Dogsmead
I am not a great fan of puzzles, but I am a fan of great puzzles.
This is by far the best puzzle I have ever encountered, but I do not know its origin. If you know who invented Dogsmead, please drop me a note.
Update: October 2006. Many thanks to Kevin Sarsen, who found what appears to be the authoritative answer to the question of the origin of this puzzle. Here is the link: http://jig.joelpomerantz.com/fun/dogsmead.html . I'm going to copy that page, just in case Joel's page ever disappears, but I won't link it unless his page does disappear.
Clues: The Puzzle was invented when there were twenty shillings to the English pound. One of the across numbers is the same as one of the down numbers. One number in the puzzle (relating to something quite different) happens to be the area in Roods of the rectangular field known as Dogsmead.
If you manage to solve the Puzzle, then you will be able to answer this question: in what year was the Puzzle invented?
If you can answer that question, drop me a note and I will put you on the Friends of Farmer Dunk page.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | █ | 4 | ||
| █ | 5 |
█ |
6 | |||
| █ |
█ |
7 | ||||
|
█ |
8 | 9 | █ | █ | ||
| 10 | █ | 11 | 12 | 13 | ||
| █ | █ | █ | 14 | |||
| 15 | █ | 16 |
█ |
Across
1. Area of Dogsmead in square yards.
5. Age of farmer Dunk's daughter, Martha.
6. Difference between length and breadth (in yards) of Dogsmead.
7. Number of Roods in Dogsmead times 9 down.
8. Date (year) when Little Piggley came into occupation of the Dunks.
10. Farmer Dunk's age.
11. Year of birth of Mary, Dunk's youngest.
14. Perimeter in yards of Dogsmead.
15. Cube of Dunk's walking speed in miles per hour.
16. 15 across minus 9 down.
Down
1. Value of Dogsmead in shillings per acre.
2. Square of Mrs. Grooby's age.
3. Mary's age.
4. Value of Dogsmead in English pounds.
6. Age of Dunk's first-born, Ed, who will be twice as old as Mary next year.
7. Square of the number of yards which is the breadth of Dogsmead.
8. Number of minutes Farmer Dunk takes to walk 1 and 1/3 times around Dogsmead.
9. See 10 down.
10. 10 across times 9 down.
12. Sum of digits in second column plus one.
13. Length of tenure in years of Little Piggley by the Dunks.