games + puzzles
Grab a pencil and get comfortable. This issue is prime beach material - and because next week precedes July 4 and there will be no magazine, you have two weeks to play with it. For starters, Conceptis, a leading supplier of puzzles like Sudoku to publications worldwide, gave us a few more crazy puzzles. We also tapped two of our own puzzlers, Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, for some non-crossword games, and we got some fun contributions from local trivia and puzzle fiends. Have fun, good luck chasing the prizes we've got waiting, and let me know what you think at dmost@globe.com.
MAZE-A-PIX
MONSTER MAZE
Now here's a maze that would have kept you busy for an entire school day, but this one comes with a twist. Find the true path from the entrance to the exit (use a pencil). Once you've found it, shade in everything outside of it, leaving just the path white. Then see if you recognize the face. Unless you've been living behind a giant wall (hint!), you should.
- By Conceptis Puzzles
SPORTS TRIVIA QUIZ
Answer these and win a cool prize! (See below.)
1. Name the two athletes who were teammates and roommates at the University of Southern California in the 1970s and earned MVP honors as pro athletes in the same year in football and baseball. The first name for one of them is the last name for the other (and one of them played in Boston).
2. In their history, the New England Patriots have played home games at six different fields. Name them.
3. How many times has a Boston Celtics player led the NBA in scoring? 4. What is the longest-running US intercollegiate sports event?
5. Since 1970, three left-handers have won the NBA Most Valuable Player award. Who are they? (Hint, one was a Celtic.)
6. Who made the NBA's first 3-point shot?
7. There are only two days of the year in which there are no professional baseball, football, hockey, or basketball games. What are they?
8. In head-to-head competition over the past 100 years, which team has had the longest winning streak against the other: the Red Sox or the Yankees? (Hint: The streak lasted for 17 games.)
ACROSTIC PUZZLE
COLLISION COURSE
Answer the clues, one letter per blank, and then transfer those letters to like-numbered squares in the diagram to spell a quotation from author Bill Bryson. The first letters of the clue answers spell the name of Bryson's book.
- By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
NEW ENGLAND TRIVIA QUIZ
From popes to parks to presidents. By Jon Marcus
1. What New England state was the scene of a Civil War battle?
2. Where in Boston is the first US territory ever stepped on by a Catholic pope?
3. What New Englander is "Uncle Sam"?
4. Where in Boston was baseball's first World Series?
5. What New England town is the basis for "Riverdale" of the Archie comic books?
6. Where was the very first Macy's store?
7. What four US presidents were born in Greater Boston?
8. How did Massachusetts get its name?
9. Where in New England was the only place in America shelled by the enemy during World War I?
10. Where in New England are the world's highest tides?
PIC-A-PIX
SPOOKY STUFF
Remember the game Battleship? This has elements of that. Here's how you play: Each number at right represents the length of a filledin block in that row. The number 3 means somewhere in that row, there are 3 boxes in a row filled in. Your challenge is finding which 3. There is always at least one empty square between blocks. And the blocks are in the same sequence as the numbers. A few tips: Start off with large blocks and look for overlaps. Never guess. Only fill in the ones you know. When you complete a block, mark off the corresponding number, and when you complete a row or column, check it off . When you're done, you should see a figure from Massachusetts's past.
- By Conceptis Puzzles
ALPHABETICAL SUDOKU
FROM A TO Z
If you like Sudoku, you'll love this one. The crossword grid can be completed by adding 26 letters - each letter of the alphabet once, with no repeats. The alphabet is printed out at right so that you can check off the letters as you solve. Once the grid is filled with common, uncapitalized words reading across and down, transfer the letters in the numbered squares to their corresponding blanks, and you'll spell out something familiar to Bostonians.
- By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
LOGIC PUZZLE
THAT'S SWEET
There's a big jar in Mr. Elliot's Sweet Ecstasy candy shop, in downtown Millersville. The jar is filled to bursting with M&Ms in a rainbow of colors. There's a small sign before the jar that reads, "Take a guess! The one closest to the number of M&Ms in the jar by Saturday night wins the whole jarful!" His jar of M&Ms has been the favorite subject of discussion all week in Mrs. Field's class. Finally, she suggested that the class take a scientific approach and try to figure out how many M&Ms were in the jar by running a series of experiments. For example, they could fill up smaller bottles with M&Ms and then estimate how much bigger Mr. Elliot's jar was by comparison. Then they'd have a more accurate guess and hence a better chance of winning the prize. Five of the students thought this was a fine idea. Since one of them won, and all of them were fairly close, Mrs. Field's suggestion must have helped! Determine the full name of each of these students (one student was named Grace), what each one's final guess was, and which one won the jar for the closest guess.
NOTE: The actual number of M&Ms in the jar is NOT one of the numbers listed in the puzzle. The numbers in the puzzle are the closest guesses to the actual number, and include the guess which won the jar.
1. Ms. Black's guess, which was 787, was the farthest away from the right number of M&Ms.
2. Zach, whose last name wasn't Plummer, guessed higher than the person who guessed 674 M&Ms, but lower than Mr. Wild guessed.
3.The person who won the jar of M&Ms guessed an even number. Joe's last name wasn't Horn. Mr. Smith didn't guess 750. Cindy's guess was smaller than Adam's guess.
4. Joe didn't guess 685. Adam, whose last name wasn't Wild, guessed 700 M&Ms.
5. The winning number was higher than Mr. Smith's guess.
6. Adam's last name wasn't Horn. Zach's last name wasn't Smith.
WORD FIND
SEEING THE SIGHTS
Starting in one corner of this grid and ending in another is a path revealing five famous spots in Boston. The path goes from square to square up, down, left, and right, but never diagonally. No square is used more than once. However, the path steers around 12 scattered squares whose letters do not belong to the famous sites. These 12 letters, taken in order from left to right and top to bottom, spell a phrase descriptive of the tourist's path.
- By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
MISSING LETTER
TOWN SQUARES
Each of the nine 3x3 areas below contains the name of a Massachusetts town reading clockwise or counterclockwise around an empty central square. But each town is missing one letter. As you find the identity of a town, write its missing letter in the central square. When you're done, the nine letters will name the larger area in which these towns are located.
- By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
"COLLISION COURSE" ANSWERS
A. Left-handed B. Oldie C. Synonyms D. Tea party E. Charles F. Odd G. Neighbors H. Trash I. Ipswich J. No-show K. Essay L. Newsboy M. Tragic
"Boston's freeway system . . . was clearly designed by a person who had spent his childhood crashing toy trains." - from Lost Continent by Bill Bryson
"TOWN SQUARES" ANSWERS
CAMBRIDGE, BILLERICA, WAKEFIELD, DUNSTABLE, ARLINGTON, PEPPERELL, TEWKSBURY, WATERTOWN, and LEXINGTON. Central letters spell the county, MIDDLESEX.
"THAT'S SWEET" ANSWERS
Adam Smith, 700, no Cindy Plummer, 674, no Grace Black, 787, no Joe Wild, 750, won! Zach Horn, 685, no Note: The jar actually contained 727 M&Ms.
"NEW ENGLAND TRIVIA" ANSWERS
1. On October 19, 1864, Confederate cavalrymen snuck across the border from Canada and seized St. Albans, Vermont, in a desperate bid to distract Union troops from their last triumphant push through the South. One resident was killed before the rebels were chased away by a posse led by a Union major home on leave.
2. Pope Pius IX stood on the deck of the USS Constitution when the ship visited Naples on a good-will tour in 1849.
3. Although he didn't have a white beard or wear a high hat, Arlington meat packer Samuel Wilson provided casks of beef marked with the monogram "US" for American troops during the War of 1812, and the legend began that the initials stood for "Uncle Sam" Wilson. Congress made it official in 1961: Sam Wilson was Uncle Sam.
4. Not at Fenway, but on the Huntington Avenue Grounds, home of the Boston Pilgrims, later to become the Red Sox. Left field was bordered by Huntington Avenue, right field by Gainsborough Street. Cy Young pitched for the Pilgrims against Pittsburgh in the best-of-nine series in October 1903; Boston won in eight games. A piece of granite behind Northeastern University's Cabot Cage marks the site of home plate.
5. Haverhill, hometown of artist Bob Montana. Archie, Veronica, Jughead, and the gang were inspired by Montana's fellow students in the Haverhill High School class of 1940.
6. Not in New York City, but in Haverhill, where R.H. Macy got his start in the retail business by opening a dry goods store at 70 Merrimack Street in 1851. Macy sold the store in 1858 and moved to New York. The first Macy's parade was also held not in New York City, but to mark Independence Day on July 4, 1854, in Haverhill.
7. John Adams and John Quincy Adams, who were born in what is now Quincy; John F. Kennedy, who was born in Brookline; and George Herbert Walker Bush, who was born at 173 Adams Street in Milton on June 12, 1924.
8. The state was named for an unimpressive-looking arrowhead-shaped knoll in Quincy that Native Americans called Moswetuset Hummock-"mos" for "arrowhead," and "wetuset" for "hill." The spot is now part of the Wollaston Beach Reservoir.
9. The German submarine U-156 turned its guns on Orleans on July 21, 1918. Curious residents rushed to the beach to watch as the shells landed harmlessly behind them until the Navy launched a seaplane to scare the sub away. A plaque off Nauset Heights Road marks the site where the shells fell.
10. Eastport, Maine, boasts the highest tides in the world at 29 feet, so huge there was a local industry in scuttling old ships at high tide, then scavenging them on the beach. These vast fluctuations also create the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, the Old Sow, which comes alive beginning two hours before each high tide.
"SEEING THE SIGHTS" ANSWERS
Starting in the southeast corner, the path reveals OLD CORNER BOOKSTORE, FANEUIL HALL, BUNKER HILL MONUMENT, BOSTON COMMON, and STATE HOUSE. Extra letters spell FREEDOM TRAIL.
