Puzzles with numbers and things

[dantuck_7]

Is 279 or higher possible?

[davis_greatest]

Is 279 or higher possible?

Well.... what do you have?

[dantuck_7]

277 at the moment...

[davis_greatest]

dantuck_7 - I just checked the 277 you sent to me - it's fine - feel free to post it here.

At the moment, abextra's 278 (still to be posted) is leading though! But even 278 can be beaten!

[davis_greatest]

dantuck_7 - I just checked the 277 you sent to me - it's fine - feel free to post it here.

... and ditto now for your 278 - so you've equalled abextra. But higher is possible.

[abextra]

Impressive - let's see the 278 then!

With red balls:

Purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3), olive into pink (10),
purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3), olive into pink (10),
purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3), olive into pink (10),
purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), olive into brown (10).

15 + 4*14 + 4*12 + 7*10 = 189

Final colours:

yellow into yellow (2+3), green into green (3+3), brown into brown (4+3), blue into blue (5+3),
pink into pink (6+3), black into black (7+3), orange into orange (8+3), silver into yellow (9),
olive into pink(10), purple into purple (11+3).

5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 9 + 10 + 14 = 89

In total 189 + 89 = 278

[davis_greatest]

With red balls:

Purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3), olive into pink (10),
purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3), olive into pink (10),
purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3), olive into pink (10),
purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), olive into brown (10).

15 + 4*14 + 4*12 + 7*10 = 189

Final colours:

yellow into yellow (2+3), green into green (3+3), brown into brown (4+3), blue into blue (5+3),
pink into pink (6+3), black into black (7+3), orange into orange (8+3), silver into yellow (9),
olive into pink(10), purple into purple (11+3).

5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 9 + 10 + 14 = 89

In total 189 + 89 = 278

abextra proving good at these... that 278 is correct!

...And as I am about to post this and ask if anyone can get 279, I see that I have a PM from abextra coming in entitled "279"!

[davis_greatest]

...And as I about to post this and ask if anyone can get 279, I see I have a PM from abextra coming in entitled "279"!

...which I have just checked, and it is correct! Well done.

279 is, in fact, the best possible - but there are many ways of getting it.

Want to post your way here, abextra?

[davis_greatest]

Answer to Round 145

But here, for those who like money, is ....

Round 145 - Malta Cup bonanza

Stephen Hendry has just defeated seven-time and defending World Champion Steve Davis in the Final of the 2008 Malta Cup, after the Nugget had to retire from the match due to concussion induced by being jostled by fans against a doorframe, and Hendry has pocketed the 12p first prize.

Hendry lays the twelve pennies out on the snooker table in pride, and arranges them in six lines of four coins each. How does he do this?

(PS I am terrible at solving this kind of question, so am bound to be even worse at trying to make one up - I therefore apologise if this proves laughably easy.)

Here is a nice picture from abextra of the "Star of David" answer! Congratulations also to snookersfun, who also came up with the same answer. This was the answer I was expecting - but equal congratulations to The Statman who came up with an alternative one, just as good.

[davis_greatest]

ROUND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY SEVEN

As this is round 147 (hooray!), I am hoping for maximum participation in this round!

I didn't make this one up - but don't let that put you off! I liked it, so it's still worth doing if you haven't seen it before.

Below is a grid of 9 dots. They are supposed to be 3 rows of equally spaced dots. Don't let the fact that I don't know how to use Paint, resulting in the dots being all uneven, distract you. They are supposed to be in 3 rows, and 3 columns, all even.

You need to draw 4 straight lines, without removing your pencil from the paper, so that your lines pass through all 9 dots.

PS If anyone has a better picture, feel free to post it!

[abextra]

Well, my 279 break is pretty much the same as the 278 break, here it is.

With red balls:

Purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3), olive into pink (10) - 46 points,
purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3), olive into pink (10) - 46 points,
purple into purple (11+3), silver into silver (9+3), black into black (7+3) -36 points,
orange into orange (8+3), olive into olive (10+3), purple into brown (11), silver into silver (9+3) - 47 points.

15 + 46 + 46 + 36 + 47 = 190

Final colours:

yellow into yellow (2+3), green into green (3+3), brown into brown (4+3), blue into blue (5+3),
pink into pink (6+3), black into black (7+3), orange into orange (8+3), silver into yellow (9),
olive into pink(10), purple into purple (11+3).

5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 9 + 10 + 14 = 89

In total 190 + 89 = 279

[davis_greatest]

Very nice, abextra! The 279 break can only be equalled, not beaten.

[davis_greatest]

I'l make the deadline for round 147 with the dots (see picture in post above) 11.00 BST tomorrow (Tuesday 3 April).

Congratulations so far to abextra and rambon - I think also congratulations to dantuck_7, but I'm afraid that I couldn't really see properly / make out the diagram in your pager message.

ROUND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY SEVEN

As this is round 147 (hooray!), I am hoping for maximum participation in this round!

I didn't make this one up - but don't let that put you off! I liked it, so it's still worth doing if you haven't seen it before.

Below is a grid of 9 dots. They are supposed to be 3 rows of equally spaced dots. Don't let the fact that I don't know how to use Paint, resulting in the dots being all uneven, distract you. They are supposed to be in 3 rows, and 3 columns, all even.

You need to draw 4 straight lines, without removing your pencil from the paper, so that your lines pass through all 9 dots.

PS If anyone has a better picture, feel free to post it!

[Monique]

Still no answer about the 9 dots? OK ...

Suppose we number the dots like this
123
456
789

starting from 7 you draw a line through 741 and above until you cross the imaginery line going trough 26. At that point you draw along this line through 26 until you cross the imagineray bottom line 789. You go back to point 7 along this line. then you draw the diagonal 753. Here you are ...

[davis_greatest]

Round 147 is closed

Congratulations abextra, rambon, Monique, snookersfun and, I think, dantuck_7 (dan, is this what you meant in your pager?).

Picture courtesy of abextra (also had nice one from snookersfun):