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Topic: The world's hardest crossword clue (Read 10523 times) |
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WombatDeath
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The world's hardest crossword clue
« on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 2:10pm » |
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I recently read a novel which contained this crossword clue:
E(13)
Yes, that's the entire clue. I know that this sort of thing doesn't appeal to everyone but I thought it might be interesting to see what logical solutions people can come up with. Be warned: the "correct" answer makes sense, but it's monstrously unreasonable to expect anyone to actually guess it. No spoilers from people who've read the book, please!
Any ideas?
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Sameer
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #1 on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 3:34pm » |
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what is it for.. across down... how many letters?? any other letters that you know in that because of other hints??/
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"Obvious" is the most dangerous word in mathematics.
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Proof is an idol before which the mathematician tortures himself.
Sir Arthur Eddington, quoted in Bridges to Infinity
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WombatDeath
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #2 on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 3:49pm » |
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Assume that the direction doesn't matter and that you don't know any other letters. The clue follows the usual crossword clue conventions, which should answer your question about the number of letters.
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kellys
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #3 on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 3:52pm » |
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That's easy. EEEEEEEEEEEEE, as in, EEEEEEEEEEEEE there's a mouse in this room.
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Sir Col
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #4 on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 4:46pm » |
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(i) hallucination?
E (the street name for Ecstasy), is a synthetic psychoactive entactogen. Although not true in low does, it is chemically similar to mescaline, so in sufficiently high doses it can cause hallucinogenic effects.
(ii) enlightenment?
The "result" of working it out.
(iii) young's modulus?
The symbol used to represent the value.
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mathschallenge.net / projecteuler.net
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WombatDeath
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #5 on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 5:07pm » |
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Very good, Sir! I'd possibly go so far as to say that your second guess is a nicer answer than the 'official' version, and they share the same basic theme.
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SWF
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #6 on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 5:20pm » |
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emmseesquared (mc2) I know the spelling is bad. Maybe "m times c square"
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Cathos
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #7 on: Apr 2nd, 2004, 9:13pm » |
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Perhaps "Eureka! I've got it!"
That's similar to abrupt enlightenment.
Wait, it has to be 13 letters?
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Sum Arbor
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Noke Lieu
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #8 on: Apr 5th, 2004, 12:36am » |
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reminds me of one I came across the other day...
____ (7)
there were two correct answers.
Not as hard as this one though, but ENTERTAINMENT enough. I know they don't have to start with e, but here's some others 
This clue... an American book? Then it make have been editorialised, but I reckon most would disagree educationally on its eligibilities. You can't deny the effectiveness of the simplicity of the clue, if this is true. Nor the elaborateness of this answer.
But the true answer should be envied for its elusiveness.
I can definately say the answers not "embellishment".
What about E(10)?
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| « Last Edit: Apr 5th, 2004, 12:57am by Noke Lieu » |
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Nigel_Parsons
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #9 on: Apr 8th, 2004, 3:20am » |
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I know crossword clues should show number of letters in each word, rather than in the whole answer, but...
E(13) "Eleven Plus Two", or even "Eight Plus Five"
Nigel
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evergreena3
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #10 on: Apr 8th, 2004, 10:41am » |
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I'd say ENTERTAINMENT.
After all, Isn't the E channel on TV the Entertainment Channel?
Seems to fit.
EverGreenA3
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Nigel_Parsons
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #11 on: Apr 8th, 2004, 1:16pm » |
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OK this has been bugging me.
The answer is clearly to be infered from the observed values and tendencies already known.
I.e. we need an E(13)...
Extrapolation
Nigel
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| « Last Edit: Jun 18th, 2004, 10:23am by Nigel_Parsons » |
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Icarus
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #12 on: Apr 8th, 2004, 3:27pm » |
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Nigel - to hide text, use the [hide][/hide] tags!
I've fixed your post above.
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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Fountainhead
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #13 on: Apr 14th, 2004, 11:51pm » |
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hey what is the answer
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Nigel_Parsons
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #14 on: Apr 15th, 2004, 12:56am » |
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Fountainhead:
I think my response (2 above yours) gives the answer (hidden), but am awaiting confirmation from Wombat of Death who posted the puzzle
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WombatDeath
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #15 on: Apr 15th, 2004, 2:38am » |
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Nobody's yet posted the answer given in the book, though to be honest I think that many of your responses are actually better.
It doesn't really matter but, for the benefit of the curious, the book's answer is senselessness.
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Nigel_Parsons
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #16 on: Apr 15th, 2004, 2:46am » |
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As a crossword clue that would not be acceptable in most quality papers
::Sense less(-) ness = e. Most crosswords would expect 'ness' to appear within 'sense' in its correct order before it could be subtracted.
But at least we now have the 'official' answer::
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Grimbal
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #17 on: May 19th, 2004, 6:56am » |
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on Apr 5th, 2004, 12:36am, Noke Lieu wrote:
Einsteinium. Its symbol initally was E, but has now been changed to Es.
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evergreena3
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #18 on: May 20th, 2004, 1:26pm » |
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Nope, Grimbal.
Answer is 2 above this one.
senselessness
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Three Hands
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #19 on: May 20th, 2004, 1:55pm » |
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Well, if people can come up with good alternative answers, then why not?!
I think a better complaint to make against Grimbal is that his answer is 11 letters, not 10, so fails in that respect...
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Grimbal
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #20 on: May 22nd, 2004, 5:16pm » |
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Grimbalium has 10, but is not Einsteinium.
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Three Hands
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #21 on: May 23rd, 2004, 3:41am » |
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And would be stretching general symbol allocations with the periodic table to have the symbol E...
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Ac
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #22 on: May 26th, 2004, 12:59am » |
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FifthAlphabet
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Raapi Vijayaraghavan
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #23 on: Sep 16th, 2004, 1:17pm » |
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answer is senselessness
sense without ness gives "e"
-Raapi
p.s Hope this is not too late)
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Raapi Vijayaraghavan
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Re: The world's hardest crossword clue
« Reply #24 on: Sep 16th, 2004, 1:20pm » |
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how abt this?
gsge for breakfast ? (9,4)
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