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Fear

10 Puzzles to Challenge Your Word and Number Sense

A mashup of classic brain games produces a new type of riddle.

racorn/Shutterstock
Source: racorn/Shutterstock

Word searches are among the most popular puzzles, along with crosswords and Sudoku. Each consists of a square arrangement of letters that hides actual words among the seemingly random letters. The words can be found in any direction (left-to-right, diagonally, etc.). The first word search appeared in the March 1, 1968 issue of Selenby Digest in Norman, Oklahoma, and it caught on instantly. Teachers in the local schools started asking for reprints of the puzzle to use in their classes. They immediately sensed that the puzzle could be beneficial for enhancing perception of words, and thus likely to increase verbal proficiency in their students. My guess is that the teachers were correct in their assessment: It is easy to do, albeit challenging, and it probably fosters language aptitude, sharpening perception of word structure.

In this post, I give the word search puzzle a twist, hiding number words in a long line containing number words of all kinds, read only from left-to-right. You can call it a “number word search.” The specific word to be found is not given to you in advance; rather, you have to figure out what it is via a riddle. Here’s an example:

If you add me to any number, you get that number.

The answer is ZERO.

Now you have to find that number word in the line:

TWELVESIXTWOZEROFIVEONENINE

As an added wrinkle, once you have found the correct number word, make a note of it. After the tenth puzzle below, you are presented with a final challenge—to create an equation made up of a subset of the digit answers, which, when added together, produces the answer of 26.

Let’s take a hypothetical case: Assume that the answers to the ten riddles, converted to digits, are 0, 2, 13, 19, 20, 37, 94, 98, 25, and 1. Now, suppose that you are told that a subset of the numbers adds up to 16. What are those numbers? In this case, 2, 13, and 1.

To reiterate:

  1. You are given a riddle for locating a specific number word in a line of consecutive number words.
  2. Once you have found that word, convert it into a digit.
  3. After you have figured out the ten digits, find the ones that, when added together, produce the required answer of 26.

Puzzles of this type remind me of searching for something in the dark. When one finds it, the fear of the dark is turned into excitement and “illumination.” To quote the great writer Malcolm Muggeridge: “There is no such thing as darkness; only a failure to see.”

1. If you multiply any number by me, you get the number back.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX TEN TWENTY NINE

2. I am a prime number, less than 13, but greater than 2.

EIGHT TWELVE ELEVEN SIXTEEN TWENTY SIX

3. If you add these two prime numbers together, both less than 37, you will get me, and I am also less than 37.

TEN EIGHT NINETEEN SEVEN THIRTY FOUR FIVE

4. Multiply me by myself and you will get the equivalent of adding me to myself.

EIGHTY NINETY TWELVE FOUR TWO SEVENTEEN

5. I can be divided evenly by both 5 and 9, but I am not 45.

EIGHTY FIFTY SEVENTY SIXTY THREE FORTY NINETY

6. I am a prime number less than 41. If you add 3 to me, I can be divided by 11.

FIVE TWELVE NINETEEN THIRTY SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN

7. If you add my two prime factors together, the result is twice one of the factors. By the way, I am less than 20.

EIGHTEEN NINETEEN FOUR SEVEN FOURTEEN THREE

8. Add 10 to me and I am a multiple of 8; subtract 10 from me and I am a multiple of 6.

FIFTY SIXTY SEVENTY EIGHTY NINETY TWELVE FIFTEEN

9. Take 1 away from me and you get a prime number; add 1 to me and you get twice that prime number.

ONE TWO THREE FIVE NINETEEN TWENTY THIRTY FIFTY NINETY

10. If you divide me by 10, the resulting factor is 2 cubed.

FIFTY NINETY EIGHTY SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN TWENTY

BONUS: Which of these numbers produce the answer of 26 when they are added together?

Answers below ....

1. ONE (ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX TEN TWENTY NINE)

2. ELEVEN (EIGHT TWELVE ELEVEN SIXTEEN TWENTY SIX)

3. THIRTY (TEN EIGHT NINETEEN SEVEN THIRTY FOUR FIVE) The two prime numbers are 13 and 17.

4. TWO (EIGHTY NINETY TWELVE FOUR TWO SEVENTEEN) 2 × 2 = 2 + 2 = 4

5. NINETY (EIGHTY FIFTY SEVENTY SIXTY THREE FORTY NINETY)

6. NINETEEN (FIVE TWELVE NINETEEN THIRTY SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN) 19 + 3 = 22, which is divisible by 11.

7. FOURTEEN (EIGHTEEN NINETEEN FOUR SEVEN FOURTEEN THREE) Prime factors: 2 and 7; twice 7 is 14.

8. SEVENTY (FIFTY SIXTY SEVENTY EIGHTY NINETY TWELVE FIFTEEN) Adding ten, 10 + 70 = 80, which is a multiple of 8; subtracting ten, 70 – 10 = 60, which is a multiple of 6.

9. THREE (ONE TWO THREE FIVE NINETEEN TWENTY THIRTY FIFTY NINETY) Taking one away, 3 – 1 = 2, which is a prime number; adding one, 1 + 3 = 4, which is twice 2.

10. EIGHTY (FIFTY NINETY EIGHTY SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN TWENTY) Dividing by ten, 80 ÷ 10 = 8; and 8 is 2 cubed.

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Numbers: 1, 11, 30, 2, 90, 19, 14, 70, 3, 80

Bonus equation: 1 + 11 + 14 = 26

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