The GCHQ Puzzle Book (2016)

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Answers

Section 1

1.

These are all species of penguin.

2.

Spock Sith. The sequence is formed from the last words in the titles of Star Trek/Star Wars films, in order. The third films in each series are The Search for Spock and Revenge of the Sith.

3.

Scorpion. The sign of the zodiac on each day determines what we eat:
St Davids Day is 1 March - Pisces
US Independence Day is 4 July - Cancer
Christmas Day is 25 December - Capricorn
Halloween is 31 October - Scorpio

4.

(a) Cent

(b) Kent

(c) Lent

(d) Tent

They all end ENT, and Ents were created by JRR Tolkien in Lord of The Rings.

5.

MOSES, OFTEN, STARE, EERIE, SNEER.

6.

Budapest. The European countries of which these are the capitals begin with A, B, C, … Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary.

7.

(a) KAYAK

(b) MINIM

(c) NOON

(d) EVE

(e) EWE

These are all palindromes, as are AHA and REFER!

8.

Cormorant. This is hidden in the double letters: raCCOOn paRRot, leMMing, kOOkabuRRa, AArdvark, liNNet, oTTer

9.

i. Five letter words / not five-letter words

ii. Colours of the rainbow / not colours of the rainbow

iii. Common surnames / not common surnames (with apologies to Rabbi Lionel Blue and Jason Orange)

10.

10015150. MINGLE is a synonym of MIX, which becomes 1000110 when each letter (all represent Roman numerals) is replaced by its decimal equivalent; similarly for APE/MIMIC/1000110001100. POLITE is a synonym of CIVIL, hence the answer.

11.

(a) 2020

(b) 20/20

(c) Twenty20

12.

(a) League. This can precede Table; all the others can precede Chair

(b) Rose. This can precede Garden; all the others can precede House

(c) Glass. This can precede Ceiling; all the others can precede Floor

13.

Tea, or any drink beginning with T. The initial letters spell MERLOT.

14.

(a) Bread

(b) Brown

(c) Mint

(d) Tomato

(e) Worcestershire

These are all sauces.

15.

(a) N. Initial letters of planets. N for NEPTUNE.

(b) E. Initial letters of German numbers. E for ELF.

16.

Terry. These are the first names of the Monty Python Team. Terry is missing, but as there is another Terry, it is also not missing.

17.

(a) Ultra VIOLET

(b) Mood INDIGO

(c) BLUE

(d) GREENsleeves

(e) YELLOWstone

(f) ORANGEs and lemons

(g) RED rum

You might find Gold at the end of this rainbow.

18.

Gary is in hunGARY. His friends are in argenTINA, denMARK, RUSSia, suDAN and uniTED states.

19.

13. Broken and Purple can be followed by Heart; Rough and Baseball can be followed by Diamond - these are red suits in a pack of cards. Sam and Garden can be followed by Spade; Golf and Fight can be followed by Club - these are black suits. Suits contain 13 cards.

20.

Mike. Each word is the Nato phonetic alphabet word for the Roman numeral equivalent to the number. Mike is the word for M, which is the Roman numeral for 1000.

21.

Beethoven’s 9th. Taking the identified letter from each composer’s name spells out BEETHOVEN.

22.

FORTY (winks!)

23.

They are British rivers: Dee, Exe, Forth, Wye.

24.

The pairs are:

We hope you weren’t put off by any of: (John) Terry/Kerry, (County) Cork/York, Nottingham/Mottingham or Lune/June!

25.

KING WENCESLAS.

SQUAWK, SCAMPI, ASTERN, BASING, HALLOW, CLOTHE, RATION, PARSEC, HEARSE, CARESS, GRAVEL, CHOREA, ASSESS

26.

HOOP. The set are Christopher Robin’s animal friends with their letters in alphabetical order: Kanga, Rabbit, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet, Owl, Roo. Missing is Pooh, who becomes HOOP.

27.

(a) U. Converting letters to numbers using A=1, B=2 gives 1,3,6,10,15 which are triangular numbers. The next is 21.

(b) P. Converting as above gives 1,2,4,8 which are powers of 2. The next is 16.

(c) W. Converting as above gives 2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19 which are prime numbers. The next is 23.

28.

4. Each number is the position in the alphabet of the letter preceding it: t(20), s(19), d(4), h(8), l(12), d(4), r(18), d(4), a(1).

29.

FIRM. Each word contains a 3-letter tree: FIRm, hELM, sOAK, wASH, but only in FIRM is the tree at the beginning.

30.

PAPA was a rolling stone; ECHO beach; HOTEL California, WHISKEY in the jar; ROMEO and JULIET. The missing words are all from the NATO phonetic alphabet.

31.

(a) Table tennis. The sequence is ball sports, with size of the ball decreasing.

(b) Field hockey, or any other sports with 11 players in a team. The number of players in a team for each sport is 2,3,5,7 which are prime numbers. The next is 11.

(c) Swimming, or any other sport beginning with S. The initial letters spell out ATHLETICS.

32.

(a) Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, The Old Curiosity Shop; A Tale Of Two Cities.

(b) Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear

(c) Evelyn Waugh: Scoop, Vile Bodies, Decline and Fall, A Handful of Dust

33.

Maximum break. 7 × (6+5+4+3+2+1) = 147 = maximum break in snooker.

34.

SOME. The other words can precede or follow it to become words:

AWESOME, FEARSOME, HANDSOME, LONESOME, TIRESOME, WHOLESOME, WINSOME

SOMEBODY, SOMEDAY, SOMEHOW, SOMETHING, SOMEWHAT, SOMEWHERE

35.

IDIOT.

36.

1029. 3:55 = FIVE TO FOUR = 524; 1235 = TWENTY FIVE TO ONE = 2521; 850 = TEN TO NINE = 1029.

37.

Harry Potter and the. The letters are the initial letters of the ends of Harry Potter book titles: 1. Philosopher’s Stone, 2. Chamber of Secrets, 3. Prisoner of Azkaban, 4. Goblet of Fire, 5. Order of the Phoenix, 6. Half-Blood Prince, 7. Deathly Hallows.

38.

Reed. Clarinets and Saxophones have a single reed; Bassoons and Oboes have a double reed.

39.

10. The numbers can be found inside the words. lONEly, neTWOrk, threaTENing.

40.

They are all anagrams of other names:

ALICE, CICELY, ELAINE, ESTHER, JANE, JASON, MARIAN, NORMA, RONALD

CELIA, CECILY, AILEEN, HESTER, JEAN, JONAS, MARINA, ROMAN, ROLAND

41.

NOEL. Reading left to right, the first letters of each item spell out PERFORM FREQUENCY COUNT. If a frequency count of the letters in the items in the list is performed it will be found that all letters are present save L, that is, there’s ‘no L’.

42.

A. The pairs are Premier League clubs and their grounds: Chelsea=Stamford Bridge, Crystal Palace=Selhurst Park, Everton=Goodison Park, Manchester United=Old Trafford, Tottenham Hotspur=White Hart Lane and Liverpool=Anfield.

43.

(a) Chrome

(b) Edge

(c) Opera

(d) Safari

These are all web browsers.

44.

Madagascar. The countries contain 1, 2, 3 and 4 identical vowels: CyprUs swEdEn, mOrOccO, mAdAgAscAr.

45.

hacknEYEd, mARMalade, bewitCHINg, arcHIPelago, battLEGround, astoniSHINg, potaTOEs, mercHANDise, freewHEELing, childbEARing, horRIBle, deLIVERance, naNOSEcond, orCHESTra, arGUMent, criSPINEss, thANKLEss, pLUNGer.

46.

(a) S. These are the initials of every other day: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

(b) AN. These are the first and last letters of the seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn.

(c) D. These the initials of the last 6 months of the year: July, August, September, October, November and December.

(d) 1. 7 o’clock plus 8 hours is 3 o’clock. 10 o’clock plus 9 hours is 7 o’clock. 11 o’clock plus 2 hours is 1 o’clock.

47.

‘Metro access’ is an anagram of SOCCER TEAMS.

(a) Real Madrid

(b) Scunthorpe United

(c) Barcelona

(d) Manchester City

(e) Middlesbrough

48.

VOLKSWAGEN. The words represent AM, BY, CL, DJ, EG, FX, HQ, IT, OZ, PS, RN, UK, VW. The 13 answers are in alphabetical order and use each letter of the alphabet precisely once.

49.

Scrabble. The scores are the Scrabble scores of the game names.

50.

After 6. The first line is numbers with three letters, the second line is numbers with four letters, the third line is numbers with five letters.

51.

(a) Michelangelo

(b) Pierre Fermat

Take the central three letters from each word, so: unWILls, foLIAte, guMSHoe, weAKEst, reSPEct, scAREdy gives William Shakespeare.

52.

Liverpool. This can be succeeded by a letter in the NATO phonetic alphabet, the others can preceded by one. The sequence involves the first 5 letters: Alfa Romeo, Bravo Two Zero, Charlie Brown, Delta Force, Liverpool Echo.

53.

O.

The sequence represents shapes and their numbers of sides. 3=Triangle, 4=Square, 5=Pentagon, 6=Hexagon, 7=Heptagon, 8=Octagon.

54.

VENUS. The names can be found in each of the first 10 Pokémon. Pokémon number 3 is VENUSAUR.

55.

MA and PA.

(MA)DAM,(MA)INLAND,(MA)KING,(MA)LADY,(MA)LICE,(MA)LINGER,(MA)SON,(MA)STIFF,(MA)TINS

(PA)DRONE,(PA)INTER,(PA)LACE,(PA)NICKED,(PA)RENTAL,(PA)ROLE,(PA)STING,(PA)USED,(PA)WING

56.

Lounge. These are the pairs of rooms joined by secret passages in Cluedo.

57.

They precede things you might find in an orchestra: ear DRUM, champagne FLUTE, shoe HORN, Bermuda TRIANGLE, ear TRUMPET and super CONDUCTOR.

58.

Northern Ireland.

59.

ELF. This is German, the rest are French!

60.

2017. They all had prime number ages, in a year which was also a prime number. This happens again in 2017, when they will be aged 17, 19, 47 and 53.

61.

The ‘centre’ of the maze is the D in the 8^th row, 7^th column. THIS ROUTE IS THE ONE WHICH REACHES THE END.

62.

Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson. These are the original members of One Direction - a 1D name!

63.

7. The words appear in the surnames of actors who have played the Doctor in Dr Who. William HARTnell (1^st Doctor), Patrick trOUGHTon (2^nd Doctor), Jon perTWEE (3^rd Doctor), (Tom and Colin) BAKEr (4^th and 6^thDoctors), Sylvester mcCOY (7^th Doctor).

64.

ARCH(bishop), PLAN(king), WEE(knight), FROGS(pawn). Each word can be followed by a chess piece.

65.

Starting at the lower left and moving across the diagonals gives ‘IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LO?E PLAY ??’, which is completed by:

66.

Northern. The colours of the lines are red, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black - which score 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 points respectively in Snooker.

67.

There are 4 members of groups of 4, 5 members of groups of 5 and 7 members of groups of 7.

4: c. DIAMONDS (Suits), h. MILT JACKSON (Modern jazz quartet), j. LUKE (Gospels), m. SPRING (Seasons)

5: a. BORODIN (The Five), g. MICHAEL JACKSON (Jackson 5), k. SMELL (Senses), n. SUPERIOR (Great Lakes), p. U (Vowels)

7: b. COLOSSUS (Seven Wonders), d. ENVY (Sins), e. GREEN (Rainbow), f. HAPPY (Dwarfs), i. KELVIN (SI Units), l. SOLON (Sages), o. SUNDAY (Days of the Week)

68.

What links these is ‘LINKS’, or ‘LYNX’.

Section 2

1.

RESURRECTION (Mahler) fits between PENCIL (Lead) and CIRCLE (Matarese).

Themes are:

Similes: Bald (as a) COOT, Black (as) THUNDER, Cool (as a) CUCUMBER, Drunk (as a) LORD, Fit (as a) FIDDLE, Good (as) GOLD, High (as a) KITE, Old (as the) HILLS, Red (as a) BEETROOT, Sober (as a) JUDGE, Tight (as a) DRUM, White (as a) GHOST

Elements: Barium MEAL, Carbon COPY, Cobalt BLUE, Copper BEECH, Gold RUSH, Iron AGE, Lead PENCIL, Neon LIGHTING, Nitrogen CYCLE, Oxygen TENT, Platinum BLONDE, Silver SCREEN

Symphonies: Beethoven (CHORAL), Britten (SIMPLE), Bruckner (ROMANTIC), Dvorak (ENGLISH), Haydn (SURPRISE), Mahler (RESURRECTION), Mendelssohn (ITALIAN), Mozart (PRAGUE), Prokofiev (CLASSICAL), Schubert (TRAGIC), Schumann (SPRING), Vaughan-Williams (SEA)

Robert Ludlum novels: (The) Aquitaine PROGRESSION, (The) Bourne IDENTITY, (The) Chancellor MANUSCRIPT, (The) Gemini CONTENDERS, (The) Holcroft COVENANT, (The) Icarus AGENDA, (The) Matarese CIRCLE, (The) Matlock PAPER, (The) Osterman WEEKEND, (The) Parsifal MOSAIC, (The) Rhinemann EXCHANGE, (The) Scarlatti INHERITANCE

2.

QUADRATS. The words are anagrams of SUNDAY, MONDAY, …, FRIDAY and SATURDAY with the Y changed to another letter.

3.

(a) SCOWL has an animal in the middle, not at the edges: BEGGAR, BOXCAR, DELIVER, HARDWARE, LITIGATION, MOLECULE, SCOWL, SEVERAL, VOLATILE.

(b) BAIT can be preceded by WHITE, all the others by BLACK

(c) TROUBLES (with A=1, …, Z=26) doesn’t have letters alternating odd/even, but the others do: BODY/eoeo, HOTEL/eoeoe, KNIFE/oeoeo, RELAXING/eoeoeoeo, STATELY/oeoeoeo, TROUBLES/eeooeeoo, UNGRATEFUL/oeoeoeoeoe, WRINKLE/oeoeoeo.

(d) IDEA is the only word that isn’t Arabic in origin.

(e) IDEA: all have rhyming synonyms, but IDEA’s ends in -OUGHT, not -ORT: CASTLE/FORT, DEATH/MORT, HARBOUR/PORT, IDEA/THOUGHT, LITTLE/SHORT, RECREATION/SPORT, TYPE/SORT, WRONG/TORT.

4.

(a) ACTS, CRIMPS, GIRTH, HALT, HEAL, ITEM, NOGS, PATCHER, SNEAKS, STOP, STUN, TRAP, TSARS

(b) ATHENS, BERLIN, BUDAPEST, KUALA LUMPUR, MADRID, MOSCOW, PARIS, ROME, STOCKHOLM, THE HAGUE, TOKYO

5.

3637 or 3435. These are the number of letters in the words in the title of New Zealand’s national anthems, ‘God Defend New Zealand’ and ‘God Save The Queen’. The others are Australia: ‘Advance Australia Fair’; USA: ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’; Canada: ‘O Canada’; UK: ‘God Save The Queen’.

6.

(a) PARSON.

PRIEST is the only monosyllabic word

PADRE is the only non 6-letter word

CURATE is the only word not starting with P

PEAHEN is the only word that isn’t a religious office

(b) 484.

4 is the only number not divisible by 11

66 is the only non-square

121 is the only odd number

1936 is the only non-palindrome

7.

(a) TrainSpotting

(b) The Nightmare Before Christmas

(c) Airplane

(d) FoR Your Eyes Only

(e) JaWs

(f) LolitA

(g) EmpiRe of the Sun

(h) FootlooSe

(i) The Graduate

(j) THe Sound of Music

(k) FrozEn

(l) Fight Club

(m) ClOverfield

(n) AmeRican Beauty

(o) ButCh Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

(p) PrEtty Woman

(q) BAdlands

(r) LaWrence of Arabia

(s) RAin Man

(t) MoonstrucK

(u) ThE Silence of the Lambs

(v) AlieN

(w) Sex Tape

The numbers on each poster pick out letters from the titles as indicated above, spelling out STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS.

8.

(4 12 7 15 9 8). If each number is replaced by the first letter in its name (e.g. 1 ➔ O(NE), 2 ➔ T(WO)), then each sequence spells out a word. The odd sequence out spells a word (RENNET) when each number is replaced by the last letter in its name.

9.

(a) All words contain 5 consecutive letters: CERTAINLY contains no consecutive letters.

(b) All words can be spelled using only the top row of a UK typewriter: FLASH uses only the second row.

(c) In each word any two letters are a multiple of 3 apart in the alphabet: (i.e. they are formed from one of ADGJMPSVY, BEHKNQTWZ or CFILORUX): in GASEOUS letters come from all 3 groups.

10.

They are the answers to cryptic anagram clues:

Altered images; jumble sale; change of pace; change of heart; times are a-changing; regime change; change of name; redirected mail; small change; Eton mess; mixed emotions; mixed up in something.

Another such phrase could be Ashen knot, which would be ‘shaken not stirred’.

11.

(a) COAT. A, B, C etc can be added to end of words. COAT-I

(b) AIL. Words can be preceded by A, B, C etc to form new words. J-AIL

(c) USER. The words can have A, B,C, etc inserted in the middle. US(H)ER

12.

Each author has written a book (or in one case a poem) with a title containing a character’s first name but no last name. The initial letters of these characters’ names form the question ‘WHAT LINKS THEM’ to which the answer is the previous sentence.

13.

PIZZAZZ. There is only one Z and only 2 Blanks, so a word with 4 Zs is impossible to play.

14.

In the n^th part, the n^th and (n+1)^th letters of each word are given:

(a) O LIttle TOwn OF BEthlehem HOw STill WE SEe THee LIe

(b) dECk tHE hALls wITh bOUghs oF hOLly fA lA lA lA lA lA lA lA lA

(c) thEY saID thERe’d be snOW at chRIstmas thEY saID thERe’d be peACe on eaRTh

(d) whiLE shePHerds watCHed theIR floCKs by nigHT

(e) littLE donkEY littLE donkEY on the dustY road

(f) gaudeTE gaudeTE chrisTUs est natus ex maria virgiNE gaudeTE

(g) o christMAs tree o christMAs tree thy leaves are so unchanGIng

(h) a spacemaN came travellINg on his ship from afar

(i) hey mr churchilL comes over here to say we’re doing splendidLY

(j) o come all ye faithful joyful and triumphanT

15.

(a) One letter can be changed to form the surname of a US President: HARRISON, POLK, PIERCE, GRANT, HAYES, TAFT, HOOVER

(b) Adding one S to each word forms a plural, adding a second S forms a non-plural: BRASS, CARESS, MILLIONAIRESS, NEEDLESS, PRINCESS, TIMELINESS

(c) All are words when converted to hexadecimal: 10/A, 190/BE, 2766/ACE, 57005/DEAD, 11325150/ACCEDE, 14613198/DEFACE, 16435934/FACADE

(d) Anagrams of composers: BUTCHERS/SCHUBERT, DIVER/VERDI, HANDY/HAYDN, HARLEM/MAHLER, LARGE/ELGAR

16.

GIRTH. The original words pair into anagrams of antonyms:

AFT/HINT = FAT/THIN, AFTERS/LOWERS = FASTER/SLOWER, ALOFT/SKIN = FLOAT/SINK, FILE/HATED = LIFE/DEATH, FUSTIER/HATRED = SURFEIT/DEARTH, GLARE/MALLS = LARGE/SMALL, ISLE/THRUST = LIES/TRUTHS, LAYER/TALE = EARLY/LATE, PEACH/READ = CHEAP/DEAR, SCENTED/STANCE = DESCENT/ASCENT, SERVE/SPORE = VERSE/PROSE

with FELT and GROWN remaining. With GIRTH added the pairings, FELT/GIRTH = LEFT/RIGHT, GROWN/GIRTH = WRONG/RIGHT can be made.

17.

(a) A A Milne

(b) B B gun

(c) e e cummings

(d) H H Holmes

(e) I I who have nothing

(f) J J Abrams

(g) L L Cool J

(h) O O gauge

(i) S S Great Britain

(j) Z Z Top

18.

WHITE (Snow) fits between SNUFFLY (Sneezy) and LIE (State).

X in Y: UP/ARMS, PUSS/BOOTS, FALL/LINE, WORD/SECRET, LIVE/SIN, LIE/STATE, JUST/TIME, DEATH/VENICE

Can be preceded by a relation: AUNT SALLY, COUSIN-GERMAN, FATHER CHRISTMAS, GRANDFATHER CLOCK, GRANDMA MOSES, MOTHER EARTH, SISTER SLEDGE, UNCLE SAM

Can be followed by a road type: PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, GLENN CLOSE, FERTILE CRESCENT, PENNY LANE, ABBEY ROAD, SESAME STREET, FOOTBALL TERRACE, HIGHWAY

Synonyms of the names of the Seven Dwarfs: SHY/BASHFUL, SURGEON/DOC, STUPID/DOPEY, SURLY/GRUMPY, CHEERFUL/HAPPY, TIRED/SLEEPY, SNUFFLY/SNEEZY plus SNOW WHITE

Can be followed by a 3-letter word ending -AY: HUDSON BAY, BIRTHDAY, BLUE JAY, MAKE HAY, MAGGIE MAY, STINGRAY, FINAL SAY, RIVER TAY

Can be followed by a single letter: MIDDLE C, THREE D, VITAMIN E, CELLBLOCK H, SPECIAL K, MODEL T, HENRY V, MALCOLM X

Can be preceded by a fish: CARPENTER, CODPIECE, DAB HAND, GOLDFISH BOWL, HERRINGBONE, MACKEREL SKY, PIKELET, SKATEBOARD

19.

With a substitution alphabet of THEQUICKBROWNFXJMPSVLAZYDG the phrase in the n^th part of the question was enciphered by advancing each letter by n letters within this alphabet. Thus the unenciphered question reads:

(i) WHEEL ON A UNICYCLE

(ii) SIDES OF AN ARGUMENT

(iii) MONTHS IN A QUARTER

(iv) LEAVES ON A FOUR-LEAF CLOVER

(v) CENTS IN A NICKEL

(vi) CANS IN A SIX-PACK

(vii) COLOURS OF THE ???????

Thus the missing word is the encipherment of RAINBOW, namely MENVJPS.

20.

(a) CONQUISTADOR, CROSSBOW, DUMBSTRUCK, GUILDHALL, KILOBYTE, LANDMARK, SHRUBLIKE, STARTLING, WRITTEN have a bird’s name in the outer letters: INTERNAL has the bird’s nameinternally!

(b) BEAT, CHAFE, CHIC, CLOVER, HIDEOUS, MODEL, STALK, TRIO, GARNISHED form words when the last letter is advanced by 1 position in the alphabet: SINGLE forms a word when the first letter is thus transformed.

(c) BRANDY, CRUISE, DECK, DOPE, EASEL, FROLIC, KIT, LANDSCAPE, SLEIGH, YACHT are derived from Dutch: CARNIVAL is derived from Italian.

(d) ASTEROID, BREWSTER, BUCKTHORN, COMPENSATE, ENTHRONE, OUTSHINE, STEWARD, XANTHOUS all contain anagrams of one of NORTH, SOUTH, EAST and WEST: LIMPIDLY has no letter in common with any of them.

(e) ART, BUDS, COMPARE, LEASE, LOVELY, ROUGH, SHALL, SHORT. TEMPERATE, WINDS all appear in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’): SUMMARY doesn’t.

(f) CANVAS, FLASKS, FLORIST, IMAGO, MAINLAND, MAUVE, ORIGIN, TEENS, VARMINT, ZOOMING become US states when 2 letters are changed: CONNECTIONS requires 3 letters to be changed.

(g) CHAIN/CHINA, ENEMY/YEMEN, MOAN/OMAN, PLANE/NEPAL, REGALIA/ALGERIA, REIGN/NIGER, SERIAL/ISRAEL are all anagrams of countries: ANIMAL/MANILA is the anagram of a capital city.

(h) GRATE/GREAT, DISCRETE/DISCREET, HOSE/HOES, PRIDE/PRIED, RUDE/RUDE, SEER/SERE, WEAR/WARE all have a homophonic anagram: PRAISE doesn’t.

21.

(a) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Ken Kesey) - They’re out there. Black boys in white suits up before me to commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them.

(b) A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …

(c) Three Men in a Boat (Jerome K Jerome) - There were four of us: George, and William Samuel Harris, and myself, and Montmorency.

(d) The Sign of Four (Arthur Conan Doyle) - Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantelpiece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case.

(e) Slaughterhouse Five (Kurt Vonnegut) - All this happened, more or less.

(f) Now We Are Six (A A Milne) - I have a house where I go when there are too many people.

(g) Seven Pillars of Wisdom (T E Lawrence) - Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances.

(h) BUtterfield Eight (John O’Hara) - On this Sunday morning in May, this girl who later was to be the cause of a sensation in New York, awoke much too early for her night before.

(i) The Nine Tailors (Dorothy L Sayers) - ‘That’s torn it!’ said Lord Peter Wimsey.

(j) Ten Days That Shook the World (John Reed) - Towards the end of September 1917, an alien professor of Sociology visiting Russia came to see me in Petrograd. (Some versions of this book begin with ‘Toward’ rather than ‘Towards’.)

22.

First and last letter of each word:

(a) Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la la la la la (Deck the Halls)

(b) Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell, born is the king of Israel (The First Nowell)

(c) The Christmas we get we deserve (I Believe in Father Christmas - Greg Lake)

(d) What will your daddy do when he sees your mamma kissing Santa Claus (Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade)

(e) Chestnuts roasting on an open fire (The Christmas Song)

(f) They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer)

(g) Ring out those bells tonight, Bethlehem, Bethlehem (Little Donkey)

(h) Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes Fountain (Good King Wenceslas)

(i) Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation. Sing all ye citizens of heaven above (O Come, All Ye Faithful)

(j) Thus spake the Seraph and forthwith appeared a shining throng (While Shepherds Watched)

23.

(a) UNDERRUN, KANGAROO, COLLOQUY, MATADOR, OVERDRIVE, ATHLETICS, ELEVEN, LACERATE, PALATINE, POLICEMEN rhyme with ONE, TWO, …, TEN

(b) VISTA, STATION, IONOSPHERE, EREMITE, ITEM, TEMPER, PERCOLATOR, TORRENT, ENTIRETY, ETYMOLOGICAL, CALLING where the last 3 letters of each word are the same as the first 3 of the next

(c) ONLY, JUST, FAIR, CLEAR, EMPTY, DISCHARGE, FIRE, PASSION, SUFFERING, UNDERGOING where each word can be a one-word description of its predecessor (order can be reversed)

(d) EXCUSE, SECURE, COURSE, ROUSED, SOARED, ADORNS, RANDOM, DOMAIN, MANIOC, ACTION, NOTICE, INCITE, ELICIT where each word has 5 letters in common with its successor (order can be reversed)

(e) BEGINNING, DEPARTURE, FIGURES, RATES, PITY, POST, GNOMES, SORROWS, BRUISE, LEAKS are synonyms of books of the Bible in order (but not necessarily consecutive): GENESIS, EXODUS, NUMBERS, JUDGES, RUTH, JOB, PROVERBS, LAMENTATIONS (Old Testament), MARK, REVELATION (New Testament)

24.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

25.

SILENCE (Lambs) fits between COURT (Kangaroo) and EXALTATION (Lark).

All themes relate to animals:

X of the Y: PLANET of the APES, NIGHT of the JACKAL, DAY of the JACKAL, SILENCE of the LAMBS, FLIGHT of the PHOENIX, TAMING of the SHREW, HOUR of the WOLF

Can be preceded by a creature: BEAR HUG, COW PARSLEY, HARE LIP, KANGAROO COURT, MONKEY SUIT, RABBIT PUNCH, ZEBRA CROSSING

Can be preceded by the possessive of a creature: BEE’S KNEES, CHICK’S PEEP, DONKEY’S YEARS, HORSE’S MOUTH, LION’S SHARE, RAM’S HORN, VIPER’S BUGLOSS

Can be preceded by a colour to form an animal: BLACKGAME, BLUETHROAT, GREENSHANK, REDSTART, SILVERBILL, WHITECAP, YELLOWHAMMER

X and Y (pub name): BULL and BUSH, CAT and FIDDLE, DOG and DUCK, ELEPHANT and CASTLE, FOX and HOUNDS, GOAT and COMPASSES, PIG and WHISTLE

Collective noun: MURDER/CROW, SIEGE/HERON, EXALTATION/LARK, NEST/MICE, WATCH/NIGHTINGALE, PARLIAMENT/OWL, SCHOOL/WHALES

Anagram of a creature: DOING/DINGO, GUN/GNU, PAROLED/LEOPARD, HORNET/THRONE, ART/RAT, REPHRASING/SPRING HARE, LOVE/VOLE,

26.

MY. (First, second, third and whole refer to the letters of MY.)

27.

(a) E-numbers: E464 + E123 - E412 = E175 = Gold

(b) Roman numerals removed from names of capital cities:

28.

(a) 10. The phrase is an anagram of ONE, TWO, …, TEN

(b) GERMANY. The phrase is an anagram of EINS, ZWEI, …, ZEHN and (unlike, say, AUSTRIA) GERMANY has a sea border.

29.

CERTAINLY, PRIVATELY and PUCKERING are all 9-letter examples. We are aware of a few possible 10-letter examples e.g. ANTICLERGY, CAPERINGLY, KERYGMATIC, LACQUEYING, PHLYCTENAR, TRIVALENCY and there are others.

30.

Encryption has been done by moving each letter along 13 places. Put another way, the following cipher alphabet has been used:

The words become:

Which in order are:

(first) LADY, (second) GUESS, (third) PARTY, (fourth) ESTATE, (fifth) COLUMN, (sixth) SENSE, (seventh) HEAVEN.

31.

(97, 98). These are the next pair of consecutive numbers where the last letter of the first one is the same as the first letter of the last one.

32.

(a) 143. Cumulative totals of Fibonacci sequence

(b) 6. The sequence is the digits of pi, each plus one

33.

(a) Mae West

(b) Bob Dole

(c) Eric Bana

(d) Bill Gates

(e) Gus Van Sant

(f) Ja Rule

(g) Iman

(h) Rod Laver

(i) Meg Ryan

(j) Ron Wood

34.

QUESTION. TO BE OR NOT TO BE THAT IS THE is spelled out in the shape of a question mark. The word HAMLETS does not contribute to the shape, but is connected to the answer:

35.

(a)

(b)

36.

(a) D/ONE HUNDRED: these are all the possible last letters of numbers in the order in which they first appear: ONE, TWO, FOUR, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, TWENTY, ONE HUNDRED.

(b) They are the lowest integers (UK-style) containing consecutive letters the same (thrEE, eighTThousand, one miLLion, one millioNNinehundred, twOOctillion, onehundreDDecillion); no numbers have this property with a different letter.

37.

(a) VISITING. Removing non-Roman leaves, I, II, III etc. VIsItIng.

(b) NAPE. Parts of the body with first one or two letters forming the Periodic Table, NApe.

(c) UNQUESTIONED. Middles spell out ‘To be or not to be that is the question’.

(d) ANSWER. Middle letters give W, NW, N, NE, E, SE, S, anSWer.

(e) OUST. Words begin SUPER, CALI, FRAGIL, IS, TIC, EXPI, ALI, DOCI, OUS.

(f) COMING. Words contain DO, RE, MI rotating through. coMIng.

38.

Mash-ups of plots of different films with the same title:

(a) Rush (1991 and 2013)

(b) Carrie (1952 and 1976/2013)

(c) Rio (1939 and 2011)

(d) Fargo (1952 and 1996)

(e) Child’s Play (1972 and 1988)

(f) The Host (2006 and 2013)

(g) Mr and Mrs Smith (1941 and 2005)

(h) Iron Man (1951 and 2008)

(i) The Trap (1946 and 1966)

(j) The Bodyguard (1961 and 1992)

(k) New Moon (1930, 1940 and 2009)

(l) Riff Raff (1936, 1947, 1991 and 2009)

In (j), the 1961 Kurosawa film Yojimbo is also known as The Bodyguard, the English translation of its title.

39.

(a) First 3 letters of US President’s surname ARTHUR, BUSH, CARTER, COOLIDGE, FORD, HAYES, KENNEDY, MADISON, PIERCE, WASHINGTON

(b) Appear in country’s capital: PRAIA, YAOUNDE, LJUBLJANA, BAGHDAD, ASHGABAT, BEIJING, SARAJEVO, NOUAKCHOTT, WINDHOEK, BANGKOK, YAMOUSSOUKRO, BUJUMBURA, REYKJAVIK

(c) Words in English and French

(d) Appear in a composer’s surname: RACHMANINOFF, RESPIGHI, MUSSORGSKY, BRAHMS, LISZT, SHOSTAKOVICH, RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, DELIUS, MENDELSSOHN, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

(e) Appear within the word STEGANOGRAPHER

(f) If X is a word in the list then X-X is also a word

(g) International Vehicle Registration Codes: AND/ANDORRA, BUR/MYANMAR, EAT/TANZANIA, ETH/ETHIOPIA, GUY/GUYANA, LAR/LIBYA, MAL/MALAYSIA, RIM/MAURITANIA, WAG/GAMBIA, WAN/NIGERIA

(h) First 3 letters of a vegetable: ARTICHOKE, ASPARAGUS, BEETROOT, CABBAGE, CARROT, LEEK, LETTUCE, MARROW, PARSNIP, POTATO

(i) Last 3 letters of a musical instrument: DOUBLE BASS, SACKBUT, ZITHER, ACCORDION, CLARINET, TROMBONE, TRUMPET, DRUM, GUITAR

(j) First 3 letters of US States, reversed: BEN/NEBRASKA, LAC/CALIFORNIA, LED/DELAWARE, NET/TENNESSEE, NEP/PENNSYLVANIA, NIM/MINNESOTA RAM/MARYLAND, REV/VERMONT, SAW/WASHINGTON, SEW/WEST VIRGINIA

(k) First, middle and last letters of countries: AlbAniA, AfghaNistaN, ChInA, EcuAdoR, EriTreA, InDiA, LebAnoN, LesOthO, MorOccO, NamIbiA, SierrA leonE, UkrAinE

(l) Advancing (cyclically) each letter by 2 gives a word: AME/COG, CEE/EGG, ELS/GNU, GAW/ICY, IGL/KIN, HYP/JAR, MUC/OWE, PYE/RAG, QIG/SKI, STY/UVA, UFW/WHY

(m) ELM (5²+12²=13²): with A=1, B=2, …, Z=26 the letters in each trigraph form Pythagorean triplets

(n) (before are pre-nominal titles with each letter replaced by its predecessor in the alphabet) BOK/CPL, LQR/MRS, QDU/REV, RFS/SGT, RHQ/SIR; (after are post-nominal appellations with each letter replaced by its successor in the alphabet) FTR/ESQ, JJJ/III, KOS/JNR, PCF/OBE, TOS/SNR

40.

THE LIST.

The words are anagrams of ROSE, LEEK, SHAMROCK and THISTLE, which are the symbols of the parts of the UK. THE LIST is an anagram of THISTLE.

41.

Rectangular.

When written columnwise in NATO phonetics, all the other words form squares. For example:

42.

(a) Sting

(b) Halle Berry

(c) Don Revie

(d) Henry Fonda

(e) Man Ray

(f) Mia Hamm

(g) Teri Hatcher

(h) Tone Loc

(i) Ang Lee

(j) J Lo

Variant answers: (g) Al Read, (i) Una Lee or Eve Arden, (j) C No.

43.

(a) Anagrams: AGREES/GREASE, ASPIRE/PRAISE, CHASTE/SACHET, ENLIST/SILENT, ENTRAP/PARENT, LATTER/RATTLE, NEURAL/UNREAL, PALEST/STAPLE, PRIEST/STRIPE,

(b) Concatenate to form a new word: ASP/HALT, BAR/GAIN, CHOPS/TICK, COME/DIES, CUP/BOARD, DAM/NATION, MILES/TONE, REST/RAIN, SIDE/REAL

(c) Rhymes: ALTHOUGH/GATEAU, BEER/TIER, BITE/SLEIGHT, BLUE/THROUGH, CONFINE/RESIGN, DISDAIN/SANE, LAUGHED/RAFT, LYNX/WINKS, QUARTZ/WARTS

(d) Nest to form a new word: BA/THE/R, BO/WIN/G, FO/RAG/E, LE/GAT/E, PO/TEN/T, RE/FUN/D, RO/BUS/T, SH/ANT/Y, TR/END/Y, UR/BAN/E

(e) Interleave to form a new word: AIL/FED/AFIELD, AIR/PAY/APIARY, ALE/LID/ALLIED, ASS/SIT/ASSIST, BUS/ORE/BOURSE, EFT/FEE/EFFETE, FIN/RED/FRIEND, FIR/RAY/FRIARY, FUN/LET/FLUENT, JUT/ANY/JAUNTY, LUG/ONE/LOUNGE, OIL/ROE/ORIOLE, PIE/AND/PAINED, SET/WAY/SWEATY, SOT/PRY/SPORTY, TIE/OLD/TOILED, TOP/RUE/TROUPE, WOE/ODD/WOODED

(f) Anagrams of European countries: AIL+VAT=LATVIA, ANY+ROW=NORWAY, CAR+FEN=FRANCE, CUR+SPY=CYPRUS, END+SEW=SWEDEN, KEY+RUT=TURKEY, OLD+PAN=POLAND

(g) Anagrams of US states: ADORN+SHIELD=RHODE ISLAND, AID+OH=IDAHO, AIM+SONNET=MINNESOTA, AMOK+HALO=OKLAHOMA, ANT+MOAN=MONTANA, AT+SEX=TEXAS, BEAR+SANK=NEBRASKA, COOL+ROAD=COLORADO, FACIAL+IRON=CALIFORNIA, FOR+LAID=FLORIDA, GORE+ON=OREGON, HATING+SNOW=WASHINGTON, JEWRY+SEEN=NEW JERSEY, LARD+MANY=MARYLAND, REAL+WADE=DELAWARE, SERAPHIM+WHEN=NEW HAMPSHIRE, STAIR+VIEWING=WEST VIRGINIA, WORK+YEN=NEW YORK

44.

Reading across the matrices one letter at a time starting top left then middle row left etc. gives: JUST COMPLETE THE FINAL MATRIX WITH THE MISSING LETTERS FROM THIS SENTENCE.

45.

One-word film titles and their casts:

Alien: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto

Brazil: Jonathan Pryce, Robert de Niro, Michael Palin, Bob Hoskins, Kim Greist

Cocoon: Don Ameche, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, Tahnee Welch, Steve Guttenberg

Deliverance: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox

Excalibur: Helen Mirren, Nigel Terry, Cherie Lunghi, Nicholas Clay

Flight: Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, John Goodman, Melissa Leo

Gravity: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris, Orto Ignatiussen, Paul Sharma, Amy Warren

Halloween: Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence, P. J. Soles, Nancy Loomis

Inception: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Berenger

Jaws: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton

Krull: Lysette Anthony, Alun Armstrong, Francesca Annis, Liam Neeson, Robbie Coltrane

Labyrinth: Jennifer Connelly, David Bowie, Toby Froud, Christopher Malcolm, Shelley Thompson

Madagascar: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen

Nixon: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Paul Sorvino, Bob Hoskins, E. G. Marshall

Octopussy: Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Steven Berkoff, Desmond Llewelyn, Kristina Waybourn

Philadelphia: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jason Robards, Antonio Banderas, Joanne Woodward

Quadrophenia: Phil Daniels, Ray Winstone, Leslie Ash, Toyah Wilcox, Sting

Rollerball: James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams, John Beck, Ralph Richardson

Skyfall: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Berenice Marlohe, Judi Dench

Trainspotting: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Johnny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle

Unforgiven: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris

Venus: Peter O’Toole, Leslie Phillips, Jodie Whitaker, Richard Griffiths, Vanessa Redgrave

Westworld: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin

Xanadu: Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, Gene Kelly, James Sloyan, Dimitra Arliss

Yellowbeard: Graham Chapman, Peter Cook, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Spike Milligan

Zoolander: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Mila Jovovich, Jon Voight

There are some alternative cast members with matching initials (e.g. Michael Caine instead of Marion Cotillard for Inception).

46.

EACH OF THE NUMBERS BETWEEN TWO AND NINE ON A MOBILE PHONE CORRESPONDS TO THREE OR FOUR LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET AND EACH LETTER IN THIS TEXT IS RANDOMLY REPLACED BY ANOTHER WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THE SAME NUMBER AS THAT LETTER

47.

Tip: Try typewriter, top row.

The letters have been enciphered by using the numbers which appear above them on a typewriter.

TIP: TRY TYPEWRITER, TOP ROW

580: 546 5603248534,   590   492

48.

HEAVEN (Seventh) fits between HAND (Second) and DARK (Shot in the).

Themes are:

Country adjectives: Afghan HOUND, Chinese LANTERN, Cuban HEEL, Danish PASTRY, French LEAVE, Indian SUMMER, Maltese CROSS, Norwegian WOOD, Spanish FLY, Swiss ROLL

Colours: Black ART, Blue BLOOD, Brown BREAD, Green BELT, Grey MATTER, Pink GIN, Orange PEEL, Red BRICK, White COLLAR, Yellow PAGES

Parts of the body: Chin STRAP, Ear WIG, Elbow GREASE, Foot SOLDIER, Hand SHAKE, Hip FLASK, Knee CAP, Nose BAG, Shoulder BLADE, Wrist WATCH

X in the Y: Dog (in the) MANGER, Drop (in the) BUCKET, Dyed (in the) WOOL, Fly (in the) OINTMENT, Jack (in the) BOX, Man (in the) MOON, Pain (in the) NECK, Pie (in the) SKY, Shot (in the) DARK, Toad (in the) HOLE

Ordinals: Fifth COLUMN, First CLASS, Fourth DIMENSION, Nineteenth HOLE, Second HAND, Seventh HEAVEN, Sixth SENSE, Third WORLD, Twelfth NIGHT, Twentieth CENTURY

49.

(a) ABBA

Waterloo

Ring Ring

Money, Money, Money

Knowing Me, Knowing You

The Name Of The Game

Does Your Mother Know

Summer Night City

Super Trouper

Chiquitita

(b) BEATLES

Yesterday

Hey Jude

Let It Be

Can’t Buy Me Love

All You Need Is Love

A Hard Day’s Night

Strawberry Fields Forever

Get Back

Help!

(c) BEACH BOYS

Cottonfields

Good Vibrations

God Only Knows

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

Heroes And Villains

Barbara Ann

Darlin’

(d) ROLLING STONES

Angie

Brown Sugar

The Last Time

It’s All Over Now

Get Off Of My Cloud

Undercover Of The Night

Paint It, Black

Tumbling Dice

Respectable

(e) QUEEN

Flash

Killer Queen

Somebody To Love

We Are The Champions

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Seven Seas Of Rhye

Radio Ga Ga

One Vision

Breakthru’

50.

451AD: Fahrenheit 451 is by Ray Bradbury. Malcolm Bradbury, from Sheffield, set his novel The History Man in a fictional town ‘Watermouth’. The real Watermouth Castle is really a country house, designed by George Wightwick, who worked in Plymouth with John Foulston, who died on 30 December 1841. On that day, Ralph Waldo Emerson gave his first lecture on manners, the 7^th being given on 13 January 1842, the same day that William Brydon returned as the sole survivor of the retreat from Kabul. His retreat was painted by Lady Elizabeth Butler, whose husband Sir William Butler wrote the biography of George Colley, who was killed at Majuba Hill, the last battle of the First Boer War. The peace treaty was signed on 23 March 1881, the birth date of Roger Martin du Gard (Literature Nobel Laureate) and Hermann Standinger (Chemistry Nobel Laureate), who was born in Worms. The Diet of Worms was presided over by Charles V, who was crowned King in Aachen Cathedral, which was built by Charlemagne, who was authorised by Pope Adrian I to take what he wanted from Ravenna, which is where Valentinian III was born whose daughter Eudocia married Huneric, King of the Vandals, who was previously married to the daughter of Theodoric I, who died at the Battle of Châlons in 451AD. Thus you have 451 at both ends of the chain!

51.

(a) Chemical formulae: C₂H₄O₂ + C₆H₆O + CO₂ - C₉H₈O₄ = H₂O = Water

(b) Champagne bottle sizes:(20×8) / (24+16) = 4 = Jeroboam

(c) Sports team sizes:(9×11×7) - (5×15×(13-4)) = 18 = Australian Rules Football

52.

(a) 107. The numbers are increased by the sum of their digits. 94+13=107

(b) 102. The numbers are increased by the product of their digits.102+0=102

(c) 44. The numbers are increased by the difference of their digits. All the numbers in the rest of the sequence are 44.

53.

(a) SOYLENT GREEN CARD

(b) DIE HARD TIMES SQUARE

(c) UNIVERSAL SOLDIER BLUE STEEL MAGNOLIAS

(d) CABIN FEVER PITCH BLACK RAIN MAN

(e) NEAR DARK ANGEL HEART BEAT GIRL INTERRUPTED

54.

CNA. Reversing the list of trigraphs and reading the middle letters gives:

WHICH THREE LETTER GROUP PRECEDES CZN IN THIS QUESTION? The answer to this question is CNA.

In the question code, the first letter of each trigraph is C if the plain letter is a consonant and V if it’s a vowel. The last letter of the trigraph is derived from:

Consonant: BCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ  Vowel:    AEIOU

Last letter: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU   Last letter: ABCDE

Decoding the question gives: YOU DO NOT NEED TO BREAK THE CODE TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION - which is true!

55.

These are the last letters of the names of the letters of the Greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, etc.).

56.

(a) NORTH DAKOTA: The list of US states contain the letters A, B, etc up to Z; then A, B, etc up to H. All the other remaining states (CONNECTICUT, HAWAII, ILLINOIS, IOWA, MAINE, MINNESOTA, MISSOURI, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW MEXICO, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, WASHINGTON, WISCONSIN, WYOMING) contain the letter I.

(b) CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: It’s the only remaining landlocked country in Africa in a list that alternates non-landlocked/landlocked.

57.

(a) Who Framed Roger Rabbit

(b) Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

(c) What Difference Does It Make? - The Smiths

(d) Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? - Agatha Christie

(e) Dude, Where’s my Car?

(f) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

(g) What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?

(h) What Does the Fox Say? - Ylvis

(i) Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? - videogame

58.

MONDAY.

The missing words are VEERED, TENDER, STAYED, REMOVE, RETEST and the 6 words form a 3×3 box:

59.

They are military ranks minus their relevant abbreviation:

brigADIER captAIN genERAL sERgEANt admIRAL cOMMANdEr cOMMOdOre colONEL majOR corpORAL pRIVAte

60.

DROP (h’s), DOT (i’s), MIND (p’s and q’s), ROLL (r’s), CROSS (t’s)

61.

In English, there aren’t any pairs. The property is that of consecutive pairs of integers having no letters in common. In French: (DEUX, TROIS), (NEUF, DIX), (DIX, ONZE). In German: (VIER, FUNF), (FUNF, SECHS), (SIEBEN, ACHT), (ACHT, NEUN).

62.

COSY (Tea) fits between LAZY (Susan) and BIRDS (Thunder).

Anagrams of units of measurements: SCARE/ACRES, BLUSHES/BUSHELS, CHINA/CHAIN, TEACHER/HECTARE, CHIN/INCH, SLIME/MILES, LOPE/POLE, DRAYS/YARDS

Can be preceded by the possessive of a name: ARCHIMEDES’S PRINCIPLE, BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH, HOBSON’S CHOICE, MERCATOR’S PROJECTION, MONTEZUMA’S REVENGE, PANDORA’S BOX, PASCAL’S TRIANGLE, RUBIK’S CUBE

X for the Y: YOURS for the ASKING, HOPE for the BEST, BANG for the BUCK, PAR for the COURSE, PLAN for the FUTURE, GO for the JUGULAR, THANKS for the MEMORIES, ONE for the ROAD

Can be preceded by a US city to form the name of a US newspaper: ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, BALTIMORE SUN, BOSTON GLOBE, COLUMBUS DISPATCH, MIAMI HERALD, SACRAMENTO BEE, USA TODAY, WASHINGTON POST

Can be preceded by a drink: BEER GARDEN, BRANDY SNAP, CHAMPAGNE PRESS, COFFEE BEAN, MILK TOOTH, RUM RUNNER, TEA COSY, WATER FOUNTAIN

Can be followed by a Christian name: SPINNING JENNY, BLACK MARIA, QUESTION MARK, BLUE PETER, ROUND ROBIN, DOG ROSE, LAZY SUSAN, SWEET WILLIAM

Can be preceded by a weather phenonemon: CLOUDBURST, FOGHORN, HAILSTONE, HURRICANE LAMP, RAINCHECK, SNOW PLOUGH, THUNDERBIRDS, WINDSOCK

63.

(a) Chinese Years: 9 + 5 + 4 - (11 + 1) = 6 = Snake. We’ve started with Rat = 1, but the answer is independent of how you start the numbering.

(b) Words consisting of two letters followed by a number:
(OFten × EAten - FReight × SLeight) / (CRone + ALone + SHone + OZone) = (10 × 10 - 8 × 8) / (1 + 1 + 1 + 1) = 9 = CAnine = CA

(c) The Lord of the Rings: (4+3+7+2) × 9 = 144 = Guests at birthday party (or Combined ages of Bilbo and Frodo)

(d) Words with numbers removed from the middle (leaving two letters before and two after):((AnTENna + PuNINEss - LiONEss) / NeTWOrk) - PiONEer = ((10 + 9 - 1) / 2) - 1 = 8 = FrEIGHTer = Frer (or FrEIGHTed = Fred)

64.

BABY (for example) fits between OIL and BALL. All the words in the list can be preceded by words beginning C-: in particular CA-, CH-, CO-, CR- and CU-; for each of these digraphs there are 7 words of lengths 3-9 letters, one word of each length.

CA: CALAMITY JANE, CAMP FOLLOWER, CAPITAL CITY, CARPET, CARBON DATING, CAROL SINGER, CATHERINE WHEEL

CH: CHAMBERS DICTIONARY, CHE GUEVARA, CHECKMATE, CHEESE GRATER, CHICKEN RUN, CHOP SUEY, CHRISTMAS CAROL

CO: COAT HANGER, COCKER SPANIEL, COLLECTED WORKS, CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, COTTAGE PIE, COUCH POTATO, COWBOY

CR: CRANBERRY SAUCE, CREDIT CARD, CRIMINAL RECORD, CROP CIRCLE, CRUDE OIL, CRY BABY, CRYSTAL BALL

CU: CUBE ROOT, CUCUMBER-FRAME, CUPBOARD, CURIOSITY SHOP, CURRENT AFFAIRS, CUTTLEFISH, CUTTY SARK

65.

(a) The numbers are the minimum number of moves a knight (starting in the normal starting square in the bottom left) would take to reach that square:

2 3 2 3

1 2 1 4

2 3 2 1

3 0 3 2

(b) The numbers are the minimum number of moves a pawn (starting in a normal starting square for a rook’s pawn in the bottom left) would take to reach that square:

1 2 2 6

1 1 6 6

0 6 6 6

6 6 6 6

66.

The band ‘The Verve’ was called ‘Verve’ up until 1994.

67.

14. The number contains the letter at the corresponding position in the alphabet:

FIVE, EIGHT, NINE, TWELVE, FOURTEEN, TWENTY, TWENTY-THREE, TWENTY-FIVE

68.

The 3 remaining words are BANK, FIELD and OVERS, all of which can be preceded by LEFT.

The pairings are:

Vegetables: POT, A, TO and MAN, GET, OUT

Kings and Queens: ARTHUR, ELVIS, KONG and ANNE, DANCING, VICTORIA

Anagrams: ASCERTAIN, CARTESIAN, SECTARIAN and INTEGRAL, RELATING, TRIANGLE

Dutch/Spanish: AUCTION, BARN, COURAGE and FLY, MAIN, STEPS

Door/Window: BELL, MAT, STEP and CLEANER, SHOPPING, SILL

Battles/Treaties: BLENHEIM, BRITAIN, SLUYS and ROME, VERSAILLES, VIENNA

Sherlock Holmes adventures: HIS, LAST, BOW and GABLE, GARRIDEB, STUDENT

Days/Nights: BOXING, GROUNDHOG, MAY and BURNS, SILENT, TWELFTH

Cambridge/Oxford colleges: CHURCHILL, DOWNING, DARWIN and LINCOLN, ORIEL, UNIVERSITY

Monopoly/Cluedo pieces: DOG, HAT, IRON and MUSTARD, PEACOCK, PLUM

69.

(a) ROSE (hip) BATH, BLACK (eye) BALLS, BOOT (leg) IRON, YELLOW (belly) BUTTON, RIGHT (arm) CHAIR, COLD (shoulder) PADS, TENNIS (elbow) GREASE, TEA (chest) NUT, RING (finger) TIPS, SECOND (hand) SPRING

(b) BLOOD (orange) PEEL, NAVY (blue) BOTTLE, SEEING (red) BREAST, EARL (grey) HOUND, RACING (pink) ELEPHANTS, LINCOLN (green) HOUSE, GERMAN (silver) LINING, JET (black) MARKET, SNOW (white) WASH

70.

The answers are: BAKING POWDER, FLYING SAUCER, JACK-IN-THE-BOX, MOTHERS-IN-LAW, NOTARY PUBLIC, PANTY GIRDLES, PLASTIC MONEY, PLAYS FOR TIME, PLOUGHED BACK, QUESTION MARK, SHADOW FIGURE, STAYING POWER.

(a) All answers contain 12 letters and all the letters are different

(b) TALCUM POWDER (for example)

71.

(a) ALLEY, DESERT, POLAR, CRY, HOT, LOAN, MARCH, SEA, SCREECH, SHIRE, ROLLER

Precede CAT, RAT, BEAR, WOLF, DOG, SHARK, HARE, LION, OWL, HORSE, SKATE

Which anagram to:

ACT, ART, BARE, FLOW, GOD, HARKS, HEAR, LINO, LOW, SHORE, TAKES

(b) THE HAGUE, VALETTA, ANKARA, MADRID, HAVANA, PARIS, LISBON, COPENHAGEN, BERN, MOSCOW, NEW DELHI, BEIJING

are capitals of countries with adjectives: DUTCH, MALTESE, TURKISH, SPANISH, CUBAN, FRENCH, PORTUGUESE, DANISH, SWISS, RUSSIAN, INDIAN, CHINESE

which precede: COURAGE, CROSS, DELIGHT, FLY, HEEL, LEAVE, MAN-OF-WAR, PASTRY, ROLL, ROULETTE, SUMMER, WHISPERS

(c) CENT, HEAVEN, FOOL, HAMLET, ATTITUDE, MECHANICAL, OUTRAGEOUS, DIOCESE, VOLITION, BRASSICA, RIPE

are synonyms for: PENNY, SKY, CHARLIE, VILLAGE, MOOD, CLOCKWORK, SHOCKING, SEE, WILL, CABBAGE, MELLOW

which precede: BLACK, BLUE, BROWN, GREEN, INDIGO, ORANGE, PINK, RED, SCARLET, WHITE, YELLOW

(d) RICH, HAIRY, WARM, CROOKED, ALIVE, DARK, UNWELL, SANE, LOW, UGLY, FAT

are antonyms of: POOR, BALD, COOL, STRAIGHT, DEAD, LIGHT, FIT, MAD, HIGH, PRETTY, THIN

which can be compared to (X as a Y): CHURCHMOUSE, COOT, CUCUMBER, DIE, DODO, FEATHER, FIDDLE, HATTER, KITE, PICTURE, RAKE

(e) MOCK, BED, WAG, TELL, WRAITH, FROM, TOP, METRE, NAME, RUNG, BOOK

rhyme with: LOCK, RED, RAG, BELL, FAITH, TOM, HOP, PETER, GAME, HUNG, HOOK

which are the first parts of threes ending: BARREL, BLUE, BOBTAIL, CANDLE, CHARITY, HARRY, JUMP, MARY, MATCH, QUARTERED, SINKER

72.

(a) PACK. Preceding numbers, or the word ‘point’ give 3.1415926.

(b) SHRINKING. Associated colours form the rainbow. Shrinking Violet.

(c) CART. Words can be preceded/followed by animals in alphabetical order. ANT-ELOPE, BUG-BEAR, CARP-ENTER, REIN-DEER, EMU-LATE, OUT-FOX, GOAT-SUCKER, CART-HORSE.

73.

(a) Nat King Cole

(b) Paul Simon

(c) Pele

(d) Macy Gray

(e) Eva Peron

(f) Martin Shaw

(g) Cary Grant

(h) Sally Ride

(i) Tom Hanks

(j) Ed Wood

74.

ME/I/1, AGAINST/V/5, VIOLET/VI/6, KISS/X/10, GREEK LETTER/XI/11, 587 YARDS (approx)/LI/51, CARBON/C/100, LIFE STORY/CV/105, SRI LANKA/CL/150, COMPACT DISC/CD/400, RALPH FIENNES/M/1000

75.

(a) I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

(b) In the Bleak Midwinter

(c) Merry Christmas Darling

(d) Silent Night

(e) Winter Wonderland

(f) Little Drummer Boy

(g) Angels We Have Heard on High

(h) 2000 Miles

(i) We Three Kings of Orient Are

(j) Let It Snow

76.

The properties of the words to the left of the colon are:

(a) Consists of 2 letters adjacent in the alphabet, and 2 letters 1 apart

(b) None of the capital cities is the largest in its country

(c) Each contains, as consecutive letters, the anagram of a letter in the NATO phonetic alphabet

(d) Each can be divided into 3 words (e.g. AM-BIT-ION)

(e) Each can be pronounced in 2 different ways

(f) Each name contains another name written backwards within

(g) Each word remains a word if R ←→ L, L ←→ R

77.

The archivist has added the letters of the names (A=1, B=2, etc) to each other when there is an AND in the title. So for example U2’s RATTLE and HUM yields R, A, T, B(=T+H), G(=L+U), R(=E+M)

(a) BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID

(b) X&Y

(c) PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES

78.

P(APA). M(IKE) lives in Q(UEBEC), and is very fond of G(OLF). He is married to J(ULIET), and they have 2 children, C(HARLIE) and V(ICTOR). What do the children call M(IKE)? These are all letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

79.

(a) CONTEMPORANEOUS has a Scrabble score of 21, the others 17.

(b) All 98 letter Scrabble tiles are used, plus an extra C and T, so that if blanks are used for these (thus using all 100 tiles) the score of CONTEMPORANEOUS is also 17.

(c) 17 (the total score of all the tiles - which must be divisible by the number of words - is 187 = 11 × 17) An example would be: BABY, CONTINUES, FEWER, FULLY, GUARDING, HEAVE, IRRIGATION, JOIN, MUSICAL, OXEN, QUIT (blanks for UI), RETALIATED, ROMPED, SOOTHED, SPEAK, WAIVE, ZO.

80.

(Whati Stent Imese Leven) - (Pound Sina Stone)

= What is ten times eleven - pounds in a stone

= 10×11 - 14 = 96 = Ninety Six = 34°10’N 82°01’W

81.

Gobbledygook. From the second line onwards letters in the top row of a typewriter keyboard have moved one place to the left. From the third line the same has happened to letters in the second row of the keyboard, and in the last line it has happened to all letters.

SOMETHING PECULIAR HAPPENED WHEN I SAT DOWN

TO USE THE TYPEWRITER. THE FAULT GOT WORSE

RI YSW RHW RTOWQEURWE. RHW FAYLR GIR QIESW

UNTIL THE TEXT COULD NOT BE RECOGNISED. IT

YNRUK RGW RWXR CIYKS NIR BW EWCIFNUAWS. UR

SEEMED TO BE COMPLETE GOBBLEDYGOOK.

AWWNWS RI VW XINOKWRW FIVVKWSTFIIJ.

82.

Countries externally bordering the given country, going clockwise:

83.

(a) DOG: all others can be formed from the letters of CHRISTMAS

(b) FEL: in all others the central vowel can be any vowel and a word is still formed

84.

(a) Crocodile Dundee

(b) Tiger Woods

(c) Rooster Cogburn

(d) Cat Stevens

(e) Robin Hood

(f) Newt Gingrich

85.

(a) First letters of Pi (Three Point One Four One Five Nine Two Six Five Three etc): T

(b) For n=3, 4, 5, …, the smallest number that is divisible by n and has n letters: 300, -, 70000000, 15000, 14000 (no solution for n=13)

86.

MILLENNIUM. The other answers are SECOND, MINUTE, HOUR, DAY, WEEK, MONTH, YEAR, DECADE, CENTURY.

87.

(i)

(a) OGDEN NASH: (the phrase is ‘CANDY IS DANDY BUT LIQUOR IS QUICKER’, enciphered by simple substitution using the name as key phrase

(b) MARK TWAIN: (simlarly, ‘GOLF IS A GOOD WALK SPOILED’)

(c) OSCAR WILDE: (‘I CAN RESIST EVERYTHING EXCEPT TEMPTATION’)

(d) BENJAMIN DISRAELI: (‘LIES, DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS’)

(e) EDWARD BULWER-LYTTON: (‘THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD’)

(f) THEODORE ROOSEVELT: (‘SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK’)

(ii) YJU RAG LJJE (‘YOU CAN FOOL …’, a quote attributed to ABRAHAM LILCOLN

88.

IN. Add up adjacent letters (mod 26) and subtract 1. E.g. for RIGHTS → ZONAL:

R(18)+I(9)=27. 27-1=26(Z)

I(9)+G(7)=16. 16-1=15(O)

G(7)+H(8)=15. 15-1=14(N)

H(8)+T(20)=28. 28-1=27=1(mod26)(A)

T(20)+S(19)=39. 39-1=38=12(mod 26)(L)

For OUT: O(15)+U(21)=36. 36-1=35=9(mod 26)(I)

U(21)+T(20)=41. 41-1=40=14(mod 26)(N)

89.

(a) 1975 × 36 / 100 = 711 = Ocean Drive

(b) Roman numerals: (VIII × III) + X - (IV × V) = (8 × 3) + 10 - (4 × 5) = XIV = The Rise of Louis

(c) A Thousand Times (21 Take 1) = 1000 × (21 - 1) = 20000 = Leagues Under the Sea

(d) Atomic numbers of missing parts: (Ta × Co) - (Ga × Sm) = (73 × 27) - (31 × 62) = 49

= In = Diana Jones and the Temple of Doom (or Decent Proposal, etc)

(e) Hex missing parts: (EC × DE) + FE - DEF - ED = (236 × 222) + 254 - 3567 - 237

= 48842 = BECA = Use of Him

90.

MUSTARD (Bustard) fits between BUSTING (Bunting) and WORMS (Can).

Patron Saints: DENTIST/APOLLONIA, MUSICIAN/CECILIA, SHOEMAKER/CRISPIN, ASTRONOMER/DOMINIC, FIREMAN/FLORIAN, TAILOR/HOMOBONUS, CARPENTER/JOSEPH, PRISONER/LEONARD

Bird names with one letter garbled: BARBER/BARBET, MUSTARD/BUSTARD, BUSTING/BUNTING, CARRIER/HARRIER, PLEASANT/PHEASANT, CLOVER/PLOVER, SHALLOW/SWALLOW, CULTURE/VULTURE

X of Y, where X is a container: BARREL of BEER, BOX of MATCHES, CAN of WORMS, CASE of WINE, FLAGON of CIDER, JAR of JAM, PACK of CIGARETTES, TUBE of TOOTHPASTE

Can be preceded by a sport: BASEBALL CAP, BOXING RING, FOOTBALL BOOTS, GOLF BAG, HOCKEY STICK, POLO NECK, RIDING CROP, TENNIS ELBOW

Can be preceded by an actor’s Christian name: CARY GRANT, DORIS DAY, JOHN CANDY, LUCILLE BALL, MAE WEST, SALLY FIELD, VINCENT PRICE, WILL HAY

Can be preceded by a farmyard animal: CHICKEN WIRE, COW PARSLEY, DUCK SOUP, GOAT WILLOW, HORSE BOX, PIG IRON, SHEEP DIP, TURKEY TROT

X on the Y: HOT on the HEELS, ICING on the CAKE, PAT on the BACK, PILE on the AGONY, QUICK on the DRAW, SIT on the FENCE, SLAP on the WRIST, TURN on the HEAT

91.

(a) 6. Diagonal pattern on typewriter keyboard

(b) Q. Alternate letters of ‘To be or not to be that is the question’

92.

(a) 105. The numbers are increased by the number of letters in their name. 95 + 10 = 105

(b) 26. The sequence is the numbers 1, 2, 3, … added to the lengths of their names. 26 = 20 + 6

(c) 14. The sequence is the numbers 1, 2, 3, … minus the lengths of their names. 14 = 20 - 6

93.

Pseudonyms, pen names and stage names:

(a) Lady Gaga = Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta

(b) Mata Hari = Margaretha Geertruida Zelle MacLeod

(c) Anne Rice = Howard Allen Frances O’Brien

(d) Herbert Lom = Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru

(e) Joan Fontaine = Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland

(f) Jean Reno = Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jiménez

(g) John Wyndham = John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris

(h) Katie Boyle = Caterina Irene Elena Maria Imperiali di Francavilla

(i) Rudolph Valentino = Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla

(j) Ellery Queen = Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee = Daniel Nathan and Emanuel Benjamin Lepofsky

94.

SWINEHERD (Gauguin) fits between ARMFUL (Fulmar) and BERETS (Green).

Synonyms of musical terms: UNINTENDED/ACCIDENTAL, OBSTRUCT/BAR, DEEP/BASS, LEVEL/FLAT, NORMAL/NATURAL, ACUTE/SHARP, THREEFOLD/TREBLE

Anagrams of birds: OCTAVE/AVOCET, COATING/COTINGA, ARMFUL/FULMAR, HORMONE/MOORHEN, HEAR/RHEA, HIKERS/SHRIKE, LATE/TEAL

Champagne bottle sizes: SIXTEEN/BALTHASAR, FOUR/JEROBOAM, TWO/MAGNUM, EIGHT/METHUSELAH, TWENTY/NEBUCHADNEZZAR, SIX/REHOBOAM, TWELVE/SALMANAZAR

Associated with a colour in a film title: BLACK NARCISSUS, BLUE LAGOON, JACKIE BROWN, GREEN BERETS, CLOCKWORK ORANGE, COLOR PURPLE, WHITE CHISTMAS

French Revolutionary calendar: MIST/BRUMAIRE, FLOWERS/FLOREAL, FRUIT/FRUCTIDOR, HARVEST/MESSIDOR, MEADOWS/PRAIRIAL, HEAT/THERMIDOR, WIND/VENTOSE

X of the Y: LADY/CAMELLIAS, LORD/FLIES, SILENCE/LAMBS, LAST/MOHICANS, NAME/ROSE, DAY/TRIFFIDS, WAR/WORLDS

Painting/artist: GARDENER/CEZANNE, JUGGLER/CHAGALL, DANCERS/DEGAS, SWINEHERD/GAUGUIN, LUNCHEON/MANET, RIVER/MONET, UMBRELLAS/RENOIR

Tonic sol-fa: PERFORM/DO, FLORIDA/FA, BEHOLD/LA, MYSELF/ME, CONCERNING/RE, THEREFORE/SO, TITANIUM/TI

95.

(a) Tonic sol-fa: doOR, reALLY, miSTRESS, faBLED, soLACE, laTENT, tiTHE, doZEN

(b) Triangular numbers: 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100

(c) The first elements: batHe, HEaddress, cLIent, proBEd, noBble, patCh, uniNformed, nOose, Faction, beNEfit, doNAting

(d) The first 2 letters of the planets: MEdial, VEnose, EAstern, MAchine, JUice, SAusage, URgently, NEsting

(e) Points of the compass: doNor, hoNEst, chEat, reSEnt, haSte, anSWer, seWed, ruNWay

(f) Roman numerals: paInt, seVer, maXim, tiLed, seCts, caDre, boMbs

(g) The numbers ONE to TEN (each beginning with the end letter of the preceding word and ending with the first letter of the following word): ONTO, ONE, EAT, TWO, OUT, THREE, ENUFF, FOUR, ROOF, FIVE, EYES, SIX, XIS, SEVEN, NURSE, EIGHT, TRAIN, NINE, EAST, TEN

(h) A, C, …, Y and B, D, …, Z: HEaR/HERb, cLOVE/LOVEd, RATe/RAfT, TANg/ThAN, AiM/jAM, PEAk/PEAl, mASTER/ASTERn, LOoT/pLOT, qAT/rAT, STARLINGs/STARtLING, VALuE/VALvE, NEwT/NExT, yEN/zEN

96.

(a) Johann Sebastian Bach (German)

(b) Bernhard Langer (German)

(c) Franz Kafka (Czech)

(d) Giuseppe Verdi (Italian)

(e) Enrique Iglesias (Spanish)

(f) Zayn Malik (Arabic)

(g) Giacomo Casanova (Italian)

(h) Boris Pasternak (Russian)

97.

(a) Forms a word when letters are reversed (ANIMAL/LAMINA etc.)

(b) Rotates cyclically to form a word (ALARM/MALAR etc.)

(c) Words where C can be replaced by another letter to form a word (CLONE/ALONE etc.)

(d) Words on which element names are based (FLOWING/FLUORINE etc.)

(e) Words in which PP, P, F or FF can be inserted to form a word (ARISE/APPRISE etc.)

98.

AMY. The words can be read down columns when the alphabet is written out on different widths:

99.

The 3 remaining words - linked by the word LINK - are (LINK) ARMS, CONNECTION (= LINK) and CHAIN (LINK).

Leaders: EDEN, MAJOR, THATCHER (UK) and BUSH, CARTER, HOOVER (US)

Self-anagrams: ASSET, SEATS, TESSA (one female name) and ANDREW, WARDEN, WARNED (one male name)

Beatles’ songs: BACK, MADONNA, WRITER (first word omitted) and DAY, ELEANOR, YELLOW (second word omitted)

Anagrams: LUMP, MILE, PAGER (fruits) and APE, BANE, KEEL (vegetables)

Pop brothers: MICHAEL, RANDY, TITO (Jackson) and ALAN, JAY, WAYNE (Osmond)

Homophonic endings: CRAIC, SLACK, YAK (-ack as in black) and INDICT, SITE, TIGHT (-ite as in white)

Homphonic numbers: DRY, FEAR, SEX (German) and CEASE, SANK, WHEAT (French)

Animal association: GUINEA, IGNORANT, NAPOLEON (pig) and BOX, CLOTHES, COPENHAGEN (horse)

Countries: AND, NEW, ZEAL (New Zealand) and ETHER, LANDS, THEN (The Netherlands)

Shakespeare quotes: BE, IF, MUSIC (If music be …) and SHALL WE WHEN (When shall we …)

100.

(a) Hart to Hart

(b) Eye to Eye

(c) Bridge to Farr

(d) Longwai to Tipperary

(e) Born to Run

(f) Joy to The World

(g) Freedom to Chooz

(h) Much to Difficult

101.

EON is the odd ONE out being an anagram of a number in English; the other words are anagrams of numbers in French or German:

CHAT/ACHT, CHESS/SECHS, CORNETIST/ CENT TROIS, PEST/SEPT, RIDE/DREI, RIOTS/TROIS, SINE/EINS, THUNDER/HUNDERT, UNFIXED/DIX NEUF, ZONE/ONZE

102.

CASTLE (Blandings) fits between KID (Billy) and BLUE (Blood).

First/last word in the title of a Shakespeare play: ALL’S Well That Ends WELL, ANTHONY and CLEOPATRA, AS You Like IT, LOVE’S Labours LOST, MEASURE for MEASURE, MUCH Ado About NOTHING, KING JOHN, TWELFTH NIGHT

Can be preceded by a US President’s surname: ARTHUR MILLER, BUSH FIRE, FORD FOCUS, HARRISON FORD, LINCOLN GREEN, POLKA, TRUMAN SHOW, WASHINGTON POST

First/last word in the title of a PG Wodehouse book: BACHELORS ANONYMOUS, BLANDINGS CASTLE, DOCTOR SALLY, FRENCH LEAVE, HOT WATER, PERFORMING FLEA, PICCADILLY JIM, UNCLE DYNAMITE

Can be preceded by a part of a bicycle: BELL RINGER, CHAIN LETTER, GEAR BOX, HANDLEBAR MOUSTACHE, SADDLE SORE, SPOKESWOMAN, TYRE PRESSURE, WHEELBARROW

Can be followed by a word ending -OOD: BLUE BLOOD, EDWIN DROOD, FLASH FLOOD, FAST FOOD, COMMON GOOD, ROBIN HOOD, UNDERSTOOD, HOLLYWOOD

NAME the DESCRIPTOR: CONAN the BARBARIAN, BILLY the KID, HEREWARD the WAKE, JOHN the BAPTIST, LILY the PINK, ROBERT the BRUCE, ROGER the DODGER, SINBAD the SAILOR

Can be preceded by a part of the hand: FINGER BUFFET, FIST FIGHT, HANDBAG, KNUCKLE DUSTER, PALM TREE, THUMB TACK, THUMBNAIL SKETCH, WRISTWATCH

103.

The scores derive from comparing the respective letters in the name and seeing which comes earlier in the alphabet. The score in the set is 6-(the number of successive later letters). Where the letters are the same the top player wins the tiebreak. Thus for Henman v Gallek GALL precede each of HENM so that is 6-4 to Henman, A precedes E, so that is 6-1 to Gallek, and K precedes N so that is 6-1 to Henman.

104.

I could have lost by 89-70, a difference of 19.

105.

Londres. Each line refers to a letter which appears in a country’s name in English, but not in the native language.

106.

OLDEN. The words can be reparsed to give:

(EMA), NATION-AL, GA- MES, SAGE- LY, CHEE- SE, CRET- IN, CH- ARM, LESS- ON, SET- TEE, TER- RAPIN, G-OLD, EN-EMA

to complete the circle.

107.

SALT LAKE CITY is missing from the list of the 50 US State Capitals, which are organised in the order in which their States joined the union. The words in quotes are translations from a foreign language.

Synonym for last 4 letters:

Finished (Dover); ‘Town’ (Harrisburg); Crossing (Hartford), String (Concord); Castle (Frankfort); Warble (Lansing); Opera (Honolulu).

County of State Capital:

Mercer (Trenton); Anne Arundel (Annapolis); Richland (Columbia); Ada (Boise); Washington (Montpelier); Shawnee (Topeka); Laramie (Cheyenne).

Sports team:

Falcons (Atlanta); Celtics (Boston), Predators (Nashville); Colts (Indianapolis); Kings (Sacramento); Broncos (Denver); Bruins (Providence).

Synonym for first 4 letters:

Wealthy (Richmond); ‘Scotland’ (Albany); High (Tallahassee); Bargains (Salem); Cleaner (Charleston); Vehicles Carson City; Month (Juneau).

Capital is surname of Famous Person:

Sir Walter (Raleigh); Christopher (Columbus); Dusty (Springfield); James (Madison); Abraham (Lincoln); Otto von (Bismarck); Joaquin (Phoenix).

Indication of first word in a 2-word capital name:

‘Loaf’ (Baton Rouge); President (Jefferson City); Small (Little Rock); ‘Some’ (Des Moines); Simon Templar (Saint Paul); Musical (Oklahoma City); Claus (Santa Fe).

Capital is first name of Famous Person:

Pollock (Jackson); Clift (Montgomery); Bracknell (Augusta); Powers (Austin); Cardin (Pierre); Rubinstein (Helena); Dukakis (Olympia).’

108.

(a) EVENTS. Words contain letters of One, Two, etc EVENTS contains letters of SEVEN.

(b) UNNERVE. Words begin with anagrams of German numbers UNNE-RVE.

(c) PAPERBACK. Words are anagrams of ALPHA, BETA etc plus 4 letters. PAPERBACK is an anagram of KAPPA + ERBC.

109.

This refers to chariots of the Roman gods.

110.

Roy Jenkins is homophonically Roi Jean Quinze (a), Melchester Rovers’ best known player was Roy (Race) of the Rovers (b), Bosworth Field was where Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain (ROYGBIV, the rainbow reminder) (c), corduroy (d), the archaeological excavator of Hissarlik/Troy (e), and the Faroe Islands’ Eysturoy and Suduroy (the only 2 of the 18 with that ending) (f).

111.

SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS: super/Kali/fragile/Liszt/tick/XP/Ali/do/shoes.

112.

The words can all be associated with Characters, Weapons and Room in Cluedo. The Characters precede words, the weapons are synonyms for words, and the rooms succeed words. The links are:

Missing are Mrs White (or Dr Orchid from 2016) who did it in the Billiard room with the Candlestick.

113.

The completed crossword grid contains each letter of the alphabet exactly once:

2 Homophone of ‘quarts’
4 ‘OK’ in ‘Che’
5 Little My is a Moomin character
7 VIPS reversed

114.

18018. The property is that of not containing the letter N. Eighty-eight, achtzig and dix-huit mille dix-huit are the highest in each language.

115.

The solutions to the clues are: EIGHTIES, WRITER, ABOUT, MOLE, WHERE, COUNTRY, BEGINS. These read as a clue to which the answer is the 8-letter word TOWNSEND. This is itself a clue to the 8-letter word SOUTHEND.

116.

(a) Anna Ford

(b) Pol Pot

(c) Idi Amin

(d) Kim Wilde

(e) Alice Cooper

(f) Seb Coe

(g) Alan Turing

(h) Dave Allen

(i) Brad Pitt

(j) Ron Ely

117.

118.

Brad Pitt (whose birthday is 18^th December)

119.

(a) DOT, or any word that remains a word with 2 I’s inserted: FaUNa, bABbLE, OccUR, BIddER, BeReAVE, COffIN, gRUDgE, ShEATh, iDiOT

(b) COO, or any word that remains a word when reversed with 2 H’s inserted: NIL/LIaNa, DEMO/bOMbED, DAY/cYcAD, NAME/dEMANd, SPILL/eLLIPSe, UP/PUff, READ/DAggER, COO/hOOCh

120.

(a) Is a word when followed by LESS: isn’t but is a word when followed by MORE

(b) Is a word when preceded by UP: isn’t but is a word when preceded by DOWN

(c) A Greek letter can be inserted to form a word (alphaBET, DetaIN, DIOxiDE, GRAphiTE, MINOtauR, OpiNION, PEAnuT, muSLIM, chiTIN, URchiN): can’t

(d) Can be followed by NUT: can’t, but can be followed by FRUIT

121.

The list is of London Underground stations beginning with M in order of Scrabble score, then alphabetically.

MORDEN/9, MILE END/10, MOORGATE/11, MONUMENT/12, MAIDA VALE/15, MANOR HOUSE/15, MOOR PARK/16, MANSION HOUSE/17, MARYLEBONE/17, MILL HILL EAST/17, MARBLE ARCH/19, MORNINGTON CRESCENT/25

122.

(a) Johnny Depp - Tonto - Jay Silverheels

(b) Matt Smith - The Doctor - John Hurt - Winston Smith

(c) Pope Pius XII - John Gielgud - Hobson (from Arthur) - Helen Mirren - Queen Elizabeth II

(d) Ewan McGregor - Obi Wan Kenobi - Alec Guinness - George Smiley - Gary Oldman - Commissioner Gordon

(e) Steve McQueen - Thomas Crown - Pierce Brosnan - James Bond - Sean Connery - Robin Hood - Kevin Costner

(f) Denzel Washington - Captain Bennett Marco (from The Manchurian Candidate) - Frank Sinatra - Danny Ocean (from Ocean’s 11) - George Clooney - Batman - Michael Keaton - Beetlejuice

123.

(a) A TUNE HIDES: RESURRECTION (MAHLER’s 2^nd symphony), UNFINISHED (SCHUBERT’s 8^th), WAGNER (BRUCKNER’s 3^rd), ANTARCTICA (VAUGHAN WILLIAMS’ 7^th), LITTLE (SCHUBERT’s 6^th), 1917 (SHOSTAKOVICH’s 12^th), ORGAN (SAINT-SAËNS 3^rd), ITALIAN (MENDELSOHN’s 4^th), REFORMATION (MENDELSOHN’s 5^th), SPRING (SCHUMANN’s 1^st)

(b) MONARCHY ENGLAND: 1553 (year of accession of MARY I), 1760 (GEORGE III), 1216 (HENRY III), 1461 (EDWARD IV), 1189 (RICHARD I), 1625 (CHARLES I)), 1660 (CHARLES II), 1413 (HENRY V): 1558 (ELIZABETH I), 1216 (HENRY III), 1714 (GEORGE I), 1830 (WILLIAM IV), 1689 (MARY II), 1216 (HENRY III), 1547 (EDWARD VI)

(c) LES ROIS FRANCAIS: 1364 (year of accession of CHARLES V), 1380 (CHARLES VI), 1422 (CHARLES VII), 922 (ROBERT I), 877 (LOUIS II), 1270 (PHILIP III), 1422 (CHARLES VII), 1515 (FRANCIS I), 1589 (HENRI IV), 893 or 898 (CHARLES III), 1574 (HENRI III), 481 (CLOVIS I), 893 or 898 (CHARLES III), 936 (LOUIS IV), 986 (LOUIS V)

(d) DAYS OF THE YEAR: 1/12 (DECEMBER 1^st), 1/8 (AUGUST 1^st), 7/1 (JANUARY 7^th), 1/9 (SEPTEMBER 1^st), 4/10 (OCTOBER 4^th), 1/2 (FEBRUARY 1^st), 4/9 (SEPTEMBER 4^th), 5/3 (MARCH 5^th), 7/11 (NOVEMBER 7^th), 4/7 (JULY 4^th), 4/6 (JUNE 4^th), 2/5 (MAY 2^nd), 3/3 (MARCH 3^rd)

(e) COUNT DRACULA: 1, 3/C, 2, 15/O, 3, 21/U, 4, 14/N, 5, 20/T, 6, 4/D, 7, 18/R, 8, 1/A, 9, 3/C, 10, 21/U, 11, 12/L, 12, 1/A

124.

Film titles ‘containing’ chemical elements (or homophones), at the front (F) or rear (R):

Alternative answers exist for some rows.

125.

(a) 6. The sequence is the number of letters in the names of months. August has 6 letters.

(b) 8. The sequence is the number of letters in each word of ‘To be or not to be that is the question’. Question has 8 letters.

(c) 3. The sequence is the length of the roman numbers. XVI has length 3.

126.

YULETIDE GREETINGS. O3 = 3^rd letter of O/OXYGEN, K8 = 8^th letter of K/POTASSIUM … P4 = 4^th letter of P/PHOSPHORUS.

127.

(37, 38, 39).

(910, 911, 912) = NINE HUNDRED AND TEN/NINE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN/NINE HUNDRED AND TWELVE

(511, 512, 513) = FÜNFHUNDERTELF/FÜNFHUNDERTZWÖLF/FÜNFHUNDERTDREIZEHN

(37, 38, 39) = TRENTE-SEPT/TRENT-HUIT/TRENT-NEUF

These are the smallest triples of consecutive numbers in each language where the last letter of a number is the first letter of its successor.

128.

Opening lines of pop songs with one word titles starting A-Z.

129.

(a) 1138 - (101 × 5) = 633 = Squadron

(b) 2 + 5 = 7 = Samurai (or The Magnificent, etc)

(c) 29 + (84 × 4) = 365 = Nights in Hollywood

(d) 2001 + 98 - 99 = 2000 = Death Race

(e) 22 × (451 + 1) / 100 = 99.44 = % Dead

130.

(a) USAGE

(b) STATE RECOGNISED CHURCH

From (b) the cipher alphabet is: STAERCOGNIDHUBFJKLMPQVWXYZ. A word of length n is enciphered by replacing each letter by the letter n to its right in the cipher alphabet. Thus ‘IN ECCLESIASTICAL USAGE THE TERM ESTABLISHMENT IS APPLIED TO’ enciphers to the text in the question. As it is of length 26, ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANS enciphers to itself.

131.

(a) Each letter is replaced by the letter that is its value (A=1, B=2, …, Z=26) further ahead in the quotation. Thus S is replaced by letter 1+19 =20=L, E by 2+5=7=E, A by 3+1=4=S and so on.

(b) NO, IT IS A VERY INTERESTING NUMBER; IT IS THE SMALLEST NUMBER EXPRESSIBLE AS A SUM OF CUBES IN TWO DIFFERENT WAYS.

(c) HE KNOWS DEATH TO THE BONE - MAN HAS CREATED DEATH.

(d) HAVE YOU HEARD? IT’S IN THE STARS NEXT JULY WE COLLIDE WITH MARS.

(e) ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL, ONE RING TO FIND THEM, ONE RING TO BRING THEM ALL AND IN THE DARKNESS BIND THEM

(f) IT WAS A BRIGHT COLD DAY IN APRIL, AND THE CLOCKS WERE STRIKING THIRTEEN.

(g) BUT, SOFT! WHAT LIGHT THROUGH YONDER WINDOW BREAKS? IT IS THE EAST, AND JULIET IS THE SUN.

132.

1: THE word in THE set of 1 is THE

2 words that form to make a pair: COUP. LED

3 words forming the motto of The Three Musketeers: ALL, FOR, ONE (and ONE, FOR, ALL!)

4 colours of the horses of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse: BLACK, PALE, RED, WHITE

5 members of sets of 5: BABY (Spice Girls), BORODIN (The 5), KESH (The 5 K’s), PRAYER (the 5 tenets of Islam), SIGHT (the 5 senses)

6 geese (a-laying!): BERRY, BRENT, CANADA, GOLDEN, MOTHER, SNOW

7 The Magnificent Seven: AUGUST, FINE, GRAND, GREAT, MAJESTIC, NOBLE, SUPERB

8 eight-letter words, the first and last letters spelling OCTUPLES:

OPERATIC
CHESTNUT
TIRAMISU
UNDERLAP
PORTUGAL
LACROSSE
ELEVATES
SOMBRERO

9 words linked with the 9 planets: (Mercury) THERMOMETER, WOMEN (are from Venus), RARE (Earth), (Mars) BAR, ZEUS (Jupiter), (Saturn) V, TITANIA (moon of Uranus), (Neptune’s) TRIDENT, (Pluto’s master) MICKEY

10 words containing TEN, all at different offsets within the word: TENNIS, STENCH, BUTENE, LISTEN, BRITTEN, LIECHTENSTEIN, FORGOTTEN, SUPERINTENDENT, MOUNTBATTEN, OMNICOMPETENCE

133.

The answers to a-h are eight trigraphs, using 24 of the 26 letters of the alphabet, with N and Y left over.

(a) QPR

(b) DMZ

(c) KGB

(d) XTC

(e) VHF

(f) JLS

(g) AWE

(h) IOU

(i) NY = New York

134.

(a) CURDLE. In the others the letter score (A=1, B=2, …, Z=26) of letters 4-6 is twice that of letters 1-3 (e.g. EDE=5+4+5=14, ACC=1+3+3=7); for CURDLE it’s the opposite (DLE=4+12+5=21, CUR=3+21+18=42)

(b) FROZEN. In the others the Scrabble score of letters 4-6 is twice that of letters 1-3 (e.g. IND=4, BEH=8); for FROZEN it’s the opposite (ZEN=12, FRO=6)

135.

XI. The table is the alphabet written out spirally from the centre:

136.

YULE (Log) fits between CORPORAL (Lance) and PETER (Mary).

Chronicles of Narnia, first/last word ignoring ‘the’: The LAST BATTLE, The HORSE and the BOY, PRINCE CASPIAN, The SILVER CHAIR, The MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW, The VOYAGE of the ‘Dawn TREADER’, The LION, the Witch and the WARDROBE

Can be preceded by a weapon: BAYONET-FITTING, LANCE CORPORAL, RIFLE RANGE, SABRE-TOOTH, SHOTGUN WEDDING, SPEARMINT, SWORDFISH

Can be followed by a 3-letter word ending -OG: PEAT BOG, TOY DOG, MAGOG, GROUNDHOG, YULE LOG, EGGNOG, KING ZOG

X in a Y: MESSAGE in a BOTTLE, BULL in a CHINA SHOP, CALL in a FAVOUR, CHANCE in a MILLION, PARTRIDGE in a PEAR TREE, PIG in a POKE, STORM in a TEACUP

First/last word of Elvis song: BURNING LOVE, HEARTBREAK HOTEL, HOUND DOG, JAILHOUSE ROCK, SUSPICIOUS MINDS, WAY DOWN, WOODEN HEART

X, Y and Z: BELL, BOOK and CANDLE; BUTCHER, BAKER and CANDLESTICK MAKER; TALL, DARK and HANDSOME; TOM, DICK and HARRY; PETER, PAUL and MARY; GAME, SET and MATCH; HOOK LINE and SINKER

Can be followed by a garment: FOXGLOVE, OLD HAT, DONKEY JACKET, HOTPANTS, HAIR SHIRT, PLATFORM SHOE, BOBBYSOCKS

137.

(a) NATASHA. Girls names beginning the same letters as MERCURY, VENUS etc, and the same length, and with no other letters in the same places.

(b) ACCOUNTANT. Words contain the first letters of One, Two; Two, Three; Three, Four; … in the right places. ACCOUNTANT has N and T in places 9 and 10.

(c) JOG. Words rhyme with THE, QUICK, BROWN, FOX etc, and the complete sequence contains all the letters of the alphabet, like the original.

138.

ANIMAL (Tier) fits between PIGEON (Squab) and CAT (Tom).

Animal/French: WEASEL/BELLETTE, DEER/CERF, CAMEL/CHAMEAU, TOAD/CRAPAUD, PENGUIN/MANCHOT, REINDEER/RENNE, SHARK/REQUIN, MONKEY/SINGE

Animal/female: WOLF/BITCH, RAT/DOE, SHEEP/EWE, LOBSTER/HEN, ASS/JENNY, HORSE/MARE, BEAR/SOW,
FOX/VIXEN

Animal/male: ANTELOPE/BUCK, SWAN/COB, OSTRICH/COCK, COYOTE/DOG, DUCK/DRAKE, GOOSE/GANDER, POLECAT/HOB, CAT/TOM

Animal/young: BISON/CALF, HERON/CHICK, ALPACA/CRIA, EEL/ELVER, HAWK/EYAS, KANGAROO/JOEY, WALRUS/PUP, PIGEON/SQUAB

Animal/collective noun: TERMITE/COLONY, RHINOCEROS/CRASH, TORTOISE/CREEP, LEOPARD/LEAP, CROW/MURDER, OWL/PARLIAMENT, WHALE/POD, LION/PRIDE

Animal/habitat: SQUIRREL/DREY, EAGLE/EYRIE, HARE/FORM, OTTER/HOLT, BEAVER/LODGE, HORNET/NEST, SEAL/ROOKERY, BADGER/SETT

Animal/German: VULTURE/GEIER, HEDGEHOG/IGEL, RABBIT/KANINCHEN, CROCODILE/KROKODIL, SALMON/LACHS, MOUSE/MAUS, CHIMPANZEE/SHIMPANSE, ANIMAL/TIER

139.

9. There are 9 words in the sentence asked about, 22 words in the kwestion and 6 in the self-referential sentence.

140.

Single word album titles, and selcted tracks from them:

141.

17. Ignoring case, there are 17 distinct letters in ‘How many are to
be found in this sentence?’ The other numbers similarly reflect a sentence and the kwestion.

142.

(a) NETWORK. The numbers ONE, TWO, …, TEN are spelled out by moving vertically and horizontally through the letters starting with O:

OoliTHs
NETWORk
assUREs
proOFEd
dislIke
sleEVes
eXISted
iSolate
kETchup
eVENINg
blIGHTy

(b) HELIPAD (for example). The symbols of the first 18 elements are spelled out by moving vertically and horizontally through the letters starting with H:

Hundred
HELIpad
plEBian
cONCert
aFfable
ANEmone
MustARd
GALilee
inSeCts
chIPSet

(c) EVOLVED (for example). The quote ‘IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE PLAY ON’ is spelled out by moving vertically and horizontally through the letters starting with I:

ofFIcer
SUMmary
IcEFloe
CaHOOts
BETiDes
comFOrt
EVOLved
PLinths
bAYONet

(d) KNIGHT. The words KNIGHT KNIGHT KNIGHT are spelled out using Knight’s moves starting with K:

ANKLES .NK…
BUNKER ..NK..
KNIGHT KNIGHT
WITHER .ITH..
WEIGHS ..IGH.
OUTAGE ..T.G.

(e) ANEMONE. It enables NORTH, SOUTH, EAST and WEST to be spelled out appropriately:

heaRTHs
SEnOrAS
TWiNSET
anemOne
acHTUng

(f) 324. All the numbers are squares and 0, 1, …, 9 can be traced by moving vertically and horizontally through the digits:

016 01.
324 32.
484 4..
529 5..
676 67.
289 .89

143.

(a) It’s a Wonderful Life

(b) Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street

(c) Holiday Inn

(d) Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas

(e) Beyond Tomorrow

(f) The Muppet Christmas Carol

(g) Love Actually

(h) The Nightmare Before Christmas

(i) The Snowman

(j) Jingle All the Way

(k) The Polar Express

(l) The Fourth Wise Man

144.

2. The sentence contains - ignoring case - 2 H’s.

145.

Anagrams of members of the Rolling Stones:

Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Brian Jones, Mick Jagger

146.

1984.

(a) EG can be inserted to form a word (BegIN, BOWLegS, LegATE, LIegE, RegAINED) but not in EXAMPLE

(b) OR. The lengths of the words are decreasing uniformly, and the first/last letters (alternately) form sequences

(c) Synonyms ending in EW: GUSTED/BLEW, MASTICATE/CHEW, EIGHT/CREW, AWARE/KNEW, MODERN/NEW, STITCH/SEW, RAGOUT/STEW, HURLED/THREW

(d) Associated with a 2-word phrase, both words ending in LL: BAD FEELING/ILL WILL, TARANTINO FILM/KILL BILL, LONDON THOROUGHFARE/PALL MALL, CONFUSED/PELL MELL, MUSTER/ROLL CALL

The name GEORGE ORWELL can be read by moving vertically and horizontally through the letters. He wrote 1984.

147.

BYATT(/AS/33). The associations are NAME/INITIALS=ELEMENT SYMBOL/ATOMIC NUMBER:

BATES/HE/2, BURROUGHS/ER/68, CLARKE/AC/89, GARDNER/ES/99, HEINLEIN/RA/88, JAMES/PD/46, LEWIS/CS/55, SHELLEY/PB/82, WELLS/HG/80, WOOLF/V/23

148.

EIGHTY ONE has 9 letters, 9²=81, ONE HUNDRED has 10 letters 10²=100, FIVE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX has 24 letters, 24²=576.

149.

STUNNER/LULU. The others are associated with words/phrases of the form ?A?A or ?O?O: ARTFORM/DADA, AVERAGE/SOSO, BIRD/DODO, CLOWN/COCO, DITCH/HAHA, DOG/TOTO, EXECUTIONER/KOKO, FATHER/PAPA, FORBIDDANCE/NONO, GOODBYE/TATA, GRANDMOTHER/NANA, MOTHER/MAMA, SENILE/GAGA, STUNNER, TOY/YOYO

150.

(a) All appear in the name of A MUSE (CALLiope, terpsiCHORE, polyHYMNia, melpOMENe, uRANia, eRATo): doesn’t

(b) All appear in the name of one of the uNITed states (alASKa, orEGOn, new hampsHIRE, deLAWare, misSOURi, kenTUCKy): doesn’t

151.

OVERT.

1: OVERT(-ONE)

2: Ronnies, Ronnie Scott and Ronnie Wood

3: CHEERs, KINGs, SISTERs

The Sign of Four’s 4: Dost AKBAR, Abdullah KHAN, Mohamet SINGH, Jonathan SMALL

Can be preceded by the Famous 5’s names: Anne BOLEYN, George BUSH, Julian CALENDAR, Dick CHENEY, Timmy TIPTOES

6: Characters in Search of an Author (by Pirandello): AN, AUTHOR, CHARACTERS, IN, OF, SEARCH

From a set of 7: ANTHONY (Champions of Christendom), ATLANTIC (Seas), BIAS (Sages), COLIN (Secret Seven), COLOSSUS (Wonders), GREEN (Rainbow), PRIDE (Deadly Sins)

Rhymes with 8/EIGHT: BAIT, EYOT, FETE, FREIGHT, KAYTE, LATE, STRAIGHT, THWAITE

Contains a contiguous anagram of NINE: (3×ENNI, 3×INNE, 3×ENIN): DINNER, JENNINGS, LENIN, OPENING, PENINSULAR, PFENNIG, SINNED, SPINNEY, TENNIS

10 Lords (a-leaping): lord CHANCELLOR, GOOD lord, JACK lord, lord JIM, lord KNOWS, LANDlord, LAW lord, lord MAYOR, lordSHIP, TIME lord

152.

All are elements, except for Salt and Chloride. Salt = Sodium + Chloride

153.

(a) 23. The sequence is the first numbers with E in the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd position etc. Twenty-three is the first to have E in the 10^th position.

(b) 47. The sequence is the first numbers with N in the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd position etc. Forty-seven is the first to have N in the 10^th position.

(c) 5000. These are the numbers with no repeated letters in their names.

154.

(a) Van Halen

(b) Duran Duran

(c) Yes

(d) Bee Gees

(e) Abba

(f) AC/DC

(g) REM

(h) Linkin Park

(i) New Order

(j) Bon Jovi

(k) The Real Thing

(l) Sum 41

155.

156.

The smallest (we could create) is of size 25:

157.

SOFT (soap) fits between DIVER (sky) and MUSIC (soul).

X over Y: BEND over BACKWARDS, ROLL over BEETHOVEN, MAN overBOARD, HAND over FIST, HEAD over HEELS, MIND over MATTER, GRANGE-over-SANDS, NO overTAKING

Can be followed by something found in a bathroom: PUDDING BASIN, EARLY BATH, WATERLOO, DAILY MIRROR, VOLCANIC PLUG, APRIL SHOWER, SOFT SOAP, SPINAL TAP

Can be preceded by a Prime Minister’s name: BLAIR WITCH, BROWN WINDSOR, GLADSTONE BAG, HEATHROW, MAJOR GENERAL, NORTH POLE, SALISBURY PLAIN, WELLINGTON BOOT

Can be followed by a word to give a cricketing term: SPIN BOWLER, WICKET KEEPER, SQUARE LEG, THIRD MAN, MID OFF/ON, RUN OUT, COVER POINT, SIGHT SCREEN

Can be preceded by a 3-letter word ending -Y: CRY BABY, DRY DOCK, FLYWEIGHT, FRY UP, PLYMOUTH, SHYLOCK, SKY DIVER, WRYNECK

Can be followed by the past participle of a part of the body: DOG EARED, CROSS EYED, FLAT FOOTED, EVEN HANDED, PIG HEADED, KNOCK KNEED, BOW LEGGED, HARD NOSED

Can be preceded by a word to give a Terry Pratchett book: GOING POSTAL, INTERESTING TIMES, MAKING MONEY, MONSTROUS REGIMENT, NIGHT WATCH, SOUL MUSIC, WITCHES ABROAD, WYRD SISTERS

158.

SINE.

Anagram of 1 in German (EINS): SINE

The mummy of all puns: 2/TWO TEN CARMEN

3 Men in a Boat: GEORGE, HARRIS, JEROME

Can be preceded by 4/FOUR: FREEDOMS, HORSEMEN, POSTER, SEASONS

Synonym rhymes with 5/FIVE and initial letters spell out FIVES: FLOURISH/THRIVE, IMPEL/DRIVE, VITAL/ALIVE, ENGINEER/CONTRIVE, STRUGGLE/STRIVE

6 of the best (synonymously): FINEST, FOREMOST, LEADING, OPTIMAL, SUPREME, UNSURPASSED

7^th in a series: ETA (Greek alphabet), GOLF (NATO phonetic), JULY (month), MARYLAND (admitted to the Union), NITROGEN (element), PARIS (Summer Olympics), VIOLET (rainbow)

8 maid(en)s a-milking: CHAMBERmaid, IRON maiden, maid MARIAN, OLD maid, maiden OVER, PARLOURmaid, maiden SPEECH, maiden VOYAGE

Words that are the same length as the 9 Muses and have the first 3 letters the same: CALMNESS, CLIP, ERASE, EUTROPY, MELBOURNE, POLITICIAN, TERRITORIAL, THAMES, URALIC

Contains a X (10 in Roman numerals): BOXER, EXTRA, FOXTROT, JUXTAPOSE, NEXT, OXEN, SAXOPHONE, SUSSEX, TEXAS, WAXY

159.

(a) FIBONACCI: (0) 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 (the sequence itself)

(b) DICKENS: (0) 4-9-3-11-5-14-19 (1=A, 2=B, …, 26=Z)

(c) GEORGE BUSH: (0) 4-3-6-7-4-3-2-8-7-4 (telephone keypad, 2=ABC, 3-DEF, …, 9=WXYZ)

(d) BILL BLOGGS: as read upside down on a calculator, 0 not used

(e) NO ONE OF NOTE: first digits of 0/NOUGHT, 1/ONE, …, 8/EIGHT

160.

OLIVIA. Each word can become a country by adding a letter at the beginning, and these letters are in alphabetical order.

B-OLIVIA, C-HAD, F-INLAND, I-RAN, O-MAN, S-PAIN

161.

(a) Snow White’s dwarfs: BashfuL, DoC, DopeY, GrumpY, HappY, SleepY, SneezY

(b) The Gospels: MattheW, MarK, LukE, JohN

(c) The Muses: CalliopE, CliO, EratO, EuterpE, MelpomenE, PolyhymniA, TerpsichorE, ThaliA, UraniA

(d) The Fellowship of the Ring: AragorN, BoromiR, FrodO, GandalF, GimlI, LegolaS, MerrY, PippiN, SaM

(e) The ‘Four’ Musketeers: AramiS, AthoS, PorthoS, D’artagnaN

162.

Henry Miller’s lover   = (Anaïs) NIN

Bed artist           = (Tracey) EMIN

American naval vessel = USS

Number nine       = IX

NINEMINUSSIX = NINE MINUS SIX = THREE = Thereabout (5)

163.

LARGE HADRON COLLIDER. With A=1, B=2, …, Z=26:

164.

C. Auguste Dupin was a fictional detective created by Edgar Allen Poe (a); ‘he would, wouldn’t he’ was said of Lord Astor by Mandy Rice-Davies (b) prandial nudity is a Naked Lunch, a novel by William Seward Burroughs (c). A partial confusion of the names leads to Edgar Rice Burroughs (d) whose most famous creation, Tarzan (e) was played in films by Johnny Weissmuller (f) who set the 100 metres freestyle record in 1922.

165.

Bizarre Pokémon is an anagram of Man Booker Prize.

(JB,2005) = The Sea by John Banville (2005 winner)

(IM,1978) = The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch (1978 winner)

(a) (JB,1972) = G by John Berger (1972 winner)

(b) (DBCP,2003) = Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre (2003 winner)

166.

(Maltese) falcon, (Portuguese) man o’ war, (Swedish) chef, (Italian) job, (Dutch) courage, (Spanish) fly, (French) connection, (German) shepherd, (Irish) stew, (Norwegian) wood, (Turkish) delight

167.

Villages in England: Bicker Gauntlet (Lincolnshire), Curry Mallet (Somerset), Martyr Worthy (Hampshire), Queen Camel (Somerset), Stalling Busk (North Yorkshire)

168.

Film titles containing numbers. The number is used to determine the point size of the font for the remaining letters:

169.

170.

EDMONTON is missing. They are the province/territory capitals of Canada.

171.

(a) Salisbury becomes Harare
Constantinople becomes Istanbul
Batavia becomes Jakarta
Leopoldville becomes Kinshasa
Bombay becomes Mumbai
Kristiania becomes Oslo
Edo becomes Tokyo

(b) New France becomes Canada
French Somaliland becomes Djibouti
Abyssinia becomes Ethiopia
Concepcion becomes Grenada
Basutoland becomes Lesotho
Aden becomes Yemen
Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe
Upper Volta becomes Burkina Faso

172.

(a) P. ARIES, TAURUS, …, AQUARIUS, PISCES

(b) E. JANUARY, FEBRUARY, …, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER

(c) N. ONE, TWO, …, NINE, TEN

(d) T. MERCURY, VENUS, …, URANUS, NEPTUNE

(e) O. ATHENS, PARIS, …, HELSINKI, MELBOURNE (Summer Olympic cities)

173.

Top 20 hits.

(a) GOLDEN BROWN SUGAR

(b) TRUE BLUE MOON RIVER

(c) WONDERFUL DREAM BABY LOVE MACHINE

(d) BLACKBERRY WAY DOWN DOWN UNDER PRESSURE

(e) MA BAKER STREET DANCE ON FIRE BRIGADE

174.

(a) STYLE. E at positions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Rest are consonants.

(b) LARK. Each bird starts with the second letter of the previous bird

(c) SHRED. In the words A, B, C, etc can change to B, C, D, etc. SHRED ➔ SIRED.

(d) KILL. Words contain AB, BC, CD, etc.

(e) OPAQUE. Words contain JKL, KLM etc. OPaQue.

175.

(a) Musical note lengths in decreasing order: Breve, Semibreve, Minim, Crotchet, Quaver, Semiquaver, Demisemiquaver, Hemidemisemiquaver = DSQ, HDSQ:

(b) Runs of Oxford and Cambridge boat race wins, 1954-1985: O¹⁰

(c) Plimsoll line marks: WNA

176.

Zoltan (or any male name beginning with Z). The initial letters spell WALTZ, TANGO, RUMBA. (Italicised/highlighted names are not mentioned in the question.)

177.

Some Like It Hot: HANDsome, LONEsome, TWOsome, WHOLEsome; LADYlike, LIFElike, SUCHlike, WORKMANlike; BANDit, DIGit, ORBit, PULPit; EARShot, GUNShot, MUGShot, SNAPShot.

178.

In Morse code:

OM = ---/-- = ----- = 0

JT = .---/- = .---- = 1

UM = ..-/-- = ..--- = 2

VT = ...-/- = ...-- = 3

SA = .../.- = ....- = 4

IS = ../... = ..... = 5

BE = -.../. = -.... = 6

TB = -/-... = --... = 7

OI = ---/.. = ---.. = 8

MG = --/--. = ----. = 9

179.

(a) Number of letters (4/5/6/7/8) in NATO phonetic name of the letters (e.g. E=ECHO/4, A=ALPHA/5, …, N=NOVEMBER/8)

(b) Number of characters (1/2/3/4) in Morse code representation of the letters (e.g. E=./1, A=.-/2, D=-.., B=-.../4)

(c) Number of raised ‘dots’ (1/2/3/4/5) in the Braille representation of the letter

(d) Prime/non-prime numbers numerically (A=1, B-2, …, Z=26)

180.

CHANCE (Arm) fits between ACID (Ant) and HARD (Ball).

Can be prefixed by a 3-letters creature: ANTACID, BATHER, COWBOY, DOGGONE, EMULATE, FOXGLOVE, HENBANE, JAYWALK

X your Y (Y is a part of the body): CHANCE your ARM, SHOW your FACE, FIND your FEET, GIVE your HAND, USE your HEAD, CROSS your HEART, PULL your LEG, TOUCH your TOES

Snooker/billiards/pool term: HARD BALL, CLEAN BREAK, ON CUE, PIN CUSHION, PROFESSIONAL FOUL, PICKPOCKET, FLOWERPOT, TIMES TABLE

Can be followed by a 4/5-letter word ending -SS: WEDDED BLISS, GEORGE CROSS, PARTY DRESS, PAMPAS GRASS, NEAR MISS, LOCH NESS, FORWARD PASS, CABER TOSS

Can be preceded by a capital city: BRUSSELS SPROUT, LIMA BEAN, LONDON PRIDE, MANILA ENVELOPE, PRAGUE SPRING, STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, VIENNA WOODS, WELLINGTON BOOT

Can be prefixed by a word to form a NATO nation: CANADA, DENMARK, GERMANY, HUNGARY, ICELAND, NETHERLANDS, NORWAY, SPAIN

Can be followed by a 2-digit number: OCEANS ELEVEN, TOP FORTY, LEVEL FORTY-TWO, JOE NINETY, WINDOWS NINETY-FIVE, ROUTE SIXTY-SIX, NUMBER TEN, CATCH TWENTY-TWO

181.

First words of consecutive books of the New Testament (King James version), starting at St John’s Gospel. Next is the book of Hebrews, beginning with the word God.

182.

(a) Characters in The Hobbit: Kili, Dori, Fili, Bilbo, Balin, Nori (Bilbo is an alternative spelling of Bilbao)

(b) Repeated strings: Ndanda, Kankan, Tin Tin, Xai-Xai, Wagga Wagga, Walla Walla

183.

AGE.

1: anagram of ONE, EON, a synonym of AGE

2 tutus: ARCHBISHOP, SKIRT

3 members of sets of 3: IRINA (Sisters), LARRY (Stooges), READING (Rs)

4 Calling Birds (i.e. homophones of birds): CHUFF/chough, RENNES/wren, SKEWER/skua, TURN/tern

Famous Five/5 (synonyms of ‘famous’): KNOWN, NOTED, NOTORIOUS, RECOGNISED, RENOWNED

Words (of lengths 6-11 letters) with F (the 6^th letter of the alphabet) as their 6^th letter: BELIEF, GRAPEFRUIT, MAGNIFICENT, MIDWIFE, QUALIFIED, TRANSFER

Seven/7 seas: BATTERsea, BLACK sea, CORAL sea, DEAD sea, IRISH sea, NORTH sea, RED sea

8-letter words containing the all letters of EIGHT: CHEATING, GLITCHES, GRAPHITE, HISTOGEN, KNIGHTED, MEGALITH, OUTWEIGH, THEURGIC

Nine/9 pins: DRAWING pin, FIRING pin, HAIRpin, HATpin, KINGpin, ROLLING pin, SAFETY pin, TAILSpin, TIEpin

Can be preceded/followed by TEN/10: tenABLE, tenANT, CHRISten, tenDON, tenDRILLED, FLATten, FORGOTten, HASten, tenOR, ROTten

184.

(a) 113 = 7² + 2⁶: 2 = 1² + 2⁰, 6 = 2² + 2¹, …, 68 = 6² + 2⁵ (squares + powers of 2)

(b) 57 = 23 + 34: 3 = 2 + 1, 4 = 3 + 1, …, 40 = 19 + 21 (prime numbers + Fibonacci series)

(c) 7 = 5 + 2: 5 = 3 + 2, 8 = 1 + 7, …, 14 = 6 + 8 (digits of e = 2.71828182… + digits of π = 3.14159265…)

(d) 17 = 11 + 6: 4 = 1 + 3, …, 13 = 10 + 3 (numbers + length of number in English)

(e) 14 = 6 + 8. 6 = 2 + 4, 8 = 4 + 4, …, 10 = 5 + 5 (length of number in French + length of number in German)

(f) 29 = 17 + 12. 4 = 1 + 3, 8 = 2 + 6, …, 30 = 16 + 14 (number + Scrabble score of number in English)

185.

SHREW. All references are to the title of a Shakespeare play: The Merry Wives of WINDSOR (a town in southern England); The Merchant of VENICE and Two Gentlemen of VERONA (2 cities in Italy); Timon of ATHENS (a city in Greece); Pericles, Prince of TYRE (a city in Lebanon) and The Taming of the SHREW.

186.

Viva La Vida.

187.

(a) FLYWEIGHT is the only 2-syllable word among 4-syllable words

(b) HOSPITABLE is the only word not to contain all 5 vowels

(c) CENTRIFUGAL is the only word not to contain 5 consecutive letters of the alphabet

188.

PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS.

Place the groups into a 9×5 grid and read up the columns from right to left.

189.

ARKANSAS. The words contain another word in the same category: ASTATINE (elements), ELEPHANT (creatures), EPSILON (Greek letters), ROMANIA (countries), SUSANNAH (Girls’ names), WALTER (Boys’ names), WEST VIRGINIA and ARKANSAS (US states).

190.

(a) 19. Convert the sequence to letters and it spells out CHRISTMAS.

(b) 10. These are in order around a dartboard.

191.

‘Monday’s Child’:

Is Fair Of Face - Is Full Of Grace - Is Full Of Woe + Is Loving And Giving + Works Hard For A Living

= Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday + Friday + Saturday

= Sunday = Is Bonny And Blithe And Good And Gay = IBABAGAG

Addition and subtraction is done by assigning the numbers 1 to 7 to the days Monday to Sunday (i.e. using the line numbers of the poem): 1-2-3+5+6=7.

192.

Film directors and their works:

193.

Five. The completed square is:

194.

KEY-PHRASE. The sentence given is ‘TO BE OR NOT TO BE THAT IS THE KEY-PHRASE’ enciphered via:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
TOBEORNOTTOBETOBEORNOTTOBE

195.

(a) Raging Bull

(b) Psycho

(c) My Fair Lady

(d) Mad Max

(e) Die Hard

(f) Con Air

(g) Heat

(h) Ben Hur

(i) Alien

(j) Flaming Star

196.

(a) OILED has its letters in neither lexicographic (BEGIN, ADEPT, BELOW, FIRST, GIPSY, FORTY) nor antilexicographic (POLKA, TRIED, SOLID, TONIC, SPOKE, WRONG) order

(b) SIEGE contains letters from both the top row (EERIE, TEPEE, PIPER, QUITE, WRITE) and bottom 2 rows (CLASH, CHASM, NAVAL, SHANK, GLASS) of a typewriter

(c) ORGAN contains neither 0 (BEING, VAPID, WRECK, FOCUS, EXTRA, SQUID) nor 4 (FACED, CUBED, FIGHT, LEMON, BURST, TORUS) consecutive letters of the alphabet

(d) GAMES is not an anagram of either a Boy’s (CLEAN, CIGAR, BAILS, WINED, SMILE, LYRIC, WILES) or a Girl’s (LADLE, HOARD, DAILY, AURAL, CANNY, MANOR, BYTES) name

(e) MERIT is not a word backwards (LACED, MINED, SPEED, DEPOT, LEVER, REBUT) or cyclically shifted (ANGLE, LEASE, ZEBRA, ELBOW, ALLOY, VERSE)

In each part the words are in order of their letter sum (A=1, B=2, …, Z=26).

197.

AFFIXES (1 across) and ASIDE (1 down).

198.

(a) SEASONAL GREETINGS TO YOU ALL

(b) HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING GL(ory to the newborn king)

Letter-by-letter and with A=1, B=2, …, Z=26

AFSDIVFTLJFQXJBNXFHRXIHSX =
HARKTHEHERALDANGELSSINGGL +
SEASONALGREETINGSTOYOUALL

QXSTGVFXZBXILTBBNTFVVUHWB =
HARKTHEHERALDANGELSSINGGL -
SEASONALGREETINGSTOYOUALL

199.

(a) SIX

(b) VI was hidden instead

Dear Julius,

I have done what you suggested and it worked! We both re-engineered and reconstructed the thing, and all of our efforts were rewarded. But, just to see if I’ve been a fool and missed something vital, we spent this evening taking the sleigh to bits, and rebuilding it, yet again. I never thought it would take so long, but the night ended happily. Hoorah!

With much gratitude

Santa Claus

200.

(a) BINDER. Made up of 2 German words, rather than 2 French words.

(b) TRACTORS. Contains anagram of vegetable in middle, rather than fruit.

(c) HUNTERS. Last letter can move to front to form new word, rather than first letter move to end.

(d) NECROMANCY. Start sounds like part of the body, rather than end.

(e) ALLIANCE. Even letters form word, rather than odd letters.

201.

FORTUNE (Outrageous) fits between EMPIRE (Ottoman) and DOC (Papa).

Themes are:

To be or not to be, preceding words: A SEA, And ARROWS, Be THAT, Outrageous FORTUNE, Question WHETHER, Take ARMS, The MIND, To SUFFER

Furniture: Armchair THEATRE, Bed SIT, Cabinet PUDDING, Chair LIFT, Couch POTATO, Ottoman EMPIRE, Stool PIGEON, Table FOOTBALL

Vegetables: Bean BAG, Cabbage WHITE, Cauliflower EAR, Marrow BONE, Mushroom CLOUD, Onion RINGS, Pea SHOOTER, Pepper MINT

BANDS: BEACH Boys, HOT Chocolate, BEE Gees, IRON Maiden, SEX Pistols, STATUS Quo, ROLLING Stones, DIRE Straits,

USA states: California GIRLS, Indiana JONES, Kentucky FRIED, Minnesota FATS, Rhode Island RED, Tennessee WILLIAMS, Virginia CREEPER, Washington IRVING

Nato phonetics: Charlie BROWN, Golf COURSE, Hotel CALIFORNIA, India RUBBER, KiloGRAM, Papa DOC, Sierra NEVADA, Yankee DOODLE

-AIL: FailSAFE, HailSTONE, JailBIRD, MailBOX, NailBITING, RailWAY, SailOR

202.

My daughter has a set of alphabet pictures, laid out in 4 rows of 7. These sentences are based on pictures going down the columns. I had Apple, Hat, Octopus and Volcano; my daughter had Bee, Igloo, Penguin and Wigwam but she misidentified the Igloo as a Cave. (Based on a true story!).

203.

Paroxysm: taking alternate letters yields the whole alphabet without repeats.

BEDAZZLEMENTHIGHJACKQUANTIFYUNVEILEDYOKEWOODPAROXYSM
B.D.Z.L.M.N.H.G.J.C.Q.A.T.F.U.V.I.E.Y.K.W.O.P.R.X.S.

204.

Each state has the property of having one example of the n^th letter of the alphabet as its n^th letter:

ALABAMA, ALASKA, ARIZONA, ARKANSAS, CALIFORNIA, CONNECTICUT, MAINE, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, NEW JERSEY, NEW MEXICO, TENNESSEE, WASHINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA, WYOMING

RHODE ISLAND has two examples.

205.

WICKLOW. The set is that of the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland. If sorted in alphabetic order and each letter of the n^th in the list is advanced by n letters (cyclically) in the alphabet, the entries of the table are generated. WICKLOW, the last in the list, remains unchanged when its letters are advanced by 26 characters. In alphabetic order the ‘enciphered’ entries are:

LOUTH+15=ADJIW, MAYO+16=CQOE, CARLOW+1=DBSMPX, MEATH+17=DVRKY, CAVAN+2=ECXCP, MONAGHAN+18=EGFSYZSF, CLARE+3=FODUH, CORK+4=GSVO, OFFALY+19=HYYTER, DONEGAL+5=ITSJLFQ, DUBLIN+6=JAHROT, ROSCOMMON+20=LIMWIGGIH, SLIGO+21=NGDBJ, GALWAY+7=NHSDHF, TIPPERARY+22=PELLANWNU, KERRY+8=SMZZG, KILDARE+9=TRUMJAN, WATERFORD+23=TXQBOCLOA, WESTMEATH+24=UCQRKCYRF, KILKENNY+10=USVUOXXI, WEXFORD+25=VDWENQC, WICKLOW+26=WICKLOW, LAOIS+11=WLZTD, LEITRIM+12=XQUFDUY, LIMERICK+13=YVZREVPX, LONGFORD+14=ZCBUTCFR

206.

(a) (I CAN’T GET NO) SATISFACTION; PAINT IT, BLACK (The Rolling Stones)

(b) PLEASE PLEASE ME; HEY JUDE (The Beatles)

(c) THE SURREY WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP; THE FARMER AND THE COWMAN (Oklahoma!)

(d) YOU KNOW MY NAME; ANOTHER WAY TO DIE (James Bond Themes)

The encryption is via simple substitution. In (a), for example,
‘PAINT IT, BLACK’ is encrypted via:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ICANTGEOSFBDHJKLMPQRUVWXYZ

and the encryption of ‘(I CAN’T GET NO) SATISFACTION’ is via:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
PAINTBLCKDEFGHJMOQRSUVWXYZ

207.

‘Is it some education’ is an anagram of Situation Comedies.

(a) To the Manor Born

(b) Are You Being Served?

(c) Last of the Summer Wine

(d) Blackadder Goes Forth

(e) The Vicar of Dibley

208.

(a) ACADEMICAL. Words of increasing length formed alternately from A-M, N-Z.

(b) AMBIDEXTROUS. Half the word from A-M, half from N-Z, alternating, word length increasing by 2.

(c) JONQUIL. Letters 1 and 4 move through the alphabet. Lengths alternate 6/7.

(d) MAZE. Words contain A, B, C, etc and N, O, P, etc. MAZE contains M and Z.

209.

Atomic numbers and their chemical symbols: W H At, I S, O Ne, P Lu S, Ni Ne? Te N =52 7

210.

CAP.

1 (One) can be added: CAPone

2 Turtle Doves: TAUT, HORS D’OEUVRES

3 Graces: grace DARLING, grace JONES, grace KELLY

4 quarters: quarter-BACK, quarter-DECK, quarter-FINAL, quarterMASTER

The Jackson 5: jackson BROWNE, COLIN jackson, GLENDA jackson, PERCY jackson, jackson POLLOCK

Can be preceded by 6/VI: viCAR, viEWER, viPERISH, viRILE, viSAGE, viTALLY

7 ages: BRONZE age, GOLDEN age, IRON age, MIDDLE age, OLD age, SPACE age, STONE age

Synonyms rhyme with 8/eight: DESTINY/fate, DETEST/hate, PAL/mate, PORTAL/gate, SATISFY/sate, TARDY/late, TRYST/date, VALUE/rate

9 9-letter words, first letters spell SEPTEMBER, last letters spell MONTH NINE:

10 Green Bottles: LINCOLN green, PUTTING green, REVEREND green, SEA-green, VILLAGE green, BLUEbottle, KLEIN bottle, MILK bottle, WATER bottle, WINE bottle

211.

In each case the name of the theme (the ‘precise answer’) is the encipherment key.

(a) COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW: ORANGE, RED, INDIGO, BLUE, GREEN, VIOLET, YELLOW

COLURSFTHEAINBWDGJKMPQVXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

(b) SNOW WHITE’S SEVEN DWARFS: SNEEZY, SLEEPY, HAPPY, DOC, DOPEY, BASHFUL, GRUMPY

SNOWHITEVDARFBCGJKLMPQUXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

(c) THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES: TYDEUS, HIPPOMEDON, ADRASTUS, AMPHIARAUS, CAPANEUS, PARTHENOPEUS, POLYNICES

THESVNAGIBCDFJKLMOPQRUWXYZ
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

212.

(a) Pop stars: (Dollar) - (50 Cent) = 50 Cent = Curtis Jackson

(b) Actors in The Prisoner: Number 2 + Number 2 + Number 2 = Number 6 = McGoohan

(c) Juror numbers in the film Twelve Angry Men: (2 × 9) - 11 = 7 = Warden

(d) UK chart singles: ((1999 + 19 + 17 - 54) × 1/10) - 98.6 = 99½ = Carol Lynn Townes

213.

(a) Top Gun

(b) Up

(c) Star Wars

(d) Mona Lisa

(e) Easy Rider

(f) Dr No

(g) Annie Hall

(h) La Haine

(i) El Cid

(j) Turk 182

214.

The themes are:

(a) Grammatical cases: ABLATIVE, ACCUSATIVE, DATIVE, GENITIVE, NOMINATIVE, VOCATIVE

(b) Chess pieces: BISHOP, CASTLE, KING, KNIGHT, PAWN, QUEEN

(c) States of New England: CONNECTICUT, MAINE, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW HAMPSHIRE, RHODE ISLAND, VERMONT

(d) Noble gases: ARGON, HELIUM, KRYPTON, NEON, RADON, XENON

(e) Counties of Northern Ireland: ANTRIM, ARMAGH, DOWN, FERMANAGH, LONDONDERRY, TYRONE

(f) Wives of Henry VIII: ANNE, ANNE, CATHERINE, CATHERINE, CATHERINE, JANE

The KING and QUEEN (chess pieces) are associated with the Queens of King Henry VIII.

215.

Our best answer is

BLACKSMITH and GUNPOWDER: 10 × 9 = 90

216.

(a) The elements with single letter symbols

(b) CDILMVX (Roman numerals), AJKQ (card suits), ENSW (points of the compass) and FP (hard and soft, musically)

217.

(a) IMAGE. In all the others letters 1, 3 and 5 form a word: AGE, BIG, CAP, DRY, EAT, FED, GAS, HAT, JUT

(a) DRINK. In all the others letters 2 and 4 form a word: BE, US, OR, NO, ON, IN, AM, DO, UP

218.

219.

(a) They are the only digraphs that are both US State abbreviations and symbols of elements.

(b) WISCONSIN. There are only 6 US states that can be spelled using the symbols of the elements and WISCONSIN is the only one that can be thus spelled in more than one way.

MONTANA (1): MO-N-TA-NA

NEWHAMPSHIRE (1): NE-W-H-AM-P-S-H-I-RE

OHIO (1): O-H-I-O

SOUTHCAROLINA (1): S-O-U-TH-C-AR-O-LI-NA

UTAH (1): U-TA-H

WISCONSIN (9): W-I-S-C-O-N-SI-N, W-I-S-C-O-N-S-IN, W-I-S-C-O-N-S-I-N, W-I-S-CO-N-SI-N, W-I-S-CO-N-S-IN, W-I-S-CO-N-S-I-N, W-I-SC-O-N-SI-N, W-I-SC-O-N-S-IN, W-I-SC-O-N-S-I-N

220.

QUOTE.

Eliminating those words whose 1^st letter is W (WASTE, WEAVE, WHIRL, WORTH, WRONG) leaves:

ALGAE, BULBS, COUCH, DEPTH, EASEL, FJORD, GENII, HOPED, JAMMY, KNIFE, LABEL, MAIMS, NIECE, ORGAN, PATHS, QUOTE, SEATS, TITHE, UPSET, VERVE, YACHT

Eliminating those words whose 2^nd letter is a consonant (ALGAE, FJORD, KNIFE, ORGAN, UPSET) leaves:

BULBS, COUCH, DEPTH, EASEL, GENII, HOPED, JAMMY, LABEL, MAIMS, NIECE, PATHS, QUOTE, SEATS, TITHE, VERVE, YACHT

Eliminating those words whose 3^rd letter scores 3 in Scrabble (DEPTH, HOPED, JAMMY, LABEL, YACHT) leaves:

BULBS, COUCH, EASEL, GENII, MAIMS, NIECE, PATHS, QUOTE, SEATS, TITHE, VERVE

Eliminating those words whose 4^th letter is the same as the 1^st (BULBS, COUCH, EASEL, MAIMS, VERVE) leaves:

GENII, NIECE, PATHS, QUOTE, SEATS, TITHE

Eliminating those words whose 5^th letter is the sum (mod 26 with A=1, B=2, …, Z=26) of the 1^st-4^th letters (GENII, NIECE, PATHS, SEATS, TITHE) leaves:

QUOTE

221.

(a) 4181. These are every other Fibonacci number.

(b) 431. Sequence is 2^N - N².

(c) 6. Sequence is the gaps between successive prime numbers. 23 to 29 is 6.

(d) 7. Sequence is decimal expansion of 1/19.

(e) 841. Each member of the sequence is the sum of the factors of the previous one.

222.

113,323,373,373 or 113,373,373,373. Each number in the sequence
is the lowest whose length is the previous number:

‘Eleven’ has 6 letters.

‘Twenty-three’ has 11 letters.

‘One hundred and twenty-four’ has 23 letters.

‘One hundred and thirteen thousand three hundred and twenty-three million, three hundred and seventy-three thousand three hundred and seventy-three’ has 124 letters.

Alternatively, for those who think 10⁹ is one billion, the answer is: ‘One hundred and thirteen billion, three hundred and seventy-three million, three hundred and seventy-three thousand three hundred and seventy-three’, which has 124 letters.

223.

There are 47 chemical elements contained in the grid (or 48 if you are American and use the spelling Cesium instead of Caesium).

224.

SYSTEM (Truck) fits between TOUR (Tower) and BELCH (Twelfth Night).

Themes are:

German/English: RAT/ADVICE, WILD/GAME, PATE/GODFATHER, SEE/LAKE, BRIEF/LETTER, HELL/LIGHT, GIFT/POISON, ROT/RED

A(, B &) C: UP(, up &) AWAY, BELL(, book &) CANDLE, FAITH(, hope &) CHARITY, TOM(, Dick &) HARRY, GAME(, set &) MATCH, HOOK(, line &) SINKER, EAR(, nose &) THROAT, BACON(, lettuce &) TOMATO

Can be preceded by mode of transport: BOATBILL, CARBOY, VANGUARD, JET LAG, SHIPLAP, FERRYMAN, TRUCK SYSTEM, PLANE TREE

French/English: FOND/BOTTOM, POUR/FOR, GRAND/LARGE, SINGE/MONKEY, FOUR/OVEN, MARE/POND, BILLET/TICKET, TOUR/TOWER

Can be preceded by a foodstuff: BREAD ROOT, BUTTER FLY, CHEESE MITE, CURRY COMB, EGG PLANT, HONEY TRAP, PEA IRON, SAUSAGE ROLL

Anagram of a colour: RECTAL/CLARET, MELON/LEMON, CHORE/OCHRE, CHEAP/PEACH, SORE/ROSE, SUREST/RUSSET, LIVERS/SILVER, ANT/TAN

Shakespeare character/play (less definite and indefinite article): ELBOW/MEASURE FOR MEASURE, SLENDER/MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, COBWEB/MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, HERO/MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, LEONINE/PERICLES, PEDANT/TAMING OF THE SHREW, IRIS/TEMPEST, BELCH/TWELFTH NIGHT

225.

Dewbius scored two penalties.

Countaphyt must have lost both their losing games 0-8 (to Apocrifal and Beaugas), as they gained no bonus points for losing by 7 or less. Hence they beat Dewbius 9-0.

Beaugas scored a total of 20 points against Apocrifal and Dewbius, and got one bonus point. This must have come from one of:

- Losing by 7 or less to Apocrifal. Not possible as Apocrifal could only have scored a maximum of 27 against them, which means Dewbius must have scored at least 51-27=24, in which case Dewbius must have beaten Beaugas.
- Scoring 4 tries against Apocrifal. Not possible as would have meant scoring 0 against Dewbius.
- Scoring 4 tries against Dewbius. This must have happened, and Beaugas must have scored 20 against Dewbius. They therefore scored 0 against Apocrifal.

Apocrifal must have scored 64-20-9=35 against Dewbius (as Dewbius had 64 points against them), therefore they scored 83-8-35=40 against Beaugas. Similarly Dewbius must have scored 24-0-0=24 against Apocrifal. Hence they scored 35-24-0=11 against Beaugas.

So Dewbius got their bonus point against Apocrifal, so must have scored 4 tries (2 converted). Hence they scored no penalties in that game. They scored 11 points against Beaugas, which can only come from a try and 2 penalties.

Overall scores were: Apocrifal beat Beaugas 40-0; Apocrifal beat Countaphyt 8-0, Apocrifal beat Dewbius 35-24; Beaugas beat Countaphyt 8-0, Beaugas beat Dewbius 20-11; Countaphyt beat Dewbius 9-0.

226.

(a) Units of time - Second, Minute, Hour, Day, Week, Month, Year, Decade, Century, Millennium: S, M, H, D, W, M, Y, D, C, M

(b) Atomic numbers of chemical elements not sharing first letter with symbol - Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Iron (Fe). Silver (Ag), Tin (Sn), Antimony (Sb), Tungsten (W), Gold (Au), Mercury (Hg), Lead (Pb): 11, 19, 26, 47, 50, 51, 74, 79, 80, 82

227.

Every other letter of countries, and the corresponding international dialling codes:

CANADA = 1, NORWAY = 47, CHINA = 86, CYPRUS = 357, RUSSIA = 7

228.

Names derived from anagrams:

229.

MOON.

1: UNIT: MOON UNIT is the elder daughter of Frank Zappa.

2: COMING, LIFE

3: TIMES, A, LADY

4 Preceded by FORE: ARM, SEE, SHORE, WARN

5 The: ALEXANDER (BORODIN), CESAR (CUI), MILY (BALAKIREV), MODEST (MUSSORGSKY), NIKOLAI (RIMSKY-KORSAKOV)

6 Contains SIX backwards: ALEXIS, AXIS, EXISTENCE, MARXIST, SEXISM, TAXIS

7 leagues: BIG league, COLleague, DIFFERENT league, HANSEATIC leagu, PREMIER league, RUGBY league, SUPER league

8 Can be followed by -ATE (and of lengths 2-9): ALIENate, AUTHENTICate, CANDIDate, INNate, INTERPOLate, NEONate, ORate, PASSIONate

9 Ladies Dancing: LABEL/BELLA, GALENA/ANGELA, DAILY/LYDIA, AURAL/LAURA, DEAN/EDNA, SORE/ROSE, AID/IDA, OMANI/NAOMI, LEANER/ARLENE - BALLERINA is spelled by the initial letters of the ladies’ names

10 Synonym begins TEN: CANOPY/TENT, INCLINE/TEND, LESSEE/TENANT, OCCUPATION/TENURE, PRINCIPLE/TENET, SENSITIVE/TENDER, SHOOT/TENDRIL, SINEW/TENDON, STRAINED/TENSE, STUBBORN/TENACIOUS

230.

ZERO.

JSYV = FOUR + 4 (each letter advanced by 4)

KNAJ = FIVE + 5

MQOPB = EIGHT + 8

POF = ONE + 1

VYQ = TWO + 2

WKUHH = THREE + 3

WRWN = NINE + 9

YOD = SIX + 6

ZERO = ZERO + 0

ZLCLU = SEVEN +7

231.

The odd word out is HOME (which is ‘in’!). Pairings are:

BOXING/SILENT (precede DAY and NIGHT) DOWN/UP
ERGO/OGRE (reversals of each other)
GROG/TILT (G+T=26, R+I=26, O+L=26; A=1, B=2, …, Z=26)
HISS/TOMTOM (............ and - - - - - - - - - - - - in Morse Code)
MAIL/WASH (can be prefixed with BLACK and WHITE)
OPPO/SITES
RATTLE/REFORM (anagrams of LATTER and FORMER)

232.

L is missing, appropriate for NOEL! The themes for the other letters of the alphabet are:

AEGHP (NATO phonetic alphabet) - (ALPHA)BET, (ECHO) LOCATION, (GOLF) BALL, (HOTEL) LOBBY, (PAPA) SMURF

BDTXZ (music artistes) - PLAN (B), TENACIOUS (D), ICE(-T), GENERATION (X), JAY(-Z)

JMNRS (music artistes) - (J) LO, (M) PEOPLE, (‘N) SYNC, (R.) KELLY, (S) CLUB

FKOVW (chemical element symbols) - FLU(ORINE), POT(ASSIUM), OX(YGEN), VAN(ADIUM), TUN(GSTEN)

CIQUY (homophones of synonyms) - (SEE) OBSERVE, (AYE) YES, (CUE) HINT, (YEW) TREE, (WHY) RATIONALE

233.

Two solutions depending on whether the element/planet at 4 down is chosen to be Mercury or Krypton (the home planet of Superman). The sum of 1 down is 40 + 8 = 48.

234.

(a) WAX. Scrabble scores increase. WAX scores 13.

(b) POIKILOCYTE. Increasing length, with vowels only in prime positions. P-OI-K-I-L-O-CYT-E.

(c) CLUE. The sums of the letter values increases by 1. C+L+U+E= 3+12+21+5=41.

(d) SLEEP. Each word can be advanced by 1, 2, 3 … letters to form a new word. SLEEP + 9 = BUNNY.

(e) BEEF. Each word can be advanced by 0, 1, 2 letters to form a word when written backwards. BEEF + 10 = LOOP -> POOL.

235.

February 2^nd. All the other dates fall on the same day of the week (Monday in 2016); it always falls on a different day (Tuesday in 2016).

236.

The phrase is SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS and the list contains the post holders (or, more correctly, those elected to the post - hence the omission of GLADWYN JEBB) enciphered with the cipher phrase SECRTAYGNLOFHUIDBJKMPQVWXZ.

1. TRYGVE LIE (+1 letter in cipher phrase)

2. DAG HAMMARSKJOLD (+2)

3. B GDNFG/U THANT (+3)

4. KURT WALDHEIM (+4)

5. JAVIER PEREZ DE CUELLAR (+5)

6. VBMOLBY VBMOLBY-UKFDP/BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI (+6)

7. KOFI ANNAN (+7)

8. BAN KI-MOON (+8)

237.

Warshawski. Read the numbers as roman numerals.

EYE LASH (1=I), AYE AYE CAPTAIN (2=II), IVY LEAGUE (4=IV), VEE NECK (5=V), V.I.WARSHAWSKI (6=VI), EXPLAIN (10=X), EXCITED (11=XI).

238.

Which items (in the parenthesised sets) form the beginning of the name of as US state?

INDIA(NA), KENT(UCKY), RHO(DE ISLAND), TEN(NESSEE)

239.

240.

First letters of:

(a) Super Bowl winners: Green Bay Packers, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Colts, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos, Denver Broncos, St. Louis Rams, Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos;

(b) US Presidential (birth) names: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Knox Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Hiram Ulysses Grant, Rutherford Birchard Hayes, James Abram Garfield, Chester Alan Arthur, Stephen Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, Stephen Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Warren Gamaliel Harding, John Calvin Coolidge,Herbert Clark Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight David Eisenhower, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Milhous Nixon, Leslie Lynch King, James Earl Carter, Ronald Wilson Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, William Jefferson Clinton, George Walker Bush, Barack Hussein Obama

(c) Monopoly squares: Go, Old Kent Road, Community Chest, Whitechapel Road, Income Tax, King’s Cross station, The Angel Islington, Chance, Euston Road, Pentonville Road, In Jail/Just Visiting, Pall Mall, Electric Company, Whitehall, Northumberland Avenue, Marylebone station, Bow Street, Community Chest, Marlborough Street, Vine Street, Free Parking, Strand, Chance, Fleet Street, Trafalgar Square, Fenchurch Street station, Leicester Square, Coventry Street, Water Works, Piccadilly, Go To Jail, Regent Street, Oxford Street, Community Chest, Bond Street, Liverpool Street station, Chance, Park Lane, Super Tax, Mayfair

(d) Shipping Forecast areas: Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber, Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Biscay, Trafalgar, FitzRoy, Sole, Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle, Faeroes, Southeast Iceland

(e) (Official) James Bond Films: Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre.

241.

(a) NAIVELY: the 14 7-letter words can be formed from the 98 non-blank tiles in a English Scrabble set.

(b) RADON (86): it has no letters in common with EIGHTY SIX. Similarly for HELIUM (2), BORON (5), CARBON (6), SODIUM (11), PHOSPHORUS (15), CALCIUM (20), IRIDIUM (77), GOLD (79).

(c) 99 (NINETY NINE): all other numbers contain, when written in English, two letters which are consecutive in the alphabet (but not necessarily consecutive in the word(s)).

242.

(a) Toni Basil

(b) Anne Rice

(c) Ben Cross

(d) Leon Uris

(e) Tim Roth

(f) Carl Andre

(g) Sean Bean

(h) Jet Li

(i) Midge Ure

(j) Lou Reed

243.

(a) 14 (XIV) and 4050 (MMMML). The numbers have, when expressed in Roman numerals, Scrabble scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, …

(b) 13 (THIRTEEN) and 1019 (or 1013) (TEN TRILLION). The numbers have, when expressed as cardinals in English, Scrabble scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, … (‘-’ denotes an unachievable score).

(c) 3 (Li) and 117 (Ts). The numbers, when converted to the symbol of the corresponding element, Scrabble scores 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, … (‘-’ denotes an unachievable score).

244.

5, 4, 5, 4. A team’s score is the number of letters its name has contained in the group title; repeated letters in a team’s name must be repeated in the title to further count (which is why GREECE scores 3 for the Es and CZECH REPUBLIC scores only 1 for the Cs).

245.

Marriages:

(a) Gary Oldman - Uma Thurman - Ethan Hawke

(b) Michael Jackson - Lisa Marie Presley - Nicolas Cage - Patricia Arquette

(c) David Frost - Lynne Fredrick - Peter Sellers - Brit Ekland - Slim Jim Phantom

(d) Debbie Reynolds - Eddie Fisher - Elizabeth Taylor - Michael Wilding - Margaret Leighton - Laurence Harvey

(e) Lex Barker - Lana Turner - Artie Shaw - Ava Gardner - Frank Sinatra - Mia Farrow - Andre Previn

246.

(a) ABBA = Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus

(b) Beatles = George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

(c) Cream = Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce

(d) Doors = John Densmore, Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek

(e) Eurhythmics = Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart

(f) Fugees = Lauryn Hill, Pras Michel, Wyclef Jean

(g) Genesis = Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks

(h) Hanson = Clarke Hanson, Jordan Hanson, Zachary Hanson

(i) INXS = Andrew Farriss, Garry Beers, Jon Farriss, Kirk Pengilly, Michael Hutchence, Tim Farriss

(j) Jam = Bruce Foxton, Paul Weller, Rich Buckler

(k) Kiss = Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley

(l) Lindisfarne = Alan Hull, Rod Clements, Ray Jackson, Ray Laidlaw, Simon Cowe

(m) Madness = Chris Foreman, Carl Smyth, Daniel Woodgate, Graham McPherson, Lee Thompson, Mike Barson, Mark Bedford

(n) Nirvana = Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic

(o) Oasis = Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher, Paul Arthurs, Paul McGuigan, Tony McCarroll

(p) Pulp = Candida Doyle, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Banks, Russell Senior, Steve Mackey

(q) Queen = Brian May, Freddie Mercury, John Deacon, Roger Taylor

(r) REM = Bill Berry, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck

(s) Squeeze = Chris Difford, Gilson Lavis, Glenn Tilbrook, Harry Kakoulli, John Bentley

(t) Temptations = David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, Otis Williams

(u) U2 = Adam Clayton, David Evans, Larry Mullen, Paul Hewson

(v) Verve = Nick McCabe, Peter Salisbury, Richard Ashcroft, Simon Jones

(w) Who = John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Peter Townshend, Roger Daltrey

(x) XTC = Andy Partridge, Barry Andrews, Colin Moulding, Terry Chambers

(y) Yazoo = Alison Moyet, Vince Clarke

(z) Zutons = Abi Harding, Boyan Chowdhury, David McCabe, Russell Pritchard, Sean Payne

247.

DEN (Ounce) fits between GLASS (Onion) and BOFFIN (Our Mutual Friend).

Object/shape adjective (or English/Latin): NEEDLE/ACIFORM (ACUS), CROSS/CRUCIFORM (Crux, Crucis), WEDGE/CUNEIFORM (Cuneus), SWORD/ENSIFORM (Ensis), SICKLE/FALCIFORM (Falx, Falcis), TURNIP/NAPIFORM (Napus), PEA/PISIFORM (Pisum), NET/RETIFORM (Rete)

Anagram of capital of a country: BAULK/AFGHANISTAN (Kabul), CURSE/BOLIVIA (Sucre), PAIRS/FRANCE (Paris), MORE/ITALY (Rome), SOLO/NORWAY (Oslo), MAIL/PERU (Lima), LOUSE/SOUTH KOREA (Seoul), UNITS/TUNISIA (Tunis)

Car manufacturer/model: AUSTIN MAESTRO, FORD TELSTAR, LOTUS ELITE, NISSAN CHERRY, RENAULT MEDALLION, TOYOTA DUET, VAUXHALL INSIGNIA, VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE

Beatles’ songs - first/last word: GET BACK, PENNY LANE, NOWHERE MAN, GLASS ONION, DEAR PRUDENCE, DOCTOR ROBERT, COME TOGETHER, DAY TRIPPER

Surname/Dickens’ book where it occurs: DAISY/BARNABY RUDGE, BADGER/BLEAK HOUSE, STRONG/DAVID COPPERFIELD, CHICK/DOMBEY AND SON, TICKET/LITTLE DORRIT, PINCH/MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT, HAWK/NICHOLAS NICKELBY, BOFFIN/OUR MUTUAL FRIEND

Can be followed by an Imperial unit: FOOD CHAIN, CHAFFINCH, DENOUNCE, CUCKOOPINT, HOP POLE, DOG POUND, BRIMSTONE, BARNYARD

Cocktails - first/last word: SALTY/DOG, PINK/GIN, MINT/JULEP, BLUE/LAGOON, BLOODY/MARY, MOSCOW/MULE, WHITE/RUSSIAN, BLACK/VELVET

248.

ITCHY.

1 ICHI () - Japanese for ‘one’ - homophone: ITCHY

2 DEW + WET pronounced DUET: DEW, WET

3 Can be preceded by TRI-: AGE, BE, VIA

4 Associated with ivy (IV=4): COMMON, GROUND, LEAGUE, POISON

Can be followed by 5: BABYLON, CHANNEL, FAMOUS, SATURN, SLAUGHTERHOUSE

6 Synonyms of CEASE (French SIX/6): CONCLUDE, END, FINISH, HALT, STOP, TERMINATE

7 oaks: BEAR, BLUFF, PIN, POST, TURKEY, VALLEY, WATER

Pieces of 8: EGG, EIGHTIETH, GHEE, GIG, TEETH, THEE, TIGHT, TITHE

9 lives: AFTER, GOOD, LONG, LOVE, NIGHT, REAL, SHELF, STILL, WILD

Scrabble score of 10: BLOWN, EGOTISM, GHETTO, JUT, KITTEN, LORDLY, MORNING, SIX, THISTLE, TIPSY

249.

Extract the letters A-G from the opening lines of these songs and use them as notes to form the tune, retaining the original rhythm of the song.

(a) Away in a Manger - AwAy in A mAnGEr, no CriB For A BED

(b) Deck the Halls - DECk thE hAlls with BouGhs oF holly, FA lA lA lA lA lA lA lA lA

(c) The Twelve Days of Christmas - on thE First DAy oF ChristmAs my truE lovE GAvE to mE, A pArtriDGE in A pEAr trEE

(d) Gaudete - GAuDEtE, GAuDEtE, Christus Est nAtus, Ex mAriA virGinE, GAuDEtE

250.

In (a) FOUR is spelled out by the n-th (n = score) letter of the country’s name; in (b) FIVE is spelled out by the n-th letter of the country’s capital.

251.

(a) BERYLLIUM/BE is the only element whose symbol’s Scrabble score is equal to its atomic number.

(b) ALUMINIUM is the only element whose Scrabble score is equal to its atomic number.

(c) IRON/FE and LEAD/PB are the only elements where the Scrabble score of the symbol exceeds that of the name.

(d) TIN has all its letters contained in most (16) other elements (ACTINIUM, ANTIMONY, ASTATINE, EINSTEINIUM, MEITNERIUM, NEPTUNIUM, NITROGEN, PLATINUM, PLUTONIUM, PROTACTINIUM, ROENTGENIUM, RUTHENIUM, STRONTIUM, TECHNETIUM, TITANIUM, TENNESSINE) and is a sub-string of most (4 - see above) other elements. Either answer is acceptable.

(e) LEAD (is the only element that) contains no element symbol as a sub-string; PROTACTINIUM contains the most (AC, C, I, IN, N, NI, O, P, PR, TA, TI, U).

252.

The clue leads to:

Weaponry thought to damage, left on boat, dictates that I conquered German river.

which can be written as:

ARMS

IDEA

HARM

PORT

SAYS

VICI

RUHR

The last two columns spell out Merry Christmas.

253.

(a) 163. Sequence is the square numbers written in reverse, starting with 144. 361 reversed is 163.

(b) 50. The sequence is those numbers which are the sum of 2 squares. 50 is the first number that is the sum of two squares in two different ways. 50 = 49 + 1 and 50 = 25 + 25

254.

(a) Twelve Days of Christmas:

An alternative answer would be to use the general hotel repair penalty of -£100 rather than the street repair figure of -£115. This would lead to an overall answer of £0, but there isn’t an obvious way to represent this as a value in Monopoly.

(c)

Eighty Mile Beach = (19°57’S, 119°54’E) or thereabouts (it is 80 miles long!)

255.

(a) D - the sequence is the Roman Numeral letters contained in the names of the months in French: JANVIER, FÈVRIER, MARS, AVRIL, MAI, JUIN, JUILLET, AOÛT, SEPTEMBRE, OCTOBRE, NOVEMBRE, DÈCEMBRE

(b) C - the sequence is the Roman Numeral letters contained in the names of the months of the French Revolutionary Calendar: VENDÉMIAIRE, BRUMAIRE, FRIMAIRE, NIVÔSE, PLUVIÔSE, VENTÔSE, GERMINAL, FLORÉAL, PRAIRIAL, MESSIDOR, THERMIDOR, FRUCTIDOR

256.

Ordered by Chinese New Year creature:

Dog/2018, Dragon/2024, Goat/2027, Horse/2026, Monkey/2016, Ox/2021, Pig/2019, Rabbit/2023, Rat/2020, Rooster/2017, Snake/2025, Tiger/2022

257.

Precisely, the key is the description below. So, for example, for a:

(a) Trivial Pursuit colours: ORANGE, PINK, GREEN, BLUE, BROWN, YELLOW

(b) Cluedo weapons: LEAD PIPE, DAGGER, REVOLVER, ROPE, SPANNER, CANDLESTICK

(c) The Fellowship of the Ring: PIPPIN, MERRY, BOROMIR, SAM, LEGOLAS, FRODO, ARAGORN, GIMLI, GANDALF

(d) Dozen, baker’s dozen, score, gross: ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR, THIRTEEN, TWELVE, TWENTY

258.

(a) Three choirs: Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester

(b) Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

(c) Cinque Ports: Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, Sandwich

(d) Six members of Monty Python: Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle, Jones, Palin

(e) Seven Heavenly Virtues: Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance, Prudence

259.

(a) APED, AT (or any other word beginning with A that can be preceded by NE to form a word): H-AIR, HE-ART, LI-ABILITY, BE-AVER, B-ANGLE, C-AMBER, N-ACRE, O-AT, F-ACTOR, NE-APED

(b) DIM (or any other 3-letter word formed from the letters of SODIUM): DRY/HYDROGEN, LIE/HELIUM, HIT/LITHIUM, RYE/BERYLLIUM, ROB/BORON, BAR/CARBON, GET/NITROGEN, YEN/OXYGEN, NIL/FLUORINE, ONE/NEON, DIM/SODIUM

(c) OIL (or any other 3-letter word formed from the letters of KILO): LAP/ALPHA, ROB/BRAVO, AIL/CHARLIE, LAD/DELTA, HOE/ECHO, TOO/FOXTROT, FOG/GOLF, LET/HOTEL, DIN/INDIA, LIE/JULIET, OIL/KILO

(d) KOP, KOS (or any 3 letter word beginning with K and its letters in strict alphabetical order)

260.

NDH LY BXGYDNH/RIO DE JANEIRO (XXXI OLYMPIAD). The sequence is the list of cities that have hosted the Summer Olympics since 1960 (ROME, TOKYO, MEXICO CITY, MUNICH, MONTREAL, MOSCOW, LOS ANGELES, SEOUL, BARCELONA, ATLANTA, SYDNEY, ATHENS, BEIJING, LONDON) enciphered with the Olympiad designation (XVII OLYMPIAD, XVIII OLYMPIAD,…, XXX OLYMPIAD).

261.

(a) THE FIFTH ELEMENT, B being the symbol for Boron (atomic number 5)

(b) TWELVE MONKEYS, £6000 = 12×£500 and ‘MONKEY’ is slang for £500

262.

Map the QWERTYUIOP row on a keyboard to the digits in the row above in the standard way, using Q=1, W=2, …, O=9, P=0. If a character doesn’t appear in that row, use ‘.’ instead. The sequence is the result of mapping ZERO, ONE, TWO etc:

ZERO, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX

.349, 9.3, 529, 5.433, .974, .8.3, .8.

263.

(a) Book/Film adapted from book, Author:

i. The Body/Stand By Me, Stephen King

ii. Schindler’s Ark/Schindler’s List, Thomas Keneally

iii. Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

iv. Red Dragon/Manhunter, Thomas Harris

v. Call for the Dead/The Deadly Affair, John le Carré

vi. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/Blade Runner, Philip K. Dick

(b) Reduplicative expressions:

AB = Argy Bargy = dispute, HP = Hocus Pocus = trickery, NP = Namby Pamby = insipid

i. FD = Fuddy Duddy = dull person

ii. WN = Willy Nilly = without care

iii. RP = Roly Poly = pudding

iv. HG = Hurdy Gurdy = musical instrument

(c) Names containing chemical elements:

barbaRA DONnelly

baSIL VERnon

daLE ADams

douG OLDfield

jaNE O’Neill

NICK ELlis

osCAR BONd

patTI Norman

rOXY GENtry

tamZIN Cooper

264.

DOZEN (contains ONZE):

AMUSING (UN), EXODUS (DEUX), HISTORY (TROIS), EQUATOR (QUATRE), QUICKEN (CINQ), SPHINX (SIX), OPPOSITE (SEPT), AZIMUTH (HUIT), EFFLUENT (NEUF), INDEX (DIX)

265.

They’re the 10 points on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness:

TALC+1=UBMD, GYPSUM+2=IARUWO, CALCITE+3=FDOFLWH, FLUORITE+4=JPYSVMXI, APATITE+5=FUFYNYJ, ORTHOCLASE FELDSPAR+6=UXZNUIRGYK LKRJYVGX, QUARTZ+7=XBHYAG, TOPAZ+8=BWXIH, CORUNDUM+9=LXADWMDV, DIAMOND+10=NSKWYXN

266.

Entries in the crossword grid are from the periodic table of elements (mostly the chemical symbol, sometimes the element name, and sometimes both).

267.

(a) 10000. The sequence represents 16 in bases 10 down to 2.

(b) 121. Squares in base 9.

(c) A9. Squares in hex.

(d) 10. Each number is the previous one in hex.

(e) 14641. N⁴ base (N-1). All the numbers in the rest of the sequence are 14641.

268.

(a) Old terms for golf irons. There are two answers depending on the interpretation of Mashie-Niblick in the question - is that a hyphen or a minus sign?

√(2² + 5² + 5-9) = 5 = Mashie

√(2² + 5² + 7) = 6 = Spade Mashie

(b) Morse numbers. There are two ways of parsing the first summand:

(-----).(---..) + ..... = 0.8 + 5 = 5.8 = ......---..

-(----.---..) + ..... = -98 + 5 = -93 = -----....--

269.

(a) NIB [N-DUBZ; I CLAUDIUS, ROBOT; DRONE, HONEY BEE, STING]

(b) ZIP [ZULU; I-PAD, POD; GARDEN, SPLIT, SWEET PEA]

(c) LOLLY [EL-AL; EVIAN, PERRIER - EAU/O; ELAPSE, ELATE, ELBOW; ELEVEN, ELFIN, ELGAR, ELIDE; CHEPSTOW, HAY, HEREFORD, MONMOUTH, ROSS - all on WYE/Y],

(d) POINT [CHICK/PEA; O DEAR, NO; BLACK, EVIL, PRIVATE EYE/I; BRIGHT-, LENGTH-, SHORT-, STIFF-EN; T/TEA BAG, COSY, CUP, LEAF, POT]

(e) JUICE [JAY WALKING; U-BOAT, TURN; OBSERVE, OGLE, VIEW - synonyms of EYE/I; C/SEA - HORSE, LION, SHORE, WEED; e-BAY, COLI, CRIME, GOVERNMENT, MAIL]

(f) NEWS [EN-JOY; ATTEND-, LESS-EE; W - DUB BELL EWE; AUTHOR-, COUNT-, GIANT-, PRIEST-ESS]

(g) MEXICO [BONEY M; E = EMCEE SQUARED; X MARKS THE SPOT; I = SQUAREROOT OF MINUS ONE; LOTS MORE FISH IN THE C/SEA; O FOR THE WINGS OF A DOVE]

(h) RETSINA [RHO - DEATH; EPSILON - LESION, PONIES (letters can be found in EPSILON); TAU - EVACUATE, GUATEMALA, SQUAT (contain TAU reversed); SIGMA - AGEISM, IMAGES, MAGICS, STIGMA (contain letters of SIGMA); IOTA - BIT, SCINTILLA, SMIDGEON, SPECK, WHIT; NU(NEW) - AGE, ENGLAND, GUINEA, LABOUR, YEAR, YORK; ALPHA - BET, DECAY, MALE, NUMERIC, PARTICLE, RADIATION, RHYTHM]

270.

It is oetfn ciameld taht a snteecne or prshae is utdsaednlnrbae eevn if olny the
It is often claimed that a sentence or phrase is understandable even if only the

fsrit and lsat ltetres of ecah wrod are in the rghit pcale and the rset jbumeld.
first and last letters of each word are in the right place and the rest jumbled.

u ah ubo eh h rsi n sa retet r sinsi n h se lit
But what about when the first and last letters are missing and the rest still

mbuel? ah re h wollnio ingillar?
jumbled? What were the following originally?

(a) One two three four five

(b) Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

(c) God Save Our Gracious Queen

(d) Into each life some rain must fall

(e) All for one and one for all

(f) To be or not to be

271.

TROMBONES.

272.

(a) L. Frank Baum

(b) M. Night Shyamalan

(c) J. Arthur Rank

(d) L. Ron Hubbard

(e) G. Gordon Liddy

(f) F. Murray Abraham

(g) F. Scott Fitzgerald

(h) R. Daneel Olivaw (from Isaac Asimov’s robot stories)

273.

Pi. The description has been enciphered by adding the digits of pi letter by letter.

THE RATIO OF THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF A CIRCLE TO ITS DIAMETER

+ 314 15926 53 589 7932384626433 83 2 795028 84 197 16939937

= WII SFCKU TI YPN JRUEXUJKTKRFH WI C JRWCNM BS JCZ EOJPNCHY

274.

ENTRY (No) fits between HIRE (New Hamps) and NEW (Nouveau).

Darts players’ nicknames: MARTIN ADAMS/WOLFIE, ANDY FORDHAM/THE VIKING, TED HANKEY/THE COUNT, CHRISTIAN KIST/THE LIPSTICK, JELLE KLAASEN/THE MATADOR, PHIL TAYLOR/THE POWER, RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD/BARNEY, MARK WEBSTER/THE SPIDER

Preceded by 2-letter element symbol: AL GORE, AM DRAM, AT LAST, AU PAIR, BE PREPARED, HE MAN, IN LOVE, NO ENTRY

Harry Potter characters: ALASTOR MOODY, ARGUS FILCH, BARTEMIUS CROUCH, CORNELIUS FUDGE, LAVENDER BROWN, REMUS LUPIN, SIRIUS BLACK, THOMAS RIDDLE

French synonyms ending -EAU: BOYFRIEND/BEAU, OFFICE/BUREAU, CASTLE/CHÂTEAU, CAKE/GATEAU, NEW/NOUVEAU, PLAIN/PLATEAU, BAG/PORTMANTEAU, SCENE/TABLEAU

Precedes golfing term: ARCHIE BUNKER, TEA CADDIE, PINAFORE, EVERGREEN, GOLDEN EAGLE, FLAT IRON, SHOT PUTT, GOODWOOD

Ending of US State: COLORADO, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, NEW HAMPSHIRE, TENNESSEE, WASHINGTON, WISCONSIN

X or Y: DO or DIE, FRIEND or FOE, HEADS or TAILS, MAKE or BREAK, MORE or LESS, SINK or SWIM, SOONER or LATER, TRICK or TREAT

275.

Five first names in the font corresponding to the surname:

Five surnames in the font corresponding to the first name:

276.

BART.

1 BAR-ONE-T (inserting ONE into BART turns the abbreviation into the full word)

2 Owls’ call: T(W)O-WIT, T(W)O-WOO

3 3-piece suit: JACKET, TROUSERS, WAISTCOAT

4 ‘FO(U)R’ marriage vows: FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE; FOR RICHER, FOR POORER

5s: FIVES COURT, ETON FIVES, FIVES GLOVES, RUGBY FIVES, WINCHESTER FIVES

6×6 word square:

7 swans(-a-swimming): SWANAGE, SWAN DIVE, SWAN LAKE, SWANSEA, SWAN SONG, SWAN THEATRE, SWAN UPPING

Figure (of 8): CALCULATE, DIAGRAM, DIGIT, FORM, ILLUSTRATION, NUMBER, RECKON, SHAPE

9 comic characters ending -IX: CACOPHONIX (BARD), VITALSTATISTIX (CHIEF), DOGMATIX (DOG), GETAFIX (DRUID), GERIATRIX (ELDER), UNHYGIENIX (FISHMONGER), ASTERIX (GAUL), HOMEOPATHIX (MERCHANT), FULLIAUTOMATIX (SMITH)

TEN- homophones: TEN-COMMAND-MINCE (TEN COMMANDMENTS), TEN-ERR-REEF (TENERIFE), TEN-GALLOW-GNAT (TEN-GALLON HAT), TEN-NESSIE-WILLIAMS (TENNESSEE WILLIAMS), TEN-NIECE-ELBOW (TENNIS ELBOW)

277.

(a) SORROW: FULLY

JOY: RIDE, STICK

GIRL: GUIDE, POWER, TALK

BOY: GEORGE, SCOUT, WONDER, ZONE

SILVER: ADO, LINING, PLATE, STONE, SURFER

GOLD: COAST, CREST, CUP, FINCH, FINGER, RUSH

SECRET: AGENT, GARDEN, POLICE, SANTA, SEVEN, SQUIRREL, SOCIETY

(b) MAGPIE (ONE FOR SORROW, TWO FOR JOY, …)

278.

First words of books in a series (including prologues where present):

(a) The Lord of the Rings, by J R R Tolkien

(b) The Harry Potter books, by J K Rowling

(c) The Chronicles of Narnia (in reading order), by C S Lewis

(d) The James Bond books, by Ian Fleming

(e) The 50 Shades trilogy, by E L James

(f) The Alexandria quartet, by Lawrence Durrell

(g) The Discworld books, by Terry Pratchett

(h) The Raj quartet, by Paul Scott

(i) The Pallisers, by Anthony Trollope

(j) A Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell

279.

(a) CLIFF. Reversing the order of the words, first and last letters spell CENTIGRADE and FAHRENHEIT.

(b) EARWIG. First/Last letters alternate to give BLACK/WHITE and RIGHT/WRONG.

(c) VAIN. Words are anagrams of names starting A, B, C etc, male/female alternating. VAIN is anagram of IVAN.

(d) UMPTEEN. Words are anagrams of planets with one letter changed. UMPTEEN is an anagram of NEPTU_M_E.

(e) JOTTER. Each word contains A, B, C etc followed by an animal. J-OTTER.

280.

(a) T, T, S, S, RM, PM, BM, T (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, …)

(b) B, B, B, B (Earliest letter in names of months: JANUARY, FEBRUARY, …)

(c) E, E, E (Earliest letter in ONE, TWO, THREE, …, EIGHT, NINE, TEN, …)

(d) 24 (Earliest letter in primes: TWO, THREE, FIVE, …)

281.

(a) (101, 102, 103): the numbers can be written in the shape of a triangle, for example:

(b) (14, 15, 16, 17): the numbers can be written in the shape of a quadrilateral.

282.

(a) BERYL - thus referencing Conan Doyle’s ‘(The Adventure Of) The Beryl Coronet’.

(b) It’s a 7×7 table containing the first 7 elements.

283.

F.

THE KWIZ SETTERS ENJOY USING SIMPLE SUBSITITUTION CODES IN QUESTIONS. IN THIS EXAMPLE, HAD IT BEEN NECESSARY, WHICH LETTER WOULD HAVE BEEN USED FOR Z?

In the nth word of the text, the first n letters of the alphabet are enciphered: the cipher alphabet is derived from the order the letters first appear in the question.

284.

285.

In fact, all the numbers from 1 to 192 can be constructed in this way. Doing this is an exercise for the reader!

286.

1+6+7+17+18+23 = 2+3+11+13+21+22

The first sum is correct as it is, but it remains correct when you square each of the terms in it:

2+3+6+9 = 1+4+7+8
2²+3²+6²+9² = 1²+4²+7²+8²

The second sum has the same property, but also holds true if the terms are all cubed

2+3+10+11 = 1+5+8+12
2²+3²+10²+11² = 1²+5²+8²+12²
2³+3³+10³+11³ = 1³+5³+8³+12³

Finally

2ⁿ+3ⁿ+9ⁿ+13ⁿ+16ⁿ+20ⁿ = 1ⁿ+5ⁿ+8ⁿ+12ⁿ+18ⁿ+19ⁿ

holds true for n=1, 2, 3 and 4

The question then becomes: find such a sum that works for (at least) n=1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. For example:

1+6+7+17+18+23 = 2+3+11+13+21+22

287.

MORSE.

In the grid can be found the names of 20 animals, in French:

ANE, ANGUILLE, CANARD, CERF, CHIEN, COCHON, CORBEAU, ESCARGOT, GRENOUILLE, GRILLON, GRUE, LION, OIE, ORIGNAL, PERROQUET, PINGOUIN, PUCE, RAT, SINGE, VER.

Remaining letters are:

These spell ANSWER IS FRENCH WORD, and they appear in the grid in a pattern that can be interpreted as Morse Code (a single letter is a dot, a pair of letters is a dash). The pattern is:

-- --- .-. … .

which in Morse Code spells out MORSE. So, as indicated, the answer is the French word MORSE, which is French for Walrus.

288.

1: Fairy (A fairy at the top of the tree)

2: Proteus Valentine (Two Gentlemen of Verona)

3: Aramis Athos Porthos (The Three Musketeers)

4: Air Earth Fire Water (The four elements)

5: Anne Dick George Julian Timmy (The Famous Five)

6: A B D E E G (The standard tuning of a six-string guitar - E A D G B E)

7: Bashful Doc Dopey Grumpy Happy Sleepy Sneezy (The seven dwarfs)

8: Canada France Germany Italy Japan Russia United Kingdom United States (The G8 nations)

9: Calliope Clio Erato Euterpe Melpomene Polyhymnia Terpsichore Thalia Urania (The nine muses)

10: Eight Five Four Nine One Seven Six Ten Three Two (The numbers 1-10)

11: Ball Banks Charlton Charlton Cohen Hunt Hurst Moore Peters Stiles Wilson (The eleven players in the 1966 World Cup winning England team)

12: Apr Aug Dec Feb Jan Jul Jun Mar May Nov Oct Sep (The twelve months of the year)

13: CT DE GA MA MD NC NH NJ NY PA RI SC VA (The thirteen original states of the Union)

Various alternative answers exist for the top of the tree. For example, for row 1,

F = Franz (Franz Von Werra - the One that got away)

F = Formula (One)

Or for row 2, ‘Peace, Victory’ (2-fingered salutes).

289.

Two answers - atomic numbers:

290.

(a) OVEREXCITABLE. Attribute. Increasing number of syllables.

(b) OVEREXCITABLE. Attribute. Increasing number of vowels.

(c) FLY. Each word can be inserted into the next one. F-REE-LY.

(d) DETAINS. The number of letters in common between adjacent words increases by 1.

291.

AIAUAK. ELEVEN enciphered with the keyword ONZE by simple substitution: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ➔ ONZEABCDFGHIJKLMPQRSTUVWXY; the sequence is enciphered likewise with keywords UN, DEUX, TROIS, …

292.

293.

(a) Cancer = June (Start of Ju-ly + end of Ju-ne)

(b) Routes with maximum number of stops on London Underground lines:

Aldgate to Amersham = Metropolitan, Stanmore to Stratford = Jubilee,

Cockfosters to Uxbridge = Piccadilly, High Barnet to Morden = Northern,

Ealing Broadway to Uxminster = District, Epping to West Ruislip = Central,

Brixton to Walthamstow Central = Victoria

So:

i. Barking to Hammersmith = Hammersmith and City = H+C

ii. Bank to Waterloo = Waterloo and City = W+C

iii. (Elephant+Castle) to (Harrow+Wealdstone) = Bakerloo = B

294.

All can be made into words by the addition of the letter ‘E’:

BACON/BEACON, BOWLS/BOWELS, BURNT/BURNET, CANDID/CANDIED, CORPORAL/CORPOREAL, GALLON/GALLEON, LAND/ELAND, POT/POET, QUALITY/EQUALITY, QUIT/QUIET, RATIONAL/RATIONALE, RED/REED, SILICON/SILICONE, SLIGHT/SLEIGHT, SPY/ESPY, SWINGING/SWINGEING, TRADING/TREADING, TWIN/TWINE

295.

KWIZ. The remaining letters form a Scrabble set when the word squares below are formed.

296.

(a) WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: The plays HAMLET, KING LEAR, THE TEMPEST, THE WINTER’S TALE, CORIOLANUS, TWELFTH NIGHT, TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA with punctuation, spaces and letters in his name removed.

(b) IAN LANCASTER FLEMING: DR. NO, GOLDFINGER, MOONRAKER, CASINO ROYALE, LIVE AND LET DIE, THUNDERBALL, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN with punctuation, spaces and letters in his name removed.

(c) GEORGE ROBERT LAZENBY: DR. NO (THOMAS SEAN CONNERY), CASINO ROYALE (DANIEL WROUGHTON CRAIG), LICENCE TO KILL (TIMOTHY PETER DALTON), GOLDENEYE (PIERCE BRENDAN BROSNAN), MOONRAKER (ROGER GEORGE MOORE), DIE ANOTHER DAY (PIERCE BRENDAN BROSNAN), QUANTUM OF SOLACE (DANIEL WROUGHTON CRAIG), TOMORROW NEVER DIES (PIERCE BRENDAN BROSNAN), THUNDERBALL (THOMAS SEAN CONNERY), FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (ROGER GEORGE MOORE), each film having punctuation, spaces and letters in the actors name removed LAZENBY’s ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE is unclued.

297.

Between 800 and 297.

International Dialling Codes: ALGERIA/213, BRUNEI/673, BULGARIA/359, LIECHTENSTEIN/423, PANAMA/507, TAIWAN/886, UZBEKHISTAN/998, ZIMBABWE/263

Melting points of elements (Celsius): ALUMINIUM/659, CALCIUM/850, LEAD/328, LITHIUM/181, MAGNESIUM/650, SILVER/962, TIN/232, ZINC/420

Year Pope NAME III took up office: BENEDICT/855, BONIFACE/607, FELIX/483, GREGORY/731, JOHN/561, LEO/795, SIXTUS/432, STEPHEN/752

Monopoly board prices (£): BOND STREET/320, MAYFAIR/400, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE/160, PENTONVILLE ROAD/120, PICCADILLY/280, TRAFALGAR SQUARE/240, VINE STREET/200, WHITECHAPEL/060

Greek numbers: CHI/600, OMEGA/800, PHI/500, PSI/700, RHO/100, SIGMA/200, TAU/300, UPSILON/400

K-number of Mozart compositions: COSI FAN TUTTE/588, EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK/525, IDOMENEO/366, JUPITER/551, LINZ (symphony)/504, PARIS (symphony)/297, PRAGUE (symphony)/504, REQUIEM/626

Compass bearings: EAST/090, NORTH-EAST/045, NORTH/360, NORTH-WEST/315, SOUTH/180, SOUTH-EAST/135, SOUTH-WEST/225, WEST/270

298.

Each list has the letters in the description removed and is then ordered alphabetically.

(a) SANTA’S REINDEER: BLITZEN, DANCER, COMET, CUPID, DASHER, DONNER, PRANCER, VIXEN

(b) (THE) FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: PIPPIN, LEGOLAS, ARAGORN, GANDALF, SAM, BOROMIR, FRODO, GIMLI, MERRY

299.

(a) SALAAM: starting at each of the 4 corners and moving horizontally or vertically (i.e. via rook’s moves) COD, STURGEON, MACKEREL and SALMON are spelled out

(b) BEAGLE: similarly BACH, DEBUSSY, ELGAR and BEETHOVEN are spelled out

(c) CREEPS: similarly PARAKEET, BLUETIT, SCOTER and CRANE are spelled out

(d) HORNET: similarly MONTANA, DELAWARE, TENNESSEE and HAWAII are spelled out

(e) FRILLS: similarly, but with bishop’s moves, CUBA, YEMEN, SENEGAL and FIJI are spelled out

(f) ABSORB: similarly, but with king’s moves, ARGENTINA, MACEDONIA, BARBADOS and AUSTRALIA are spelled out

(g) BOSBOK: similarly, but with the appropriate style of moving, KNIGHT, ROOK, KING and BISHOP are spelled out

300.

(a) 12451. The list comprises the factors of 1 (1), 2 (1, 2), 3 (1, 3), 4 (1, 2, 4), …, 19 (1, 19): the factors of 20 are (1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20).

(b) 11010. The list is the Roman numerals I, II, III, …, (part of) XXI with I, V, X replaced by 1, 5, 10 respectively. XXI, XXI = 10101, 101011

(c) 20521. Cumulative totals traversing a dartboard clockwise from the ‘20’: 20, 21 (=21+1), 39 (=20+1+18), …, 193, 205, 210

301.

101/1500.

3=LITHIUM=LI=51; 3/51=1/17

6=CARBON=C=100; 6/100=3/50

101=MENDELEVIUM=MD=1500; 101/1500

115=MOSCOVIUM=MC=1100; 115/1100=23/220

96=CURIUM=CM=900; 96/900=8/75

17=CHLORINE=CL=150; 17/150

48=CADMIUM=CD=400; 48/400=3/25

23=VANADIUM=V=5; 23/5

53=IODINE=I=1; 53/1=53

302.

Each given item from a category has at least one letter in common with all the other items in that category. For example, each (chemical) element contains one of the letters S, I, L, V, E, R.

303.

CHRISTMAS, the enciphered form of FIORDLAND The other unenciphered penguins are: YELLOW-EYED, ROYAL, ROCKHOPPER, MAGELLANIC, MACARONI, AFRICAN, ADELIE, SNARES, KING, LITTLE, HUMBOLDT, GALAPAGOS, GENTOO, ERECT-CRESTED, EMPEROR, CHINSTRAP.

Answers to the second colour section

Colourful characters

(a) Justin Rose

(b) P!nk

(c) Erik the Red

(d) Scarlett Johansson

(e) Ginger Rogers

(f) Jason Orange

(g) Amber Heard

(h) Gordon Brown

(i) Ian Lavender

(j) Violet Carson

(k) Lionel Blue

(l) Eva Green

(m) Earl Grey

(n) Jack Black

(o) Betty White

Next in sequence

Words ending in girls’ names form the song Mambo No 5: harMONICA, amERICA, naRITA. The next name is TINA, so the answer could be a picture of Argentina, a Ford Cortina, a concertina, etc.

Identify and divide into groups

(a) Rebecca Front

(b) Gladys Knight

(c) Johnny Cash

(d) Dale

(e) Cary Grant

(f) Sean Kerly

(g) Wayne Rooney

(h) Blu Cantrell

(i) Chip

(j) Curly Howard

(k) Terry Waite

(l) Roger Black

(m) Michael Fish

(n) Miranda Hart

(o) Chip

(p) Doris Day

(q) Mel C

(r) David Soul

(s) Claire Short

(t) Steve Waugh

(u) Sally Ride

(v) Ruby Wax

(w) Lauryn Hill

(x) Nick Park

(y) Heather Peace

(z) Neil Back

The groups are as follows:

a and z: front and back

b and p: night and day

c and e: cash and carry

k and q: wait and see

l and h: black and blue

m and (i+o): fish and chips

n and r: heart and soul

s and (f+j): short and curlies

t and y: war and peace

v and g: wax and wane

w and d: hill and dale

x and u: park and ride

Identify the people

(a) Charity Wakefield

(b) Chapman Pincher

(c) Sebastian Coe

(d) Jean Simmons

(e) Jeff Banks

(f) Penny Smith

(g) Harry Kewell

(h) Robin Tunney

(i) Phil Oakey

(j) Bryan Ferry

(k) Henrietta Maria of France (wife of Charles I)

(l) Ella Fitzgerald

(m) Cilla Black

(n) Georg Ohm

(o) Laurie Metcalf

(p) Allen Funt (presenter of the US version of Candid Camera)

(q) Geri Halliwell

(r) Les Bubb (top British mime artist)

(s) Carrie Fisher

(t) Jasper Carrott

(u) Steve Case (former CEO of AOL)

(v) Britney Spears

(w) Mr T

(x) Donald Driver

(y) Dee Dee Myers (Press Secretary to President Clinton)

(z) Molly Ringwald

The pairings are such that if they married, the women would have unfortunate married names:

a marries u: Charity Case

d marries n: Jean Ohm

f marries b: Penny Pincher

h marries e: Robin Banks

k marries t: Henrietta Carrott

l marries p: Ella Funt

m marries r: Cilla Bubb

o marries x: Laurie Driver

q marries c: Geri Coe

s marries i: Carrie Oakey

v marries j: Britney Ferry

y marries w: Dee Dee T

z marries g: Molly Kewell

Pictures

The items all feature in the ‘Four Candles’ sketch by the Two Ronnies. All the items are unwanted, except for the 13A Plug.

Celebrity Sudoku

The first initial of the name yields a Sudoku. The second initial yields another Sudoku.

Solving each Sudoku gives the following:

So then:

(a) Samuel Beckett = C4

(b) Paris Hilton = A7

(c) Diana Ross = C6

(d) Paul Simon = I9

(e) Desmond Tutu = D1

(f) Roy Rogers = F8

(g) Emma Thompson = H4

(h) Emily Brontë = F2

(i) Joseph McCarthy = G6

(j) Alec Guinness = H3

Townsfolk

(a) Andrew Lincoln

(b) Dionne Warwick

(c) Stuart Bingham

(d) Susannah York

(e) Rod Hull

(f) Don Cheadle

(g) Michael Bolton

(h) Jayne Mansfield

(i) Bing Crosby

(j) Jean Harlow

(k) Harry Enfield

(l) Barbara Windsor

(m) Mick Fleetwood

(n) Thomas Telford

(o) Max Hastings

Capital cities

(a) Irving Berlin

(b) Brussels sprout

(c) Copenhagen (horse)

(d) Dion Dublin

(e) Chicken Kiev

(f) Alex Kingston

(g) Lima bean

(h) Jack London

(i) Sofia Vergara

(j) Victoria Wood

(k) Denzel Washington

(l) Duke of Wellington

Fill in the gaps

Lyrics of the song ‘Blue Suede Shoes’: Wurlitzer 1 4 The Money 2 4 The Show, 3 2 Get Ready Now Go Cat Go

Sums

Appendix

The four elements named Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine, Oganesson have not yet been formally approved by the IUPAC Council. This is expected to happen in November 2016.

List of US presidents:

1. George Washington

2. John Adams

3. Thomas Jefferson

4. James Madison

5. James Monroe

6. John Quincy Adams

7. Andrew Jackson

8. Martin Van Buren

9. William Henry Harrison

10. John Tyler

11. James K. Polk

12. Zachary Taylor

13. Millard Fillmore

14. Franklin Pierce

15. James Buchanan

16. Abraham Lincoln

17. Andrew Johnson

18. Ulysses S. Grant

19. Rutherford B. Hayes

20. James A. Garfield

21. Chester A. Arthur

22. Grover Cleveland

23. Benjamin Harrison

24. Grover Cleveland

25. William McKinley

26. Theodore Roosevelt

27. William Howard Taft

28. Woodrow Wilson

29. Warren G. Harding

30. Calvin Coolidge

31. Herbert Hoover

32. Franklin D. Roosevelt

33. Harry S. Truman

34. Dwight D. Eisenhower

35. John F. Kennedy

36. Lyndon B. Johnson

37. Richard Nixon

38. Gerald Ford

39. Jimmy Carter

40. Ronald Reagan

41. George Bush

42. Bill Clinton

43. George W. Bush

44. Barack Obama

NATO phonetic alphabet:

Greek alphabet:

Morse code, letters and numbers:

Scrabble table of values and frequencies

Semaphore alphabet:

Braille alphabet:

Picture Credits