Sunday, March 27, 2011
ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz
This Sunday’s excellent acrostic draws a quotation from “Proofiness, The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception” by Charles Seife, a thorough investigation into why so many of us find it so easy to believe things that are patently ridiculous, focusing on how others deceive us with numbers.
Human beings are notoriously susceptible to self-deception, and we find it hard to connect cause with effect. We see relationships that are not there. There's nothing deceptive about this. It's just human nature. ~ Edward Durney, amazon.com
The quotation: EACH ROLL OF THE DIE… IS TOTALLY UNRELATED TO… EVENTS THAT CAME BEFORE IT… . THERES NO PATTERN… YET OUR BRAINS SIMPLY REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS FACT. THIS IS RANDUMBNESS: INSISTING THAT THERE IS ORDER WHERE THERE IS ONLY CHAOS.
The defined words:
A. Venture made risky by the forces of chance, CRAPSHOOT
B. Statement deceptively omitting some of the information (hyph.), HALF-TRUTH
C. Accidental; unpredictable; like a gamble, ALEATORY
D. According to Nabokov, a word that should always be in quotes, REALITY
E. Yoga pose that makes a person look like a grasshopper, LOCUST
F. { }, in math (2 wds.), EMPTY SET
G. “SISTINE Madonna” (Raphael painting)
H. Small, hardy pony or sheepdog, SHELTIE
I. Firmly fixed and hard to change, as opinions, ENTRENCHED
J. Like some rafts and expense-account figures, INFLATED
K. Complimentary ticket, for example, FREEBIE
L. A choice with just two options, EITHER-OR
M. Chronic indulger in cannabis sativa, POTHEAD
N. Kind of dressing used on a Reuben, RUSSIAN
O. Mulishness, OBSTINACY
P. Deposed; routed, as a faulty theory, OVERTHROWN
Q. Constitution of some boas, FEATHERS
R. Started rapidly oxidizing, IGNITED
S. Containing element number 7, NITROUS
T. Dishes served between courses; fancy dessert pastries, ENTREMETS
U. Drag one’s feet; state of ruin, SHAMBLES
V. Conjectural; haphazard; involving probability, STOCHASTIC
The full paragraph of the quotation: Unfortunately, the randomness of the dice and of the slot machine ensure that there’s no reality to these patterns at all. Each roll of the die, each pull of the lever gives a result that is totally unrelated to the events that came before it. That’s the definition of random: there’s no relationship, no pattern there to be discovered. Yet our brains simply refuse to accept this fact. This is randumbness: insisting that there is order where there is only chaos—creating a pattern where there is none to see.
————————
Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
No comments:
Post a Comment