The Games and Puzzles Journal, #7 - Mayhematics

-.rTHE GAMES AND PUZ'ZLES JOURhIA L.S klf-Documenting SentencesTom MARLOW writes: rrl can now almost guarantee to produce a self-documentingsentence containing specified words, given a day or two of computer time. I recentlymade one for the ion of a friend reading f...was created for...to mark his twenty firstbirthday...'. So if you have any request I can probably oblige." Any requests?Philip COHEN wrote that'self-documenting sentencesr is an index entrymagical Themas by Douglas Hofstadter.Unscrsbbleable WonlsThe universal opinion is that the shortest unscrabbleable word is P AZZAZZ, orthe same with I for ine first A (ootn are in Cltambers 1983)' More varied are nearlyunscrabbleable words - i.e. those requiring the use of two blanks. Which is the shortest?ii rno"iO mention that 'Scrabble' is a registlred trade mark of J.W.Spear & Sons plc.JEhementary WordsFsr anyone who is not uP to date withthe symbols f or the chemical elements(f or purposes of 'the Pfize Competitionannounced below) here is a sym m etricalversion of the periodic table as far asNobellium (I'm not up to date with theartificial elements beyoncl that point)'The coordinates are quantum numberstbut ltve forgotten their meanings.1H2He5B6C7N809F10 Ne3 Li4Be2L Sc22 Ti23V24 Cr25 Mn26 Fe27 Co28 Ni29 Cu30 Zn13 AIL4 Si15 P16 SL7 C11BA11 NaLZ Mq57 Lul58 Cel59 Prl60 Nd I61 Ptl62 Sml63 Eu'64 Gd65 Tb66 Dy67 Ho68 Er69 Tm70 Yb39 Yt40 Zr4L Nb42 Mo43 Tc44 Ru45 Rh46 Pd47 Ag48 Cd31 Ga32 Ge33 As34 Se35 Br36 Kr19 K20 Ca89 Ac90 Th91 Pa92U93 Np94 Pu95 Am96 Cm97 Bk98 Cf99 Es100 Fm101 MdL02, No7L Lu72 Hf73 Ta74 t^l75 Re76 0s77 I r78 Pt79 AuBO Hq49 In50 Sn51 Sb52 Te53 r54 Xe37 Rb38 Sr81 TI82 Pb83 Bi84 Po85 At86 Rn55 Cs56 Ba87 FrBB Ra1page 114in Meta-Code WonlsAnother 5-letter 'code word' (seepages 59 and 92) if we allow rePetitions,is ANANA (and hence alsoN ANA and ANA). Len Gordon alsoclaims TEPAL, but this is not inChambers (1983) nor the C.O.D.He adds these 3-let ter cases tothose already given: BOB, BUN,cAY, cuM, ELS, ERE, F'IL, GHI,HUH, HYP, INS, KOS, KUE, LAP,LEX, ODS, UTS, WAS.TwtgletongueThe f ollowing is a version of anold tongue-twister. You are askedto provide an aPpropriate answer!Theophllus Entwistle, the thriftyof f tctol thist Le-si"fter, sifted a slevefu'Lof unsi.fted thistles. Y et, 'whereis the sieve ful of erstwhile unsiftedthistles that Theophilus Entwistle 'the thrtfty unstfted thrs tLe si.f ter'offtciclly si.eved?T,1O PRIZE COMPETI.rIONA prize of uP to t10 worth of gamesor puzzles of your choice f rom ThePuzzLe Box is of f ered f or the bestset of solutions received to the 4word puzzles on Page 93 of the lastissue i.e. tClock Wordst, tDart Wordsr,IElementary Words' and 'Are YouGame ?' Answers to reach me bef ore1 5th Januarv L g 8 9. Editor's decisionis final on what is thought 'bestt.A f 5 prize will now be off ered f orthe best set of answers to the wordpuzzles in each issue, excludingthe cryptic crossword.