rej@cornell.UUCP (Ralph Johnson) (11/08/83)
From: rej (Ralph Johnson) To: net-puzzle The puzzle about the Dunks and Dogs Mead was excellent. I originally thought that it would be very hard, but decided that it would not be posted if it could not be solved. It took me four or five hours to solve, but I spent a lot of time on dead ends, so it does not have to take that long. A better question than asking Mrs. Grooby's age is "when was this puzzle written?" A nice property of this question is that the answer is not a spoiler, as almost no use can be made of it. The answer is 1935. Ralph Johnson
johnbu@tektronix.UUCP (John Burgess ) (11/11/83)
Here's one that should be challenging to most of you for a while. In a week or so, I'll give a few hints, followed by the final solution about a week later. Enjoy! John Burgess, Tektronix ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 1 | | 2 | 3 | | XXXXXXXX | 4 | | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | |----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------| | | XXXXXXXX | 5 | | XXXXXXXX | 6 | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | XXXXXXXX | | | |----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------| | | XXXXXXXX | | XXXXXXXX | 7 | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | XXXXXXXX | | | | |----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------| | XXXXXXXX | 8 | | 9 | | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | |----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------| | 10 | | XXXXXXXX | 11 | | 12 | 13 | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | |----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------| | | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | 14 | | | | | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | | | | | | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | XXXXXXXX | | | | |----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------| | 15 | | XXXXXXXX | 16 | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | XXXXXXXX | | | | | XXXXXXXX | | | XXXXXXXX | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACROSS 1. Area ofad in square yards. 5. Age of Farmer Dunk's daughter, Martha. 6. Difference between length and breadth of Dogs Mead in yards. 7. Number of roods in Dogs Mead multiplied by 9 DOWN. 8. Date (year) when Little Piggley came into the occupation of the Dunk family. 10. Farmer Dunk's age. 11. Year of birth of Mary, Farmer Dunk's youngest. 14. Perimeter in yards of Dogs Mead. 15. Cube of Farmer Dunk's walking speed in miles per hour. 16. 15 ACROSS minus 9 DOWN DOWN 1. Value, in shillings per acre, of Dogs Mead. 2. The square of Mrs. Grooby's age. 3. The age of Mary. 4. Value of Dogs Mead in pounds sterling 6. Age of Farmer Dunk's first born, Ed, who will be twice as old as Mary next year. 7. Square of number yards in breadth of Dogs Mead. 8. Number of minutes Farmer Dunk takes to walk one and one-third times around Dogs Mead. 9. See 10 DOWN. 10. 10 ACROSS multiplied by 9 DOWN. 12. One more than the sum of the digits in the second column. 13. Length of tenure in years of Little Piggley by the Dunks. In the above puzzle, one of the across numbers is the same as one of the down numbers, and one number in the puzzle (relating to something quite different) happens to be the area in roods of the rectangular field known as Dogs Mead. Equipped with this information and the items which follow, find the age of Mrs. Grooby, Farmer Dunk's mother-in-law. It may help if we point out that 1 acre = 4 roods = 4840 square yards, that all of the numbers referred to below are integral, and that this puzzle was devised several years ago.