NPR Puzzle 1/29/12 - The Line Up

Here's this week's NPR puzzle:

Write the digits from 1 to 9 in a line. If you put a plus sign after the 2, a times sign after the 4, and plus signs after the 6 and 8, the line shows 12 + 34 x 56 + 78 + 9, which equals 2003. That's nine years off from our current year 2012. This example uses four arithmetic symbols. The object is to use just three of the following arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, in a line from 1 to 9 to get 2012 exactly. The operations should be performed in order from left to right. There are no tricks to this puzzle. Can you do it?

Well, we think we can. We just haven't yet. Check back on Thursday...

If you solved it, I know you were smart enough to submit your answer at the correct NPR form.

It's me (Magdalen) again. Ross did a wonderful job filling in for me while I was away in Maine for my MFA program, and then I got even more time off thanks to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary gap last Sunday. But I'm glad to be back now. Of course I am. ;-)

Photos of numbers are easy; let's see if I can get some arithmetic symbols...and the answer is no (or at least I can't figure out how you find them). So here are some numbers, starting with 12:34:56 on 7/8/09:

I assure you, if any of those numbers are in the final answer, it's purely coincidental!

Time for...

This is where we ask you how many entries you think NPR will get for the challenge above.  If you want to win, leave a comment with your guess for the range of entries NPR will receive.  First come first served, so read existing comments before you guess.  Ross and I guess last, just before we publish the Thursday post.  After the Thursday post is up, the entries are closed.  The winner gets a puzzle book of our unspecified choosing.

This week, there were 580 entries; you were ALL winners, in one sense of the word. (In another sense, all but one of you were losers. Sorry.)  Alas, no one won the Pick a Range for last week. (I think. I reserve the right to edit this if I heard the number wrong.)

Here are the ranges:

Fewer than 50        51 - 100 101 - 150 151 - 200 201 - 250 251 - 300 301 - 350 351 - 400 401 - 450 451 - 500 501 - 550 551 - 600 601 - 650 651 - 700 701 - 750 751 - 800 801 - 850 851 - 900 901 - 950 951 - 1,000

1,001 - 1,050          1,051 - 1,100 1,101 - 1,150 1,151 - 1,200 1,201 - 1,250 1,251 - 1,300 1,301 - 1,350 1,351 - 1,400 1,401 - 1,450 1,451 - 1,500 1,501 - 1,550 1,551 - 1,600 1,601 - 1,650 1,651 - 1,700 1,701 - 1,750 1,751 - 1,800 1,801 - 1,850 1,851 - 1,900 1,901 - 1,950 1,951 - 2,000

2,001 - 2,050 2,051 - 2,100 2,101 - 2,150 2,151 - 2,200 2,201 - 2,250 2,251 - 2,300 2,301 - 2,350 2,351 - 2,400 2,401 - 2,450 2,451 - 2,500 2,501 - 2,750 2,751 - 3,000 3,001 - 3,250 3,251 - 3,500 3,501 - 4,000 4,001 - 4,500 4,501 - 5,000 More than 5,000 More than 5,000 and it sets a new record.

Our tie-break rule:   In the event that a single round number is announced, AND two separate people picked the ranges leading up to and leading up from that round number, the prize will be awarded to whichever entrant had not already won a prize, or in the event that both entrants had won a prize already or neither had, then to the earlier of the two entries on the famous judicial principle of "First Come First Serve," (or in technical legal jargon, "You Snooze, You Lose").  And yes, this rule is most-likely obsolete but I just like having fine print. 

NPR Puzzle 1/15/12 - American Idol

Although Magdalen's been back in circulation a few days, this is Crossword Man finishing up where I left off two Sundays ago, with my thoughts on this NPR "creative" challenge:

Combine the titles of some TV shows, past or present, into an amusing sentence or statement. For example: "TODAY / SISTERS / NAME THAT TUNE / FATHER KNOWS BEST," "DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES / BEWITCHED / MY THREE SONS / ONE DAY AT A TIME," "I'VE GOT A SECRET / MURDER, SHE WROTE / THE F.B.I." Entries will be judged on their sense, naturalness of syntax, humor, originality, familiarity of the TV shows named, and overall effect. No more than three sentences per entry, please.

Some commenters prefer the puzzles with a definite answer, but I recall these challenges have been popular in the past. I'm definitely going to aim high in the Pick a Range this week.

Great to hear the 10-minute special for the 25th anniversary of the NPR Sunday Puzzle: we sometimes moan and groan about certain of Will Shortz's ideas, but overall The NPR Sunday Puzzle is one of America's Most Venerable Institutions, which we should all be proud of. Will's stamina calls to mind that of the British crossword compiler Jonathan Crowther, who has been cranking out the amazing Azed cryptic for over 35 years and is now well past number 2000 in that series.

Magdalen and I tried to come up with some example sentences and found the lack of verbs troublesome, but then we didn't look outside Time's Top 100 TV Shows. Here's the best we did:

• Wiseguy / lost / the office / soap
• Six feet under / second city, television / roots / lost / 24/60 minutes
• The honeymooners / see it now: / sex! ... and the city / cheers

Let us know what you came up with.

Here are the answers to my picture/number puzzles:

Roots

Leave It To Beaver

Cheers

M*A*S*H

Lost

7  123423478763639
The Odd Couple

2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29 31 37 39?
Prime Suspect

Time for ...

Here are this week's picks:

Fewer than 50  51 - 100 101 - 150 151 - 200 201 - 250 -- Marie 251 - 300 301 - 350 -- Skydiveboy 351 - 400 -- Curtis 401 - 450 -- Joe Kupe 451 - 500 -- Magdalen   501 - 550 551 - 600 601 - 650 651 - 700 701 - 750 751 - 800 -- Ross 801 - 850 851 - 900 901 - 950 951 - 1,000

1,001 - 1,050 -- David 1,051 - 1,100 1,101 - 1,150 1,151 - 1,200 1,201 - 1,250 1,251 - 1,300 1,301 - 1,350 1,351 - 1,400 1,401 - 1,450 1,451 - 1,500 1,501 - 1,550 1,551 - 1,600 1,601 - 1,650 1,651 - 1,700 1,701 - 1,750 1,751 - 1,800 1,801 - 1,850 1,851 - 1,900 1,901 - 1,950 1,951 - 2,000

2,001 - 2,050 2,051 - 2,100 2,101 - 2,150 2,151 - 2,200 2,201 - 2,250 2,251 - 2,300 2,301 - 2,350 2,351 - 2,400 2,401 - 2,450 2,451 - 2,500 2,501 - 2,750 2,751 - 3,000 3,001 - 3,250 3,251 - 3,500 3,501 - 4,000 4,001 - 4,500 4,501 - 5,000 More than 5,000 More than 5,000 and it sets a new record.

Our tie-break rule:  In the event that a single round number is announced, AND two separate people picked the ranges leading up to and leading up from that round number, the prize will be awarded to whichever entrant had not already won a prize, or in the event that both entrants had won a prize already or neither had, then to the earlier of the two entries on the famous judicial principle of "First Come First Serve," (or in technical legal jargon, "You Snooze, You Lose"). 

NPR Puzzle 1/15/12 - Willin' to be Illin'

This is Crossword Man blogging for Magdalen again. The hot news is that she is driving home later today, a day earlier than expected (yay!). M will take over the NPR blog posts from when the next puzzle is read out on air.

So I managed to guess the right answer to last week's NPR puzzle without realizing it, although I didn't get bumper as the six-letter term, it being unaccountably absent from the Bowler's Paradise glossary. The problem with a puzzle like this is that the terminology associated with very popular games isn't clearly defined, making it hard for those not aficionados.

As they said on the show, a difficult puzzle. An interesting and welcome development is that the total number of entries (230) and number deemed correct (almost 140) were announced. I forget now if we award Pick a Range prizes based on the total or correct entries, but happily both figures fall into gaps in the guesses ... no prize today.

If you haven't yet seen The Colbert Report's segment on the wack/illin' kerfuffle, here it is:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

This week's NPR puzzle is one of their occasional "creative" ones, since Something Is Afoot for next Sunday's show: congratulations to Weekend Edition Sunday and Will Shortz on their 25th anniversary!

This is a special two-week creative challenge. Combine the titles of some TV shows, past or present, into an amusing sentence or statement. For example: "TODAY / SISTERS / NAME THAT TUNE / FATHER KNOWS BEST," "DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES / BEWITCHED / MY THREE SONS / ONE DAY AT A TIME," "I'VE GOT A SECRET / MURDER, SHE WROTE / THE F.B.I." Entries will be judged on their sense, naturalness of syntax, humor, originality, familiarity of the TV shows named, and overall effect. No more than three sentences per entry, please.

As usual, Submit Your Answer to NPR first, but please share the fruits of your hard work with us when the next post appears after the deadline for entries closes on Thursday January 26. Probably only the winner and one or two runners-up sentences will be read out on air, but we'd like to see everything you creative folks come up with.

Here's a related picture puzzle. Each of these pictures is a clue to one of the top 100 TV shows of all time, as listed by TIME TV critic James Poniewozik. As usual, clicking on the image will take you to the corresponding flickr page, which will tell you the answer:

Here's a final two clued with numbers:

7  123423478763639

2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29 31 37 39?

Which brings us to ....

This is where we ask you how many entries you think NPR will get for the challenge above.  If you want to win, leave a comment with your guess for the range of entries NPR will receive.  First come first served, so read existing comments before you guess.  Magdalen and I guess last, just before we publish the Thursday post.  After the Thursday post is up, the entries are closed.  The winner gets a puzzle book of our unspecified choosing.

Here are the ranges:

Fewer than 50        51 - 100 101 - 150 151 - 200 201 - 250 251 - 300 301 - 350 351 - 400 401 - 450 451 - 500 501 - 550 551 - 600 601 - 650 651 - 700 701 - 750 751 - 800 801 - 850 851 - 900 901 - 950 951 - 1,000

1,001 - 1,050          1,051 - 1,100 1,101 - 1,150 1,151 - 1,200 1,201 - 1,250 1,251 - 1,300 1,301 - 1,350 1,351 - 1,400 1,401 - 1,450 1,451 - 1,500 1,501 - 1,550 1,551 - 1,600 1,601 - 1,650 1,651 - 1,700 1,701 - 1,750 1,751 - 1,800 1,801 - 1,850 1,851 - 1,900 1,901 - 1,950 1,951 - 2,000

2,001 - 2,050 2,051 - 2,100 2,101 - 2,150 2,151 - 2,200 2,201 - 2,250 2,251 - 2,300 2,301 - 2,350 2,351 - 2,400 2,401 - 2,450 2,451 - 2,500 2,501 - 2,750 2,751 - 3,000 3,001 - 3,250 3,251 - 3,500 3,501 - 4,000 4,001 - 4,500 4,501 - 5,000 More than 5,000 More than 5,000 and it sets a new record.

Our tie-break rule:   In the event that a single round number is announced, AND two separate people picked the ranges leading up to and leading up from that round number, the prize will be awarded to whichever entrant had not already won a prize, or in the event that both entrants had won a prize already or neither had, then to the earlier of the two entries on the famous judicial principle of "First Come First Serve," (or in technical legal jargon, "You Snooze, You Lose").  And yes, this rule is most-likely obsolete but I just like having fine print.