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The Guardian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Did you solve it? The deductive decade – ten years of Monday puzzzles
To celebrate ten years of this column, this morning I selected ten puzzles from the Monday Puzzle archives. Here they are again with solutions. Click on the solutions to be taken to the original columns, which have full explanations. 1. Bat and ball Three friends (A, B and C) are playing ping pong. They play the usual way: the winner stays on, and the loser waits their turn again. At the end of the day, they summarise the number of games that each of them played: A played 10 B played 15 C played 17. Who lost the second game? Solution A 2. Tricky trams Why are the tram's overhead cables positioned to make a zigzag, rather than straight line? Solution The metal structure on the roof of the tram, the pantograph, rubs against the cable as the tram moves forward. If the cable was in a straight line, it would rub the same point on the pantograph, which would begin to fray. But if the cable is in a zigzag, the rubbing happens evenly across the top of the pantograph, and the pantograph wears down less quickly. 3. Read the question 3. What is never odd or even? Solution 'never odd or even' is a palindrome, i.e. it reads the same back to front. 4. Catch the cat A straight corridor has 7 doors along one side. Behind one of the doors sits a cat. Your mission is to find the cat by opening the correct door. Each day you can open only one door. If the cat is there, you win. If the cat is not there, the door closes, and you must wait until the next day before you can open a door again. If the cat was always to sit behind the same door, you would be able to find it in at most seven days, by opening each door in turn. But this mischievous moggy is restless. Every night it moves randomly either one door to the left or one to the right. Although if it is behind the first or last door, it has only one option for where it can move. How many days do you now need to make sure you can catch the cat? Solution ten days 5. Mystery number I have a ten digit number, abcdefghij. Each of the digits is different, and a is divisible by 1 ab is divisible by 2 abc is divisible by 3 abcd is divisible by 4 abcde is divisible by 5 abcdef is divisible by 6 abcdefg is divisible by 7 abcdefgh is divisible by 8 abcdefghi is divisible by 9 abcdefghij is divisible by 10 What's my number? [To clarify: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, and j are all single digits. Each digit from 0 to 9 is represented by exactly one letter. The number abcdefghij is a ten-digit number whose first digit is a, second digit is b, and so on. It does not mean that you multiply a x b x c x…] Solution 3816547290 6. Disappearing cub This picture has not been doctored. Explain why the reflection has a yellow lion cub. Solution: The cub is camouflaged by a cleverly-coloured flap 7. Crazy triangle Show that there is a triangle, the sum of whose three heights is less than 1mm, that has an area greater than the surface of the Earth (510m km2). Solution Here's one: 8. Deck dilemma Your friend chooses at random a card from a standard deck of 52 cards, and keeps this card concealed. You have to guess which of the 52 cards it is. Before your guess, you can ask your friend one of the following three questions: is the card red? is the card a face card? (Jack, Queen or King) is the card the ace of spades? Your friend will answer truthfully. What question would you ask that gives you the best chance of guessing the correct card? Solution It doesn't matter. In all three cases, your chance of guessing the correct card is 1 in 26. 9. The question with no question (a) All of the following. (b) None of the following. (c) Some of the following. (d) All of the above. (e) None of the above. [Just to reassure you, nothing has been omitted here.] Solution (b) 10. Triangle fold Find a way to fold a square piece of paper into an equilateral triangle. The triangle can be of any size. Solution Here is one way, that uses the side length of the square as the side length of the triangle. I hope you enjoyed these puzzles. I'll be back in two weeks. Sources: 1. Adrian Paenza, 2. Kvantik magaizine, 3. Des MacHale, 4. New York Times. 5. John Conway, 6. Matt Pritchard, 7. Trần Phương, 8. Henk Tijms, 9. Parabola, 10. The Paper Puzzle Book. I set a puzzle here every two weeks on a Monday. I'm always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
Time of India
30-05-2025
- Climate
- Time of India
Deep depression triggers Kol showers, brace for rainy Friday
1 2 Kolkata: A deep depression that crossed over to the land near Sagar Island on Thursday triggered moderate rain in Kolkata. The Alipore weather office recorded 15.5 mm rainfall till Thursday night. Met officials said the system is likely to trigger more rain till Friday afternoon. While this weather system accelerated the monsoon's arrival in North Bengal on Thursday, six days in advance, Met officials have yet to forecast monsoon's date with Kolkata. The city woke up to a mostly sunny morning, with cloud cover in between. But clouds from the deep depression system started reaching the city sky when it began crossing the land between 10.30 am and 11.30 am, triggering widespread showers. Although the prediction for the city was heavy rain till late night, the rain amount remained moderate. However, Met officials have not ruled out rain till Friday afternoon with squally wind at night. The rain also dragged the maximum temperature to 29.7°C, 5.4 notches below normal and the lowest this month. The minimum was 25.8°C,1.4°C below normal. "Moving at 22 kmph, the deep depression crossed land between Sagar Island and Khepupara at a distance of 40 km southwest of Canning, 130 km west-southwest of Mongla, and 190 km west of Khepupara," said Somnath Dutta, head of Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Kolkata. The system's speed slowed to 5 kmph as it moved northeastwards. Till reports came in last, the system was close to Canning and was about 100 km west-southwest of Mongla. "This system will continue to trigger more rain in almost all parts of Bengal in the next few days," said Dutta. The system is likely to rescind into a depression by Friday morning and then become a well-marked low-pressure area by Saturday. Met officials said the window for an intense shower in Kolkata was Thursday and Friday afternoon. Met officials said they are keeping tabs on this system that could affect monsoon reaching the city in about three days. The normal monsoon arrival date in North Bengal is June 5, while it is June 10 for parts of South Bengal, including Kolkata. "Monsoon has covered Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Jaipaiguri, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Conditions are favourable for the further advance of southwest monsoon over some more parts of Bengal in the next couple of days," said H R Biswas, head of the weather forecast section at RMC.
CTV News
25-05-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Rain, risk of thunderstorms in the forecast for Ottawa this Sunday
Cloudy skies, rain and a risk of thunderstorms are in the forecast for Ottawa this Sunday. Environment Canada calls for a high of 17 C, increasing cloudiness and a 60 per cent chance showers with a risk of thunderstorms this afternoon. A low of 7 C and a 60 per cent chance of showers are expected for tonight. On Monday, a high of 23 C, a 40 per cent chance of showers and a risk of thunderstorms are anticipated. A low of 10 C and clear skies are expected overnight. Tuesday will see sunny skies and a high of 26 C. A low of 11 C and clear skies are expected overnight. The normal temperatures for this time of year are a high of 22 C and a low of 10 C.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
MI6 to appoint first woman chief
The next boss of MI6 will be a woman for the first time in its history. The shortlist to select the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, has been whittled down to three female candidates. It means that Britain's top spy, known internally by the moniker 'C', for chief, will be a woman. At least two of the candidates are serving intelligence officers, and therefore cannot be named. The current head of MI6's engineering arm is a woman and is likely to be a strong contender, and those with knowledge of the service have touted her as a candidate The department was fictionalised as Q Branch in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and films. Dame Barbara Woodward, an outsider candidate, is also a favourite, The Sunday Times reported. The former head of the UK Border Agency currently serves as Britain's Permanent Representative at the United Nations and has not worked at MI6 before. Sir Richard Moore, the current MI6 chief, was a former spy who left and became the British ambassador to Turkey. In 2020, he returned to MI6 to take the top job. His five-year term is coming to an end later this year, with the search for a replacement proceeding at pace. Final interviews for his successor are understood to have taken place last week. In 2023, Sir Richard revealed that he had been recruited from an all-male shortlist, writing on X: 'I will help forge women's equality by working to ensure I'm the last 'C' selected from an all-male shortlist.' Dame Barbara, currently the most senior woman in Britain's diplomatic service, has attracted comments for being insufficiently vocal with her criticism of China while serving as Britain's ambassador to China from 2015 to 2020. After she left Beijing, Dame Barbara described the situation in Xinjiang as 'one of the worst human rights crises of our time'. The final decision on the appointment will be made by the Prime Minister, advised by a board of senior government figures including David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, and Jonathan Powell, the National Security Adviser. MI5, the domestic security service, has had two female directors-general, Dame Stella Rimington and Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller. MI6, which was established in 1909, has had 17 chiefs, all of them men. In the James Bond series the figure of 'C' was fictionalised as 'M'. Fleming chose the moniker after the first initial of the first MI6 Chief, Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming. In John Le Carre's George Smiley novels the head of the intelligence service was known as Control. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
MI6 to appoint first woman chief
The next boss of MI6 will be a woman for the first time in its history. The shortlist to select the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, has been whittled down to three female candidates. It means that Britain's top spy, known internally by the moniker 'C', for chief, will be a woman. At least two of the candidates are serving intelligence officers, and therefore cannot be named. The current head of MI6's engineering arm is a woman and is likely to be a strong contender, and those with knowledge of the service have touted her as a candidate The department was fictionalised as Q Branch in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and films. Dame Barbara Woodward, an outsider candidate, is also a favourite, The Sunday Times reported. The former head of the UK Border Agency currently serves as Britain's Permanent Representative at the United Nations and has not worked at MI6 before. Sir Richard Moore, the current MI6 chief, was a former spy who left and became the British ambassador to Turkey. In 2020, he returned to MI6 to take the top job. His five-year term is coming to an end later this year, with the search for a replacement proceeding at pace. Final interviews for his successor are understood to have taken place last week. In 2023, Sir Richard revealed that he had been recruited from an all-male shortlist, writing on X: 'I will help forge women's equality by working to ensure I'm the last 'C' selected from an all-male shortlist.' Dame Barbara, currently the most senior woman in Britain's diplomatic service, has attracted comments for being insufficiently vocal with her criticism of China while serving as Britain's ambassador to China from 2015 to 2020. After she left Beijing, Dame Barbara described the situation in Xinjiang as 'one of the worst human rights crises of our time'. The final decision on the appointment will be made by the Prime Minister, advised by a board of senior government figures including David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, and Jonathan Powell, the National Security Adviser. MI5, the domestic security service, has had two female directors-general, Dame Stella Rimington and Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller. MI6, which was established in 1909, has had 17 chiefs, all of them men. In the James Bond series the figure of 'C' was fictionalised as 'M'. Fleming chose the moniker after the first initial of the first MI6 Chief, Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming. In John Le Carre's George Smiley novels the head of the intelligence service was known as Control.
