October is a busy month for two kinds of people. Horror fans rewatch their favourite films in building up to Halloween, even though there is no reason not to watch them at other times of the year. And the scientific community keenly follows which stalwarts in their respective fraternities win the Nobel Prizes for Medicine, Physics and Chemistry early in the month.
The Nobel Prizes have a more immediate context at the beginning of the month. We may have a puzzle based on horror films closer to Halloween, but let us look at the Nobels first.
#Puzzle 215.1
Let’s take a peek into the future. The year is 2076 and the Nobel prizes are being discussed on prime time by a panel of five experts, themselves Nobel laureates from previous years of the same decade. This is what we know of the laureates and the seating arrangement:
(1) A laureate from 2071 is sitting side by side with the laureate wearing orange.
(2) A laureate from 2072 is sitting somewhere right of the laureate dressed in purple.
(3) A laureate from 2073, a winner wearing red, the laureate who won for Economics, and the one from Bolivia are four different persons.
(4) A 2074 laureate is in one of the three middle positions, between the laureate from Brazil somewhere to the left and the 2071 laureate somewhere to the right.
{{/usCountry}}(4) A 2074 laureate is in one of the three middle positions, between the laureate from Brazil somewhere to the left and the 2071 laureate somewhere to the right.
{{/usCountry}}(5) A 2075 laureate is from Belgium.
(6) Mr Boson is sitting immediately left of the laureate in purple, with Madame Muon sitting somewhere right of both.
(7) Miss Neutrino, who doesn’t like sitting in the middle, is at one of the corners of the row.
(8) Mrs Antiproton is sitting somewhere right of Mr Boson who, in turn, is somewhere right of the Chemistry laureate.
(9) The laureate sitting far right won for Medicine.
(10) The laureate from Bhutan is sitting immediately left of the laureate from Benin.
(11) Master Quark is from Belgium.
(12) The laureate from Brazil is wearing green.
(13) The laureate from Benin is sitting immediately left of the laureate in orange.
(14) The laureate sitting far right is wearing brown.
(15) The laureate from 2075 won for Physics.
(16) The Literature laureate is sitting second from left.
(17) Miss Neutrino won for Chemistry.
Can you work out the seating arrangement from left to right, with the name, field, country, dress colour and winning year of each laureate? In tabular form, please.
#Puzzle 215.2
Two children play a game of tic-tac-toe, with the first player entering Xs and the second using Os. They complete the 3 x 3 grid with the game ending in a draw. The central column contains only one X. The central row contains only one X.
Show the complete grid with all five Xs and all four Os.
MAILBOX: LAST WEEK’S SOLVERS
#Puzzle 214.1
Here is a Mumbai reader’s solution to a puzzle that is based in Mumbai:
Hi Kabir,
Sunset Boulevard: Pirated version bought from Malad in 2005. Original DVD bought from Andheri.
Rear Window: Pirated version bought from Andheri in 2003. Original DVD bought from Bandra.
Roman Holiday: Pirated version bought from Bandra in 2004. Original DVD bought from Malad.
— Sabornee Jana, Mumbai
#Puzzle 214.2
Dear Kabir,
Taking out three socks will ensure a matching pair. This is because if first two socks are an unmatched pair, one black and one white, the third sock will certainly be either white or black, making a matching pair with either one of the earlier two socks.
— Yadvendra Somra, Sonipat
Solved both puzzles: Sabornee Jana (Mumbai), Yadvendra Somra (Sonipat), Dr Sunita Gupta (Delhi), Shri Ram Aggarwal (Delhi), Professor Anshul Kumar (Delhi), Shishir Gupta (Indore)
Solved #Puzzle 214.2: Dr Vivek Jain (Baroda)