Earlier today I set you the following Christmas puzzle, by Henry Ernest Dudeney, which first appeared in The Weekly Dispatch in 1896.
The Twelve Mince Pies
The image shows six rows of four mince pies in each row. Move four mince pies so there are seven rows of four mince pies.
The solution
Thanks to @Parax for the solution, in seasonally appropriate colours!
@alexbellos #MondayPuzzle pic.twitter.com/tzAXUnmzWO
— Mike (@Parax) December 21, 2015
Commendation also goes to @mad_scientistuk who took the answer into the next dimension. If you can place mince pies (or coins) on each other then his solution moves four to create nine lines of four.
Each coin in the centre line is actually a stack of two, so the middle horizontal is of four coins, as are the two vertical lines of three and the four diagonals of three.
The question asked for seven rows, but since I did not specify exactly seven rows, in an unScroogelike gesture of Christmas spirit I’ll allow the nine line solution...
Merry Christmas to all; I’ll be back with more top teasers in the New Year.
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I post a puzzle here on a Monday every two weeks.
My most recent book is the mathematical adult colouring book Snowflake Seashell Star. (In the US its title is Patterns of the Universe.)
You can check me out on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and my personal website.
And if know of any great puzzles that you would like me to set here, get in touch.
