Puzzle Guy Greg Pliska takes equal portions of words and numbers, mixes well, and whips up a quiz called “Initiarithmetic.” The idea is to guess the words based on the initial letters of well-known phrases involving numbers. For example: “There are 12 M in the Y.” Wait, that was too easy. How about this one: “There are 2 K of P in the W. T W D the W into T K of P, and T W D.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Initiarithmetic Puzzles”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.
And I’m Grant Barrett, and we’re joined now by the one and only, the fabulous, the quiz guy, Greg Pliska.
Hello, Grant. Hello, Martha.
How are you, buddy?
Hello, Greg.
I’m good. I’m good. I’m puzzling.
You’re puzzling.
Yes.
We knew that.
Well, do you have a puzzle?
I do, in fact, have a puzzle.
And this week’s puzzle I call initi arithmetic.
Oh, math.
Initi arithmetic?
Initi arithmetic. It’s a combination of numbers and initials.
Okay.
Oh.
I will give you a clue to a set of items of which there are a particular number,
But some of the words in the clue will be replaced by their initials.
So I might say there are 12 M in the Y.
What words starting with M and Y could go into that sentence to make it true?
Month and year.
That’s right.
12 months in the year.
Gotcha.
This puzzle is actually based on a puzzle design by Will Shorts for Games Magazine many years ago.
Called the equation analysis test.
All right, let’s shoot.
Let’s see how this goes.
Okay.
Numbers and letters.
And Nish arithmetic.
Here we go.
Nish arithmetic, yeah.
There are five B in the C of NY.
There are five boroughs in the city of New York.
Oh, wow.
Well done.
Insider knowledge.
Yeah, that’s not fair.
NY is the big clue there, absolutely.
All right.
There are 14 D in an F.
14 days in a fortnight.
Yes.
Oh, very good.
There are 12 S of the Z.
Signs of the Zodiac.
Oh, very good.
What’s your sign, baby?
Yeah, what is your sign, Martha?
Well, can you guess?
Scorpio.
Right, of course.
Hello.
Come on.
Grant, you’re up.
It’s obvious, right?
I’m a zippity-doo-dah.
Taurus.
No, I’m not a Taurus.
I’m a Cancer.
Oh.
Oh, well, I’m a Pisces.
And does it mean anything?
No.
All right, carrying on.
You don’t know that?
No, we know that, actually.
We have it written down here.
Good authority.
Okay.
There are five V in the E-L, not C-Y.
Five V in the E-L, not the C-Y.
Five vowels in the English alphabet.
English language.
English.
Yeah.
Or alphabet starting with L.
Full alphabet.
Alphabet.
And not counting Y.
Not counting Y.
Very good.
All right.
Here’s another one for you.
There are 54 C in a D, including the J.
Cards in a deck, including the Joker.
Oh, she is good.
Nice.
All right.
28 D in the M of F, except in L-Y.
Say it again, please.
28 D in the M of F, except in L-Y.
28 days in the month of February, except in leap years.
Yes.
Very good.
What?
50 W to L your L in the S by P-S.
50 W.
50 ways to leave your lover.
And I don’t know what the last one is.
What’s the last part?
In the S by P-S.
In the S?
I don’t know.
Where does that come from, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover?
It’s a movie or something, isn’t it?
Paul Simon.
In the song by Paul Simon.
789 billion D in the ESP.
In the ESP?
Yeah.
Billion dollars in the economic stimulus plan.
Yes, stimulus package.
Well done.
Is that your economic stimulus package or are you just happy to see me?
Here’s one that’s just ridiculous but I have to say it anyway.
Oh, no.
There are two KFP in the W.
TWD, the W, into TKFP and TWD.
Say it slowly.
Más despacio, por favor.
Well, the key part is the beginning there.
There are two KFP in the W.
TWD, the W, into TKFP and TWD.
Two KFP and a W.
Yeah.
Two knights of Persia in the war room.
Oh, man.
One more time, Greg.
Two kinds of people in the world.
Two kinds of people in the world.
TWD, the W, into TKFP, and TWD.
I don’t…
The kind of people who…
What?
Those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don’t.
Beautiful.
Okay.
Very nice.
Beautiful.
Who said that?
I forgot.
I did.
I know.
It’s on my Wikipedia page.
I could see somebody sitting down, like, on a car ride,
Or just as long as everyone had plenty of time making up these, you know.
Sure.
You could do this with movie titles or song titles, right?
Anything with numbers and letters.
I love it.
Initial arithmetic.
Thanks, Greg.
Thank you.
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