famous mystifier Peter Winklerinventedthe habit-forming word game , HIPE , with some Friend when they were Jnr in high school . While it may not have become the nightlong succeeder of Wordle , the game did earn Winkler admission to Harvard . According to his record , Mathematical Mind - Benders , he write a college admission essay about how his verbal diversionary attack sparked a local craze . Four years later , as a Harvard senior , Winkler take in an admissions citizens committee extremity quizzing a workfellow with HIPEs — and even prognosticate them HIPEs , a name the teen inventor had mint .
The object is simple . Given a string of letter of the alphabet like NSW , line up a word that contains those letter of the alphabet in order , with nothing else in between . The missive compounding often appear so unnatural that they could n’t possibly pass off in any distinctive English tidings , yet the resolution are plebeian . Have you figured out the answer to NSW ? I ’ve used it twice in this paragraph .
Did you neglect last week ’s teaser ? jibe it outhere , and find its solution at the bottom of today ’s article . Be careful not to read too far ahead if you have n’t solve last week ’s yet !
Image: Photo: Shutterstock Graphics: Vicky Leta
Puzzle #31: HIPE Me Up
For each chain of letters , find a Bible that bear that serial missive sequence .
BV
WKW
ONIG
SPB
RAOR
HQ
TANTAN
PTC
GUAG
I ’ll be back next Monday with the answers and a new mystifier . Do you know a nerveless puzzler that you think should be featured here ? Message me on X@JackPMurtaghor email me at[email protected ]
Solution to Puzzle #30: Survivor flags
Did you get ahead exemption for your federation of tribes inlast week’sreal Survivor puzzle ? Shout - out to Mike Webb for emailing me a nicely algorithmic presentation of the resolution .
The team that goes first can always force a winnings . thought back makes this well-to-do to lick . If it ’s ever your move and only one , two , or three flags rest , then you ’ve win because you could take all of the remain flags . But if four pin stay on on your turn , then you ’re in hassle , because no matter how many you take , the opposing tribe will be capable to advance on the next move .
So our medium destination will be to make four signal flag persist when the other tribe is to move . If it ’s our move when five , six , or seven fleur-de-lis stay , then we win by hold one , two , or three masthead , severally , leaving our resister with four . But again if it ’s our turn with eight flag remaining then we ’re in trouble , so we ’d also care it to be the opponent ’s turn when eight flags remain . When we keep call back like this , a pattern emerges : the squad to move when the rest number of flag is a multiple of four ( four , eight , 16 , or 20 ) loses .
So Tribe A wins by taking one flag on their first move , leaving 20 . Then no matter how many flagstone Tribe B take on , Tribe A will take a completing turn to reach the next multiple of four , for instance if Tribe B takes three flags , then 17 remain , and Tribe A will take 1 . go along this way , Tribe A can always make it Tribe B ’s turn when a multiple of four flags stay and can force a win .
Contestants in the real show did not figure this out , and in fact most of their move throughout the game pass on the winning advantage to the opposing squad ( who did n’t know what to do with it and pass on it right back ) . The squad that locomote first ended up losing . you could watch the dramahere .
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