Beauty of Maths

I saw your “Beauty of Maths” article on the inside of the front cover of the December Super Sudoku.

I have received a similar version of this with an extra part, which, as a Maths teacher, I really liked.

It says that if A=1%, B=2%, etc., then HARD WORK = 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11=98% and KNOWLEDGE=11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5=96% but ATTITUDE=1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5=100%.

Therefore, HARD WORK and KNOWLEDGE will take you a long way, but ATTITUDE will get you all the way to the end.
Peter Green

The Baffler

The Baffler is bafflier,
The Stinker’s demonic.
Our searches are deeper,
We need a MNEMONIC.

El Camino’s trail REAL
We found was quite royal.
We love being baffled.
To Lovatts we’re loyal!

If your sand sea’s an ERG,
Then you’re in the SAHARA.
If your tree seeds are wingèd,
It’s M for SAMARA.

FIACRE? A French word
For an old-fashioned coach.
Don’t GYBE in your yacht
If you don’t want to BROACH.

The SYRINX’s a word
For the pipes of God Pan.
An ENDOMORPH chap
Is a round-bodied man.

We thank you, Christine
For so working our brain.
Please Baffle us bafflier,
Again and again!

Perfect prize poem

The weather becomes mighty cold down here,
Normal for this time of year,
When I need a ‘cheerer-uppa’,
My first instinct is to make a ‘cuppa’,
So to win a Bodum mug and teapot,
Which keep my beverage piping hot,
Is a definite plus – they look good too,
And when I settle down to do,
A Lovatts puzzle – or maybe two,
I have the perfect combination,
Contentment is a great sensation.

I have been doing your puzzles for years – always a challenge. BIG is my favourite, because of the diversity the puzzles present. This is the first time I’ve won a prize but I’ll keep trying.
Ruth Coleman
Bowral, NSW

Calkuro Convert

My brain was wary-
Maths can be scary!
Then, believing “if you don’t try,
you don’t know”,
I gave Calkuro a go.
Calkuro, does my brain tease -
But now for it
my braincells shout “More please!”.

Mrs Maree Thorpe
Wallsend

Try CALkuro for yourself by clicking here, or follow this link to view our online tutorial.

Of birds, bees and crosswords

I’ve been intending to submit this story for sharing with your subscribers for quite a few years. I think quite enough water has gone under the bridge to get away with it now! It is a wonderful tale of the innocence of youth, and I am sure that even the most sensitive and prudish of the Lovatts ‘family’ will not be offended.

This true story took place almost 35 years ago in my 3rd year of high-school, so I was about 14 at the time.

On rainy days the school often invoked a ‘wet weather timetable’. During a shortened lunch-period students could, rather than being sent outside into the elements, engage in (supposedly!) quiet socialising or private study in designated class-rooms.

On one such occasion two of my colleagues decided to attack the crossword in the daily newspaper. A couple of clues eluded them. Peter was quite a wordsmith back then, so the clues must have been fairly tough. I don’t recall the actual clues, so let’s say for the purposes of this story that one of the missing answers was ‘gamin’.

Mandy was helping by trolling through the standard school-issue dictionary - no computers or Internet in those days - looking for potential words that fitted the letter combinations on hand. I should note that Mandy’s willowy blonde looks belied her beautiful sweet and naive nature!

After a little while Mandy triumphantly exclaimed, “I’ve found it…….SEMEN!!” “Oh for God’s sake, Mandy”, hissed the more worldly Peter exasperatedly, “read the definition!”

Although it took some time for Mandy to get over her embarrassment, it has obviously had no long-term effect on her. Some years later I was proud to be the best man at her wedding…..to my mate Steve, not Peter!!

Ron Cooke
Ringwood North, Vic

Cheryl’s Clerihew

John Jeremy George
Passionately abhorred
Crude Aussie blokes
Telling lewd, bawdy jokes

Cheryl Roach

Poem by Robin Hardy

I’ve had to do this all by hand
So hope Christine will understand
My computer - it is out of ink
Brain won’t work - I cannot think
But I’ll ‘Lovatt’ when the prize is mine
And celebrate with ‘Hardy’ wine
Got writer’s cramp - my head is throbbin’
Here’s my entry - done by ‘Robin’

Can You Read These Lines?

DERE DAGO
FORTE LORES
INA RO
DEMARNT LORES
DEMAR TRUX
FULA ENSAN
COUSAN DUX

Translation: There they go, forty lorries in a row. Them aren’t lorries, them are trucks, full of hens and cows and ducks.

Wynne Harwood
Blenheim, NZ

Clerihews

Trish Parnell
Thinks she’s swell
She’s a thinker
But can’t do Stinker

Trish Parnell
Whakatane, NZ

Christine’s crosswords bring joy to me
I pounce upon them with cries of glee.
But Lovatt’s Logic – do I care
Who gets what, or when or where?

Meg Dillon
Margate, Qld

Oh Ali you are a funny ‘un,
With your cross-words as you’re doing ‘um
Can’t find the word, so expletives you use
If I didn’t do that, well I might blow a fuse!

Ali Nielsen
Ballogie, Qld

Allan McSwain
Was considered a pain
He was rather barmy
As he lived alone as a farmy

Allan McSwain
Margaret River, WA

I’m Beverley
I puzzle daily
Crosswords for leisure
Give me pleasure

Bev Krelle
Horsham, Vic

My name is Kerry
I live near a ferry
My deep river of fear
Is no dictionary near.

Kerry Benger is my name
A close brush with fame?
The closest I’ve come
Is DIY’s No. 1

Kerry Benger
Mannum, SA

Pat Barker Likes to travel
Sometimes along the gravel
Open highways, trees and vines
And maybe stops for a few small wines.

Mrs P Barker
Portland, Vic

Puzzles, my pastime

My pastimes, which I think are beaut,
Puzzles are my main pursuit
Every day with pen in hand
A cryptic sits there in demand

Solving smartens up my brain
Then off I go to catch a train
To make a buck and earn my keep
Then hope to eat, relax and sleep

Another day, another quest
I can’t decide which are the best
Sudokus, Starhunts, Cryptics too
No matter; any one will do

My schooling didn’t count for much
But puzzles keep my brain in touch
They teach me more than I could learn
At school, as far as I’m concerned

So thanks to Lovatts for the fun
There’s puzzles there for everyone
Be like me, for I’ve been hooked
And get yourself a puzzle book.

Bruce fisher
Bayswater, Vic

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