γ
The date in the month of the author who made collections with the numbers 100, 200, and 300 in the titles, plus the date in the month of the birthday of a Florida-born surplusage-eschewing author, plus the date in the month of the birthday of the odd one out: Person depicted on the 5-yuan note issued in the twentieth-century year ending in α; Singer born in an oxymoronic town who received a chromatically oxymoronic award; Founder of a group which had a song which reached #1 on the UK charts twice--before and after his death; Scientist who worked at a 1234516 and developed a test for 1234578, where each number represents a different letter; Man who narrated a TV show which had a character named “Chinese Dragon”; Athlete with a middle name the same as the surname of another of the people mentioned in this clue, and another middle name which might suggest an Internet-adapted atlas; Enemy of Figaro; Supervillain whose name ends with the name of the group mentioned in .
Comments
'The date in the month of the author' doesn't make much grammatical sense. Is it supposed to be something else? Also, 'date in the month of the birthday' - does that mean if the birthday is February 15th, 1970, the date in the month of the birthday is 2, or 15, or 0215, or what? Sorry, but this is a pure grammar query - I am not looking for hints (especially so soon!).
Posted by: Michael | May 18, 2005 10:53:27 AM
Sorry, Michael. In your example the number would be 15. Also, the numbers given in the multiple-part clues seem to have disappeared (they are from Wingdings or Webdings), but you can figure them out by the capitalization. At the very end of clue gamma, the "group mentioned in ___" is the group mentioned in the clue beginning "Founder".
Posted by: Wilhelm | May 18, 2005 2:20:41 PM
Oh, and it should be "date in the month of the birthday of the author". Sorry again.
Posted by: Wilhelm | May 18, 2005 2:21:34 PM
Perhaps "day of the month" would have been clearer, but I understand now. I usually think of "date" as meaning the whole thing, year, month, day, but I guess sometimes we can just say something like "the 27th" in conversation and be understood in context.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | May 18, 2005 6:47:39 PM
Sorry to be a pest - did the singer receive the chromatically oxymoronic award, or the town?
Posted by: Michael | May 19, 2005 8:50:49 AM
Haven't a clue on the answer--haven't even looked at any of this contest much. But, if it is grammatically correct, then the singer received the award--"who" should refer to a person, not a town.
Posted by: Monica | May 19, 2005 11:50:48 AM
I am adding some additional clues to avoid ambiguities:
The TV narrator also appeared in a commercial for a foodstuff which, in a foreign language, is the same as the narrator's first name. Figaro's enemy caused the name of a fictional character to be changed to the name of a Shakespearean character.
Posted by: Wilhelm | May 19, 2005 3:52:57 PM
I have a question about the following...
Scientist who worked at a 1234516 and developed a test for 1234578, where each number represents a different letter;
Shouldn't it be "where each DIGIT represents a different letter"?...
Posted by: Jim from Minnesota | May 20, 2005 1:33:10 PM
Sorry about that, Jim. Bad wording; it should be 'digit'.
Posted by: Wilhelm | May 20, 2005 2:21:05 PM
Clarification, please. Did the founder of the group have a song which reached #1 before and after his death or did the group he founded have the #1 hit? I know it's a matter of sematics, but I have a possibility in mind.
Posted by: Stephen | May 24, 2005 11:45:22 PM
It was the group, not the person, with the #1 hit.
Posted by: Wilhelm | May 25, 2005 2:13:53 PM
Isaac Asimov, who made anthologies of his works entitled Opus 100, Opus 200, and Opus 300, was born on January 2. Mark Twain, who used 19 literary rules (#14 was "Eschew surplusage."), was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30. The people are, in order: Sun Yat-Sen, Eartha Kitt (born in North, South Carolina and won the Golden Rose of Montreux), Freddie Mercury, James Marsh (arsenal, arsenic), Ringo Starr, Venus Ebone Starr Williams (E-bone = Internet-adapted atlas), Pluto the Dog (enemy of Figaro the Cat), and Saturn Queen. The odd one out is Ringo Starr; the 'star' in his name does not refer to a specific celestial object. Ringo Starr was born on July 7. Answer: 39.
Posted by: Wilhelm | Jul 5, 2005 10:18:52 AM
Hi,
You said...
The odd one out is Ringo Starr; the 'star' in his name does not refer to a specific celestial object.
What "celestial object" does "James Marsh" refer to?...
Posted by: Jim from Minnesota | Jul 6, 2005 4:58:36 PM
Mars
Posted by: Stephen | Jul 6, 2005 5:48:21 PM
I immediately recognized the Asimov works on first reading of this clue. I hadn't gone further, however, as the final answer 39 came from "reverse engineering" its use in the clue for zeta. There, there are only 25 cubes that are 5-digit numbers, to check for possible ZIP codes, a much easier task than doing all the parts here. One of the perils of cross-referencing, as I am learning from my own prediliction for using them, is opening back doors that allow the solver to avoid many of the tasks set up for him. I always must assume the solver may be going either direction, and avoid an easy coast either way.
Posted by: Bob Lodge | Jul 6, 2005 6:28:11 PM
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