Wordy Wednesday 24: Zip Lines

WORDY WEDNESDAY #22

I'M TERRIBLE WITH NAMES (answer)

It's been two weeks, so time to unveil the answer to this puzzle. If you still wish to solve it yourself, please go here for the puzzle, or here for a hint. Here's a list of people who solved it:
Adam Weaver **
Bo Green *
Bryce Herdt *
Cheryl Chan *
Christian H.P. **
Giovanni Pagano **
Izak Bulten **
Jack Bross *
James McGowan **
Jeremy Conner **
John Bulten **
Marc Enyedy **
Mark Tilford **
Randy Rogers **
Ryan Faley *
Sam Levitin **
Tim Harrod **

WORDY WEDNESDAY #23

BONUS MATERIAL

11 people have solved last week's puzzle. I have received some incorrect answers, and anticipate receiving a few more. As promised, there will not be an easier version or a hint (a move I made to make the contest easier to manage). All I will say is that when you have the right answer, you'll know you have it. Remember, this puzzle is a contest! Send your solutions to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next week to appear on the solvers list and be recognized for your puzzle prowess, not to mention getting a chance to win signed issues of Will Shortz's Wordplay. Good luck, solvers!

A NEW APPROACH TO "BIBLE ATLAS GOOSE THIGH"?

Yeah, I know this is irrelevant to this post, but this blog's become irrelevant enough with its dearth of logic puzzles, so what harm would more irrelevance do?

I have no idea how many of my readers share my passing interest in card magic, but I made this post in January (back when my readership was at zero due to my lack of puzzles, but I didn't know where else to put it) proposing a variant of the classic "Bible Atlas Goose Thigh" card trick where instead of dealing the pairs of cards onto the pairs of letters one by one, the performer mixes up the cards so that the pairs of cards fall onto the pairs of letters when dealt in a natural order. First of all, some person in Russia has cited this blog post as a reference for his article on this very same trick; a link to it is in the comments on my post. I can't read Russian, but if you're interested in learning the Russian mnemonics for this trick, now you can. :)

Also, I recently stumbled upon this webpage while researching an unrelated card trick. In the section on Mutus Nomen Cocis Dedit, the author writes: "A fairly elaborate, but clever, variation can be found in J.N. Hilliard, Greater Magic (1938), pp. 120-128. In this version the pairs are not gathered up but simply scooped together and genuinely shuffled, then re-dealt to the table consecutively, not according to the familiar pattern. In spite of these two modifications the mind-reader succeeds in divining the thought-of pair or pairs in the usual way." Does this mean my idea has already been done? I've heard rumors that, before the Internet existed, budding magicians would bury themselves in magic books at their libraries; might this book exist at a local library?

WORDY WEDNESDAY #24
ZIP LINES
(click here for a PDF version)

(click here for a PUZ version)

This week's puzzle is a contest! The winner of this contest will receive signed copies of the two issues (thus far) of Will Shortz's Wordplay in which I had the honor of being published. Unlike previous Wordy Wednesday offerings, there will not be a hint or an easy version of this puzzle next week; all solvers within the next two weeks will get two stars by their name on the solvers list. Last week's puzzle was also a contest; a third prize drawing will be held for the people who appear on both solvers lists!

 

The Wordy Wednesday answer is a three-word song title relevant to the puzzle's theme.