columbus area mensa, col-m, puzzles, 2002 september

Puzzles
—
by Dick Nuenke

Check out Quest for more brain exercising.

The first August cryptogram was:

A NEWSPAPER IS A CIRCULATING LIBRARY WITH HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE — ARTHUR BAER

Baer (1897? - ) was an American comic columnist and short story writer.

The second cryptogram was

COLONOSCOPY: A VIDEO CAMERA ON THE END OF A ROTO-ROOTER.

From the Dennis Miller show. Regrettably, the word CAMERA was added at the end as was the code for John Donne. How all that stuff got into my pajamas I'll never know.

Correct answers to both cryptograms came from Delmar Burkitt, Andrzej Derdzinski, John Jackson, Alma Litten, Julia Minturn, Carla Nuenke, Kevin Skehan, Jeff Wolfe, and Sally Yocom.

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The third puzzle dealt with a card game which Delmar said was a version of the game "Rage". The final total was 72. Correct answers came from Delmar Burkitt, Andrzej Derdzinski, Bob Kaplan, and Jeff Wolfe.

This is the first of two cryptograms. Each letter stands for a different letter in the decoded message. Answers next month.

S A P J Z V E N B P N C P D Z S P V D A P B N C I P W E - N C - D W Y P L Z S D P Z E T S D D Z W S C H U N Z D A P Y Q J W E N U E A J I P E Y P J Z P, T R D J Q Q A P H N D L J E D A P G N Q Q P G D P V L N Z I E N U U Z J C G S E T J G N C.

— T S Q Q A S Z E D

The second cryptogram is much harder but I think appropriate for 9/11. The last two words represent a source rather than an author. There is one hidden clue as well.

Z U S, V C F D B F B D A F W F P M U W R U G M P U C C U I F M B!

— J G W V F M B Q E K L F M

This puzzle is by Peter Morris from the column Enigma in the New Scientist by permission.

In the words and capital letters below, different letters, as usual, represent different digits and the same letter always represents the same digit.

If you add together consecutive pairs of the digits of ENIGMA (E + N, N + I, I + G, and so on), the results will be WRONG (if they are right). Send in NOW.

Now here's one from the same source by Mark Bryant for which I have the answer, but don't understand why it is correct and more importantly, why is is a unique solution. Perhaps the mathematically inclined among you can explain.

A man buys a new briefcase which enables him to choose any number of any length for his lock combination (as long as it had more than one digit and didn't start with zero). To make it easy to remember the combination (sure) the digits are all different and when reversed give a multiple of the original number. The man's father also bought a similar briefcase, and being of similar mind chose a different combination with the same properties. His combination turned out to be a multiple of the son's combination. What multiple?

Correct answers and puzzle solvers will appear next month. Send answers by September 18th to Dick Nuenke; 1460 Kingsgate Rd.; Columbus, OH 43221 or call in to 614-326-0452; fax to 614-292-4118; or e-mail to rnuenke@columbus.rr.com.