April-May, 2002 Puzzle Contests

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5/30-6/3/02 Contest:

I was disheartened to not receive a correct answer to this last puzzle contest, even after giving two shots at it, and doubling the prize. Shucks. I'll give you the answer today, and a new puzzle.

Replace the question marks in the following series:

p ? t g ? l ? l s ?

Answer: p a t g c l v l s s. You have the first letters of the signs of the zodiac, beginning with Pisces, which starts in late February, through to Sagitarius, which starts in late November. I left out Aquarius (late January) and Capricorn (December) to make it a little tougher. But this evidently made it too difficult.

Winner: Nobody. Someone must win today!!!


5/29/02 Contest:

A famous individual sailed on me. Take my first name, and think of who works for me. With that in mind, think of what breakfast product they're involved with. Now, remove a letter from each of them, and tell me how you'd sleep, laugh, and where you receive your mail.

Answer: NAP, CACKLE & PO (box). The person was Christopher Columbus, who sailed on the Santa Maria. First name is Santa, and elves work for Santa. Elves are involved with the Rice Krispies cereal, and their names are Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Remove a letter from each to get the answer...

Winner: Katherine L. Katherine didn't state what she'd like published about herself, but I can tell you from the signature attachment in her emails that she works for a major book publisher (I hope that I'm not telling too much, Katherine).


5/28/02 Contest:

Donna, winner of Monday's puzzle (Hall & Oates), added that her full name is Donna Webb, and she is from Missouri. This last part explains why she's so smart (ok, being in St. Louis, we're a little biased!).

Another 2 part puzzle:

Part 1: I am a small dog or a pile of rocks. Remove my 3rd and last letters, and you have Part 1.

Part 2: I was a hunter, and was slain by an arrow. Remove my first letter, and you have part 2. Combine parts 1 and 2, and you have a 7 letter word. What is it?

Answer: carrion. Part one was the word cairn. After removing those 2 letters, you get the word car. The second part is Orion. Remove the 'O' and combine the two, and you get your answer.

Winner: Andrew Silikovitz from West Orange, NJ


5/27/02 Contest:

This puzzle has 2 parts, which combine to make 1 name:

Part 1: I have my "revenge" at a type of stool. In a certain song sung by members of a branch of the US military, something referred to as belonging to me, singular instead of plural, is the first part of this puzzle.

Part 2: My last 3 letters, read backwards, are a type of thing that a television is commonly referred to as being. My first 3 letters, when read backwards, are the first word in a book written by Bruce Lee.

Combine the word or name suggested in part 1 with that of part 2, and you have a name, which consists of more than one word or name. What is it?

Answer: Hall and Oates. Explanation:

Part 1: Montezuma's revenge is hinted at in Part 1, which involves a stool, without going into detail... The Marines' Hymn, which I found info on at http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/aud_hymn_more.html and elsewhere, contains the line "From the Halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli" - taken literally, the song is saying that Montezuma owned halls, and made singular per the the riddle, you have the first part: Hall.

Part 2: A television is commonly referred to as a "set," so backwards, your last 3 letters are tes. The book referred to by Bruce Lee is the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, which you can find here. Backwards, Tao becomes oat. So, the second part is oattes, or oates. With a little research, if you didn't see it on your own, you come to the answer being the band Hall and Oates. Cool beans, eh? Not easy, though...

Winner: Donna W. I only recently got in here to respond to Donna, so we might have more info on her in the next issue if she sends it. But she has solved a tough puzzle, and receives a firm "yeehah!" from us :-)


5/24-5/27/02 Contest:

Think family, and think physics. Think of a really smart guy with crazy looking hair. This didn't break any laws, but was moving in that direction... what the heck am I talking about?

Answer: The Theory of Relativity. Hints being family for 'relative' in relativity, physics, Einstein, laws (a theory is a step below a law in "concreteness," if you will), and, well heck, this just wasn't a very difficult puzzle!

Winner: Jen Gervasio, Lancaster, NY


5/23/02 Contest:

My first 4 letters indicate a disagreement, and if you add 1 letter to the end of my first 4 letters, but keep off the rest of me, you have a storm. I am a tool used in certain types of cooking. What am I?

Answer: spatula

Winner: Debbie Presson of Portsmouth, Virginia


5/10-5/23/02 Contest:

Hints from the 5/22 newsletter, as no one had solved the puzzle as of that date: the prime number referred to is 19, and the word "mend" appears as part of the answer.

A prime number is in me, and I am a type of 'fix.' I am not related to suffering, but am appropriate for Mother's Day being so close. But by this I do not mean anything related to sewing, stitching, or mending... or do I? What am I?

Answer: The 19th Amendment (gave women the right to vote). Hints in the riddle included suffering (suffrage), mending (amendment), and others...

Winner: Diane N. She has not provided any other info about herself to list here or claimed her prize, so that's all I can tell you about Diane :-) Feel free to give me something to list here about you if you win. People are interested in that, and it's your chance to be world famous!!


5/3-5/10/02 Contest:

Still no one solved the last contest, even after my hint of "circular logic" (hint given in the 5/8 newsletter). It was a tough one, but I was sure someone would get it. Oh well! This is how it went:

Given the first three patterns in this sequence, draw the fourth:
 
x x y
x x x
x x y

y x x
x y x
x x x

y x x
y x x
x x x

? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ?
The answer is:
 
y x x
y x x
x x x
Yep, the third set repeated. The "circular logic" clue was given because this pattern is related to pi. Many puzzles play off of this number. The first 6 digits of pi are: 3.14159, and that is how the sequence went, but in both forward and in reverse. The 'y' letters in the patterns signify the numbers in pi that are in each pattern, as in this diagram:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
And the sequence went 3/9, 1/5, 4/1... then you crossover, and it would be 1/4 in 3.14159. Yep, a tough one. Today's may be a little easier.


5/2/02 Contest:

You can load & unload at part of me, or am I a wine? In full, I am your behavior, not necessarily related to exile. What am I?

The answer is DEPORTMENT. The first part refers to the word PORT (i.e. place you can load & unload, wine), the second part (behavior) refers to the entire word, and "exile" refers to the word DEPORT.

The winner was 26 year old Diana Kelley, of Coral Springs, Florida. Diana won a totally awesome lifetime membership in the International High IQ Society!


4/30/02 Contest:

Not Riggs, and not an opponent of Superman, take me on a checkered board if you can. It is only my 3rd year in college... can you tell me who I am?

The answer is Martin (i.e. Riggs in the Lethal Weapon movies) Luther (as in Lex Luther, enemy of Superman) King (the objective to "take" on a chess board, which is checkered), Jr. (the traditional name for one's status in a third year of college).

The winner was Andrew Silikovitz from West Orange, NJ, who won this on May 1st, his 34th birthday! Andrew won a free membership in the ultracool International High IQ Society.