Q: If you punch 0-1-4-0 into a calculator, and turn it upside-down, you get the state OHIO. What numbers can you punch in a calculator, and turn upside-down, to get a state capital, a country and a country's capital?It's easier to solve this puzzle than it is to provide hints. Just focus on the letters BEGHILOSZ.
A: BOISE (35108), BELIZE (321738) and OSLO (0750)
For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.
You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't assist with solving. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the deadline. Thank you.
Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via a chain of thought, or an internet search) before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.
ReplyDeleteYou may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't give the answer away. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the Thursday deadline. Thank you.
To check your answer, type the 3 words in alphabetical order, in UPPERCASE and without spaces into the following MD5 hash generator (lower box). The result will be: 99CFA983C863F04FE67666A0D8012F1E
ReplyDeleteNifty keen! I wonder if there's a way to reverse-engineer the generator?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete@Ruth,
DeleteIt's a one-way hash. That means the same hash could be generated for a different input, but it is very unlikely to have a hash "collision". You can't get back to the input from the hash value which makes them great for verifying information without giving it away. However, in researching MD5 a little more, it seems that SHA-2 is now the recommended hash algorithm.
Isn't that the mathematical technique Bill Clinton's vice president used in order to dance so gracefully?
DeleteI am unable to follow in his footsteps because 618 05 51 3215 3045 514 !
ReplyDeleteNot so hard this week - check a few lists and Bob's your uncle !
ReplyDeleteMore upside-down alarm clocks. Oh well. I don’t need to check my answers – they’re all correct. One small thing, though. Evidently, the writer of this puzzle and Will Shortz are unaware that many newer calculators don’t display leading zeros.
ReplyDeleteChuck
Just enter 0.something, eg. 0.123.
DeleteI didn't realize before this that 2 on the calculator was accepted as a Z. The others have a passing resembling to the letters, but that Z has a diagonal that a calculator cannot make. But, OK, if that's so, I can easily ring an answer up.
ReplyDeleteActually there might be a 2nd unintended world capital out there.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how. I just looked through the entire list of world capitals, and besides the one and only expected answer, there is only one capital that misses by only one letter!
DeleteAll others have at least two letters which are not amongst the set of {B, E, G, H, I, L, O, S or Z}.
I stand corrected!
DeleteI posed the following on last week's blog several hours ago:
ReplyDeleteskydiveboy Sun Sep 14, 06:07:00 AM PDT
Not only is this easy to solve, but 5151 is a much more difficult problem to solve.
Yes. 5151 is as much a moving target as that other group.
Deletehttp://youtu.be/L3QjhA5CUHU
ReplyDeleteI was wondering who would be first to mention 136 x 39103..
DeleteWhile we're talking about interesting numbers, there is always 1729, which does not spell anything in particular upside-down, but is the basis for a memorable story about the great mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1729_(number).
Delete(4615)
ReplyDeleteKeep your eyes on the prize, no matter how hot it gets.
ReplyDeleteNice clue, Leo. I like the way you connect the dots.
DeleteBoys and girls, you'll really rack up the frequent flyer miles traveling high and low between these three locales.
ReplyDeleteBut before you go, please bring appropriate clothing for every possible type of weather you encounter when making this journey.
Also, dare I say it, at least one of these locales (I'm not going to say how many) has indirectly figured into at least one (again, I'm not going to say how many) previous challenges through the years.
Boys - BOISE
DeleteHigh and Low - OSLO
Please - BELIZE
Locale used previously: NORWAY, as part of WAYNE MANOR, Batman's residence, used in a challenge in the Fall of 2010
Topsy turvy factoring is different.
ReplyDeletebEZ, llZ, L, Z
I have a slight issue with “upside-down-2 = Z.” I’ve also a quibble, but less-so, with “upside-down-8 = B.” If you look at an inverted 8 it is not really a B unless you round off its northeast and southeast corners. OK, so then why can’t an inverted zero represent not only an O but also a D? And, inverted 9 looks a bit like an upper-case G, although who cares, we’ve already got inverted 6 as a lower-case g, and case doesn’t seem to matter much.
ReplyDelete(Blaine’s note this week about what letters are kosher was very helpful. Thanks Blaine. Glad you’re okay and back.)
That nit picked, I still found the three answers this week, and found the puzzle somewhat enjoyable. The average number of digits in the three answers is respectable. And not having R, N, T, A, and U on one’s palette limit’s the majesty of any multi-lettered words one may paint.
I then did, however, some 6N176006 to see how long a word/string of numbers I could find. There is the six-letter toponymic Greek 3751, of course (like canary or bikini), and the seven-letter Russian ballet academy.
Others:
What a minister often does at funerals or wakes (8 letters/numbers)
Word describing paradise after it is paved (8 letters/numbers)
Word often describing bachelors (8 letters/numbers)
Word describing a bad marriage (9 letters/numbers)
Word describing what Word Woman (aka Scientific Steph) does over on her excellent PEOTS blog.
(10 letters/numbers)
Then there is this semicolonned sentence which -- because “a,” “and,” “the,” “have,” “has,” and” and “are” etc. are verboten -- reads like a bad palindrome:
.53045 3507 530804 5537637 ;53045 55377334 ,55373705 804 ,32135 530804 55373045
Legoless… (55370637)
I thought the B came from an upside down 9, which on some digital alarm clocks and calculators looks like a lower case b.
DeleteOr is that a capital offense?
Just to add some fun, name a former capitol that fits the criteria. It is now in the US, but was never a state capitol.
0714
DeleteWouldn't that require a leiover?
Deletepure poi, son.
DeletePalmistree.
Deletea low ha.
DeleteRemember—Pineapples do not grow on Pine trees.
DeleteIzqb'j l yvlzy!
DeleteXRL
Why key KEY?
Because I can, I guess.
sdb,
Delete...or on Apple trees.
Paul,
Shore is. But death is that other b-word.
Keep your key in the input box along with your text, then use your key to decode it. In the output box, take what has become of your key and duplicate it (that's what I always do when I need a spare) and bring a nice souvenir home for a lady-friend.
LegoUmmaGumma
lego,
DeleteNor in Appalachia.
Z*gIILL*BBBg*OISZ*LIZg*EhOG*GS
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, the above may have been a tip-off to BOISE and BELIZE. Maybe I should have stuck with my earlier version:
DeleteZ*gII-
LL*BB-
Bg*OI
SZ*LI
Zg*Eh
OG*GS
Dispensing with the nonsense:
17.25, -88.77 Belmopan
43.62, -116.20 Boise
59.9, 10.68 Oslo
(4615)
HAGGIS ALERT!!!
ReplyDeleteStock up now on haggis. If Scotland chooses to secede prices could soar.
BOISE - (Pork) BELIZE - OSLO
ReplyDeleteState Capital – Boise – 35108
ReplyDeleteCountry – Belize – 321738
Country Capital – Oslo -0750
There should be an annual quota on upside-down alarm clock puzzles. My two cents.
Chuck
As in you want more in that quota, Chuck?! ;-)
DeleteWW, EE, MM, 33
35108 = BOISE
ReplyDelete321738 = BELIZE
0750 (0.750, for Chuck) = OSLO
I am unable to follow in his footsteps because:
¡618 05 51 3215 3045 514
HIS SHOE SIZE IS SO BIG!
Ditto
ReplyDelete> I just drove through the capital's state for the first time yesterday.
ReplyDeleteFrom West Yellowstone, MT, through Idaho, to Jackson Hole, WY.
Belize - Oslo - Boise
ReplyDeleteBELIZE OSLO BOISE
ReplyDeleteWe've been discussing turning letters around over at the 51st (!) posting of Partial Ellipsis of the Sun: TRUE NORTH
When benmar12001 posted on Sun Sep 14, at 10:31:00 AM PDT:
ReplyDeleteActually there might be a 2nd unintended world capital out there.
I replied on Sun Sep 14, at 02:22:00 PM PDT:
I don't see how. I just looked through the entire list of world capitals, and besides the one and only expected answer, there is only one capital that misses by only one letter!
All others have at least two letters which are not amongst the set of {B, E, G, H, I, L, O, S or Z}.
So what is the only one capital that misses by only one letter?
Answer: SEOUL (South Korea) could be represented upside-down on a calculator were it not for the U.
Does that make U the Seoul survivor?
DeleteAnd I had replied that you were correct.
DeleteWhat about DILI capital of Timor-Leste
DeleteThat was exactly what I was referring.
Deletebeautiful
DeleteIn my Monday 5:51 PM comment, I sought to find lengthy words that could be formed with inverted digital numbers.
ReplyDeleteThe six-letter toponymic Greek isle (3751) is Lesbos. The seven-letter Russian ballet academy is the Bolshoi.
Others:
What a minister often does at funerals or wakes (8 letters/numbers)
ELEGIZES
Word describing paradise after it is paved (8 letters/numbers)
SOILLESS (“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” -- Joni Mitchell)
Word often describing bachelors (8 letters/numbers)
ELIGIBLE
Word describing a bad marriage (9 letters/numbers)
BLISSLESS
Word describing what Word Woman (aka Scientific Steph) does over on her excellent PEOTS blog. (10 letters/numbers)
GEOLOGIZES
LegoElegizesSobs
Lego, I awaited your 10-letter answer with baited breath. James Hutton geologized, I geologal. ;-)
DeleteWith what did you bait your breath? I find worms gross; my friend, Kermit, says time's fun when you're having flies. Speaking of which, the guide on our Snake River raft trip decorated the sun visor in his van with dry flies and lures he's found snagged on driftwood on the river.
DeleteThe van ride sounds lurid.
DeleteHere's another trick of Doctor Dementia to test your skills...
ReplyDeleteCan you meet this challenge?
Good example of a Brain Study: If you
can read this OUT LOUD you have a strong mind. And better than that:
Alzheimer's is a long long, way down the road before it ever gets
anywhere near you.
7H15 M3554G3
53RV35 7O PR0V3
H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N
D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!
1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG
17 WA5 H4RD BU7
N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3
Y0UR M1ND 1S
R34D1NG 17
4U70M471C4LLY
W17H 0U7 3V3N
7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,
B3 PROUD! 0NLY
C3R741N P30PL3 C4N
R3AD 7H15.
PL3453 F0RW4RD 1F
U C4N R34D 7H15.
Only great minds can read this. This is weird, but interesting!
If you can read this, you have a strange mind, too.
Can you read this? Olny 55 people out of 100 can.
I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a
word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer
be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still
raed it whotuit a pboerlm. This is bcuseaethe huamn mnid deos not raed
ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and
I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed this forward it.
Interesting and amusing, sure, but I'd like to see the peer-reviewed, randomized-control study that proves any relation to reduced Alzheimer's risk.
Deleteron,
DeleteThanks for posting. Enjoyable and fascinating.
But I hvae a finleeg taht Bvnaaleliisnis wlil psas wtih fynilg crloos tihs elenexlct emalxpe of a biarn sduty. I sotnrlgy ssguegt taht most of you beogrlgs are on the bensusis end of the Blel Cvrue.
LgeoLdmaba
Yes, thank you, ron, for this fun exercise. I had just returned from a climate change/tar sands demonstration at the Kanadian border at the Blaine Peace Arch and did not say it out loud, but read them both silently without any difficulty at all, and even much faster than I normally read text. Then I cooked and ate dinner and went back and read both aloud after mucho Portuguese wine without any difficulty again, but a bit slower than when I read them silently. I can't remember if I have that memory disease I forget the name of though.
DeleteNext week's challenge: Name a famous actor best known for tough-guy roles. The first five letters of his first name and the first four letters of his last name are the first five and four letters, respectively, in the first and last names of a famous author. Who is the actor, and who is the author?
ReplyDeleteTough, but not too tuff. . .
DeleteAre we to take it that these letters remain in order during the transformation, or that they are free to wander within the outlined confines?
ReplyDeleteYes, they remain in order and I already have the answer. Easier than I thought it would be.
DeleteThe letters remain in the same order. Having failed to come up with a clever clue, I'll simply say the author came from a famous family - the actor from a much larger one.
ReplyDeletethe answer to this week's puzzleis probably not Alexander Pope
ReplyDeleteWhen you solve it, you might ask yourself for whom the bell told.
ReplyDelete