Author |
Topic: ABW II The sports page (Read 2104 times) |
|
Noke Lieu
Uberpuzzler
pen... paper... let's go! (and bit of plastic)
Gender: 
Posts: 1884
|
 |
Re: ABW II The sports page
« Reply #25 on: Feb 1st, 2005, 3:13pm » |
 Quote  Modify
|
eh? Please explain?
|
|
 IP Logged |
a shade of wit and the art of farce.
|
|
|
Icarus
wu::riddles Moderator
Uberpuzzler
Boldly going where even angels fear to tread.
Gender:
Posts: 4863
|
|
Re: ABW II The sports page
« Reply #26 on: Feb 1st, 2005, 3:16pm » |
Quote Modify
|
So the sports page was a red herring? Why did he lay out the sports page when his purpose was simply to say "score"? Or did Asimov not address this?
|
|
IP Logged |
"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
|
|
|
SWF
Uberpuzzler
Posts: 879
|
|
Re: ABW II The sports page
« Reply #27 on: Feb 1st, 2005, 5:55pm » |
Quote Modify
|
I can see how score=20, but also miss the relevance of the sports page. Maybe it is to give a clue that the word is score (but causing confusion in the process).
Although it is BNC's approved answer I like some of the others better. Turns out there was a single "socer score" on September 10, 1960. Yugoslavia defeated Denmark 3-1 for the gold medal in Olympic soccer.
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
Padzok
Junior Member
Gender:
Posts: 104
|
|
Re: ABW II The sports page
« Reply #28 on: Feb 1st, 2005, 6:21pm » |
Quote Modify
|
Is that the final answer (20), or is there more?
Its clever that there is a double clue to the same result, of course.
But was there any reason not to spell the six letters of "twenty" rather than the five he did pull out? 
|
|
IP Logged |
|
|
|
BNC
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 1732
|
|
Re: ABW II The sports page
« Reply #29 on: Feb 2nd, 2005, 3:02pm » |
Quote Modify
|
Hey, don't shoot the messenger...
Don't have the time now, will reply with Asimov's full answer later.
[e]
OK, this is "later". Here is what Asimov had to say:
on April 1977, Asimov wrote:
"Ah," said Pentili, "then it comes to Henry in the end. What does all this mean, Henry?"
Henry, who had been remaining silently at the sideboard throughout the discussion, said, "I cannot say, sir, unless the number 20 would be of signify-"
He was interrupted by a suddenly frowning Pentili. "Twenty! Is that a guess, Henry?"
"Not entirely, sir. Is it significant, then?"
"Significant? I've spent years gloomily suspecting he was trying to tell us twenty. Twenty meant 'government in firm control.' I haven't mentioned twenty in the course of the story, have I?"
There was a chorused negative.
"<snip>But I don't see how you get twenty out of this, Henry."
"Why, sir, if it is true that Mr. Stepan was only moderately knowledgeable in baseball, then he would see on the sports page only what other moderately knowledgeable people would see like myself, for instance. As Mr. Gonzalo would say, I speak from ignorance when I say that all I see on the sports page is the result of the games the score in other words and that brings 'twenty' rather forcibly to mind."
<Snipped section about "Fourscore and seven years ago">
Pentili looked disappointed. "It's a clever notion, Henry, but not convincing. Too bad."
"It becomes convincing, sir, when you realize that the Scrabble letters also signify twenty."
<snip>
"I'm not thinking of Russian words," said Henry. "As you have said, habits are hard to break even at the point of death, and Mr. Stepan must have found himself using Russian letters
"
"The Cyrillic alphabet," said Rubin.
"Yes, Mr. Rubin. Now <snip> the Russian 'c' is equivalent to our 's' and the Russian 'p' is equivalent to out 'r' <snip> and the Russian 'k' is equivalent to our hard 'c' so that in our letters, 'epock' becomes 'erosc', and that can be rearranged to read 'score.' "
|
|
Now, the other solution (suggested by his readers) does not involve numbers... and it does required "some" knowledge of baseball. Note that I know next to nothing about the game, but the readers wrote to Asimov that "Any person 'moderately familiar' with baseball is <the other answer>". Care to give this a try?
[/e]
|
| « Last Edit: Feb 3rd, 2005, 8:24am by BNC » |
IP Logged |
How about supercalifragilisticexpialidociouspuzzler [Towr, 2007]
|
|
|
BNC
Uberpuzzler
Gender:
Posts: 1732
|
|
Re: ABW II The sports page
« Reply #30 on: Feb 3rd, 2005, 8:27am » |
Quote Modify
|
Sorry for the double post... just wanted to let you know I entered Asimov's solution...
|
|
IP Logged |
How about supercalifragilisticexpialidociouspuzzler [Towr, 2007]
|
|
|
|
RIDDLES SITE
WRITE MATH!
Home 
Help 
Search 
Members 
Login 
Register
Reply
Notify of replies
Send Topic
Print