Thanks for the good feedback about last week’s invite rhymes for the Best of the Bard and Henry VIII invites. The Shakespeare invites don’t usually involve poetry, but I do like to include a tagline to catch the interest of group members. Since I haven’t actually organized a reading in some time, I could at least share with you some of the taglines I’ve used. And since there are a few Shakespeare lovers who read this blog, I thought we could make a game out of it.

Can you identify the fifteen plays represented by the taglines below?

1. Bundle up, head on over, and join us as we catch winter by its tale. Hot cocoa will be served.

2. You like it! You really like it!

3. Everybody dies.

4. Come join us at our favorite Bavarian beerhouse as we travel to an austere statehouse, a rowdy whorehouse, and a dank jailhouse.

And then we’re gonna read a play.

5. Revenge is a beach.

6. Witches! Ghosts! Swordplay! Intrigue! Betrayal! Treachery! And the cold-blooded murder of a benefactor! Come join in the fun, as we read the play that dares not speak its name.

7. An afternoon to read. A lifetime to master.

8. We all know what happens when the children of rival families fall in love. But what happens when the rulers of rival countries fall in love?

9. What better way to spend an afternoon than with Rumor, Blunt, Shallow, Silence, Fang, Snare, Mouldy, Shadow, Wart, Feeble, Pistol, Quickly, and Doll?

10. Four hundred years before Seinfeld, there was a show about nothing.

11. We’re gonna party like it’s 1199.

12. Cast of Characters: a nobleman in disguise, an adulterer, a tyrant, an outcast, a wimp, a lackey, a fugitive, a bastard, a fool, two wicked sisters, and an elderly king, slowly losing his grasp on his humanity. Yes, we’re all in there somewhere.

13. And now for something completely different.

14. Bon Appetit!

15. Come join our monthly meeting of conspirators as we sink our daggers into Shakespeare’s classic tale of political intrigue and betrayal in Ancient Rome.

BONUS QUESTION: If readings are typically held on the first Sunday of each month, what play would have been the appropriate choice for January 2008?

Please post whatever you come up with in the comments section.

UPDATE: Correct plays provided by Asher (10) and Jeremy (6).

Shakespeare wrote two tetralogies of history plays. The First Tetralogy consists of the three Henry VI plays and Richard III. The Second Tetralogy is set before these (like the second Star Wars trilogy is set before the first one) and consists of Richard II, Henry IV Part One, Henry IV Part Two, and Henry V. Today’s Conundrum questions are about these tetralogies.

1. Name a character who appears in three plays in one of the tetralogies, and another Shakespeare play outside of the tetralogies.

2. Name a character who appears in all four plays in a single tetralogy.

3. Name a character who appears in both tetralogies.

4. Name a character who appears in Richard II and Henry V, but neither Henry IV play.

UPDATE: All four questions answered correctly by Micah. See comments for answers.

The Shakespeare Teacher is out. It’s your move.

Today’s challenge is based on the most recent Conundrum, which was a logic problem called Poker Game 2.

The answer is the Queen of Spades and the Six of Spades.

Your challenge is to select the five cards on the board to make that answer correct. Everything else about the problem will stay the same.

First person to post a correct entry (by March 10) is the winner.

UPDATE: I’ll leave this challenge active a little longer if anyone wants to try it.

Our four old poker friends have migrated from five-card stud to no-limit Texas hold ‘em, which they always play with a single deck of cards.

During one hand, the flop was an Eight, Ten, and King – all clubs. Ron went all-in, and the other three players called with money remaining.

The turn card was the Nine of Hearts. Nick went all-in, and the other two called with money remaining.

The river card was the Ten of Hearts. Frank went all-in, and Lennie called with money remaining.

As it turned out, nobody went broke on this hand.

What is the best possible hand that Lennie could have had?

I had the pleasure of observing a science teacher teach a fantastic lesson on genetics last week, and it got me thinking about the mathematics behind eye color. This Conundrum will be purely a probability question (two, actually), so I apologize in advance for over-simplifying the science.

Assume that everyone has two genes that determine eye color. For the sake of the math, we will stipulate that each gene must be either brown or blue. An individual inherits one gene from each parent. A parent will pass on one of his or her own two genes with equal probability.

Brown is dominant, which means that if an individual has one brown gene and one blue gene, then the individual will have brown eyes. An individual will also have brown eyes if both genes are brown. Only an individual with two blue genes will have blue eyes.

Now imagine this hypothetical scenario: Susan and David are a married couple, and both have brown eyes. David’s father had blue eyes, and his mother had brown eyes. Susan’s parents both had brown eyes, but her brother Bill has blue eyes. Susan and David are expecting their first child, baby Jason.

Question 1: What are the chances that Jason will have blue eyes?

Question 2: Suppose Jason had brown eyes. Susan and David are now expecting a second child, baby Ian. What are the chances that Ian will have blue eyes?

UPDATE: Both questions answered correctly by Micah. See comments for answers and discussion.

I’m thinking of a two-digit number that is not a prime, the sum of two primes, or the product of two primes.

What number am I thinking of?

UPDATE: Question answered by Bronx Richie. See comments for answer.

We haven’t had one of these in a while…

In a normal “Pic Tac Toe” puzzle, there are nine pictures in a 3×3 grid, like Tic-Tac-Toe. In each of the three rows, three columns, and two diagonals, there is a common theme that unites the three pictures. The challenge is to find the eight themes.

In this “Pic Tac Toe” puzzle, however, there are twenty-seven pictures in a 3x3x3 grid, like a Rubik’s Cube. In each of the nine rows, nine columns, nine pillars, eighteen lateral diagonals, and four cross-cube diagonals, there is a common theme that unites the three pictures. The challenge is to find the forty-nine themes.

Imagine stacking the three levels below on top of one another. For reference, and notation guidelines, check out my last 3D Pic Tac Toe, including the comments. The rules here are identical to that puzzle.

You can click on each image to see a larger version:

Top Level – Level A

Middle Level – Level B

Bottom Level – Level C

Please post whatever you come up with in the comments section.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Correct themes provided by Benjamin Baxter (3), Billie (24), and Neel Mehta (16). Alternate themes suggested by Benjamin Baxter (1), Billie (2), and Neel Mehta (5). See comments for discussion, or click here to skip right to the answers.

You have defeated Iachimo at his own game, and he’s not happy.

“I usually go first,” he says icily. “Surely you will allow me a rematch, and allow me to go first this time.”

You know that, with his standard set up using piles of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, he can force a win by going first, so you decline. But he comes up with a surprising offer: you can increase the number of piles.

As before, the piles will start at 1 coin and will increase by 1 coin until the desired number of piles is reached. So if you decide to increase to six piles, the coin amounts must be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. You’ve only got a limited number of coins available, so you may not exceed ten piles.

Iachimo will go first and you will take turns drawing coins from the piles. On your turn, you may remove as many coins as you like from any one pile. The winner is the one who takes the last coin and leaves his opponent without a move.

“Double or nothing,” he dares you, with a bit of desperation in his voice. You’re not sure what would happen if you decline. It doesn’t matter, though, since you see a clear path to victory, even allowing Iachimo to go first.

How many piles do you set up? What’s your strategy for winning?

UPDATE: Problem solved by Alex. See comments for solution.

Iachimo likes to hang out at the local tavern, drawing in tourists to play a game of Nim. You don’t like Iachimo. You don’t like him at all. You think he’s a huckster and a con man. You’d like nothing better than to beat him at his own game. You want to beat him at Nim.

In Nim, two opponents take turns drawing from several piles of coins. On your turn, you may remove as many coins as you like from any one pile. The winner is the one who takes the last coin and leaves his opponent without a move. The coins themselves are not on the line, but Iachimo likes to make the game more interesting with a modest wager.

As you enter the tavern, you notice that Iachimo is set up for business. He has stacked five piles of coins, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Each pile has the same number of coins as the pile number: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. He sees you coming and amiably offers you a friendly wager which you quickly accept.

“I’ll go first,” you smile, and before Iachimo can object, you make your move.

What’s your first move? What’s your strategy for winning?

UPDATE: The solution is posted in the comments.

1. Eight members of a nine-member family decided to meet for dinner one evening. Each of them arrived separately. The restaurant took down the last name of the first person to arrive and agreed to set up a table.

2. Hildy’s sister-in-law was the only member of the family who couldn’t make it to dinner.

3. Josie’s daughter has a first and last name which begin with the same letter.

4. Lisa’s father, who was the only male to arrive between the two brothers, has a first name that ends with the fifth and third letters of his last name, in that order.

5. Otis is the only person related by blood to everyone who came to dinner. One of his two uncles has a last name that ends with the third letter of Otis’s other uncle’s last name.

6. Paul arrived immediately after his grandson, whose last name begins with four letters in alphabetical order, none of which are identical or even alphabetically consecutive.

7. Rose arrived immediately after her father, whose first and last names share a common second letter, though at least one of the letters of his first name doesn’t appear in any last name in the family.

8. Sean’s brother-in-law’s name is unusual in that his first name consists of letters that span the exact same range of letters in the alphabet as the letters in his last name, even though his last name is twice as long as his first name (for example, the name “Sean” spans the letters “A through S”).

9. Tom arrived immediately after his sister-in-law, who has never married. Her first and last names share a common fourth letter.

10. Tim’s sister-in-law has a maiden name that could be a cryptogram for her last name.

11. No two people who arrived consecutively to dinner share any common letters in their first names.

12. This is a very traditional family: nobody is divorced, and nobody has been married more than once. All couples are heterosexual, all names are gender-appropriate, all married women have taken their husbands’ last names, all children were born in wedlock, and nobody has married any kind of relative. The clues above do not refer to anybody other than the nine family members, either by name or relation. Nobody has a Q anywhere in his or her name, but at least one of the family members has a last name that contains a U.

The table for eight is almost ready, and the entire party has arrived.

For what name should they be listening?

UPDATE: Puzzle solved by Neel Mehta. Solution provided by ArtVark. See comments for answer.