Jan. 29, 2026

National Puzzle Day

National Puzzle Day
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Question 1: On National Puzzle Day we tip our hat to crosswords: Which newspaper debuted the first modern crossword puzzle, in what year, and who designed it?

Question 2: The name “Sudoku” is a Japanese abbreviation—what longer phrase does it shorten, and what does that phrase mean?

Question 3: In the classic Tower of Hanoi brainteaser, what is the formula for the minimum number of moves required to transfer a stack of n disks from one peg to another following the rules?

Question 4: Tangrams are a timeless geometric puzzle: How many pieces make up a traditional tangram, and what shapes are they?

Question 5: In the classic river-crossing puzzle featuring a farmer, a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage, which pairs cannot be left together unsupervised on either bank?


You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun,

Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

WEBVTT

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Caalaroga Shark Media. Hi. I'm Mark Ellison and today's theme

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is National Puzzle Day Brain Teasers, crosswords and classic challenges.

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Question one. On National Puzzle Day, we tip our hat

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to crosswords. Which newspaper debuted the first modern crossword puzzle?

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In what year and who designed it? Question two? The

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name sudoku is a Japanese abbreviation. What longer phrase does

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it shorten and what does that phrase mean? Question three?

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In the classic Tower of Hanoi brain teaser, what is

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the formula for the minimum number of moves required to

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transfer a stack of N discs from one peg to

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another following the rules? Question four? Tangrams are a timeless

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geometric puzzle. How many pieces make up a traditional tangram

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and what shapes are they? Question five? In the classic

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river crossing puzzle featuring a farmer, a wolf, a goat,

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and a cabbage, which pairs cannot be left together unsupervised

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on either bank. We'll be right back with these answers

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after this break. Welcome back. Question one? Who created the

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first crossword and where and when was it published? Answer?

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Arthur Wynn New York World, nineteen thirteen. Arthur Winn's word

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cross appeared in the New York World on December twenty first,

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nineteen thirteen, becoming the blueprint for modern crosswords. The puzzles

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diamond shape and numbered clues sparked a craze that spread

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to papers worldwide. Question two what Japanese phrase does Sudoku

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abbreviate sir sujiwa do kushin ni kaguru? The phrase means

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digits must be single, reflecting Sudoku's rule that each number

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appears only once per row, column, and box. The puzzle

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was first designed by Howard Garns in the late nineteen

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seventies and popularized in Japan by Nikolai in the nineteen eighties.

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Question three What is the Tower of Hanoi? Minimum move formula?

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Answer two circumflex and one. Invented by Edward Lucas in

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eighteen eighty three. The Tower of Hanoi's optimal solution grows

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exponentially with the number of discs. Each added disc doubles

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the moves and adds one, yielding two circumflex inn one.

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Question four what pieces make up a tangrum? Answer seven pieces,

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five triangles, one square, one parallelogram. A tangrim consists of

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two large one medium and two small right Isosceles triangles

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plus a square and a parallelogram. Originating in China, tangrams

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became a nineteen the century global craze for making silhouettes

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and inventive designs. Question five, Which can't be left together?

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In the River Crossing puzzle? Answer? Wolf and goat, goat

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and cabbage. If the farmer leaves the wolf with the goat,

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the wolf eats the goat. If the goat is left

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with the cabbage, it eats the cabbage. The puzzle teaches

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constraint reasoning and strategic sequencing to avoid forbidden pairings. That

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concludes today's five daily trivia questions. I'm Mark Ellison, and

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today's questions were crafted with the help of AI technology.

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See you tomorrow.