Chris Maslanka

Solutions

Pyrgic: 1 Hearing Qatar read as Kata and the Sheikh of Sharm el-Sheikh (“Bay of the Wise”) as Sheck (like Shrek, but without the r) tipped him over the edge. In English, Qatar is stressed on the last syllable, which sounds like tar. The vowel in Sheikh is long like that in shake.

The Arabic pronunciation is more subtle.

2 Turki used 4 pounds of flour and 2 pounds of butter. This is 2 pounds more flour than butter and also twice as much flour as butter (by weight). Let the weight of flour in pounds be F, and that of butter be B. Then F + 2 = B and 2F = B; so F = 2 and B = 4. Point to Ponder If Turki had used n times as much flour as butter (n being a positive whole number) instead of n pounds more flour than butter and those represented the same quantity what would the amounts be? How many solutions are there if no fractional ounces are allowed? What factor forces there to be a (small) finite number of solutions? 3 Note that if the angle of deviation in rounding one corner is d, then 5d = one full rotation of 360°; so d = 72° and the internal angle = (180 – 72)°

= 108° = b. But b + 2a = 180° (the side triangles are isosceles); so a = 36°. Also a + y = 108°; so y = 72°. Then x + 2a = 108°; so x = 36° = a. It follows that the angles at the apex of the pentagon – a, x and a – are all equal. That is: the triangle tip trisects the apical angle. 4 Well, if you can only afford peanuts, you can only hire monkeys. Only those bulbs whose numbers are perfect squares end up being on: 1, 4, 9, and 16 … Perfect squares are those whole numbers made by multiplying a whole number by itself. [Point to Ponder

Can you prove this?] Now 662 = 4356, and 672 = 4489; so 66 bulbs were on at the end of the process: those whose ordinal numbers are squares 12, 22, 32, 42… 652, 662. Wordplay: Wordpool c), a), d);

EPU SATURNINE; Wordcentre;

DISHEARTEN (MISHEARING, BIGHEARTED); 3-4-5 GAP, SOLE, ALTAR; Cracker Barrel William the corn-curer: Missing Links

a) banana/split/second, b) trigger/ happy/hour, c) price/tag/line, d) summer/lightning/rod; e) hot/ foot/ball, f) toy/box/jellyfish.