7
$\begingroup$

This is a word division puzzle which uses cryptic clues. If you're unfamiliar with either or both of those, you can click the associated link.

In order to solve the alphametic, you'll first need to fill in the dividend, divisor, and quotient by solving the cryptic clues. I've left the enumerations off to provide a bit of extra challenge. Once you fill those in, the puzzle should be solvable with only arithmetic and logic. The solution is a 10-letter word or phrase found by ordering the letters from 0 through 9. A complete answer should provide this solution along with explanations of the cryptic clues and your path through the alphametic.

As always, I've created an interactive version that will autofill from the grid to the clues and vice versa. Have fun, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Clues:

Wampanoag event held for a long time
Performing a balancing act at dinner time?
Roast turkey and sides, rolls with a bit of honey, and ultimately, pie

Accessible version:

         ???
     -------
????|???????
     EVIKT
     -----
       IKNNG
       IAGSV
       -----
        VANK
$\endgroup$

1 Answer 1

4
$\begingroup$

First the Cryptics:

AGE (Wampano_ag e_vent)
EVENING d.d.
HEAT* T A (Turkey and sides) H (bit of Honey) E (ultimately pie). Def ROAST (I really had to reverse engineer it)

Which leaves us:

enter image description here

NOTE:

We're missing a subtraction. There should be 3. This means G or E must be zero. But E can't be Zero, as it starts EVENING.

Looking at the bottom, 0 - V = K, which means there must be a borrow from the N to the left of the zero.
N-1 - S = N Solves to S = -1, impossible.
10 + N - 1 - S = N, S = 9

Now look at 3rd column of the 2nd subtraction

N - 0 = A, and there's obviously a borrow, so A = N-1.
We also know that A is not 1, as A * HEAT has a carry out.

Time for some trial and error.

The first multiplication gives us A * T = T + carry.
Valid values are 62 = 12, 64 = 24, ODD * 5 = X5, 6*8 = 48 I'm liking the repeated 6, so I'll guess that as A And that gives N(-borrow) - 0 = 6 in the middle column of the last subtraction. So N = 7 (Which is confirmed by A = N-1, so our guess might be right!)

Current State:

enter image description here

7 - K = K isn't possible with the odd number, so 6 - 3 = 3, or 16 - 8 = 8 are our options.
3 would leave a borrow in the second subtraction, with can't be done. So K = 8 It immediately follows that V = 2

E is odd, as we borrowed from it in the last step,
if E is 5, then I = 2, but 2 is taken.
Obviously, E is not 1, so E must be 3, and I = 1
Now T must be 4 from above (6*4 = 24) and H = 5.

Final Grid:

enter image description here

$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.