THE STRANGE BUSINESS OF THE LETTER "T"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 49, 31 May 1940, Page 16

THE STRANGE BUSINESS OF THE LETTER "T"

S a rest from this ceaseless solving and ciphering and _perspiring generally, puzzlers this week are offered the strange business of the letter T. It’s an old story, but every time it turns up it seems to be new, for everyone forgets the answer. Scattered about this page are four teproductions of queerly shaped pieces of card, or wood, or other stiff material. They should be cut out and, if a properly artistic: job of work is desired, pasted on suitably rigid material, From them it is possible to make a letter T, the usual shape. It is a plain block letter, with no funny corners or silly serifs, Of course, you are not allowed to cut or distort the pieces in any‘ way, ANSWERS:

Boffini: R.W.C. was the first correspondent to’ state flatly, that all those rods, poles and perches, in plain language, make two miles 3in. Boffin, we metdererene, i$. still dissatisfied. — (Problem from R. G.). ‘Paddy ‘the Pup: Sunley and Sadly approach each other at the rate of 314 + 2%, or 7 m.p.h., and so take 12/7ths of an hour to meet. During that time

Paddy the Pup, travelling at 10 m.p.h., will cover 17 1/7th miles-(Problem from R.W.C. Answer from H.G.L.). Appleton to Duckborough: With an accusation that P.J.Q., who sent this problem, is a kindred spirit of R.G.’s, R.W.C. states that the distance from Appleton to Butterville, reduced to plain terms, was 18 miles, which made everything nice and easy, Over the Counter: He gains, and to those correspondents who painfully worked out that 58800 counters would cost £10 at 49 for 2d.,. giving a profit of 1d. on the sale price, we offer commiserations. They wasted their time on a problem of mental arithmetic, because one forty-eighth is greater than one-fiftieth-(Problem from R.G.). _ Pig.in the Poke: Use Roman numerals. oe Problem from L.W.). PROBLEMS:

Coco-nuts Five sailors and a monkey shipwrecked on an island, spent their first days gathering a pile of coco-nuts One night they lay down to sleep with plans for dividing the pile the next morning. But during the night one sailor wakened, and, to make. sure of his share, divided the pile into fifths. There was an odd one, which he gave to the monkey. He hid his fifth, mixed up the other fourfifths in the pile, and went back. to sleep. Now, although they had all taken such precautions against night starvation as normally lie within the power of castaways well away from onions and lettuce, all the men that night were rest-

less. Soon another wakened, and with the same intention, divided the remaining pile into fifths, Again there was an odd one, and again it was given to the monkey. He hid his fifth, put the re-

mainder back in a. pile, and dropped off to sleep. And so each of the men wakened in his turn, to divide the pile into fifths, secrete .his own, .and replace the others. * In the morning the five sailors divided what was left .of the pile among them-. selves and it came out even. At least how many coco-nuts did each sailor get in this final division?,-(Problem from H.G.L., who says it can be solved with secondary school mathematics. For the experts he offers an opportunity to supply a formula which could be used to find the original nutnber in the pile).’ Condensed Crossword This is the second condensed crossword, Each clue covers one word of four letters: Clues across: « Spill Sometimes you do it against it Never fry here’ A square deal in canvas Clues down: — Definitely not poisoned Is it the sweetest thing? Sez me Closely confined Answer to last week’s: Firs Idol Veto East Fish Story Thomas and Henry were discussing the relative sizes of the fish they had caught during their holidays. "This is no fish story," said Thomas. "One of the largest fish I caught on the trip was

a very unusual one. Its head measured two and a-half feet. Its body was one foot less than ‘the combined lengths of its head and tail; and its tail was onehalf of a foot less than one-half of the total length of its head and body." Henry, a bit of a mutt,-could not imagine what the size of the fish might be from that description. Can you?-(Prob-lem from Laurence Hayston, New Brighton). What's the Word? Three parts of a cross and a circle complete. Two half-circles and a straight line meet. Right angle triangle stands on two feet. Two half-circles and a circle complete.-(From F.G., Wellington).