Monthly Logic Puzzle
This month’s puzzle is a cryptic crossword courtesy of thinks.com. Cryptic crosswords are crossword puzzles in which each clue is a word puzzle in and of itself. In essence, a cryptic clue leads to its answer as long as you read it in the right way. A typical clue gives you two ways of getting to the answer, either of which can come first. One part of the clue is a definition, which must exactly match the part of speech and tense of the answer. The other part (wordplay) gives you an alternative route to the answer. (This part would be a second definition in the case of double definition clues.) One of the tasks of the solver is to find the boundary between definition and wordplay and insert a mental pause there when reading the clue cryptically. A typical cryptic clue describes its answer in detail and often more than once so that the solver can usually have a great deal of confidence in the answer once it has been determined. The numbers in brackets at the end of the clue indicate if the answer will how many letters the answer will be and how many words it will be. For example a (5) indicates the answer is a five letter word. A (4,3) indicates the answer is 7 letters in total but made up of a four letter word followed by the three letter word. Here is a link that has a great beginners guide to cryptic crosswords. There are many types of specialty clues so be sure to scroll to the bottom and click on the clue types in order to learn more.
Example: The answer to 1 across is DARES. This clue is an anagram. From reading about anagrams on the beginners guide I was able to spot this by the word “out”. From there I can see that the “READS” must be the letters to be rearranged because there are 5 of them and the answer is a 5 letter word as indicated by the (5) at the end. That leaves the “Has the courage to” part of the clue. This part is likely the definition. Therefore whatever “READS” is rearranged as it must support the definition. “DARES” is therefore the answer as it supports the definition of the word and is an anagram of READS. Keep at it and refer back to the beginners guide as needed!
Across
1 Reads out – Has the courage to (5)
4 Some temper, ornery, this ruler! (7)
8 Have high regard for damaged sceptre (7)
9 Counted up one theologian plus editor (5)
10 Country earthenware (5)
12 Recital about item in newspaper (7)
13 Draw a treatise we hear (7)
18 Taking cab back to a short road, one gets rum (7)
19 No longer alive, right, afterwards? (5)
20 Musical drama, a short work, takes a long time (5)
21 Responds as wrens scatter (7)
23 Physical assault might well be used to light a torch! (7)
24 Raleigh left out something to drink (5)
Down
1 Act like Alfred Hitchcock, being straightforward (6)
2 A bit of Prussian land (6)
3 The woman gives point to the man! (3)
4 One of the film crowd with standard – that’s very unusual (13)
5 Arctic Lapp endlessly turns out to be good with hands (9)
6 Make smaller cut (6)
7 Long narrow hilltops and topless river crossings (6)
11 Every other anteater left out (9)
14 Swallow in cabs or buses (6)
15 Small account with small amount of money causes stress! (6)
16 Perhaps oak in small thoroughfare makes it a full thoroughfare (6)
17 Mistake remover is terribly rare around South East (6)
22 Cuttting tool was upside down (3)
Past Monthly Logic Puzzle
Answer: 15131 (the sequence is the number squared + 2)
What is the next number in this sequence
1, 3, 11, 123…
Past Monthly Logic Puzzle
Answer: Change the first letter and they are all colours
What do the following words have in common?
HOLD CROWN RINK FLACK BED
Past Monthly Logic Puzzle
Answer: “at”
What two letter word can you insert into all three the following words in order to create three new words?
1. Figur(at)e
2. Mut(at)ed
3. Dogm(at)a
Actin Radio September Workout Mix
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Past Monthly Logic Puzzle
Answer: If we assume the Dealer knows where the King of Spades is then, the chance of winning is doubled when you switch to the other playing card rather than sticking with your original choice, because the dealer turned deliberately a ‘non-King of Spades’ card over.
There are 3 possible situations corresponding to your initial choice, each with equal probability (1/3):
a) You originally pick the playing card hiding The Jack of Clubs. The game host has deliberately shown the other non-King of Spades card.
b) You originally picked the playing card hiding the other non-King of Spades card. The game Host has deliberately shown the Jack of Clubs.
c) You originally picked the playing card hiding the King of Spades. The game Host has shown either of the two non-King of Spades cards.
If you choose to switch, you win in the first two cases. A player choosing to stay with the initial choice wins in only the last case. Since in 2 out of 3 equally likely cases switching wins, the odds of winning by switching are 2/3 as opposed to 1/3 if you stay with the card you have originally picked. This situation is ONLY true if the dealer knows where the King of Spades is!
Question: There are three playing cards on a table face down. 1 of the cards is a King of Spades and the Dealer knows where he is hiding. He asks you to guess where the King of Spades is. You point to a card. The dealer flips the card next to it. It is a Jack of Clubs -NOT the King of Spades. What is the probability that you have pointed to the King of Spades? Should you switch to the other un-flipped card or stick with the one you have?
