OddThinking

Just how many laser pointers would it take to fake a red eclipse?

The challenge is to calculate every integer value between 0 and 100 using only the number 4.

Here’s a real life puzzle that I haven’t solved yet; how to choose lollies to maximise distance between flavour repetitions.

Can you come up with two different words (spelling irrelevant but different meanings) which are pronounced exactly the same except that the “th” sound is voiced in one and not in the other?

In what direction does the sun set?

My approach Solitaire Battleships was a precursor to my very similar approaches to Sudoku, Nonograms and Kakuro.

The result seems to be similar to finding Sudoku is NP-complete, which seems somewhat controversial amongst people who point out that they never backtrack in solving the ones that they see.

“I will read your mind!” boasted the mentalist. “You can pick a colour, or a flower, or an element of the periodic table, write it down, show it to the audience and seal it in an envelope. Then I will read your mind and predict what it says! In fact, you could write any English word, and I will predict it.”

I’ve been meaning to address some more interesting subjects.

What topics do people find interesting?

Based on my logs, the answer is horrifying.

The scenario is that you work in the mailroom of a large company, with very odd HR policies. The puzzle is to resolve the mistyped address labels.

A few days ago, I commented on Usman Latif’s analysis of the very first move of Klondike.

I didn’t think Latif had given logical analysis a fair go, so I gave it a try.