CiSRA Puzzle Competition 2013 - Solutions
2C. Sometime
Each of the clues refers to an event in history. Some of the clues don't specify whether the start or end of the event is important, and some dates aren't known to any great degree of accuracy, so it appears that only the year is well known for several of the events.
Writing the years next to each event, it's now possible to reorder the events in chronological order. (Note, in the only case where the years are duplicated, Winston Churchill became prime minister before the Blitz began.) Doing so reveals a hidden message in the first letter of each clue.
Reading down the first letter of each clue reveals the message: NINETEEN SEVENTY NINE IS THE LETTER Z.
Since 1 + 9 + 7 + 9 = 26, this is a hint that summing the digits in each year can produce a letter. This is also reinforced by the title of the puzzle, a play on "sum time". Doing so obtains the following letters:
1 | A | Number of the first year of the Christian era within the Gregorian calendar |
10 | A | In this year, Hero of Alexandria is born |
79 | P | Notorious eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroys Pompeii |
122 | E | Earliest work on Hadrian's Wall is begun |
1000 | A | The Viking Leif Ericson finds Vinland |
1066 | M | English forces defeated at the Battle of Hastings |
1209 | L | Establishment of University of Cambridge |
1215 | I | New code of law, the Magna Carta, is sealed |
1412 | H | Saint Joan of Arc is born |
1533 | L | Elizabeth I of England is born |
1572 | O | Violence erupts on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day |
1602 | I | Elizabethan era play Twelfth Night is first performed |
1666 | S | Nearly all of central London is destroyed by the Great Fire |
1746 | R | The Battle of Culloden |
1776 | U | Year the American Declaration of Independence is adopted |
1872 | R | Nobody is found on board the Mary Celeste |
1895 | W | Influential novel The Time Machine is first published |
1904 | N | Neverland and Peter Pan are first introduced in a stage play |
1914 | O | Eruption of World War I |
1931 | N | Iconic New York landmark, the Empire State Building, is completed |
1940 | N | Sir Winston Churchill first becomes Prime Minister |
1940 | N | The London Blitz begins |
1969 | Y | Humans first land on the moon |
1972 | S | English free festival at Stonehenge is first held |
1982 | T | Land disputes culminate in the Falklands War |
2001 | C | Eros is landed on by the space probe NEAR Shoemaker |
2002 | D | The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II |
2003 | E | The final flight of Concorde |
2006 | H | Entry of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter into Mars orbit |
2012 | E | Running of the Summer Games of the XXX Olympiad |
2015 | H | Zero hour for NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrival at Ceres |
(The year Leif Ericson landed at Vinland is a little unclear, but several sources quote circa 1000 as the approximate year. If it was the year 999 , the sum would be 27, which can be assumed to also be the letter A, taking the value modulo 26.)
The letters produced don't seem to spell a message. Writing the letters in the original order given in the puzzle however does produce a message:
1931 | N | Iconic New York landmark, the Empire State Building, is completed |
10 | A | In this year, Hero of Alexandria is born |
1066 | M | English forces defeated at the Battle of Hastings |
122 | E | Earliest work on Hadrian's Wall is begun |
79 | P | Notorious eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroys Pompeii |
2003 | E | The final flight of Concorde |
1746 | R | The Battle of Culloden |
1666 | S | Nearly all of central London is destroyed by the Great Fire |
1914 | O | Eruption of World War I |
1940 | N | Sir Winston Churchill first becomes Prime Minister |
1895 | W | Influential novel The Time Machine is first published |
2006 | H | Entry of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter into Mars orbit |
1572 | O | Violence erupts on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day |
1215 | I | New code of law, the Magna Carta, is sealed |
1972 | S | English free festival at Stonehenge is first held |
1000 | A | The Viking Leif Ericson finds Vinland |
1904 | N | Neverland and Peter Pan are first introduced in a stage play |
1776 | U | Year the American Declaration of Independence is adopted |
1940 | N | The London Blitz begins |
2012 | E | Running of the Summer Games of the XXX Olympiad |
1 | A | Number of the first year of the Christian era within the Gregorian calendar |
1872 | R | Nobody is found on board the Mary Celeste |
1982 | T | Land disputes culminate in the Falklands War |
2015 | H | Zero hour for NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrival at Ceres |
1533 | L | Elizabeth I of England is born |
1969 | Y | Humans first land on the moon |
2001 | C | Eros is landed on by the space probe NEAR Shoemaker |
1412 | H | Saint Joan of Arc is born |
1602 | I | Elizabethan era play Twelfth Night is first performed |
1209 | L | Establishment of University of Cambridge |
2002 | D | The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II |
The message says: NAME PERSON WHO IS AN UNEARTHLY CHILD.
Who is an unearthly child? An Unearthly Child is the name of the very first episode of the TV show Doctor Who, first broadcast fifty years ago this year. The title refers to the Doctor's granddaughter, SUSAN, and the answer to this puzzle. We would also have accepted SUSAN FOREMAN or SUSAN CAMPBELL.
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