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Problematics | Poetry in code

Sep 30, 2024 11:40 AM IST

Here are some verses in which every letter has been substituted with a different letter. Can you re-substitute them and find the original verses?

Quite a few readers have observed that last week’s puzzles were too easy, which in fact was something I had pointed out at the introduction itself. The idea was to have some fun, which I guess everyone did. In any case, the puzzles in this column have rarely been extremely tough, just enough to make us think and enjoy ourselves.

Welcome to Problematics!(Shutterstock)
Welcome to Problematics!(Shutterstock)

This week’s puzzles are probably not as easy as last week’s, but again it’s the readers who are the best judge of that. You will need to spend some time on the first one, but you will eventually get to the solution.

#Puzzle 110.1

LBKTC LKKMT WBCTC HAC P WBPRI P IRKL.

BPT BKFTC PT PR WBC OPUUHNC WBKFNB;

BC LPUU RKW TCC EC TWKZZPRN BCAC

WK LHWGB BPT LKKMT DPUU FZ LPWB TRKL.

EQ UPWWUC BKATC EFTW WBPRI PW VFCCA

WK TWKZ LPWBKFW H DHAEBKFTC RCHA

SCWLCCR WBC LKKMT HRM DAKYCR UHIC

WBC MHAICTW COCRPRN KD WBC QCHA.

BC NPOCT BPT BHARCTT SCUUT H TBHIC

WK HTI PD WBCAC PT TKEC EPTWHIC.

WBC KRUQ KWBCA TKFRM’T WBC TLCCZ

KD CHTQ LPRM HRM MKLRQ DUHIC.

WBC LKKMT HAC UKOCUQ, MHAI HRM MCCZ,

SFW P BHOC ZAKEPTCT WK ICCZ,

HRM EPUCT WK NK SCDKAC P TUCCZ,

HRM EPUCT WK NK SCDKAC P TUCCZ.

— AKSCAW DAKTW

In the above text, every letter represents a different letter. The text contains 24 letters in all, the exceptions being J and X, which do not appear either in the original or in the substitution.

If you make the correct substitutions and restore the original text, you will get some well-known verses. The name of the poet is at the end, also “encoded”.

Please decode the poem.

#Puzzle 110.2

A man has nine children, whose ages in integers are in arithmetic progression. That is to say, the children were born at regular intervals. If you square the age of each child ( no zeros here) and add the squares, you get the square of the age of the father (an integer, of course).

What are the ages of the father and the children? (Source: Henry Dudeney)

Note: There is a bonus puzzle below, included in Sanjay Gupta’s mail in response to last week’s puzzles.

MAILBOX: LAST WEEK’S SOLVERS

#Puzzle 109.1

Problematics
Problematics

Dear Kabir,

The playing cards A, 4, 2, 8, 5, 7 represent the number 142857, which is a cyclic number. These six digits repeat themselves in the decimal expansion of 1/7 = 0.142857142857…

When 142857 or 1/7 is multiplied by any digit less than 7, the same six digits will repeat themselves in the products, following the same cycling order, but each starting with a different digit. It is very easy for the magician to remember these starting digits. If the quotient is 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, the product will start with 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 respectively. The magician does this mentally, cuts the set at the appropriate card, and surprises the audience.

— YK Munjal, Delhi

While it is easy to memorise the starting digit as YK Munjal points out, it is even easier to work with the last digit. If 142857 is multiplied by 2, the last digit of the product must be 4; if 142857 is multiplied by 3, the last digit must be 1, and so on. The magician then cuts at the appropriate card.

#Puzzle 109.2

Really Kabir???

This one’s for 7th graders, I presume. The answer: Of the five little girls who get an apple each, one gets the basket too —with the apple in it!

Here’s the next version — for 8th graders: I have five apples to distribute and there are five little girls. I give an equal share of apples to each of the girls. Each girl I give an apple to eats it up instantly. Yet, there is one whole apple left with me. What share does each girl get?

— Sanjay Gupta, Delhi

Solved both puzzles: YK Munjal (Delhi), Sanjay Gupta (Delhi), Anil Khanna (Ghaziabad), Dr Sunita Gupta (Delhi), Yadvendra Somra (Sonipat), Kanwarjit Singh (Chief Commissioner of Income-Tax, retired), Shishir Gupta (Indore), Ajay Ashok (Delhi), Shri Ram Aggarwal (Delhi), Professor Anshul Kumar (Delhi), Aditya Krishnan (Coimbatore)

Problematics will be back next week. Please send in your replies by Friday noon to problematics@hindustantimes.com

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