Riddledom by David Astle

Author:David Astle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2015-08-06T16:00:00+00:00

Happily I spotted the gimmick straight away. The writer of the note, the professor’s flatmate, was clearly in trouble. Can you see why? As a bonus clue, a calculator was also part of the screen shot. Nicole struggled. She suspected the puzzle to be 100 per cent numerical whereas I sniffed the alphabet. Riddle or not, this was my territory. Back at school, taking maths as far as I could tolerate, I devoted far too many hours to morphing figures into letters, seeing what words I could render on a calculator.

Turns out quite a lot. Did you know that 55178 is BLISS in disguise, once flipped over? Or that 98275 and 78075 can capsize to spell SLEIGH and SLEDGE? Just as 35009 hides an upside-down GOOSE, like the dyscalculic crossword-maker who flunked General Trig.

Obviously Layton’s friend was in crisis. Quintuple 101 and you get SOS, upright or standing on its head. So many wasted years fiddling on a Casio had finally paid off. If only Mr Smith were alive, my maths teacher, the man who said, ‘Astle, the calculator is made to calculate and not turn numbers into the ABC.’ He’ll be turning in his grave this very moment, all the better to read Luke Triton’s mayday.

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