Sunday, September 21, 2025

A Brainteaser and a Biblical Quotation

A communications code word of seven letters and a chiefly Scottish word of four letters have two letters in common. The fourth letter in the communications code word is the same as the third letter in the chiefly Scottish word, and the second letter in the chiefly Scottish word, the Scots' word for church, is the same as the sixth letter in the communications code word. What are that seven-letter communications code word and that four-letter, chiefly Scottish word for church?

To read the answer to this brainteaser, click here  for the communications code word and here for the chiefly Scottish word.

From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,
called to be an apostle
and set apart for God's good news. . . .
To those in Rome
who are dearly loved by God
and called to be God's people.
(Common English Bible: Romans 1:1, 7)

Monday, September 15, 2025

For the Birthday of Agatha Christie

Today is the 135th anniversary of the birth of English detective-story writer Agatha Christie (1890 -1976).

"Truth," I observed, laying aside the Daily Newsmonger, "is stranger than fiction!" So begins Agatha Christie's detective story "The King of Clubs" (1923), in which detective Hercule Poirot says in part, "Not only is truth stranger than fiction -- it is more dramatic."


The great minds of Agatha Christie"s fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss (Jane) Marple have at least once thought alike. In Mrs. Christie's detective novel The ABC Murders Poirot says, "There is nothing so dangerous for anyone who has something to hide as conversation! Speech, so a wise old Frenchman said to me once, is an invention of man's to prevent him from thinking. It is also an infallible means of discovering that which he wishes to hide. Every time he will give himself away." In Mrs. Christie's detective novel A Caribbean Mystery Miss Marple says, "Conversations are always dangerous, if you have something to hide."

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Puzzle: What's in a Name?

"What's in a name?" wrote William Shakespeare. "That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."

"The rose of all the world is not for me," wrote Hugh MacDiarmid. "I want for my part only the little white rose of Scotland that smells sharp and sweet . . . "

The two words of the name WHITE ROSE contain the nine letters of a single word. What is that nine-letter word?

To read the answer to this puzzle, click here.

William Shakespeare