01 February 2016
Alice's Adventures in Numberland - answers
Here we reveal the answers of our Lewis Carroll-inspired brainteasers. (The questions feature in a previous blog post)
Can you find a route from the outside of the maze to the centre?
DOUBLETS
For each pair of words, can you find a series of words which link them, changing just one letter each time? All links must be real words.
Drive PIG into STY – PIG/WIG/WAG/WAY/SAY/STY
Make WHEAT into BREAD – WHEAT/CHEAT/CHEAP/CHEEP/CREEP/CREED/BREED/BREAD
Raise FOUR to FIVE – FOUR/FOUL/FOOL/FOOT/FORT/FORE/FIRE/FIVE
Prove GRASS to be GREEN – GRASS/CRASS/CRESS/TRESS/TREES/FREES/FREED/GREED/GREEN
Change OAT to RYE – OAT/RAT/ROT/ROE/RYE
Cover EYE with LID – EYE/DYE/DIE/DID/LID
Raise ONE to TWO – ONE/OWE/EWE/EYE/DYE/DOE/TOE/TOO/TWO
Crown TIGER with ROSES – TIGER/TILER/TILES/TIDES/RIDES/RISES/ROSES
DOUBLE ACROSTIC POEM
Each couplet in this poem clues an 8-letter word. If you find all 8 words, their first letters will spell out a word, and their last letters will spell out another word.
They’ll jump off a cliff from a great height, for fun
In a computer game from 1991
LEMMINGS
Just the right tipple for a long run
To match your own chemical composition
ISOTONIC
Kids won’t touch it - they prefer jam
Sounds like it’s near Lewisham
BROCCOLI
Practise makes perfect, that’s what they say
Regarding the vehicle that takes you away
REHEARSE
Brenda with three Es is feeling pretty
Confused about this northern city
ABERDEEN
Caesar’s troubled by its bite
Maybe a candlelit dinner tonight?
ROMANTIC
It’s almost like there’ll be bows and knots
At the time of year you give presents lots
YULETIDE
First letters spell out: LIBRARY
Last letters spell out: SCIENCE
Can you devise a rotation ambigram for the word FISH? Or a reflection ambigram for BIRD?
Rotation ambigram for the word FISH (from bigforrap.wordpress.com): Reflection ambigram or the word BIRD (from ambigramme.com):
Can you draw this shape made from three interlaced squares, using one continuous line, without going over any parts of the line twice, without intersecting the line you’ve already drawn, and without taking your pen off the paper?
A DINNER PARTY
At a dinner party, the host invites his father’s brother-in-law, his brother’s father-in-law, his father-in-law’s brother, and his brother-in-law’s father. What’s the smallest number of guests there could be?
Males are denoted by upper case and females are denoted by lower case letters. The host is C and his guest is E. His father's brother-in-law is B or C. His brother's father-in-law is C. His father-in-law's brother is C. His brother-in-law's father is C. Therefore the smallest number of guests is 1, C.
ANAGRAMS
Can you unscramble these sentences to form relevant phrases?
HELP V. KEEN TRIO OF DAFTNESS - FESTIVAL OF THE SPOKEN NERD
“LESS TOKEN GREENERY”, SHE SANG - GEEK SONGSTRESS HELEN ARNEY
SEE ME OUT, TV’S MISTER EXPLODER MAN - EXPERIMENTS MAESTRO STEVE MOULD
BRB, I HIRE TRASHY LIT - THE BRITISH LIBRARY
I WANTED DEAN IN CD’S SURREAL NOVEL - ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
AM AUS, AND ATTEMPT ARITHMETIC PRANK - STAND-UP MATHEMATICIAN MATT PARKER
With thanks to Katie Steckles (@stecks) for compiling these puzzles. Katie Steckles is a mathematician based in Manchester, who gives talks and workshops on maths. She finished her PhD in 2011, and since then has talked about maths in schools, at science festivals, on BBC radio, at music festivals, as part of theatre shows and on the internet. She enjoys doing and writing puzzles, solving the Rubik's cube and baking things shaped like maths.These puzzles furst featured in the Alices Advemtures in Numberland event featuring geek comedy trio Festval of the Spoken Nerd