This Friday we pose a word problem. A quote from Dr. Martin Luther King has been hidden in this picture. Start at the blue circle, and move horizontal or vertical until you have used all letters. The last symbol is the dot. The green squares represent blanks. No diagonal moves are allowed.
I found this type of puzzle in the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad
New puzzles are published at least twice a month on Friday. You can check your solution here.
An Alphamatic is a puzzle in which words are part of a calculation. An example is
SEND
MORE
—– +
MONEY
which, if the letters are replaced by the correct digits, forms a correct addition.
A special class are the “double true” alphametics. THese are the puzzles I want to have a look at in this post.
1) I listed one before:
THREE
FIVE
FIVE
SEVEN
TEN
——+
THIRTY
The university of Bieleveldt has a nice list:
2) SEVEN + SEVEN + SIX = TWENTY difficulty: 2
3) EIGHT + EIGHT + TWO + ONE + ONE = TWENTY difficulty: 3
4) ELEVEN + NINE + FIVE + FIVE = THIRTY
5) NINE + SEVEN + SEVEN + SEVEN = THIRTY
6) TEN + SEVEN + SEVEN + SEVEN + FOUR + FOUR + ONE = FORTY
7) FOURTEEN + TEN + TEN + SEVEN = FORTYONE
8) NINETEEN + THIRTEEN + THREE + TWO + TWO + ONE + ONE + ONE = FORTYTWO
9) FORTY + TEN + TEN = SIXTY
This list is, however, not exhaustive. Here are a couple more:
10) THREE + THREE + TWO + TWO + ONE = ELEVEN difficulty: 3
11) ELEVEN + THREE + THREE + THREE = TWENTY difficulty: 4
12) ELEVEN + THREE + THREE + ONE + ONE + ONE = TWENTY difficulty: 4
13) SEVEN + THREE + THREE + TWO + TWO + ONE + ONE + ONE = TWENTY difficulty: 4
14) SEVEN + FIVE + TWO + TWO + ONE + ONE + ONE + ONE = TWENTY difficulty: 3
15) SEVEN + FIVE + TWO + TWO + TWO + ONE + ONE = TWENTY difficulty: 3
I feel there are a couple more lurking out there, but I hope to list more of them in a future post.
They exist in many languages, about a year ago I published some Dutch ones.
New puzzles are published at least once a month on Fridays. You are welcome to remark on the difficulty level of the puzzles, discuss alternate solutions, and so on. Puzzles are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. You can check your solutions here.
This week we have some calculation problems for you.
1) four areas 4×6**/*****
Divide this grid into four equal sized areas, each with the same sum.
2) four areas 4×7**/*****
Divide this grid into four equal sized areas, each with the same sum.
You can check your solutions here.
New puzzles are posted twice a month on Friday. You are welcome to remark on the difficulty level of the puzzles, discuss alternate solutions, and so on. Puzzles are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. You can check your solutions here.
In 1967 the Russian scientist M.M. Bongard published a book containing 100 problems. Each problem consists of 12 small boxes: six boxes on the left and six on the right. Each of the six boxes on the left conforms to a certain rule. Each box on the right contradicts this rule. Your task, of course, is to figure out the rule.
1) Numbers***/*****
New puzzles are published at least once a month on Fridays. Solutions are published after one or more weeks. You are welcome to remark on the difficulty level of the puzzles, discuss alternate solutions, and so on. Puzzles are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. You can check your solutions here.
In 1967 the Russian scientist M.M. Bongard published a book containing 100 problems. Each problem consists of 12 small boxes: six boxes on the left and six on the right. Each of the six boxes on the left conforms to a certain rule. Each box on the right contradicts this rule. Your task, of course, is to figure out the rule.
A Bongard problem consists of two groups of 6 images. Each and every of the six images on the left complies wit a certain rule. Each of the 6 images on the right does NOT comply with this rule.
Rule 9**/*****
New puzzles are published at least once a month on Fridays. Solutions are published after one or more weeks. You are welcome to remark on the difficulty level of the puzzles, discuss alternate solutions, and so on. Puzzles are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. You can check your solutions here.
I’m writing this at the end of december, and we are still locked up due to covid-19 restrictions. But nothing prevents us to make a trip on the web.
1) Europe***/*****
Inspired by the yearly Christmas puzzles of the AIVD, the Dutch intelligence service, here is a European trip:
aacghopz – acinortss – aipzz beeglnoos – aciopt – aëtv ioks – gory – denör – egijnsu ciooprsttu
Which country is missing?
A new puzzle is published at least once a month, but usually every fortnight on Friday morning. You can find the solution to this puzzle here.
In 1967 the Russian scientist M.M. Bongard published a book containing 100 problems. Each problem consists of 12 small boxes: six boxes on the left and six on the right. Each of the six boxes on the left conforms to a certain rule. Each box on the right contradicts this rule. Your task, of course, is to figure out the rule.
1) Numbers*/*****
New puzzles are published at least once a month on Fridays. Solutions are published after one or more weeks. You are welcome to remark on the difficulty level of the puzzles, discuss alternate solutions, and so on. Puzzles are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. You can check your solutions here.
The well-known explorer Kickedoutofbed arrived a his first island in the Logico archipelago. He had been warned that there were two types of natives: Knights, who always speak the truth, and knaves, who always lie.
1) knight or knave?**/*****
He met his first native right on the beach. Of course he was curious if the native was a knight or a knave, so he asked:
“Are you a knight or a knave?”
The answer came without hesitation:
“Yes, I am.”
Which of the two types is the native?
You can check your solutions here
New puzzles are published at least twice a month on Fridays.
Mazes or Labyrinths are among the oldest problems in human history. The word labyrinth comes straight from the Greek word λαβύρινθος, pronounced labyrinthos. This post is intended to give a brief overview, it is impossible to capture all knowledge on mazes in a single book, let alone in a single blog post.
The oldest labyrinth known was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, a mythical creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Daedalus had made the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it.[1] Theseus was aided by Ariadne, who provided him with a skein of thread, literally the “clew”, or “clue”, so he could find his way out again.
Another ancient Greek example is scratched on the back of clay accounting tablet at Pylos, Greece, in approx 1200 BC. See for example https://bloggermymaze.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/kre-mini.jpg
 |
| The hedge maze at VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, Canada., Photo by Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 license |
In the late Renaissance garden mazes became popular, and this popularity has remained over the centuries.
A word about the terminology: I regard the words “maze” and “labyrinth” as synonyms. Some say a maze should be branched, and a labyrinth unicursal that is, having one path from start to finish, but I find insufficient historical proof for such usage. After all, the labyrinth in the Greek story above must have been branched, else why should he need a thread to get out? In this post i will concentrate on branched mazes, as unicursal mazes may be fascinating for some people, but this blog is about puzzles, and I don’t see a unicursal labyrinth as a puzzle. Greek labyrinths have also appeared on coins, as early as 430 B.C.
The coin depicted is a Silver stater, Knossos, 300-270 BC. Νumismatic Museum, Athens, Greece.
According to the German language wikipedia, there have been four phases in garden labyrinths:
Late renaissance period
Often detailed by flowers, and from a terrace the visitors could look over the entire maze, solving it with their eyes. Most of these labyrinths no longer exists, though some of their plans have been handed down the ages.
The earliest gardens with fences come up at the end of this period, such as the gardens designed by the protestant preacher Johann Peschel in 1576 in the town Grüningen.
The German language wikipedia shows this example of a stone-path labyrinth at Castle Reichenfels
And another example:
Baroque
The love of art and complexity produced some beautiful garden mazes. An old example is at Hampton Court.
English gardens
This period started in the early 18th century. The mazes looked naturally, with rocks, sand, bushes and trees.
Mazes are still popular. Warren Stokes maintains a blog posting one new maze a day. With his permission, here is one of his creations:
Sources and further reading
German language article on labyrinths
English language article on labyrinths
History of Mazes and Labyrinths, by Jo Edkins
a maze ing art
This post took a long time. I started writing it in May, 2012. I staid dormant for years. It as only when I created a book with mazes for children for our grandson, that I remembered this post.
1) Next*/*****
What is the next number in the series 17, 72, 28, 83, 39, 94, 50, 05, 61, …
New puzzles are published at least once a month on Fridays. Solutions are published after one or more weeks. You are welcome to remark on the difficulty level of the puzzles, discuss alternate solutions, and so on. Puzzles are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. You can check your solutions here.
justpuzzles 
