THE PUZZLE Your Number’s Up

This is a sort of alphanumeric crossword. Each clue is an exercise in simple arithmetic, and the answers to be entered will be numbers. So put down your dictionary and go find a pocket calculator or at least get a pencil and a scratch pad.



Instructions

Every letter represents a number. A letter appearing more than once in a particular clue will always stand for the same number, and two different letters in a clue can never mean the same number. By convention, no beginning letter can stand for a zero (except possibly when the word whose numbers are to be entered is different from any of the words in the actual problem). When decoding into numbers, each clue makes a true arithmetical statement. Some clues have a unique solution, while others can be satisfied by several different arrangements of numbers. Using crossing entries will allow the possibilities to be narrowed down to the final answer.

The clues are independent of one another, so the same letter may take on different values in different problems. [Note: X = letter X, x = multiplication times sign.) A sample clue might be:

ODD

+ODD

EVEN; enter DEVON.



The object is to determine numerical values for each letter and then enter the numbers representing DEVON in the diagram. Your reasoning might proceed thus:

1. E = 1. If O had the largest value possible, 9, the biggest amount you could get for O + O, even with a carried 1, would still be under 20; so E must be less than 2. Being a beginning letter in a prob-lem. E can’t be zero, so it must be 1.

2.D = 5, N = zero. D + D gives a different letter in the middle column from the result in the right col-umn. Only a carried 1 could produce this, so E must be one more than N. Since E =1, N must be zero. The only way N can be zero is for D to be zero or S. Zero has already been assigned, and also D has to be big enough to create a carried 1, so D = 5.

3.Now you are left with O + 0 + I ends in V. and O itself must be big enough so that O + 0 creates a carry. In table form: O: 5 6 7 8 9

V: I 3 5 7 9

You can outlaw 0 = 5,7, and 9 because each leads to two different letters carrying the same value.

So DEVON could stand for either 51360 or51780. and three numbers could be entered: 51_ _ 0,with the empty squares awaiting results from the crossing clues.



Send the completed puzzle (or reasonable facsimile) by February 10 to YOUR NUMBER’S UP. D Magazine, 1700 Commerce St., 18th Floor. Dallas Texas 75201. Include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. The first correct solution in a random drawing will receive a white polo shirt embroidered with the D logo, with the runner-up receiving a 12-month subscription to D Magazine. Winners and the completed puzzle will appear in the March issue. Having trouble? Log on to www.dmagazine.com each Monday for new helpful hints.