This cross-number puzzle is one of my all-time favourites. I first came across it in a book called "Games for the Superintelligent", by James F Fixx. It looks impossible to solve, but the numbers and clues are cleverly interlocked so that by using a bit of logic, calculation and trial-and-error it can be cracked.
1. | Area in square yards of Pilgrims' Plot |
5. | Age of Martha, Farmer Dan's aunt |
6. | Difference in yards between the length and breadth of Pilgrims' Plot |
7. | Number of roods in Pilgrims' Plot times 8 down |
8. | The year Farmer Dan's family acquired Pilgrims' Plot |
10. | Farmer Dan's age |
11. | Year of Mary's birth |
14. | Perimeter in yards of Pilgrims' Plot |
15. | Cube of Farmer Dan's walking speed in mph |
16. | 15 across minus 9 down |
1. | Value in shillings per rood of Pilgrims' Plot |
2. | Square of the age of Farmer Dan's mother in law |
3. | Age of Mary, Farmer Dan's daughter |
4. | Value in pounds of Pilgrims' Plot |
6. | Age of Dan junior, Farmer Dan's son, who is twice the age of his sister Mary in 1945 |
7. | Square of the breadth of Pilgrims' Plot |
8. | Time in minutes it takes Farmer Dan to walk 1 1/3 times around Pilgrims' Plot |
9. | The number that multiplied by 10 across gives 10 down |
10. | See 9 down |
12. | Addition of the digits of 10 down plus 1 |
13. | Number of years Pilgrims' Plot has been in Farmer Dan's family |
Here are some details to get you started on the solution. The two years (8 across and 11 across) must start with a 1. 15 across is a cube and the only two digit cubes are 27 and 64. 16 across must therefore end in either a 6 or a 3, but as 7 down is a square number then it must be a 6 as no square numbers end in 3. Therefore 15 across is 27 and sixteen across is 16 and 9 down is 11. 9 down (11) times 10 across equals 10 down, which ends in a 2, so the second digit for 10 across is also a 2. So 8 down is 12 and the perimeter of Pilgrims' Plot can therefore be walked in 9 minutes, which at 3 mph means the perimeter (14 across) is 792 yards.
Back to Boston United Home Page. | Back to the Mindbenders |