quality of handwriting.  The boys with the larger feet were,
 on the average, older."        Wallis & Roberts, _The Nature of Statistics_
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: jes@downey.dev.macsch.com (John Schiermeier)
Subject: Re: Licence Plate: what does it mean?
Organization: The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 19:41:35 GMT

In article <80621@bcsaic.boeing.com> gah2468@bcsaic.boeing.com (Geoffrey Hazel) writes:
>
>I saw a personalized plate I can't figure out (on a non-descript car):
>
>MEDJGRE
>
My first reaction is that it refers to a town in Yugoslavia (I believe),
called Medjugorje (or something close), where lots of people are taking
pilgrimages because of reports of religious apparitions.  Or it could
be something totally different.

John


Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: keith@cco.caltech.edu (Keith Allan Schneider)
Subject: Re: Homographs
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 16:05:59 GMT

hamel@primate.wisc.edu (Ray Hamel) writes:


>> I friend recently asked me for two homographs (words spelled the same
>> but pronounced differently) where one was an adjective and the other a
>> noun.  He swears there's only one.  I don't believe him, but I've yet to
>> come up with another example.  
>> 
>> Rob DeLine

>How about BASS?

>BASS (noun) --the fish
>BASS (adjective) -- as in bass violin

How about lead (pb, the element) and lead (as in you lead, and I'll follow)?

keith
From: ronnie@cisco.com (Ronnie B. Kon)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Dead baby puzzle
Date: 17 Aug 92 23:31:57 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: cisco Systems, Incorporated
X-Disclaimer: The views expressed in this message are those of an
	      individual at SRI International, and do not necessarily
	      reflect those of the company.

In article <1503@rwja.umdnj.edu>, bawagan@rwja.umdnj.edu (Hinayana Bawagan) writes:
|> If this is FAQ, please excuse me.
|> 
|> A medical intern was summoned by his supervising doctor to the delivery
|> room.  The intern was shown a dead baby.  The doctor asked:  How can
|> you  tell if this baby was born dead or if the baby lived for some time
|> perhaps a few minutes or even hours?

Check its lungs.  If they are full of amneotic fluid (or if they are 
missing) then the baby was born dead.  If they contain air, then the baby
lived for a while.

				Ronnie

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ronnie B. Kon           | "Boy, they were big on crematoriums, weren't they?"
ronnie@cisco.com        |
(415) 688-4592          |           -- George Bush at Auschwitz, Sept 1989
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: joe@csource.oz.au (Joe Slater)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: spoilers
Date: 18 Aug 92 11:52:02 GMT

BS> <A medical intern was summoned by his supervising doctor to the
BS> delivery <room.  The intern was shown a dead baby.  The doctor asked:
BS> How can <you  tell if this baby was born dead or if the baby lived for
BS> some time <perhaps a few minutes or even hours?

BS> Do an autopsy and see if the lungs contain air.

See if they bothered tying the umbilical cord, but if the baby was critical
they'd use clamps instead while applying emergency aid.

jds


 * Origin: What horrors wait for me in this, the Phantom's Opera? (3:632/351)
From:  (Boingy Sheboygan)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: spoilers
Date: 17 Aug 92 05:54:03 GMT
Organization: Masochistic Institute of Technology

Spoiler alert!














#>     A scuba diver surfaced from the water and found himself in front of
#>a cave.  He saw at its entrance the naked bodies of a man and a woman.  
#>Immediately he concluded:  They're Adam and Eve.  WHY?

#Presumably, this guy is looking at either a sculpture or a painting.
#If it is either, there are a few tell tale symbols- such as an apple
#in the guys hand, or a snake, or something else.

#Since the guy is "concluding" it, it means that his mental patterns
#set him up to percieve whatever he percieves as Adam and Eve.  Therefore,
#he could be looking at nearly anything, and it is a product of his 
#previous experience and training.

#Probably, written underneath them is "Adam And Eve", which was the real
#tip-off.

I think the bodies were missing navels.


<A medical intern was summoned by his supervising doctor to the delivery
<room.  The intern was shown a dead baby.  The doctor asked:  How can
<you  tell if this baby was born dead or if the baby lived for some time
<perhaps a few minutes or even hours?

Do an autopsy and see if the lungs contain air.


Nice puzzles!

--
James Amdee  Masochists Institute of Tech
Schizo at large.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: amlogan@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Adam M. Logan)
Subject: Re: Hofstadter:Riddle Sentence
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Distribution: rec
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 17:07:20 GMT

In article <ULF.LUNDE.92Aug19182924@grim.kvatro.no> Ulf.Lunde@kvatro.no (Ulf Lunde) writes:
[chomp chomp munch]
>"Hvs d kn ls dtt, kn d snnsnlgvs snkk nrsk."

I think this sentence is false, but I can't tell for sure.

Adam
From: ed@wente.llnl.gov (Ed Suranyi)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: Rhymes
Date: 17 Aug 92 20:32:25 GMT
Organization: UC Davis Dept of Applied Science at LLNL

In article <1992Aug17.114725.2940@newstand.syr.edu> kanad@top.cis.syr.edu (Kanad Chakraborty) writes:
>In article <1992Aug14.200431.152696@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> dsbb@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (D. SPENCER BEECHER) writes:
>>Can anyone out there rhyme month, hungry, angry or orange?
>
>month rhymes with tenth (well, almost).
>hungry and angry rhyme with each other.
>orange rhymes with derange.

I feel terrible about doing this, because it must be that Kanad's first
language is not English, and so I doubt it is his fault.  However,
none of these "rhyming pairs" are even close.  In all cases, the vowel
sounds differ significantly.  To be specific:

"Month" and "tenth" have very different vowel sounds.

"Hungry" and "angry" both have stress on the first syllable, so they
must start rhyming there.  Unstressed final syllables, such as "gry" in
this case, are not enough.  The first syllables have very different
vowel sounds.

"Orange" and "derange" have stresses on different syllables.  "Orange"
has stress on the first; "derange" on the second.  In English rhyming,
at least, the two words must have the same stress pattern as well as
the same sounds.  Even then, the "range" is pronounced quite differently
in the two words.

Ed
ed@wente.llnl.gov
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles