Puzzle

The back pages Puzzles Cryptic crossword #15 Set by Wingding 3

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ACROSS 1 Express disapproval about British leader putting his country before Europe (6) 4 Headless rodents grab physiotherapist’s tool (3,3) 9 Microbiologist finding sticky substance by old city (7) 10 Boy eating last of supper with zero fat (5) 11 Audibly put together joint when necessary (2,3) 12 Vehicles’ gas emission reversed by first generation, adding carbon (7) 13 Large animal at university – this might help her find her way around (11) DOWN 1 Withdraw record held by Madrid club (6) 2 Chemist had some of Garbo’s children (5) 3 Bone in neck ape broke (7) 5 Cellular features said to be more humorous (5) 6 Fowl took off, it’s reported, fleeing this? (4,3) 7 Lover or church? Astronauts feel it intensely (1-5) 8 Nuclear reaction’s ability to sustain itself, sceptics would have it? (11)

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#22 The 9-minute egg I like my eggs to be boiled for exactly 9 minutes. The problem is that I have no way to measure time except for two egg timers that are able to measure precisely 4 and 7 minutes respectively. There is more than one way to set up the timers to measure exactly 9 minutes, but I am keen to eat my egg as soon as possible. Can you help?

3 What is the main chemical component of standard glass? 4 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley shared the 1956 Nobel prize in physics for which discovery?

Answer next week

5 The hallux is the biggest of your whats?

#21 Six weeks of seconds Solution

Answers below 18 Complex pattern of French law on aluminium (7) 20 Implied sensitivity, myself included (5) 22 Climbing plants with drug moving back in tubes (5) 23 Silver and spirit found in Turing’s coat, adding information (7) 24 Look to pull queen backwards (6) 25 Northern Ireland and Gibraltar initially stay in the European Medicines Agency? Turing’s cracked it! (6)

14 “One is getting older,” as American writes: this could reveal the workings of her mind (7) 15 Recklessly augment harmful chemical (7) 16 Illness causing passion for waiting in line? (1,5) 17 Part of flower that is viewed negatively (6) 19 Heads of Turing’s agency sought every reason to develop shocking weapon (5) 21 Hold cold fish (5)

Answers and the next quick crossword next week.

52 | New Scientist | 21 September 2019

1 In mathematics, the continuum hypothesis advanced by Georg Cantor in 1878 concerns the possible sizes of what quantity? 2 Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus are the sole members of the Pan genus. How are they better known?

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Puzzle set by David Bedford

The number of seconds in six weeks and the product of all the whole numbers from 1 to 10 inclusively (10!) are the same: 3,628,800. Here is how to show they are the same without a calculator:

Quick Crossword #40 Answers

ACROSS 7 Brown rat, 9 Inlier, 10 Womb, 11 Complexity, 12 Taipei, 14 Apple DOS, 15 Expansion slot, 17 Cyclamen, 19 Arsine, 21 Rhinoceros, 22 Mole, 23 Aments, 24 Endogeny

The number of seconds in six weeks is 6 weeks x 7 days x 24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds Now, rewrite these numbers as products of smaller numbers.

DOWN 1 Areola, 2 Swab, 3 Friction, 4 Dial-up, 5 Alex Bellos, 6 Beetroot, 8 Tympanic nerve, 13 Pipelining, 15 Erythema, 16 Nearside, 18 Mucosa, 20 Nylons, 22 Mega

For example: 24 = 3 × 8 60 = 5 × 4 × 3 which gives you: 6 x 7 x (3 x 8) x (5 x 4 x 3) x (5 x 2 x 3 x 2) which equals: 6×7×3×8×5×4×3×5×2×3×2

Quick quiz #21 Answers

GETTY IMAGES

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1 Infinity. It states that while the infinity of real numbers (all numbers you can order along a line) is larger than the infinity of just the integer numbers, there is no level of infinity between the two 2 The chimpanzee and the bonobo 3 Silicon dioxide, SiO₂ 4 The electronic transistor 5 Toes

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Quick quiz #21

Reorder and adjust this sequence, noticing that 10 = 5 × 2, and 9 = 3 × 3 = (5×2) × (3×3) × 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 = 10 × 9 × 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 = 10!

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